the latter. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." But this order is completely reversed by the world. Our cry through life is, "Who will show me any good?" and, then, at death, we faintly say, or horridly exclaim, "Who will make me good?" We attempt to finish before we lay the foundation. We rear a foolish apparatus; and, elevating our materials to the clouds, we begin to erect the turrets of our purposed mansion, having not the least patience previously to build the walls. And, having placed a stone, as we presume, in its position, down it sinks upon the ground. Not discouraged, we project another, and another, till the earth is literally heaped with the demonstrations of our madness and misery. And what is still more wonderful, multitudes behold this folly, and deride it, and retire, and endlessly repeat the very same experiment. Yet, in the estimation of fallen man, this is wisdom, this is knowledge, this is joy. Such is his intellectual dignity. Young persons, in particular, are apt to err with a folly thus palpably gross. Joy, which is the last in the enumeration of the text, with them is the first great object of attainment. They would leap to the goal at once, disdaining to traverse the intermediate ground in any regular way. O that they would begin with goodness! Then, and not till then, should they so run as to obtain. Then the race itself would be a noble and delightful exercise of their powers. Life then could not disappoint them, as now it does great multitudes. On the contrary, it would be, indeed, a sweet enjoyment, in connexion with the more exalted privileges of that inward kingdom which consists in "righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." "O taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man that trusteth in Him. O fear the Lord, ye his saints; for there is no want to them that fear him. The young lions do lack and suffer hunger; but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing." And as the goodness which the text recommends leads to all the valuable attainments which man can possibly enjoy, both in time and eternity, the most certain, the most summary, the most illustrious exercise of benevolence is, to promote it in our families, among our friends and countrymen, and throughout the world, by extending "the knowledge of Christ, and him crucified." By properly and fixedly attending to this one point, we quickly gain all the rest. Only teach your child to fear God, and his fortune is already made. We further learn from our subject, that wisdom and wickedness have no alliance with each other. Although we may learn instruction from sin, when rightly considered, as an object unavoidably pressed on our attention; yet nothing is more dangerous, or foolish, or abominable, than to disobey God, that we may become more knowing; that we may be assured, for example, whether, in opposition to his word, there may not, after all, be real happiness in the practice of iniquity. Nor can any act of sin be, in any proper sense, an act of prudence, or of profit. The common maxim, that "what is morally wrong cannot be politically right," is a truth as firm and unremovable as the pillars of heaven and earth. The Spanish proverb is its own demonstration, that "nothing is got by thieving," and that "nothing is lost by praying." If young people only formed a proper judgment of this doctrine, their very love of pleasure would deter them from committing sin. There is nothing in the universe half so sweet as the love of Jesus. Again: We have seen, from the general truth contained in the text, that true religion most admirably regulates the intercourse between us and the creature. The creature is one source of our most powerful temptations. In proportion, then, as we find ourselves closely mingled up with nature, whether by enjoyment, on the one hand, or by suffering, on the other, we require the force of faith, and love, and hope, to effect a due separation of the mind and affections from it. Are you opulent? You are so much the more in danger. Wealth surrounds you as a magic circle, in which you find it very difficult to be master of yourself. If you have little or none of "the love of the Father," you are sincerely to be pitied. The situation you occupy requires no common share of wisdom and knowledge. It is probable you are strongly tempted either to extravagance or to a worldly disposition. Followed by a crowd of mendicants and others, who would strip you of your property, you are obliged to be very cautious in your management. That caution must be carefully watched, lest it turn to covetousness. It may tend, in connexion with the tendency of riches in general, to freeze the feeling of benevolence, which ought to have its influence no less than the principle. Hence the common observation, "He has done many good actions, but never did a generous one; that is to say, 66 He has the calculating conscience of the case, but wants the palpitating sympathy," the heart that answers to the counsel of St. Paul: Rejoice with them that do rejoice; and weep with them that weep. You are particularly in danger from the deceitfulness of riches. If you be touched with this unhappy spell, you can scarce believe you are rich. The love of the world you are disposed to call, not only by the names of "prudence, and the care of a family," but also by many of the titles of absolute piety. And the greatest danger of all, in such a case as this, arises from an obstinate unwillingness to be, told the truth concerning it; a kind of moral incapacity of being convicted on this particular subject. You are candid and open on many other points; you admit the danger of riches; and that some rich people are covetous; but this, you are sure, does not at all apply to you. Hence the extreme difficulty of preaching on an evil so insidious. Hence its frequent and powerful mention in the New Testament. Hence Timothy, though young in years, and, probably, a poor man, was bound to "charge them that were rich in this world," on the very serious duties and dangers of their station. "Goodness, and wisdom, and knowledge," alone can secure the heart in all these hazards, and draw forth all the genuine joy peculiar to wealth. The sin of the case lies, not in riches, but in the love of them, in the desire and passion for them. The description is, "They that will," that is, simply wish to "be rich," not they that are rich; for, riches of this world may increase, and the heart be set, not on them, but on the "true riches." In this case, the man of wealth possesses "wisdom, knowledge, and joy," in connexion with the good things of this life; and fails not to make "friends of the mammon of unrighteousness." A person of this character is a noble example of the rational and religious enjoyment of the present transitory state, and deserving of all possible regard, as an ornament of human nature, and a blessing to mankind. But, perhaps, you are in a state of poverty and distress. If so, your temptations, though altogether different from those we have just been mentioning, are also very powerful, and require an extraordinary degree both of goodness and of wisdom to support and improve them. Religion can preserve you from adding pungency to pain, by fretful and impatient struggles to relieve it. It will teach you not to envy the rich, but to respect them; to rejoice in their prosperity; and even, when they oppress you, to pray that God would still increase their stores, if he see this to be proper to promote their welfare. This conduct will open a secret spring of joy in your heart worth all the wealth which they possess. Religion will furnish you with the best expedients possible for the amendment of your circumstances; will supply you with the sweetest consolations; and will enable you to seize on all the advantages which, perhaps, lie plentifully concealed, even in your low condition. You may not be able to command riches. Remember, however, that they are only professed to be the means of happiness; and so long as they remain unapplied to their purpose, they are just about as valuable as so many straws or pebbles. But you may have the end without the means. "Wisdom, and knowledge, and joy" are pressed on your acceptance. These are far above " uncertain riches;” are more congenial to the renovated nature of man ; more portable than parks and palaces, because they are within you, and are parts of your living self; more purely delightful; more ecstatical, and, withal, more certain and endurable. Why envy, then, the miserable sons of folly and impiety, because of the gilding of their extrinsical condition? You have a noble existence still continued to you. "The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment." Nor is this all. Even the lower blessings of your life declare the "lovingkindness of the Lord." On you the sun spreads out his rays, and the fields breathe forth their sweets. For you the vales and woods pour many a thrilling strain of music, furnished for you by your heavenly Father, who feeds the happy creatures who are the instruments of your joy. But, infinitely above all these, to you the holy sabbath returns, the throne of grace is accessible, and the book of God unfolds its brightest pages. Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, and heaven your dwelling-place. And whatever be your outward condition in this transient scene of things, you may still drink deep of those sweet and powerful succours which gave to the suffering mind of the apostle such amazing strength and grandeur, when he exclaimed, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.) Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am per suaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." THE GLORIOUS CHANGES WHICH THE DYING SAINT IS DESTINED TO EXPERIENCE: A SERMON. "THEY that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever." "THIS infancy of being cannot prove The final issue of the works of God, DANIEL. THOMSON. |