reign of Messiah to be characterized by state and parade. Now when the humble disciple of Jesus, at this day, finds the religion of his Master invested with an array of splendour, to give it acceptance with the world; is there no danger to his heart? When he finds himself associated in efforts to promote religion, with the great, and the gay, and the fashionable, many of whom would think it rudeness in him to mention, in their presence, any subject of serious piety; -is there no danger to his heart? When he recollects that his name is to be published, and that every dollar he gives, and every effort he makes, is to be proclaimed through the press;—is there no danger to his heart ?* Brethren, the taste of the times is to cry, "lo here! and lo there!" But the Christian who delights 66 * I would not be understood to sanction the unreasonable interpretation often given to our Saviour's precept concerning alms and other charities. Absolute secrecy is no more demanded in respect to such charities, than in respect to prayer and fasting, as any one must see, who reads the passage in its connexion. Each class of these duties must sometimes be performed publicly, but never with a view to be seen of men." Ostentation is what Christ condemns. It is not wrong, in itself, to desire the approbation of good men, any more than to desire the approbation of God or of conscience. The special danger to be guarded against, in respect to acts of charity is, that here, a vain love of applause is more likely to insinuate itself than in almost any other duty. Yet while we watch against this tendency, with all due vigilance, we must not be so cautious lest our left hand should know what is done by our right, that nothing shall be done by either. only in the bustle and whirl of public engagements, and neglects his communion with God in secret, 66 wrongs his own soul." The plant of piety cannot be permanently fair, flourishing, and fruitful, unless its root is watered in the retirement of the closet. And even here too, the habit of undue respect for public opinion, may have become so inwrought into our feelings, as to follow us with its baneful influence, into the little sanctuary, which ought to be free from intrusions of the world. A journal of religious experiences, kept by some humble saint, solely for his own spiritual improvement, has often been published with great utility to others. But when such a journal of private exercises is written with a view to public inspection, when the eye looks out from the closet window at the great world, while the pen describes the secret movings of the heart, this circumstance may greatly tend to modify the description, if not the exercises themselves. In such a case I fear the record of the closet will not always correspond with the record of omniscience.* * These remarks may appear to some invidious. But the eager interest with which a few excellent things of this sort have been read, doubtless has influenced many individuals to think that they could in no way benefit the world so much as in preparing similar accounts of their own 66 devout exercises." To my feelings however, there is something not a little repulsive in a diary, which professes to delineate the secret workings of the heart, but is obviously designed for the public eye. And in respect to the value of such compositions, feeble and tedious as they often are, it is not strange Another danger to which the public cast of our religion exposes us, is that of identifying the cause of Christianity with ourselves. It results from the constitution of our minds that action is enjoyment. This intrinsic enjoyment of action, the Christian may mistake for pious feeling. There is special danger that he will thus mistake, when the object which awakens his efforts is religion ; and when it is a great religious object. In such a case, it is of course, a public object, in which numbers are engaged; and his excitement is heightened by social sympathies. This object in its progress, perhaps associates him with respectable men, and presents him advantageously to his own view, and the view of others. Perhaps some prominent and responsible service is allotted to him, which puts in requisition his energy, and enterprise, and influence over his fellow men. Certainly, the ardor of his heart may rise with these circumstances, on purely benevolent principles. But it may rise too, on other principles. The secret spring of his zeal may be, that the prosperity of this good cause, is honorable to his own efforts. The elevation of this good object, makes himself conspicuous. Nay, brethren, shall we blush on this occasion to acknowledge the whole truth? In organizing our charitable societies, male and female, in what instance that the estimate of those who are tasked with the perusal, should differ widely from that of the writers. does not the suggestion intrude itself upon us, that the multiplication of offices, is indispensable to success? Certainly there is nothing in the gospel at variance with the innocent courtesies of life. So far as this expedient is adopted with a view to draw the attention of an individual to a good object, by attaching to him some personal agency in its promotion, there is nothing in it inconsistent with the simplicity and dignity of Christian principles. But how often is this measure, with others like it, nothing more in fact, and designed to be nothing more, than an undisguised appeal to the vanity of the individual concerned. Yes, in this boasted nineteenth century, this age of overflowing benevolence, this dawn of the millennium, Christians must be flattered by votes of thanks, by a cautious respect to their pride and their opinions, and must be complimented with offices, to secure their cooperation in the cause of their Redeemer. O Jesus, Master! give us thy spirit; that we may be worthy to be called thy disciples. In connexion with this last topic, the disposition to identify ourselves with the great objects of benevolence, it is time for Christians to perceive, that in the same way, these objects themselves are exposed to dangers, of serious aspect. very From this source results the tendency of individuals to exalt in their regard, one part of a grand system, at the expense of other parts. Our conceptions and our capacities of action, I know are limited the very Nothing short of an in interests of this moral universe that surrounds us. But though we must act in a contracted sphere, we are not obliged to act on narrow and selfish principles. We are not obliged to estimate the absolute or comparative importance of a charitable society, by the relation we have sustained to it, and the services we have rendered in its behalf. The very fact that it is our society, may disqualify us to judge impartially in the case. Hence the coldness, shall I say hostility, (if so incongruous a term can be admitted here,) with which some good men regard important societies, in the management of whose concerns they have no individual agency. Hence their alternations of zeal and indifference towards the same object, at different times. Hence one becomes an exclusive advocate for this charity, and another for that. One perhaps would have all religious efforts concentrated in promoting missions to the heathen. Another prefers the same claims for domestic missions. Another, for Education societies ;-another for Bible societies. Hence also, good men contract localities of feeling. The interest of their neighborhood, of their party, of their College, of their periodical publication, (or whatever happens to be the favorite object,) because it is theirs, is magnified into preeminent importance. |