THE ESTABLISHED CHRISTIAN URGED TO EXERT HIMSELF FOR PURPOSES OF USEFULNESS.
1, 2. A sincere love to God will express itself not only in devotion, but in benevolence to men.--3. This is the command of God.--4. The true Christian feels his soul wrought to a holy conformity to it.--5. And therefore will desire instruction on this head.--6. Accordingly, directions are given for the improvement of various talents: particularly genius and learning.--7. Power.--8. Domestic authority.--9. Esteem.--10. Riches.--11. Several good ways of employing them hinted at.--12, 13. Prudence in expense urged, for the support of charity.--14. Divine direction in this respect to be sought. The Christian breathing after more extensive usefulness.
1. SUCH as I have described in the former chapter, I trust, are and will be
the frequent exercises or your soul before God. Thus will your love and
gratitude breathe itself forth in the divine presence and will, through Jesus
the great Mediator, come up before it as incense, and yield an acceptable
savor. But then, you must remember, this will not be the only effect of that
love to God which I have supposed so warm in your heart. If it be sincere, it
will not spend itself in words alone, but will discover itself in actions, and
wilt produce, as its genuine fruit, an unfeigned love to your fellow-creatures,
and an unwearied desire and labor to do them good continually.
2. "Has the great Father of mercies," will
you say, "looked upon me with so gracious an eye? has he not only forgiven me
ten thousand offences, but enriched me with such a variety of benefits? O what
shall render to him for them all? Instruct me, O ye oracles of eternal truth!
Instruct me, ye elder brethren in the family of my heavenly Father! Instruct
me, above all, O thou Spirit of wisdom and love! what I may be able to do, to
express my love to the great eternal fountain of love, and to approve my
fidelity to him who has already done so much to engage it, and who will take so
much pleasure in owning and rewarding it!"
3. This, O Christian! is the command which we
have heard from the beginning, and it will ever continue in unimpaired force,
"that he who loveth God," should "love his brother also," (I John, 4:21) and
should express that love, "not in word and profession alone, but in deed and in
truth." (1 John 3: 18) You are to love your neighbor as yourself; to love the
whole creation of God; and, so far as your influence can extend, must endeavor
to make it happy.
4. "Yes," will you not say, and "I do love it. I
feel the golden chain of divine love encircling us all, and binding us close to
each other, joining us in one body, and diffusing as it were, one soul through
all. May happiness, true and sublime, perpetual and ever-growing happiness,
reign through the whole world of God's rational and obedient creatures in
heaven and on earth! And may every revolted creature, that is capable of being
recovered and restored, be made obedient! Yea, may the necessary punishment of
those who are irrecoverable, be overruled by infinite wisdom and love to the
good of the whole!"
5. These are right sentiments, and if they are
indeed the sentiments of your heart, O reader! and not an empty form of vain
words, they will be attended with a serious concern to act in subordination to
this great scheme of divine Providence, according to your abilities in their
utmost extent. And to this purpose, they will put you on surveying the peculiar
circumstances of your life and being, that you may discover what opportunities
of usefulness they now afford, and how those opportunities and capacities may
be improved. Enter therefore into such a survey, not that you may pride
yourself in the distinctions of divine Providence or grace towards you, or,
"having received, may glory as if you had not received;" (I Cor. 4:7) but that
you may deal faithfully with the great Proprietor, whose steward you are, and
by whom you are entrusted with every talent, which, with respect to any claim
from your fellow-creatures, you may call your own. And here, "having gifts
differing according to the grace that is given to us," (Rom. 12:6) let us hold
the balance with an impartial hand, that so we may determine what it is that
God requires of us; which is nothing less than doing the most we can invent,
contrive, and effect, for the general good. But, oh! how seldom is this
estimate faithfully made! And how much does the world around us, and how much
do our own souls suffer for want of that fidelity!
6. Hath God given you genius and learning? It was
not that you might amuse or deck yourself with it, and kindle a blaze which
should only serve to attract and dazzle the eyes of men. It was intended to be
the means of heading both yourself and them to the Father of lights. And it
will be your duty, according to the peculiar turn of that genius and capacity,
either to endeavor to improve and adorn human life, or, by a more direct
application of it to divine subjects, to plead the cause of religion, to defend
its truths, to enforce and recommend its practicer to deter men from courses
which would be dishonorable to God and fatal to themselves, and to try the
utmost efforts of all the solemnity and tenderness with which you can clothe
your addresses, to lead them into the paths of virtue and happiness.
7. Has God invested you with power, whether it be
in a larger or smaller society? Remember that this power was given you that
God might be honored, and those placed under your government, whether domestic
or public, might be made happy. Be concerned, therefore, that, whether you be
entrusted with the rod, or the sword, it may "not be" borne in vain. (Rom.
13:4) Are you a magistrate? Have you any share in the great and tremendous
charge of enacting laws? Reverence the authority of the supreme Legislator, the
great Guardian of society: promote none, consent to none, which you do not in
your own conscience esteem, in present circumstances, an intimation of his
will, and in the establishment of which you do not firmly believe you shalt be
"his minister for good." (Rom. 13:4) Have you the charge of executing laws? Put
life into them by a vigorous and strenuous execution, according to the nature
of the particular office you bear. Retain not an empty name of authority.
Permit not yourself, as it were, to fall asleep on the tribunal. Be active, be
wakeful, be observant of what passes around you. Protect the upright and the
innocent. Break in pieces the power of the oppressor. Unveil every dishonest
heart. Disgrace as well as defeat the wretch that makes his distinguished
abilities the disguise or protection of the wickedness which he ought rather to
endeavor to expose, and to drive out of the world with abhorrence.
8. Are you placed only at the head of a private
family? Rule it for God. Administer the concerns of that little kingdom with
the same views, and on the same principles, which I have been inculcating oil
the powerful and the great, if, by any unexpected accident, any of them should
suffer their eyes to glance upon the passage above. Your children and servants
are your natural subjects. Let good order be established among them, and keep
them under a regular discipline. Let them be instructed in the principles of
religion, that they may know how reasonable such a discipline is; and let them
be accustomed to act accordingly. You cannot indeed change their hearts, but
you may very much influence their conduct, and by that means may preserve them
from many snares, may do a great deal to make them good members of society, and
may set them, as it were, "in the way of God's steps," (Psa. 85:13) if
peradventure passing by be may bless them with the riches of his grace. And
fail not to do your utmost to convince them of their need of those blessings;
labor to engage them to a high esteem of them, and to an earnest desire of
them, as incomparably more valuable than any thing else.
9. Again, has God been pleased to raise you to
esteem among your fellow-creatures, which is not always in proportion to a
man's rank or possession in human life? Are your counsels heard with attention?
Is your company sought? Does God give you good acceptance in the eyes of men,
so that they do not only put the fairest constructions on your words, but
overlook faults of which you are conscious to yourself, and consider your
actions and performances in the most indulgent and favorable light? You ought
to regard this, not only as a favor of Providence, and as an encouragement to
you cheerfully to pursue your duty, in the several branches of it, for the time
to come, but also, as giving you much greater opportunities of usefulness than
in your present station you could otherwise have had. If your character has any
weight in the world, throw it into the right scale. Endeavor to keep virtue and
goodness in countenance. Affectionately give your hand to modest worth, where
it seems to be depressed or overlooked; though shining, when viewed in its
proper light, with a lustre which you may think much superior to your own. Be
an advocate for truth; be a counsellor for peace; be an example of candor; and
do all you can to reconcile the hearts of men, especially of good men, to each
other, however they may differ in their opinions about matters which it is
impossible for good men to dispute. And let the caution and humility of your
behavior, in circumstances of such superior eminence, and amidst so many tokens
of general esteem, silently reprove the rashness and haughtiness of those who
perhaps are remarkable for little else; or who, if their abilities were indeed
considerable, must be despised, and whose talents must be in a great measure
lost to the public, till that rashness and haughtiness of spirit be subdued.
Nor suffer yourself to he interrupted in this generous and worthy course, by
the little attacks or envy and calumny which you may meet. Be still attentive
to the general good, and steadily resolute in your efforts to promote it; and
leave it to Providence to guard or to rescue your character from the base
assaults of malice and falsehood, which will often, without your labor, confute
themselves, and heap upon the authors greater shame, or (if they are
inaccessible to that} greater infamy, than your humanity will allow you to wish
them.
10. Once more, Has God blessed you with riches?
Has he placed you in such circumstances that you have more than you absolutely
need for the subsistence of yourself and your family? Remember your approaching
account. Remember what an incumbrance these things often prove to men in the
way of their salvation, and how often, according to our Lord's express
declaration, they render it "as difficult to enter into the kingdom of God, as
it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle." (Matt. 19:24) Let it
therefore be your immediate, your earnest, and your daily prayer, that riches
may not be a snare and a shame to you, as they are to by far the greater part
of their possessors. Appropriate, I beseech you, some certain part and
proportion of your estate and revenue to charitable uses; with a provisional
increase, as God shall prosper you in any extraordinary instance. By this means
you will always have a fund of charity at hand; and you will probably be more
ready to communicate, when you look upon what is so deposited as not in any
sense your own, but as already actually given away to those uses, though not
yet affixed to particular objects. It is not for me to say what that proportion
ought to be. To those who have large revenues, and no children, perhaps a third
or one half may be too little; to those whose incomes are small, and their
charge considerable, though they have something more than is absolutely
necessary, it is possible a tenth may be too much. But pray that God would
guide your mind; make a trial for one year, on such terms as in your conscience
you think will be most pleasing to him; and let your observations on that teach
you to fix your proportion for the next always remembering, that he requires
justice in the first place, and alms-deeds only so far as may consist with
that. Yet, at the same time, take heed of that treacherous, delusive, and, in
many instances, destructive imagination, "that justice to your own family
requires that yon should leave your children very rich; which has perhaps cost
some parsimonious parents the lives of those darlings for whom they laid up the
portion of the poor; and what fatal consequences of divine displeasure may
attend it to those that yet survive, God Only knows; and I heartily pray that
you or yours may never learn by experience.
11. And that your heart may be yet more opened,
and that your charity may be directed to the best purposes, let me briefly
mention a variety of good uses which may call for the consideration of those
whom God has in this respect distinguished by an ability to do good. To assist
the hints I am to offer, look round on the neighborhood in which you live.
Thank how many honest and industrious, perhaps too, I might add, religious
people, are making very hard shifts to struggle through life. Think what a
comfort that would be to them, which you might without any inconvenience spare
from that abundance which God hath given you. Hearken also to any extraordinary
calls of charity which may happen, especially those of a public nature, and
help them forward with your example, and your interest in them, which perhaps
may be of much greater importance than the sum which you contribute, considered
in itself. Have a tongue to plead for the necessitous, as well as a hand to
relieve them; and endeavor to discountenance those poor, shameful excuses,
which covetousness often dictates to those whose art may indeed set some
varnish on what they suggest, but so slight a one, that the coarse ground will
appear through it. See how many poor children are wandering naked and ignorant
about the streets, and in the way to all kinds of vice and misery; and consider
what can be done toward clothing some of them at least, and instructing them in
the principles of religion. Would every thriving family in a town, who are able
to afford help on such occasions, cast a pitying eye on one poor family in its
neighborhood, and take it under their patronage, to assist in feeding, and
clothing, and teaching the children, in supporting it in affliction, in
defending it from wrongs, and in advising those that have the management of it,
as circumstances might require, how great a difference would soon be produced
in the character and circumstances of the community! Observe who are sick,
that, if there be no public infirmary at hand to which you can introduce them,
(where your contribution will yield the largest increase) you may do something
towards relieving them at home, and supplying them with advice and medicines,
as well as with proper diet and attendance. Consider also the spiritual
necessities of men: in providing for which, I would particularly recommend to
you the very important and noble charity of assisting young persons of genius
and piety with what is necessary to support the expense of their education for
the ministry, in the proper course of grammatical or academical studies. And
grudge not some proportion of what God hath given you, to those who, resigning
all temporal views to minister to you the Gospel of Christ, have surely an
equitable claim to be supported by you, in a capacity of rendering you those
services, however laborious, to which, for your sakes, and that of our common
Lord, they have devoted their lives. And while you are so abundantly "satisfied
with the goodness of Gal's house, even of his own temple," (Psa. 65:4) have
compassion on those who dwell in a desert land; and rejoice to do something
toward sending among the distant nations of the heathen world, that glorious
Gospel which bath so long continued unknown to multitudes, though the knowledge
of it, with becoming regard, be life everlasting. These are a few important
charities which I would point out to those whom Providence has enriched with
its peculiar bounties; and it renders gold more precious than it could appear
in any other light, that it is capable of being employed for such purposes. But
if you should not have gold to spare for them, contribute your silver; or, as a
farthing or a mite is not overlooked by God, when it is given from a truly
generous and charitable heart, (Mark 12:42,43) let that be cheerfully dropped
into the treasury, where richer offerings cannot be afforded.
12. And that, amidst so many pressing demands for
charity, you may be better furnished to answer them, seriously reflect on your
manner of living. I say not that God requires you should become one of the many
poor relieved out of your income. The support of society, as at present
established, will not only permit, but require, that some persons should allow
themselves in the elegancies and delights of life; by furnishing which,
multitudes of poor families are much more creditably and comfortably subsisted,
with greater advantage to themselves and safety to the public, than they could
be, if the price of their labors, or of the commodities in which they deal,
were to be given them as alms; nor can I imagine it grateful to God, that his
gifts should be refused, as if they were meant for snares and curses rather
than benefits. This were to frustrate the benevolent purposes of the gracious
Father of mankind, and if carried to its rigor, would be a sort of conspiracy
against the whole system of nature. Let the bounties of Providence be used; but
let us carefully see to it, that it be in a moderate and prudent manner, lest,
by our own folly, "that which should have been for our welfare become a trap."
(Psa. 69:22) Let conscience say, my dear reader, with regard to yourself, what
proportion of the good things you possess your Heavenly Father intends for
yourself, and what for your brethren; and live not as if you had no
brethren--as if pleasing yourself in all the magnificence and luxury you can
devise, were the end for which you were sent into the world. I fear this is the
excess of the present age, and not an excess of rigor and mortification.
Examine, therefore, your expenses, and compare them with your income. That may
be shamefully extravagant in you, which may not only be pardonable, but
commendable in another of superior estate. Nor can you be sure that you do not
exceed, merely because you do not plunge your-self into debt, nor render
yourself incapable of laying up any thing for your family. If you be disabled
from doing any thing for the poor, or any thing proportionable to your rank in
life, by that genteel and elegant way of living which you affect, God must
disapprove of such a conduct; and you ought, as you will answer to him, to
retrench it. And though the divine indulgence will undoubtedly be exercised to
those in whom there is a sincere principle of faith in Christ, and undissembled
love to God and man, though it act not to that height of beneficence and
usefulness which might have been attained; yet be assured of this, that he, who
rendereth to every one according to his works, will have a strict regard to the
degrees of the goodness in the distribution of final rewards: so that every
neglected opportunity draws after it an irreparable loss, which will go into
eternity along with you. And let me add, too, that every instance of negligence
indulged, renders the mind still more and more indolent and weak, and
consequently more indisposed to recover the ground which has been lost, or even
to maintain that which has been hitherto kept.
18. Complain not that this is imposing hard
things upon you. I am only directing your pleasures into a nobler channel; and
indeed that frugality, which is the source of such a generosity, far from being
at all injurious to your reputation, will rather, among wise and good men,
greatly promote it. But you have far nobler motives before you than those which
arise from their regards. I speak to you as to a child of God, and a member of
Christ; as joined, therefore, by the most intimate union, to all the poorest of
those that believe in him. I speak to you as to an heir of eternal glory, who
ought therefore to have sentiments great and sublime, in some proportion to
that expected inheritance.
14. Cast about therefore in your thoughts what
good is to be done, and what you can do, either in your own person or by your
interest with others; and go about it with resolution, as in the name and
presence of the Lord. And as "the Lord giveth wisdom, and out of his mouth
cometh knowledge and understanding," (Prov. 2:6) go to the footstool of his
throne, and there seek that guidance and that grace which may suit your present
circumstances, and may be effectual to produce the fruits of holiness and
usefulness, to his more abundant glory, and to the honor of your Christian
profession.
The established Christian breathing after more extensive Usefulness.
