s: 2^6 . o J . 



Srotn t^e feifimri? of 
(profeBBor T3?ifftam ^enrg (Screen 

(J&equeaf ^^ 61? ^im fo 
f^e £i6tati? of 

(princefon C^eofogtcaf ^eminarg 






^^ 



TRACTS 



AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY. 



General S c r i c . 




YOL. VI. 



PRINTED BY THE 
AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 

150 NASSAU. STREET, NEW YORK. 



CONTENTS 



VOL. YI. 

No. Pages. 

185. The Doctrine of the Trinity. By Rev. Ellas Cornelius, D. D., 28 

186. The Worth of the Soul. By Rt. Rev. C. P. Mcllvaine, D. D., 8 

187. The Law of the Sabbath. By Rev. Wm. S. Plumer, D. D., 20 

188. A Word to Mothers, 4 

189. A Word in the Ear of the Professed Christian, . . 4 

190. Death of Hume and Finley compared. By Rev. John M. 

Mason, D. D., 16 

191. A Warning to Sabbath-Breakers, ..... 4 

192. The Bible of Divine Origin. A Dialogue. By Rev. John 

De Witt, 36 

193. The Village in the Mountains, 24 

194. Christian Education. By Rev. Chas. B. Hadduck, . . 16 

195. The Seventh Commandment. By Rev. T. Dwight, D. D., 16 

196. Advice to Young Christians. By Rev. Jonathan Edwards, 4 

197. Letters on Christian Education. By a Mother, . . 36 

198. Scriptural Morality, 8 

199. The Village Prayer-Meeting, 4 

200. The ruinous Consequences of Gambling, . . . .20 

201. Friendly Hints to the Young, 8 

202. Importance of Consideration. By Rt. Rev. C. P. Mcll- 

vaine, D. D., . . . . . . . . 8 

203. Conversation with a Young Traveller. By Rev. John Ma- 

son, D. D., 8 

204. A Scripture Help. Abridged from Bickersteth, . . .28 

205. A Strange Incident, ....... 4 

206. The Conversion of Sinners a common Christian Duty, . 20 

207. The Praying Mother, 8 

208. The Worth of a Dollar, 4 

209. Why God employs feeble Means to produce great Effects, 12 



/ 



4 CONTENTS. 

* 

No. Pagks. 

210. History of Jonathan Brown, ...... 12 

211. To Parents, 16 

212. A Serious Inquiry, . . . . . . . .8 

213. The Sinner Forewarned, ...... 8 

214. More than One Hundred Arguments for the Supreme Divin- 

ity of Christ, 32 

215. The Importance of Salvation. By Rev. Archibald Alexan- 

der, D. D., 8 

216. A Word for the Bible, 4 

217. The History of Amelia Gale, . . . . 8 

218. The Life of Rev. John Bunyan, 12 

219. John Robins, the Sailor, 8 

220. The Bible the best of all Books, 4 

221. Address on the Effects of Ardent Spirits. By Jonathan Kit- 

tredge, Esq., ......... 24 

222. Our Lord's Sermon on the Mount, 8 



A PLAIN AND PRACTICAL VIEW 



OF THE 



DOCTRIIE OE THE TRINITY 



BY REV. ELIAS CORNELIUS, D.D. 



In examining the truths of revelation, it is nnportant 
that our inquiries be conducted with candor and humiUty. 
The subjects treated of are so vast, and in many instances 
so much above the comprehension of the human mind, 
that our knowledge of them can be neither very extensive, 
nor correct, unless we dismiss our prejudices, and rely sim- 
ply on divine testimony. This is especially true, when we 
undertake to investigate the deep things of God himself. 
*' Canst thou by searching find out God ? Canst thou find 
out the Almighty unto perfection ? It is high as heaven ; 
what canst thou do ? Deeper than hell ; what canst thou 
know ?" If ever men need supernatural aid, it is when 
they enter upon this unmeasurable field of inquiry. 

It should excite our gratitude, that God has been pleased 
to grant us such aid, in the Scriptures of revealed truth. 
He has there told us who he is, and what he requires. He 
has even disclosed important facts concerning the mode of 
his existence ; and pointed out the manner in which he is 
to be approached and worshipped. Our duty is, to receive 
his instructions, not with the feelings of judges, but with 
the docility of learners. If we are told that God is a being 
of infinite knowledge, holiness, and justice, we must give 
full credit to the declaration, although we can neither com- 
VOL. VI. 1* 



2 DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 

prehend the extent of such attributes, nor reconcile them 
with every event which occurs in his providence. And so, 
if the Scriptures clearl}^ inform us what honors are due to 
the only true God, and tlien direct us to render these hon- 
ors to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, we 
must obey the direction with scrupulous exactness, whatever 
conclusions it may lead us to make concerning the manner 
in which God exists. Every serious and conscientious per- 
son must desire to know what these honors are, and how 
they are to be rendered. The doctrine of the Triyiity is 
inseparably connected with these inquiries. No subject, 
therefore, can be more immediately or deeply practical. 

Let us, then, inquire what the doctrine of the Trinity is ; 
what is the proof of it ; and what is its practical impor- 
tance ? If the humble inquirer after truth can arrive at sat- 
isfactory conclusions on these points, he will possess what 
is most necessary to his faith and practice ; and having this, 
he may safely leave other questions to be settled in a world 
of clearer light and more extensive knowledge. 

I. I am to show what the doctrine of the Trinity is. 
In doing this, I remark, it is not that there are three, su- 
preme, independent Gods. The language of the Bible, on 
this point, is such as no one can mistake. " Hear, Israel, 
the Lord our God is One Lord." After such a declaration, 
to say that there are, or can be, three independent Gods, 
would be to contradict the highest testimony in the universe. 
Were this the doctrine of the Trinity, or were it a fair and 
manifest conclusion from it, no evidence could prove it to 
be true. It would carry its own refutation on the face of 
it. Those who receive the doctrine have no such view of 
it. They adopt no opinion which in their apprehension 
infringes, in the least, on that grand article of the Divine 
Unity, which they hold to be the basis of all true religion. 

Neither is it the doctrine of the Trinity, as commonly 
deduced from the Scriptures, that God merely acts in three 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY 3 

essentially different ways, or in three prominent and pecu- 
liar relations : that when he manifests himself in one of 
these, he takes the title of Father ; when he appears in a 
second, he calls himself Son ; and when he is exhibited in a 
third, he styles himself Holy Spirit ; just as when a human 
being sustains three offices, he may take different titles, and 
designate himself by one or other of them, according to the 
circumstances in which he acts. As the former statement 
contains more than is implied in the doctrine of the Trinity, 
so this contains less. The distinction which it makes be- 
tween the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, is rather nominal 
than real, and falls far short of those personal descriptions 
which the Scriptures give of them. 

I observe, therefore, that the doctrine teaches the fact, 
That the Father, the Son, and the Holy Sj^irit, are the 
one, only, living, and true God ; and that there is in the 
Divine Nature, or Godhead, a foundation for such a dis- 
tinction, as authorizes the cqyplication of the perso7ial pro- 
nouns, I, thou, and he, to each of these names ; and requires 
diviiie attributes and honors to he ascribed to the Son, and 
to the Holy Sp>irit, as ivell as to the Father. 

This the doctrine teaches simply as a fact ; to be received, 
or rejected, according to the nature and degree of the evi- 
dence which is brought in support of it. The reality of such 
a distinction in the Godhead is, hoAvever, as independent of 
any explanation which may be given of it, as the reality of 
God's existence is independent of any explanation how he 
exists. The credibility of a fact does not necessarily depend 
upon the possibility of explaining it in a satisfactory man- 
ner, but on evidence. What philosopher of modern times 
doubts that certain bodies possess the properties which are 
called magnetism and electricity ; or that all bodies possess 
the property of gravitation ? Yet what philosopher has 
been able to do more than to describe these attributes of 
matter, as facts ? The mind of Newton did not attempt 
any thi ^<y beyond this. 



4 DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 

The Scriptures reveal many things as facts, which they 
do not undertake to explain. They tell us that God is eter- 
nal, omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent ; but what can 
we comprehend of things infinite in degree or duration ? 
They teach us also that God is a spirit ; that he made all 
things from nothing ; that he will raise the dead ; and bring 
every thought, feeling, and action into judgment; but what 
do we know of these things, except that they are realities ? 
Yet they are as firmly believed and confided in, by all who 
receive the testimony of the Bible, as though they admitted 
a solution of every difficulty. So also may the doctrine of 
the Trinity be fully credited, though the fact which it asserts 
should remain for ever unexplained. All that can reason- 
ably be demanded is, that the terms in which it is expressed 
contain nothing in itself absurd, and that it have the testi- 
mony of the word of God for its support. That such is the 
case in regard to the statement which has been made, it 
will be my object to show. 

II. I proceed, therefore, to exhibit the proof of the 
DOCTRINE. I will first eudcavor to show that the statement 
alleges nothing in itself absurd ; and then that it is sup- 
ported by the testimony of Scripture. 

The absurdity alleged against the doctrine of the Trinity, 
and that to which all objections proceeding on the ground 
that it is essentially incredible, may be reduced, is, that it 
teaches that three Gods are one God ; which is saying that 
three and one are, numerically, the same. 

Now, if the language contained in the statement of the 
doctrine be justly chargeable with such a contradiction, it 
must be, either, because it asserts that the Father, Son, and 
Holy Spirit, are three Gods, or because it implies this. The 
first will not be pretended, since, so far as mere declaration 
goes, it asserts the contrary. It declares that the Father, 
the Son, and the Holy Spirit, are the One, only, living, and 
true God. Neither does the statement imply that there 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 5 

are more Gods than one. Before such an allegation can be 
proved, it must be shown, either that the proposition repre- 
sents God as three, m the same sense in which he is repre- 
sented as one, or that the distinction Avhich it supposes in 
the Divine Nature is impossible. The former cannot be 
shown, because the statement represents God as three, in 
reference only to the distinction, he it what it may, which 
exists between the Father, Son, and Spirit ; and as one, in 
reference to their union in the same Godhead ; that is, it 
represents him as three, in one sense, and as one, in another 
sense. To assume the latter part of the alternative, relat- 
ing to the impossibility of such a distinction as the state- 
ment asserts, would be taking for granted the main point in 
dispute, and is what no one can affirm, who does not pre- 
sume to know all those distinctions of which the Divine 
Nature is capable. Besides, in order to prove that such a 
distinction is irreconcilable with the Divine Unity, the ob- 
jector must show not only in what that distinction consists, 
but in what Divine Unity consists, and then that there is 
a contradiction between the two. But this no human intel- 
lect has done, or can do. 

Viewed, therefore, in whatever light it may be, the 
doctrine, as it has been stated, contains nothing in itself 
contradictory or absurd. It simply asserts a fact concern- 
ing the mode of the Divine existence, which, for any thing 
that appears in the declaration itself, may be true ; and 
leaves the reality of it to be shown, like that of thousands 
of other facts, by testimony. The way is noAv prepared to 
exhibit the evidence which the Scriptures afford of the 
truth of the doctrine. This I shall endeavor to present in 
the following propositions. 

1. The Scriptures mention certain characteristics hy 
which God is kyioivn and distinguished from all other heings ; 
mid ivhich he does not permit to he applied to any other than 
himself. 



6 DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 

If Jehovah is different from all other beings, it is plain 
that he must possess some things which are peculiar to 
himself; and which, being known, necessarily distinguish 
him from all others. If we examine the Scriptures, we 
shall find that the sacred writers have exhibited God with 
all this prominence and peculiarity : designating him by 
titles, ascribing to him attributes and actions, and rendering 
him honors, which belong to no other being. A few quo- 
tations will show this in the clearest manner. 

No one can doubt that the epithets used in the following 
passages belong only to the Supreme God : *' That all men 
may know, that thou, whose name alone is Jehovah, art the 
Most High over all the earth. This is eternal life, to know 
thee, the only true God. The Great, the Mighty God, the 
Lord of hosts is his name. Thus saith the Lord, the King 
of Israel, and his Redeemer the Lord of hosts, / ajn the 
first, and / am the last." Psalm 83 : 18; John 17 : 3; 
Jer. 32 : 18, 19; Isaiah 44 : 6. 

Equally manifest is it, that the attributes which are 
mentioned, or implied, in the following citations, are intend- 
ed to be understood as belonging to the only true God : 
" For thou, EVEN THOU ONLY, Jiuowest the hearts of all the 
children of men. I the Lord search the heart, I try the 
reins, even to give to every man according to his ways. 
God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Can 
any one hide himself in secret places, that I shall not see 
him ? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth ? saith 
the Lord. The Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, I 
am the Almighty God. The eternal God is thy refuge. I 
am the Lord, I change not." 1 Kings, 8 : 39 ; Jer. 17:10; 
1 John, 3 : 20 ; Jer. 23 : 24 ; Gen. 17:1; Deut. 33 : 27 ; 
Mai. 3:6. In these passages, omniscience, omnipresence, 
omnipotence, eternity, and immutability, are described as 
distinguishing attributes of Jehovah. 

Creation is a work which is uniformly represented in 
Scripture as belonging to God. '' In the beginning, God 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 7 

created the heavens and the earth. Thou, even thou, art 
Lord alone : thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, 
with all their host ; the earth, and all things that are there- 
in ; the seas, and all that is therein ; and thou preservest 
them all. He that built all things is God^ It is declared, 
also, that the work of creation w^as executed by God alone, 
without the intervention of any helper or associate. " Thus 
saith the Lord thy Redeemer . . . I am the Lord that 
malceth all things ; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone ; 
that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself." It is one 
method of describing false gods to designate them as " gods 
which have not made the heavens and the earth." Gen. 
1:1; Neh. 9:6; Heb. 3:4; Isa. 44 : 24 ; Jer. 10 : 11. Of 
course, he who did create them is the true God, 

Other portions of Scripture mention it as the special 
prerogative of God to forgive sin, and to judge the world 
at the last day. He is exhibited, also, as the only being 
worthy of supreme love and confidence, and as the only 
lawful object of religious worship. The following citations 
may serve as examples : *' I, even I, am he that hlotteth 
out thy transgi^essions. God shall bring every work into 
judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or 
whether it be evil. So, then, every one of us shall give 
account of himself to God. Cursed be the man that trust- 
eth in man, and maketh flesh his arm . . . blessed is the 
man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. 
Fear God, and give glory to him, and worship him that 
made heaven and earth, and the fountains of waters. Thou 
SHALT WORSHIP NO OTHER GoD." Isa, 43 : 25 ; Ecc. 12:14; 
Rom. 14 : 12 ; Jer, 17 : 5, 7 ; Rev. 14 : 7 ; Ex. 34 : 14. 

Such is the language by which the true God is known 
and distinguished. Every one perceives that the being who 
can justly claim these titles, attributes, works, and worship, 
is, and must be, the supreme God, the Jehovah of the 
Scriptures. They are also Avhat God himself assumes 
as his peculiar prerogatives, and forbids to be applied to 



8 DOCTRINE OF THE DIVINITY. 

-any other being. In such expUcit and solemn terms as 
these does he assert the rights of the Supreme Divinity : 
" I, even I, am he ; and there is no God luith me. I am 
God, and there is none like me. I am the Lord, that is my 
name ; and my glory ivill I not give unto another. Thou 
shalt have no other gods before me''' Deut. 32 : 39 ; Isa. 
4G : 9 ; 42 : 8 ; Exod. 20 : 3. But if it is true, that Jeho- 
vah will not give, nor delegate the attributes and honors 
which belong to him, and constitute his glory, to another ; 
if there is no God w'ltli him, and none like him, in the uni- 
verse, it follows, that the being who possesses these attri- 
butes, and may claim these honors, is the only true God. 
Thus it appears that the Scriptures mention certain charac- 
teristics by which God is known and distinguished from all 
other beings ; and which he does not permit to be applied 
to any other than himself. This is the first proposition. 

2. These same characteristics, ivhich belong only to God, 
and are forbidden by him to be apj^lied to any other, are 
ascribed in Scripture, by God himself, to the Father, to the 
Son, and to the Holy Spirit. 

That this is true in regard to the Father, no one can 
have any doubt. I shall endeavor to show that it is true, 
also, of the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The limits of a Tract 
permit the introduction of but few passages on each of these 
branches of the subject. I shall, select such as are most 
obvious in their import, and which, it is believed, will bear 
the strictest examination. 

1. Several of the distinguishing names and titles of God 
are applied to Christ, in the following passages, in the same 
unqualified manner in which w^e have before seen that they 
are applied to Jehovah. " Whose are the fathers, and of 
whom, as concerning the flesh j Christ came, who is over all, 
God blessed forever. And we are in Him that is true, even 
in his Son Jesus Christ ; this is the true God, and eternal 
life." The writer of the Apocalypse represents Christ as 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 9 

saying, " I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last.^* 
The prophet Isaiah says, " I saw also Jehovah sitting upon 
a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple ;" 
yet the evangelist John, speaking of Christ, refers to this 
vision, and observes, " These things said Esaias, when he 
saw his," Christ's, "glory, and spake of him." Christ is 
therefore Jehovah, whom the prophet saw. Rom. 9:5; 

1 John, 5 : 20 ; Rev. 1 : 11 ; Isa. 6:1, compared with 
John 12 : 41. 

In the passages which follow, the distinguishing attri- 
butes of God are ascribed to Christ, in the same unqualified 
manner. "In the heginninr/''' — from eternity — "was the 
Word. I am Alpha and Omega, the heginning and the end. 
And thou. Lord, in the beginning, hast laid the foundation 
of the earth, and the heavens are the work of thy hands : 
they shall perish, but thou remainest ; and they all shall 
wax old as doth a garment ; and as a vesture shalt thou fold 
them, and they shall be changed ; hut thou art the same, 
and thy years shall not fail. All the churches shall know 
that I AM HE which searcheth the reins and the hearts. As 
the Father Icnotveth me, even so knoio I the Father." Of 
Christ, also, it is said, that " he shall change our vile body, 
that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, accord- 
ing to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all 
things to himself.^'' It was Jesus who said to his disciples, 
*' Where two or three are gathered together in my name, 
there am I in the midst of them ;" and who assures his min- 
isters, " Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the 
world." John 1:1; Rev. 22:13; Heb. 1:10-12; Rev. 

2 : 23 ; John 10:15; Phil. 3:21; Matt. 18 : 20 ; 28 : 20. 
It can scarcely be necessary to remark, that the attributes 
which are here ascribed to Christ are the same, and for 
the most part are expressed in the same language, with 
those which Ave have before seen to be descriptive of the 
only true Jehovah. 

Creation, which is so often claimed in the Scriptures as 

VOL. VI. 2 



10 DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 

the work of God alone, is ascribed to Christ in the most 
direct and positive terms, as the following quotations will 
show. " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was 
with God, and the Word was God. All things loere made 
hy him ; and luithout him was not any thing made which ivas 
made. The world was made by him." In the following 
passages he is declared to be the Preserver, and Upholder, 
as well as the Creator of the universe. " For by him," that 
is, Christ, " were all things created, that are in heaven, and 
that are in earth, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or 
principalities, or powers : all things were created by him and 
FOR him ; and he is before all things, and by him all things 
consist. Who, being the brightness of his glory, and the 
express image of his person, and upholding all things by 
the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our 
sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high." 
John 1 : 1, 2, 10; Col. 1 : 16, 17; Heb. 1 : 3. What 
stronger terms is it possible to use, than are here employed 
in describing the creative and preserving power of Christ ? 
Who would hesitate a moment to understand them of the 
Supreme Jehovah, if they vrere unconnected with the name 
of Christ ? What, then, should hinder them from being so 
understood, now that they are inseparably joined to his 
name ? Certainly, if Christ is before all things ; if all things 
in the universe were created by him, and are ujDheld by him, 
there must be a sense in which he is not himself a creature ; 
and if he is not created, who else can he be but the uncre- 
ated God ? How irreconcilable are such passages as these 
with every theory which reduces the Lord Jesus Christ to the 
condition of a dependent being ! Will those who contend 
that he had no existence till he appeared on earth show us 
how he could create the world four thousand years before 
he was born ; or with what propriety it could be said that 
"without him was not any thing made which was made," 
when, as they at the same time tell us, nothing was made 
by him ^ 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. H 

To forgive sin is a divine prerogative, wliicli was claimed 
and exercised by Jesus Christ. To the sick of the palsy he 
said, "Son, be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee," 
Matt. 9 : 2-6 ; and when the Jews accused him of blasphemy, 
for pretending to such divine authority, he replied by assert- 
ing his power to forgive sin. 

To Christ also it belongs to raise the dead, and judge 
the world at the last day. " The hour is coming, in the 
which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and 
shall come forth ; they that have done good unto the resur- 
rection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resur- 
rection of damnation. For we must all appear before the 
judgmeyit-seat of Christ, that every one may receive the 
things done in the body, according to that he hath done, 
whether it be good or bad. John 5 : 28, 29 ; 2 Corinthians, 
5 : 10. 

There are, in short, no acts of confidence and homage 
greater than those which the Scriptures frequently repre- 
sent as being rendered to Christ. " I can do all things 
through Christ ivhich strengtheneth me. Whosoever be- 
lieveth in him shall not be ashamed. Then Peter said. Silver 
and gold have I none ; but such as I have give I thee : in 
the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. 
And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying. 
Lord Jesus, receive my spirit J" Paul addresses his first 
epistle to the Corinthians "to them that are sanctified in 
Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place 
call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord ;" which im- 
plies that it was the practice of all who were Christians to 
pray to Christ.^ This same apostle declares that he thrice 

* So common was it among the early Christians to pay re- 
ligious homage to Christ, that it was usual to distinguish them by 
this circumstance. Pliny, governor of Bithynia, in a letter to the 
Emperor Trajan, says he had made inquiries concerning the 
Christians, and learned " that they were accustomed on a stated 
day to meet before daylight, and to sing with one another a hymn to 



12 DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. ^ 

besought the Lord, by whom he evidently means Christ, 
that the thorn in the flesh might be taken away ; and re- 
ceived for ansAver, '' My grace is sufficient for thee." Phil. 
4:13; Rom. 10:11; Acts3:6; 7:59; 1 Cor. 1 : 2 ; 2 Cor. 
12 : 8, 9. It may be added, that ''to call upon the name 
of the Lord," is a phrase of frequent occurrence in the Old 
Testament, denoting prayer, or religious invocation. Thus 
Abraham " builded an altar unto the Lord, and called upon 
the name of the Lord.'' Gen. 12: 8. In a still more ex- 
plicit manner is Christ acknoAvledged to be the object of 
religious worship in the following passages. " That at the 
name of Jesus every knee should how, of things in heaven, 
and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that 
every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory 
of God the Father, And I beheld, and I heard the voice 
of many angels round about the throne, and the beasts, and 
the elders ; and the number of them was ten thousand times 
ten thousand, and thousands of thousands ; saying with a 
loud voice. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive 
power, and ?'iches, and ivisdom, and strength, and honor, and 
glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, 
and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in 
the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying ; Blessing, 
and honor, and glory, and power, he unto him Avho sitteth 
upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever." 
Phil. 2 : 10, 11; Rev. 5 : 11-13. What higher honors 
can creatures render to the supreme Jehovah, than are here 
paid by the intelligent universe to Christ ? If to these hon- 
ors we add the divine names, titles, attributes, and works, 
which we have seen are so abundantly given him in the 

Christ as God." Eusebius, Hist. Ecc. v. 25, proving the opinion 
that Christ is a mere man to be a departure from the primitive 
faith, quotes a writer still more ancient as saying, ^^ Moreover, all 
tfw psalms and hymns of the brethren, written from the beginning by 
the faithfid, celebrate the praises of Christ, the Word of God and 
attribute divinity to ^?'/?i." 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 13 

Scriptures, and which the Scriptures themselves represent 
as descriptive of the only true God, the truth of the propo- 
sition which we are considering, so far as it relates to the 
Son, must be not only convincing but o\erwhelming. 

2. I proceed now to show, that the characteristics of 
true and proper Godhead are ascribed also, in the Scriptures, 
TO THE Holy Spirit, No one, let his opinion of the doctrine 
of the Trinity be what it may, can well doubt that the phrase 
Holy Spirit, or, as our translators usually have it. Holy 
Ghost, is frequently used in Scripture in such a manner as 
to denote something truly divine. Who, for example, can 
read such declarations as the following, and not perceive that 
the sacred writers connected with the phrase the idea of 
supreme Divinity ? " Peter said unto Ananias, Why has 
Satan filled thine heart to lie unto the Hohj Ghost? Thou 
hast not lied unto men, but unto God.'' "Wherefore the 
Holy Ghost saith. To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden 
not your heart," etc. Acts 5 : 3, 4 ; Heb. 3:7. In the 
passage referred to in the 95th Psalm, it is Jehovah who 
says, " To-day, if ye will hear," etc. The Scriptures are de- 
clared in one place to be given hi/ inspiration of God ; and 
in another it is said, that " holy men of God spake as they 
were moved hy the Holy Ghost.'' All must admit that in 
cases like these the term denotes something in the proper 
sense divine. The only question is, whether the Scriptures 
mean by it any thing distinct from the Father, or so distinct as 
to justify the separate application of the personal pronouns, 
and the ascription of divine actions and honors ; which is 
what the doctrine of the Trinity asserts. On this point it 
would seem as if the Bible was as definite as it could be. 

In the first place, there are many passages in which the 
Holy Spirit is spoken of in a personal manner. " Now 
when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of 
Galatia, and vf ere, forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the 
word in Asia, after they were come to Mysia, they assayed 

VOL. VI 2* 



14 DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 

to go into Bitliynia, but the Spirit suffered them not. The 
Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the 
work whereunto / have called them. The Spirit said unto 
Peter, Behold, three men seek thee. Arise, therefore, and 
get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing, for / 
have sent them. Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth is 
come, HE will guide you into all truth." Acts 16 : 6, 7 ; 
13:2; 10: 19, 20 ; John 16 : 23. Seealso Acts 15 : 28, etc. 

In the second place, there are passages in which the 
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are distinguished from one 
another in the same sentence, and the personal pronouns 
applied to them severally. Such is the fact in the follow- 
ing declarations of our Saviour to his disciples : " I will 
pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comfort- 
er, that HE may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit 
of truth, WHOM the world cannot receive, because it seeth 
HIM not, neither knoweth him ; for he dwelleth with you, 
and shall be in you. The Comforter, which is the Holy 
Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall 
teach you all things." John 14 : 16, 17, 26. 

What can be more obvious than the import of such 
language? Here are no metaphorical allusions, no poetic 
images, to affect the meaning. All is simple, unimpassioned 
prose. If, then, there is any distinction between the Father 
and the Son, there is no less distinction between them both 
and the Holy Spirit. The second proposition is therefore 
proved to be true. 

From the fact thus established, that divine prerogatives 
are ascribed in Scripture to the Father, to the Son, and to 
the Holy Spirit, it might naturally be expected that the 
sacred writers would sometimes exhibit them conjointly, 
and sometimes interchangeably ; as performing separate acts, 
and as performing the same acts. Such is the fact. 

Each of these Divine Names is introduced in a peculiar 
connection in the following passages : " Go ye and teach all 
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of 



DOCTRINE OF THE TllLNITY. 15 

the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Elect according to tlie 
foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of 
the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of 
tTesus Christ. Praying in the JIoli/ Ghost, ke-ep yourselves 
in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus 
Christ unto eternal life. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, 
be with you all. For through Him, that is, Christ, w^e both 
have access by one Spirit unto the Father.'^ Matt. 28 : 19 ; 
1 Pet. 1:2; Jude 20, 21 ; 2 Cor. 13 : 14 ; Eph. 2 : 18. 

The words God, and Christ, are used interchangeably in 
many instances, like the following: "For we shall all stand 
before iYiQ judgment- seat of Christ ; for it is written, As I 
live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every 
tongue shall confess to God. So, then, every one of us 
shall give account of himself to GodT The resurrection 
of Christ is often ascribed to the power of God, and yet 
Christ declared that he would raise his own body. "There- 
fore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, 
that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but 
I lay it down of myself ; I have power to lay it down, and 
I have power to take it again. This commandment have 
I received of my Father." The same union of operation 
with the Father is strongly implied in those passages which 
speak of the resurrection of mankind ; which is sometimes 
ascribed to God, and sometimes to Christ. Rom. 14 : 10- 
12 ; John 10 : IV, 18 ; 5 : 28, 29 ; compare Acts 26 : 8. 

The Father and the Son are exhibited both conjointly 
and interchangeably, as the object of prayer, and the source 
of spiritual blessings, in such instances as these : " Now 
God himself and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, 
direct our way unto you. Now our Lord Jesus Christ 
himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, 
and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope 
through grace, comfort your hearts, and establish you in 
every good word and work." 1 Thess. 3 : 11, 12 ; 2 Thess. 



16 DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 

2 : 16, 17. In other instances they are joined in the same 
act of worship. " Blessing, and honor, and glory, and 
power, be imto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto 
the Lamb for ever. Salvation to our God, who sitteth upon 
the throne, and unto the Lamb." Rev. 5 : 13 ; 7:10. Who- 
ever considers the import of such passages, will surely not 
be surprised that our Saviour should declare, that whatso- 
ever things the Father doeth, " these also doeth the Son 
likewise ;" and on this ground should demand " that all 
men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.'^ 
John 5: 19, 23. 

On the supposition that the doctrine of the Trinity is 
true, these passages admit of an easy interpretation. But 
if that be rejected, it is difficult to conceive what explana- 
tion can be given of them which is consistent with the ex- 
clusive rights of the Godhead. It would shock every mind 
to hear other names associated, as these are throughout the 
Scriptures, with the ever-blessed Jehovah, who is infinitely 
jealous of his own honor, and has threatened with severe 
punishment all those who give his glory to another. 

Besides, if the declarations Avhich ascribe the attributes 
and honors of Godhead to the Son and to the Holy Spirit 
are not to be understood literally, but figuratively, as has 
sometimes been said, how is it to be accounted for, that 
the sacred writers have nowhere used the same figurative 
style when speaking of those Avho are confessedly inferior 
to God ? Why is it used only in reference to the Son and 
to the Holy Spirit ? The examples in which the word god 
is applied to idols, and in two or three instances to men, 
are so different, both in the form of expression and in their 
connection, that they cannot be considered as at all analo- 
gous. Let the style which the Scriptures use in their 
descriptions of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, be taken 
as a whole, and it is hazardins^ nothinof to say, that it is 
without a parallel in the Bible. Whence this great, this 
wonderful singularity ? Either the sacred writers are 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 17 

chargeable with a pecuharity of style which cannot be rec- 
onciled with any just principles of interpretation, and the 
tendency of which is to unsettle the mind concerning their 
meaning in other places ; or, the language in which they 
ascribe divine attributes and honors to the Son and to the 
Spirit, as well as to the Father, must be received according 
to its plain import, and the doctrine as it has been stated 
in this treatise be allowed to be sustained. 

I have now endeavored to establish two propositions : 

First. The Scriptures mention certain characteristics hy 
which God is known and distinguished from all other beings ; 
and lohich he does not jjermit to he applied to any other than 
himself. 

Secondly. These same characteristics, which belong only 
to God, and are forbidden by him to be applied to any other y 
are ascribed in Scripture, by God himself, to the Father, to 
the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. 

It follows, by unavoidable inference. 

Thirdly. That the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, 
are the one, only, living, and true God ; and that there is in 
the Divine Nature, or Godhead, a foundation for such a 
distinction as authorizes the application of the personal pro- 
nouns I, thou, he, to each of these names, and requires divine 
attributes and honors to be ascribed to the Son, and to the 
Holy Spirit, as ivell as to the Father. 

This is the doctrine of the Trinity, which it was pro- 
posed to establish. A conclusion which is built upon such 
premises can never be shaken. Before it can be overthrown, 
it must be shown, either that the testimony of Scripture is 
unworthy of confidence ; in other words, that the Bible is 
not the word of God ; or that, interpreted according to the 
acknowledged principles of language, it does not ascribe 
divine attributes and honors to the Son, and to the Spirit, 
as well as to the Father. The first will not be attempted, 
till the days of avowed infidelity shall have returned ; and 
the last, it is believed, cannot be done, while the Scriptures 



19 DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 

remain what they now are, and the meaning of words is 
the same. The truth of the doctrine which we are con- 
sidering, may be regarded, therefore, as resting upon an 
immovable foundation. So long as there is any truth in 
the axiom, that things which are equal to the same, are equal 
to one another, so long may it be demonstrably shown, from 
the inspired records, that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, 
are equally Divine, and, consequently, that the statement 
contained in this treatise is true. 

Here we might close the argument, and proceed to show 
the practical importance of the doctrine of the Trinity. But 
lest it should be supposed, that the conclusion to which we 
have come has been drawn without reference to the objec- 
tions which are alleged by those who reject the doctrine, 
I will notice some of the principal of them, and examine 
how far they are built upon a solid foundation. 

The objection, that the doctrine is absurd in itself, being 
of the nature of a previous question, which must be settled 
before any direct testimony can be received, has been al- 
ready considered, and shown to be groundless so far as the 
statement in the present treatise is concerned. 

It is also objected, that there are many passages of 
Scripture in which Christ is represented as inferior to the 
Father, and that these are inconsistent with his Supreme 
Divinity. 

The passages to which reference is made are such as 
the following : '' My Father is greater than I. The Son 
can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father 
do. The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things 
into his hand. All power is given imto me in heaven and 
in earth. For there is one God, and one Mediator between 
God and men, the man Christ Jesus. God, who created 
all things hy Jesus Christ. The Father judgeth no man, 
but hath committed all judgment to the Son. Of that day 
and hour knoweth no man ; no, not the angels which are 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 19 

in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. Then cometh 
the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to 
God, even the Father ; . . . . and when all things shall be 
subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be 
subject unto him that put all things under him, that God 
may be all in all." John 14 : 28 ; 5:19; 3 : 35 ; Matt. 
28 : 18 ; Eph. 3:9; John 5 : 22 ; 1 Tim. 2:5; Mark 13 : 
32 ; 1 Cor. 15 : 24, 28. 

It will not be doubted that these quotations exhibit the 
difficulty to which the objection refers, in as strong a light 
as any in the New Testament. They have been selected 
with this design. In what way, then, are these passages 
to be reconciled with those which ascribe divine attributes 
to Christ ? 

In answer to this inquiry, it is to be observed that the 
Scriptures represent Christ as possessing an original and 
an assumed character. In the first place, they assert that 
he existed and acted long before he appeared on earth. 
" Jesus said unto them. Verily, verily, I say imto you, 
before Abraham ivas, I am. And now, Father, glorify 
thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with 
thee before the world was.'' We are told also that Christ 
in his preexistent state was Divine. " In the beginning 
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the 
Word was God'' In the next place, the Scriptures de- 
scribe a great and wonderful change as having taken place 
in the condition of Christ. The evangelist John declares 
that the " Word became flesh, and dwelt among us." Paul 
says, " And without controversy, great is the mystery of 
godliness: God was manifest in the flesh." Other passages 
are more minute in the account which they give of this 
change ; but nowhere is it more strongly avowed, or more 
fully exhibited, than in the following passage : "Who being 
in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with 
God ; but made himself of no reputation, and took upon 
him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness 



20 DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 

of men ; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled 
himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death 
of the cross." John 1 : 14 ; 1 Tim. 3:16; Phil. 2:6, 7. 

Who does not perceive in these passages a two-fold 
description of the person of Christ, in which he is repre- 
sented as possessing an origmal and an assumed character ? 
But let this distinction be made, and the difficulty which 
has been referred to ceases to exist. In his original char- 
acter, Christ is divine ; and is therefore represented as equal 
with the Father, in the numerous passages which have been 
brought to prove his divinity. But in his assumed char- 
acter, he is man and Mediator ; and is accordingly repre- 
sented in other places as limited in knowledge and power, 
and as actino^ in subordination to the will of the Father. 

As a man, he is, and must be, inferior to the Father in 
every thing which distinguishes the human from the divine 
nature ; and he can have no knowledge of future events, and 
of course can have none of the day of judgment, any farther 
than it is revealed to him. To suppose that he can, would 
be to suppose either that human nature does not properly 
belong to him, or that a finite mind can, of itself, discern 
what is obvious only to the eye of omniscience ; neither of 
which is true. 

In like manner, Christ, in his complex character of God 
and man, is invested by the Father with the office of Medi- 
ator, and is said to receive from him a kingdom, and au- 
thority to govern the imiverse. It is in this character, also, 
that he is commissioned to execute the work of redemption, 
to make atonement for sin, and to judge the world at the 
last day. All is done in subordination to the will of the 
Father ; and when he shall have answered the ends for 
which this commission was given him, he will resign it, 
and with it the kingdom which he has received, that God 
may be all in all. 

In this manner the various classes of passages which 
speak of our Saviour's person and attributes may be easily 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 21 

reconciled, and in no other way can they be. If Christ be 
not truly and properly divine, no consistent explanation can 
be given of those passages which represent him as equal to 
the Father. If he be not also man and Mediator, none can 
be given of those which speak of his subordination to the 
Father. But if both characters are united in one complex 
person, all the passages harmonize with each other. 

Nor is the supposition of two natures in Christ any 
more inadmissible than the supposition of two natures in 
man. If the attributes of animal and spiritual existence may 
be combined, so as to form one person, who Avill say that it 
is beyond the reach of Almighty power to combine human 
and divine attributes in the person of Jesus Christ ? We 
speak of man as being mortal and immortal ; yet no one 
mistakes our meaning ; because when we speak of man as 
mortal, every one understands us to refer to his corporeal 
nature ; and when we speak of him as immortal, to his s'pir- 
itual nature. Nor need the sacred writers be misappre- 
hended, when they attribute two natures to Christ, and 
speak of him sometimes in reference to one, and sometimes 
in reference to the other. 

Still it may be asked, if Christ is himself God, how can 
God be said to have created the world hij Christ ? To this 
it may be answered, that the distinction between the Father, 
Son, and Spirit, though not inconsistent with the Divine 
U«ity, is nevertheless a real distinction, and such as lays 
the foundation for a relation of some kind between them. 
This relation, if expressed at all, must be expressed in the 
lanffuaofe of men. But it is manifest that all such language 
is inadequate to describe the precise nature of that relation ; 
and consequently must be regarded as the language of ap- 
proximation merely. The apostle John, as we have seen, 
says concerning Christ, " In the beginning was the Word" — • 
in the original. Logos — ''and the Word was with God, and 
the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with 
God." Suppose, now, that this phraseology should be un- 

VOL. VI. 3 



22 DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 

derstood literally, might not the objector ask, with the same 
propriety, if the Word was himself God, how could he be 
represented as being ivith God ? Every one must see that 
while a distinction of some kind is indicated by this lan- 
guage, the terms which express it are used in a peculiar 
and qualified sense. 

In like manner, when it is said that God created the 
world hy Christ, the words are to be understood as refer- 
ring to that DISTINCTION wliich exists in the Divine Nature, 
between the Father and the Son ; and which, whether it 
consist in the order of operation, or in something else, ren- 
ders it proper to ascribe the work of creation to the divine 
"Word, in a sj^ecial sense. In accordance with this view of 
the subject is the representation of the evangelist John, in 
the place referred to. " In the beginning was the Word, 
and the Word was with God, and the Word Avas God. The 
same was in the beginning with God. All things were 
made hy him ; and without him was not any thing made 
Avhich was made. The world was made by him. And the 
Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us ; and we beheld 
his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, 
full of grace and truth." Two things are here manifest : 
the writer distinguishes between the Father and the Word» 
or Logos ; and he ascribes creation directly to the latter ; 
that is, he ascribes it to God, as the Word. It is doubtless 
with reference to the same distinction, that God is said to 
create the world by the Word, or Christ. 

Let the remarks which have now been offered be atten- 
tively considered, and it will be seen that the doctrine of 
the Trinity, instead of being open to the objection which 
has been discussed, is the only system which effectually 
obviates that objection, since it is the only one which cor- 
responds with the entire representation of the Scriptures 
themselves. 

The use of the word '' i^rson^'' as applied to the Trinity, 
has given rise to an objection of another kind. It has 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 23 

seemed to those who make the objection to imply the 
existence of three distinct Gods ; as, when apphed to men, 
it denotes a separate, conscious being. But it should be 
remembered, that the meaning of this, like that of every 
other word, is entirely arbitrary. It may signify more or 
less, according to the design of those who use it. As 
applied to the Trinity, it denotes simply that in the Divine 
Nature, be it what it may, wliich lays the foundation for 
ascribing the characteristics of the true God to the Father, 
to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, and for applying to each 
the 2^(^i'Sonal pronouns I, thou, and he. For this purpose, 
it is perhaps as convenient a word as any other. Still, it is 
not a term of Scripture, and may be used or not, according 
to each one's views of its propriety. All that is necessary 
is, that some word or phrase be adopted to express the 
distinction which has been mentioned, and that when "per- 
son" is thus used, it be clearly understood that it is em- 
ployed not in an ordinary, but in a special and qualified 
sense. Notwithstanding, to show that the doctrine is inde- 
pendent of this word, and may be discussed without it, it is 
not used in the present treatise. 

Should it, after all, be objected, that the subject is mys- 
terious, and therefore not to be believed ; it is admitted 
that so far as the exjjlanat'ion of the fact which it teaches is 
concerned, it is above the comprehension of human minds. 
We acknowledge that what we have to present on this 
subject is not theory, but fact ; not explanation, but evi- 
dence. Is it, however, rational — is it safe, to reject a fact 
which is supported by good evidence, merely because we 
cannot explain it ? If so, then there are many facts relat- 
ing to the character and government of God, which may be 
disbelieved, though God himself has testified to the truth 
of them. Nor may we stop here. The natural world pre- 
sents innumerable phenomena which no human intellect can 
explain, and which, therefore, we may disbelieve, though 
we have the testimony of our senses to their reality. A 



24 DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 

. principle whicli leads to such conclusions can have no claim 
to confidence ; and no objection founded upon i.t is worthy 
of a serious and enlightened mind. The only question to 
be decided is, Do the Scriptures, interpreted according to 
the established principles of language, teach that there is 
in the Divine Nature such a distinction as has been men- 
tioned ? If they do, there is no alternative but to admit the 
fact, or to deny that the Bible is the word of God. 

I am aware how common it is to plead the simplicity of 
other vieAvs of the Divine Nature, as a reason for rejecting 
the doctrine of the Trinity. But let us not be deceived. 
There is a simplicity wiiich is not of the Gospel. No relig- 
ion is more simple, none more opposed to every thing like 
mystery, than Deism ; yet Deism is not the religion of the 
Gospel. It was not thus that Paul reasoned on this most 
profound of subjects. Neither the unbelief of the Jew, nor 
the learning and philosophy of the Greek, could prevent 
him from saying, wherever he went, ** Without controversy, 
great is the mystery of godliness : God ivas manifest in the 
Jieshy To follow such an example cannot but be safe. It 
is at least Avise. 

But there need be no difficulty in comprehending this 
doctrine, so far as correct vieAvs are necessary to correct 
practice. "We have only to remember the offices Avhich are 
sustained, or the Avorks Avhich are performed, by the Father, 
the Son, and the Spirit, to acknoAvledge them in those offices 
and works, and to pay them the honors which are due to 
their divine character. No matter hoAV illiterate a man may 
be, he can understand the fact, that Ave have access to the 
Father through the mediation of the Son, and by the aid of 
the Spirit ; and this is the substance of the doctrine of the 
Trinity, considered in its relations to our duty and happiness. 
Christians may adopt Avhatever methods of explanation and 
illustration they please ; these should never be made the 
standard of a Scriptural faith. The great and visible bond 
of their union should consist in acknoAvledging the /ac^, that 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 25 

supreme and divine honors are due to the Father, to the 
Son, and to the Holy Spirit, and in a correspondent practice. 

III. It remains to point out the practical importance 
of the doctrine which has been discussed. 

Were it not that the subject is one of great practical 
interest, it is difficult to conceive why it should occupy so 
prominent a place in the Scriptures. The design of reve- 
lation is not to amuse men with curious speculations, but to 
teach them their duty. It might therefore be inferred, from 
the fact that so much is said concerning the divine character 
of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, that the doc- 
trine of the Trinity, which teaches their union in the Divine 
Nature, is of fundamental importance. A few considerations, 
which is all that the limits of this treatise admit, will show 
that such is its real character. 

1. It is essentially connected with the question of re- 
ligious worship. If there be a subject of deep and solemn 
moment, it is this. There can be but one lawful object of 
religious worship, because there is but one only living and 
true God. He who worships any other being, or who does 
not worship God according to his true character, is an idol- 
ater, and must answer for an offence which is everywhere 
represented in the Scriptures as one of great criminality. 
If, then, it be important that we know to whom our religious 
homage is due — if we would avoid the sin of idolatry, and 
not worship an imaginary deity, it is our duty to believe the 
doctrine of the Trinity, and conform our practice to it ; since 
any other God than that which it describes, is not the God 
of the Scriptures. 

There can be no middle path here. Either there is great 
error and sin in receiving the doctrine of the Trinity, or there 
is great error and sin in rejecting it. The subject renders 
every thing like compromise impossible. Every one will in- 
deed judge for himself, and to his own master will stand or 
fall. But it is TDlain, that those who adopt and those who 

VOL. VI. 3* 



26 DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 

.reject the views whicli it gives of the Supreme Being, pos- 
sess different and opposite rehgions, and so far as relates to 
this point can have no concord either in their faith or worship. 

2. The importance of the doctrine will appear yet more 
manifest, if we consider the necessary connection which it 
holds with other truths and facts revealed in the Scriptures. 
To select but a single point for illustration. How different 
must be the views which men form of the mediation of Christ, 
particularly of the greatness and moral value of those sacri- 
fices which he made for the salvation of men, of his all- 
sufiiciency to save, and of his intercession, according as they 
believe or reject the doctrine of his real and proper divinity ! 
How is it possible to attach the same moral dignity to the 
actions and sufferings of one who is merely created or human, 
as of one who is also divine ? Who, therefore, will say, that 
the moral influence exerted by Jesus Christ is not most 
deeply affected by the manner in which this great article 
of our faith is determined ? It is not too much to say, 
that this single circumstance makes an infinite difference iii 
the character of him whom we are to acknowledge as our 
Saviour, and that it may lay a foundation for an infinite 
difference in the method by which we apprehend that our 
salvation is to be accomplished. Particularly is it true, 
that whatever views affect the dignity of Christ's person, 
affect in the same degree his qualifications to make an 
atonement for sin ; and the nearly universal rejection of 
this last doctrine, by those who reject the Divinity of Christ, 
proves that they are likely to stand or fall together. 

I might mention other topics, which are intimately con- 
nected with the subject of this treatise, and show how 
strongly they influence both our feelings and conduct ; I 
might dwell, in particular, on the effect which it must have 
on our devotions, and especially on our addresses to Christ, 
to regard him as possessed of infinite perfections ; but what 
has been said is sufficient to show the great importance of 
the doctrine which has been discussed, as an article of faith. 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 27 

3. I add, that it is no less deeply connected with our 
hopes as immortal beings. If the worship of the only true 
God has any thing to do Avith our present character, or our 
future prospects ; if it can have any influence on the question 
of our acceptance with God, whether we trust in Christ as 
the great atoning sacrifice for sinners, or rely upon some 
other ground for pardon and eternal life ; then is the doc- 
trine of the Trinity at the foundation of our hopes as immortal 
beinofs. Nor should it be foro-otten, that if Ave refuse this 
way of salvation Avhich God has provided through his Son, 
"there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin." There is but 
one Saviour, and one AA^ay of salvation. If Ave mistake here, 
our error is, or may be, fatal. In like manner, if Ave renounce 
the Holy Spirit, Ave have no other Sanctifier, Comforter, nor 
Guide. We reject the appointed and only efficient agent of 
reoeneration, of progressive holiness, and of iuAvard and 
spiritual blessedness. Of such importance is the doctrine 
Avhich has been considered. All that is most material to 
our worship, to our faith, and to our hopes, is iuA^olved in it. 

In AdeAv of the evidence Avhich has been presented in 
support of this great article of rcA^ealed religion, the reader 
Avill see hoAv little it has to fear from the spirit of deep and 
earnest investigation Avhich the present age has aAvakened. 
If there be a sentiment of the Bible Avhich invites inquiry 
on the ground of evidence, it is the doctrine of the Trinity. 
It is built on no preconceived opinions of the mode of the 
divine existence. It is derived purely from testimony. The 
Scriptures being divinely inspired, the declarations Avhich 
they contain may be regarded as ultimate facts, having the 
same relation to moral, Avhich the phenomena of nature have 
to physical science. Since, therefore, the doctrine of the 
Trinity is a fair inference from these declarations, it can no 
more be shaken by investigation, than the theory of Newton 
concerning the visible universe. 

What strong ground of hope and consolation have they 



28 DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 

-who have made this God their refuge ! An everlasting 
Father and Friend, an infinite Saviour, and an almighty 
Sanctifier, united in accomplishing their salvation, and en- 
gaged to make them completely and for ever blessed. What 
a guarantee of ultimate safety and happiness is this ; and 
how is it possible to contemplate it but with wonder and joy ! 

Who then can estimate the consequences of rejecting a 
doctrine supported by such evidence, and involving such 
interests? Is any one who reads these pages tempted to 
do this ? Consider whether your doubts arise from having 
carefully and thoroughly studied the Scriptures, accom- 
panied with frequent and earnest prayer to God for divine 
teaching ; or whether it be not for some other reasons, 
which will be less satisfactory to you in the day of final 
account. The responsibility which is assumed by such a 
rejection, may well awaken the deepest solicitude. Ex- 
punge the evidence which the Bible furnishes of the truth 
of the doctrine, and you blot out the light of revelation, 
and cover its pages with chaotic darkness. Shut out the 
trembling, anxious sinner from that divine refuge which is 
here provided for him, and you bid him trust in an arm of 
flesh, though the curse of heaven is denounced against the 
man who does it. But this is not all. You hush the still, 
small voice of that Spirit which speaks to his soul, and 
convinces him of sin. No breath of spiritual life passes 
over the valley of death ; and no star of Bethlehem arises to 
guide the inquiring mind to Jesus. 

Soon the veil which now hides these invisible glories 
will be removed ; and then all who are permitted to enter 
into heaven, will doubtless, with one heart and voice, ascribe 
" Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, unto Him who 
sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb." Then will it 
be known, by blissful experience, what it is to enjoy " the 
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and 
the communion of the Holy Ghost," for ever and ever. 



]¥o. 186. 

THE 

WORTH OF THE SOUL. 



BY RT. REV. CHARLES P. M'lLVAlNE, D. D. 

A MINISTER of the Gospel was once sitting in a public 
room, where a few young men, strangers to himself, Avere 
conversing. Their conversation was upon worldly business : 
stocks, interest, purchases, etc. After the minister had 
listened a while in silence, he turned to one who had taken 
the most active part in the conversation, and observed to 
him, that, having listened with much interest to what had 
passed, he was desirous of proposing a question connected 
with the subjects of their remarks, to which he would be 
glad if a few moments' thought might be devoted. The 
young man answered politely, and begged to hear the ques- 
tion. The minister then requested, that, as he seemed ac- 
customed to calculations of interest, and questions of profit 
and loss, he would endeavor to ascertain what it ivould 
2?rofit a man, if he tvere to gain the ivhole world, and lose 
his own soul? A deep silence ensued. The question re- 
mained unanswered. It spoke to the conscience, and by 
the conscience was it heard. The young man retired, ap- 
parently unaffected ; but the question ceased not to speak, 
and constantly to require its answer, till the immeasurable 
worth of the soul, and the utter insignificance of every 
human pursuit, in comparison with that of its salvation, 
were brought with such evidence and power to his heart, 
that he renounced "the world, the flesh, and the devi]," 
and became a devoted and zealous follower of the only 
Saviour of sinners. 

He ivas brought to consider his " latter end ;" and could 
we only persuade men to *'go and do likewise," and thus 



2 THE WORTH OF THE SOUL. 

seriously bring up their minds to calculate wliat their souls 
are worth, and what all those idols are worth, which so 
entirely engross their hearts, how much more frequently 
should we behold those who are hastening to the judgment- 
seat of Christ, ''giving all diligence" that they may enter 
into life. 

Come, reader, let us reason together, and try to arrive 
at some suitable idea of the value of the soul. Be willing 
to spend a few minutes in the calculation : it may save you 
from an eternity of wretchedness, and give you an eternity 
of rest. 

The question is, What is the soul worth, or what is 
THE IMPORTANCE OF ITS SALVATION ? That wc may arrive 
at the answer, tell me, in the outset, whether the soul will 
die with the body ? Be not surprised at the simplicity of 
the question. You may suppose it a matter of course, that 
you should be considered as believing in the immortahty of 
the soul, and in the judgment to come, and in the eternal 
rew^ards of the righteous and the wicked ; but I ask, if it 
may not well be doubted whether you really believe in such 
truths, while you live as devoted to the world as if it were 
your only possible dependence ; as careless of death as if 
it were but a sweet and endless sleep ; as prayerless, as 
regardless of the Gospel, of the Saviour, of sin, and of 
eternity, as if you had arrived at the deliberate conviction, 
that all religion is a fable? Do you really believe that 
your soul will exist for ever ? Oh ! then, why think so 
little of yourself? Why feel as if all these toys of a moment 
are so precious, instead of realizing the infinite preciousness 
of your own deathless soul ? — a soul that shall exist for 
ever! Did you ever reflect upon that idea? Look around 
you, and say to the grass. Thou ivitherest, and thy Jlower 
fadeth : to your own body. Thou shalt return to the dust : 
to all nature, T'he time of thy dissolution draweth nigh: to 
time. Thou, too, shalt he no more: to death. Even thou 
shalt die — hut thou, my soul, shalt endure for ever ! 
Yea, when this world shall have lived out its appointed 



THE WORTH OF THE SOUL. 3 

centuries ; and when that sun, which hath illumined the 
path and shone upon the graves of so many nations and 
kindreds, shall have shot its last ray, and all the retinue 
of stars shall expire in endless night, my soul will yet 
survive ; and, after witnessing the last throe of expiring 
nature, and beholding the funeral of death, will be still 
acting and thinking, enjoying or suffering ; and will continue 
thus FOR EVER, and for ever ! 

Try to form a conception of that eternity which you are 
soon to know. Begin at your present year, and count to 
the grave — the sum, it may be, is fifty years — a span ! 
From the grave, set out to measure the ages of your fu- 
turity. Count by fifties, and then by fifty thousands, and 
then by fifty thousand millions ; and when arithmetic is 
tired, and your mind is tired, and your conceptions fail, 
pause, and consider, that you have done no more to form 
an idea of your own futurity, than if you had attempted to 
calculate the atoms which compose the world, by counting 
the grains in a handful of sand. As a drop of water in the 
ocean of waters, so is all the duration of which you can 
form a conception, to the duration of an immortal soul. 
Nay, even such a calculation would confine the soul to 
what would be but as a moment, compared with the real 
duration of its existence. 

Consider what your soul is worth, estimated merely in 
reference to its eternity. Measure its value by that of 
worldly riches, or Avorldly honors, or worldly pleasures : 
measure it by the world itself — the whole world — the world 
from its beginning to its perishing — all worlds — and what 
would it profit you to gain them all, and lose your soul ? 

But there are other considerations to be taken into the 
account. This life is a time of trial, during which we must 
decide whether we are to be eternally happy or miserable. 
Where, and hoAv we are to live for ever ; whether drinking 
the cup of God's wrath, or enjoying his love ; whether in 
"the blackness of darkness," or in "the fulness of joy," 
must be determined by "the deeds done here in the body." 



4 THE WORTH OF THE SOUL. 

Reader, it is worth your while to reflect, that in less than 
one hundred years for a certainty, and perhaps in less than 
one hundred days, or hours, you will be with the lost in 
their woe, or with " the redeemed of the Lord," in their 
glory. Now, do but consider the unspeakable blessedness 
to be gained by your soul, if you should become a follower 
of Christ. Meditate upon that sweet rest ; that perfect 
deliverance from all sorrow, and pain, and sin ; that holi- 
ness, and unceasing progress in all bliss, which remain "for 
the people of God." Then call up to view the awful ret- 
ribution of the impenitent : consider it, as the Lord in his 
word describes it, "the bottomless ^>?7," "the unquenchable 
fire,'' " the worm that never dieth,'' " the weeping, and 
wailing, and gnashing of teeth ;" contrast all this with 
heaven — as you look at the comparison, keep saying over 
to yourself the word ETERNITY ; and then make out 
your estimate of the importance of seeking, with all dili- 
gence, the salvation of your soul. 

Set that salvation in comparison with all your worldly 
idols. What is your farm, or your merchandise ; what are 
your vain amusements, your wicked indulgences, the rewards 
of ambition, to the salvation of your soul ? Gather together 
all your idols ; build their funeral pile ; consume them ; and 
what have you lost by theu* burning ? You are, perhaps, 
without riches, or honors, or "\vt)rldly pleasures, and perhaps 
will continue without them for the few days you have yet 
to spend on earth ; but you have not yet lost your soul — 
you have yet a crown of glory offered to your acceptance. 
And ! should you obtain that crown ; should " the Lord, 
the righteous Judge," give it unto you in the last day, think 
you that one single thought of regret would ever stray 
away from the kingdom of heaven to settle upon those few 
days of poverty and obscurity passed here below ? 

But, on the other hand, let your idols be retained ; and 
instead of their funeral pile, think of the loss of a soul — 
think of your own soul as receiving the last decree of God, 
" Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire " — think of it as 



THE WORTH OF THE SOUL. 5 

shrinking from '' the wrath of the Lamb ;" smitten with 
the stroke of ''the second death;" shrouded in the "outer 
darkness ;" borne away by the resistless vengeance of the 
Almighty ; thrown into the place " prepared for the devil 
and his angels, and all who know not God and obey not 
the Gospel of Jesus Christ ;" that sepulchre closed up, and 
sealed for ever, by Him who " hath the keys of death and 
of hell," and "shutteth and no man openeth." Think of 
the population of that sepulchre : the despair, and the fury, 
and the ever- increasing wretchedness of that population. 
Imagine your soul in the midst ; seeking rest, and finding 
none, in that gulf where rest never entered ; panting for a 
cooling drop in that unquenchable flame ; looking out and 
longing to see some promise of an end to that night, some 
prospect of change to that woe : still beholding nothing but 
ETERNITY — then thinkinof of " the rest which remaineth for 
the people of God ;" and wailing at the remembrance of all 
the offers of mercy, all the seasons of repentance, that were 
once possessed, and that were so madly lost. Alas, im- 
mortal soul ! there is nothing in the gains or the pleasures 
of this perishing world to compensate such torment. The 
gain of all worlds would not balance that ''eternal weight" 
of misery. 0, then, fellow-pilgrim, why neglect your soul ? 
Why rather hazard its everlasting ruin, than sacrifice, at 
this moment, those habits of sin, the Avages of which are 
death ? "Awake, thou that sleepest ;" arise from the death 
of trespasses and sins, and " seek the Lord while he may 
be found, and call upon him while he is near." 

But there are yet other considerations to be taken into 
the account. We have done what our feeble faculties would 
permit, in estimating the worth of an immortal soul ; but 
Eternity we have no line to measure, and of heaven and 
hell we can form but a faint idea. There is needed an 
estimate from Him who can take the soundings of " the 
bottomless pit," and compute the magnitude of "an eternal 
weight of glory." That estimate has been furnished. The 
omniscient God has declared the price at which He values 
VOL. vr. 4 



6 THE WORTH OF THE SOUL. 

a soul. He declared it on Calvary. He exhibited it be- 
tween the earth and heaven, that all kindreds might see. 
Be it but remembered, that he who was bowed down so 
low in Gethsemane ; whose soul was " exceeding sorrowful, 
even unto death;" who "was led as a lamb to the slauQ-h- 
ter," and by that mocking crowd was scourged and cruci- 
fied ; that he who, on the cross, endured the frown and 
curse of God for sin, and " poured out his soul unto death," 
was Son of God as well as Son of man, " the brightness 
of the Father's glory, and the express image of his person," 
" over all things, and by whom all things consist ;" and 
recollect that, when this "only-begotten of the Father" 
thus " became obedient imto death," it was to become a 
ransom and a price for the redemption of sinners ; and 
then will it be seen at what God values an immortal soul. 
" Not with corruptible things, as silver and gold," were 
we redeemed, "but with the precious blood of Christ, as 
of a lamb without blemish and without spot." " Behold, 
then, the Lamb of God :" the depth of his condescension ; 
the shame, the agony, the bitterness of his death — all that 
did divine justice require, and did divine mercy give, for 
the sinner's soul. Alas ! the difference between the Maker's 
and the creature's estimate of the worth of a soul ! The 
sinner will neglect his soul for a few momentary pleasures, 
or a little golden dust, or a few breaths of human praise. 
Jesus would not neglect that soul, to escape the life of the 
"man of sorrows," and the death of the ignominious cross. 
The fear of a little trouble wull keep a sinner from walking 
in "the way everlasting ;" but all tlie troubles of body and 
spirit which were to be heaped upon him who should under- 
take to bear our sins, could not deter the Saviour from 
cominof " to seek and to save that which was lost." 

Reader, out of these considerations arises this question : 
Since "God has so loved the world as to give his only- 
beffotten Son, that whosoever belie veth in him should not 
perish, but have everlasting life," " how shall we escape, 
if we neglect so great salvation ?" Can a sinner neglect 



THE WORTH OF THE SOUL. 7 

the Saviour's love, without being answerable, at the last 
day, for the burial of the most precious talent that ever 
God committed to human stewardship, or without incurring 
a far deeper damnation than if that love had never appear- 
ed ? If your sins be not washed away in the blood of the 
Lamb of God, will not the voice of that rejected blood 
arise up for ever, in imprecations for the avenging wrath of 
God to descend, in its worst out-pouring, upon your soul ? 
0, when all these considerations are taken into account, 
can any be surprised at the earnestness of Jesus, in calling, 
invitinof, warnino- entreatinof sinners to come unto him and 
be saved? Can it be w^ondered, that "there is joy in the 
presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repent- 
eth ?" Can it be wondered, that the apostles were sent 
out into all nations, to " preach the Gospel to every crea- 
ture ;" that they were gifted of the Holy Ghost to speak 
in all lano-uao-es " the w^onderful works of God : " that, 
" knowing the terrors of the Lord," they continually pray- 
ed and persuaded men to be reconciled to God ; that, in 
the fervor of their zeal, they should have gone from house 
to house, and from country to country, "not counting their 
lives dear unto them, so that they might finish their course 
with joy, and the ministry they had received of the Lord 
Jesus, to testify the Gospel of the grace of God ?" Can 
it be Avondered, that, in the days when persecutions arose 
on account of the Gospel, so many thousands of men and 
AYomen preferred the mouth of the lion, and welcomed the 
flames of martyrdom, rather than renounce the Lord that 
bought them ? See you not the reason for which the true 
Christian " counts all things but loss for the excellency of 
the knowledge of Jesus," and is " willing to suffer the loss 
of all things, that lie may win Christ, and be found in him ?" 
See you not the motive which bears away the devoted Mis- 
sionary from home, and parents, and brethren, to far distant 
lands of Pagan darkness, that, among benighted heathens, 
and among the stocks and stones which they worship, he 
may " preach the unsearchable riches of Christ ?" See you 



8 THE WORTH OF THE SOUL. 

not the reason for which your pastors, Avith so much op- 
pressive soHcitude, "in season and out of season," are ever 
seeking to persuade sinners to prepare to meet their God ? 
and the reason which hath planted so many death-beds 
with thorns, and filled so many dying sinners with an- 
guish ; and from many a heart, which, in days of health, had 
braved all the warnings, and scorned all the mercies of 
the Gospel, hath extorted, in the last hour, an unutterable 
prayer for a little more time to repent — a few days to make 
peace with God — an hour to cry for mercy ? ! " what 
shall a man give in exchange for his soul ?" 

Reader, shall your soul be saved, or lost ? The decision 
rests, in an important sense, with yourself. The way is 
opened ; whether you will go in thereat, you have now 
to say. Eternity waits your determination. " Why halt 
between two opinions?" Will you delay your decision? 
Beware lest unexpected death should make it for you. 
Beware lest, Avhile you are hesitating whether the tree shall 
bring forth fruit, the decree come forth, " Cut it down ; why 
cumhereth it the ground .^" Delay your decision, and "this 
night thy soul mcnj be required of thee." Delay ! alas, 
hoAv many have perished by delay ! " A more convenient 
season," they cried ; but, before it came, their time was 
expended, "their lamps were gone out;" and when they 
would have entered in, "the door was shut." "The harvest 
is passed," they cried, "the summer is ended, and we are 
not saved !" ! "now is the accepted time ; behold, now 
is the day of salvation." It is the Lord who calls. " To- 
day, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." 



PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY. 



]¥o. 187. 



THE 



LA¥ OF THE SABBATH 

STILL BINDING, AND WHAT IT FORBIDS. 



BY REV. WILLIAM S. PLUMBR, D.D., 

BALTIMORE. 



I ASK for a few minutes of the reader's time, while I 
reason with him concerning one of the laws of the world 
in which he lives. That law is found in Exodus, chapter 
20, and reads thus : " Remember the Sabbath-day to keep 
it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work ; 
but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God : 
in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor 
thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor 
thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates : for 
in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and 
all that in them is, and rested the seventh day : wherefore 
the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day, and hallowed it." 

Here is a law claiming to regulate a seventh portion of 
liuman life. If a man lives twenty-one years, this law 
claims the entire control of three of them ; if he lives fifty 
years, it disposes of more than seven of them. It is there- 
fore important. But it also devotes this portion of time to 
religious purposes ; and these are the highest ends of life. 
All other time is secular. This is holy. That may be oc- 
cupied with things which perish in the using. This must 
be given to things which take hold on eternity. Many 
questions may be raised concerning this law ; but one ques- 
tion is at the foundation of all the rest : " Is this law still 

VOL. VI. 4* 



2 THE LAW OF THE SABBATH. 

in force ?" If it is not binding now, it never will be ; and 
if it is binding now, it will bind while the world stands. 
The inquiry is of great practical interest. Public manners 
are vastly affected by the esteem in which the Sabbath is 
held. It is, therefore, right to look well to the foundations. 

DOES THE LAW OF THE SABBATH BIND US ? 

It is evident that laws may cease to be of force ; that is, 
they may cease to be laws. When this occurs, it must be 
in one of the following ways. 

The condition of a people may be so changed as to ren- 
der obedience to the law impracticable. In human govern- 
ments such cases often arise, and the law, unless adminis- 
tered by tyrants, becomes a dead letter. No good govern- 
ment will inflict the penalty on the transgressor to whom 
obedience is impossible, even though the law remains on 
the statute-book. But the law of the Sabbath can as well 
be kept now as at any former period of the world. Indeed, 
when given from Mount Sinai, it was given to a people on 
a long journey, to whom were wanting many conveniences 
which we enjoy for its careful observance. If this law 
was in its nature ever practicable, it is so now. 

Some laws expire hy limitation. Such are many of the 
laws of every country. Such were many of the laws given 
by Moses. They were in force until Christ, who was their 
end, came ; and then they bound no longer. Thus the 
whole ceremonial law ceased to bind after the death of 
Christ, to which it was limited. But no limit was fixed to 
the observance of the fourth commandment, either when 
first given or afterwards. 

A competent authority may rcjyeal a law, and thus its 
obliging power may cease. Every free government affords 
numerous instances of the repeal of laws once useful, but 
no longer so. In a regular government, the repeal must 
be passed by the power which enacts the law. The great 



THE LAW OF THE SABBATH. 3 

Lawgiver of the world is God. He ordained the law of the 
Sabbath, and he has never repealed it. Is any evidence 
of such repeal found in Scripture ? If so, where is the 
book, the chapter, the verse containing it ? All admit that 
the law was in force until Christ. Christ did not repeal it, 
for he says so. Matt. 5:17; nor did the apostles anywhere 
declare that it was repealed. 

If this law, therefore, has ceased to bind, it must be in 
some way utterly unknown to us. It is still practicable ; 
it has not expired by limitation ; it has not been repealed. 

THIS LAW IS PART OF A CODE WHICH IS JN FORCE. 

It may also be said that this law is in the middle of a 
code, all the rest of which is acknowledged to be binding ; 
and why not this ? Were the other precepts of this code 
spoken by God from Sinai, amidst blackness and darkness, 
and tempest and terrors ? So was this. Were the others 
written by the finger of God, on tables of stone ? So was 
this. Were the others deposited in the ark of the testi- 
mony, in the holy of holies, under the wings of the cheru- 
bim ? So was this. No ceremonial or repealable law, 
given tcf the Jews, had these marks of honor put upon it. 
Did Christ say, " 1 came not to destroy, but to fulfil the 
law ?" He said it as much of this as of any other precept. 
Did Christ's most devoted followers keep the other com- 
mandments? So did they keep this. Luke 23 : 56. 

THIS LAW ENACTED WITH GREAT CARE. 

On the face of this law are found some things which 
prove that God, who gave it, regarded it as of great im- 
portance. 

In the wording of it, a more full explanation of its true 
intent is given than in any other commandment. It is en- 
acted both positively and negatively : positively, " Remem- 
ber the Sabbath-day to keep it holy ;" negatively, ** In it 



4 THE LAW OF THE SABBATH. 

thou shalt do no manner of work." No other precept of 
the decalogue is given in both these forms, although every 
fair rule of interpreting them requires, that when they enjoin 
a duty, we should regard them as forbidding the contrary 
sin ; and when they forbid a sin, we should regard them as 
enjoining the contrary duty. Yet in this command, but in 
no other, both forms are used. 

This command is also introduced as no other is. The 
very first word of it is a solemn memento — " Remember." 
This word is not found elsewhere in the decalogue. 

Moreover, this command not only addresses men in the 
singular, " Thou shalt," etc., but it goes further, and tells 
who is thereby intended, namely, not only the head of the 
family, but also the son, the daughter, the man-servant and 
the maid-servant, the cattle and the stranger. No such par- 
ticularity is found in any other precept of either table of 
the law. 

In this command God also reasons with us on the equity 
of his demands. He says, he gives us six days out of seven, 
as if he had said, " I am no hard master ; I do not act un- 
reasonably. I give you ample time to do your necessary 
work. I give you six days ; therefore, if you have eny con- 
science, give me the seventh^ For, says he, " It is mine — it 
is the Sabbath of the Lord your God." Surely, you will not 
deny to your God a right so equitable, a demand so fair. 

It is also stated by God in the command itself, that he 
set us the example on the completion of the creation. And 
shall we not follow such an example ? If we ought to be 
holy because God is holy, if we ought to forgive our ene- 
mies because God forgives Ms enemies, we ought also to 
keep the Sabbath-day because God kept it. Teaching by 
example is the highest kind of instruction. 

THE SABBATH GIVEN IN EDEN. 

Nor did the Sabbath originate with Moses, or with any 
sinner. It was an ordinance in Eden. When, for his sins, 



THE LAW OF THE SABBATH. 5 

man was driven out of paradise, God permitted him to car- 
ry with him two institutions, estabhshed for his good before 
his fall. Which of these institutions is the greatest mercy 
to our world, or which is the dearest to the heart of a good 
man, I will not undertake to say. One of them is marriage, 
the other the Sahhath-day. If he is the enemy of virtue 
who would abolish the former, he cannot be the friend of 
God or man who would set aside the latter. By restoring 
marriage, as far as possible, to its original purity in Eden, 
that is, by confining it to the pairs and rendering it indisso- 
luble, the Christian religion has incalculably advanced civili- 
zation, peace, and all the domestic virtues. By restoring the 
Sabbath, as near as possible, to its purity in Eden, that is, 
by the holy observance of all of it, man makes his nearest 
approach to primitive innocence and to future glory. There 
is no example of any community, large or small, ancient or 
modern, continuing virtuous or happy for a considerable 
time, if they slighted either marriage or the Sabbath-day. 

But God has also, in this command, done what he has 
not done in any other part of the moral law — he has pro- 
nounced a blessinof on the institution. " The Lord blessed 
the Sabbath-day," and thus made it 

" Day of all the days the best." 
The history of the world, in the pouring out of spiritual 
mercies, shows what is meant by God's blessing this day of 
rest. 

These several and remarkable peculiarities of this- pre- 
cept justly entitle it to as high and sacred regard as can be 
claimed for any command given from Mount Sinai. If we 
admit that this is not of binding force, we cannot show the 
obligation of any of the rest, unless we can show that they 
are in some way written in the constitution of man, and that 
this is not. But it would be easy to show, by innumerable 
testimonies, that life is not only rendered miserable, but also 
much shortened by not observing the day of rest. The 



6 THE LAW OF THE SABBATH. 

-world over, those men do the most work, and do it with the 
most comfort, who rest from labor one day in seven. Nor 
is there one exception to this remark. It applies as much 
to mental as to bodily labor. 

THIS LAW OFTEN ENACTED. 

The law of the Sabbath is frequently noticed in other 
parts of the Bible besides the moral law ; it is frequently 
and solemnly declared to be binding, and its spiritual nature 
is often explained. Indeed, the law of the Sabbath is sev- 
eral times solemnly reenacted. It is mentioned with the 
highest reverence in the second chapter of Genesis, as a 
day "blessed and sanctified" by God. It is specially re- 
enacted for the journey through the wilderness, in the six- 
teenth chapter of Exodus, four chapters before that con- 
taining the moral law. It is repeated in the thirty-first 
chapter of the same book. It is also made by God the 
pattern for the solemn feasts of his ancient church. Levit- 
icus, chapter 23. In short, it is often noticed by Moses, by 
David, by Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. One of these 
passages could not have pointed more plainly to a spiritual 
service on the Sabbath, if it had been given by Christ or 
Paul. It is in Isaiah 58 : 13, 14 : "If thou turn away thy 
foot from the Sabbath," that is, from trampling on it, " from 
doing thy pleasure on my holy day ; and call tjie Sabbath 
a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable ; and shalt honor 
him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleas- 
ure, nor speaking thine own words ; then shalt thou delight 
thyself in the Lord ; and I will cause thee to ride upon the 
high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage 
of Jacob : for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." 

In the New Testament, also, frequent mention is made 
of a day of rest and solemn worship. It is not necessary 
now to examine more than one of these passages. It is in 
the fourth chapter of Hebrews, where the rest of the Sab- 



THE LAW OF THE SABBATH. 7 

bath in Eden is made the figure of the rest of the Jews in 
Canaan, then of the rest of God's people under the Gospel 
dispensation, and, lastly, of the everlasting rest of all good 
men in heaven. Surely, so clear and evangelical a writer as 
Paul, in an epistle, one great object of which was, to show 
that the ceremonial law had passed away, would not have 
made the Sabbath on earth a type of the bliss of heaven 
even to Christians, if he had thought they were at liberty 
to regard it otherwise than as a holy, religious day. From 
the Scriptures the following things are clearly made out. 

In both the Old and New Testaments God claims the 
day as his. Exod. 20 : 10 ; Isa. 58 : 13 ; Rev. 1 : 10. 

Pious men have always acknowledged this claim. Neh. 
9 : 14 ; Luke 23 : 56. Was there ever a community on 
earth who feared God and did not reverence his Sab- 
baths ? When that company of heathen and mutineers 
who settled Pitcairn's Island, repented and gave evidence 
of piety, although there was but one Bible and one man 
from a Christian country among them, yet the Sabbath was 
strictly observed. 

There walked of late in this world a man of conceptions 
as sublime as they were philosophical, of views as benevo- 
lent as they were accurate. Recently, "he was not, for 
God took him." Before he left us, he said, 

''We never, in the whole course of our recollections, 
met with a Christian who bore upon his character every 
other evidence of the Spirit's operation, who did not remem- 
ber the Sahhath-day and Tceep it holy. We appeal to the 
memory of all the worthies who are lying in their graves, 
that, eminent as they were in every other grace and accom- 
plishment of the new creature, the religiousness of their 
Sabbath-day shone with equal lustre amid the fine assem- 
blao-e of virtues Avhich adorned them. * * * 

o 

" Rest assured, that the Christian, having the law of God 
written in his heart, and denying the Sabbath a place in his 



8 THE LAW OF THE SABBATH. 

■affections, is an anomaly that is nowhere to be found. 
Every Sabbath image, with every Sabbath circumstance, is 
dear to him. He loves the quietness of that hallowed morn. 
He loves the church-bell sound that summons him to the 
house of prayer. He loves to join the chorus of devotion, 
and to sit and listen to that voice of persuasion, Avhich is 
lifted in the hearing of an assembled multitude. He loves 
the retirement of this day from the din of worldly business 
and the inroads of worldly men. He loves the leisure it 
brings along with it ; and sweet to his soul is the exercise 
of that hallowed hour, when there is no eye to witness him 
but the eye of Heaven, and when, in solemn audience with 
the Father who seeth him in secret, he can, on the wings 
of celestial contemplation, leave all the cares and all the 
secularities of the world behind him." Dr. Chalmers. 

So it has ever been. He who loves prayer and praise, 
loves the day devoted to the exercise of them. 

It is generally agreed that Christ came to enlarge, not 
to curtail the privileges of his people, and especially of the 
poor and afflicted, many of whom are not the masters of 
their own time. But if he abolished the Sabbath, he cut 
off the pious poor from one of their dearest privileges, one 
no less necessary to relieve their heavy hearts than to 
refresh their toil-worn bodies. 

The Scriptures contain many precious promises to those 
who reverently keep this day, and take pleasure in its ap- 
propriate duties. Isa. 56 : 1-7, and 58 : 14 ; Jer. 17 : 21-26. 
To such God will give, in his house and within his walls, a 
place and a name better than of sons and of daughters. He 
will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off. 
He will make them joyful in his house of prayer, and will 
accept all their sacrifices ; and blessings like those which 
came upon Jacob shall fall upon them. 

The Scriptures denounce many terrible curses against 
those who profane this holy day. Jer. 17 : 27 ; Ezek. 20 : 21. 



THE LAW OF THE SABBATH. Q 

These curses are none the less dreadful because expressed 
in oreneral- terms. 

o 

God has often visited, and does still visit sore calami- 
ties on many violators of his holy day. From the days of 
the man who perished for his sin in the camp of Israel, 
Num. 15 : 36, to this day, God has made awful examples 
of Sabbath-breakers. The man has been blind who has not 
seen them. Almost all felons in prison and under the gal- 
lows are known to have provoked God by a series of open 
violations of the law of the Sabbath. Of six ladies who 
spent their Sabbaths at cards, five died either objects of 
pity or without a moment's warning. Not one in fifty of 
known criminals in the land even outwardly keeps the Sab- 
bath. Men forsake God, and he forsakes them. They 
despise him, and he takes away the restraints of his provi- 
dence, and they are lightly esteemed, yea, become vile in 
the eyes of even wicked men. 

In both the Old and New Testaments God declares that 
the Sabbath is a benevolent institution. He says, he " has 
given us the Sabbath." Exod. 16 : 29. It is not a vexa- 
tious or injurious restriction upon us, but a gift, a mercy. 
" I gave them my Sabbaths, that they might know that I 
am the Lord that sanctify them," Ezek, 20 : 12 ; that they 
might have proper time to acquire the most important of 
all knowledge, the knowledge of God and salvation. Christ 
himself taught the same, when he said, *' The Sabbath was 
made for man." Mark 2:27. It was made to do him 
good, and not evil. Nor was it made for the Jew alone. It 
was made for man, for the whole race. 

Both the Old and New Testaments record the observ- 
ance of this day by godly men as an act approved by God, 
and appointed in Scripture. Even after the death of our 
Lord, the holy women, who wished to anoint his sacred 
body, would not do it until the Sabbath was over. Luke 
23:56. 

VOL. VI. ^ 



10 THE LAW OF THE SABBATH. 

PROPHECY REaUIRES A CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 

The Old Testament requires that under the 'Gospel, in 
times of its universal prevalence, " from one Sabbath to 
another, all flesh should come to worship before the Lord." 
Isa. 66 : 23, and Ezek. 46 : 1. This is an argument of great 
importance. The holy observance of the Sabbath is made 
by the prophets one of the tests by which the evangelical 
character of any people, after the coming of Christ, shall be 
judged. The prophets declare that the offering of prayer 
and praise, and solemn oaths, in the name of the true God, 
shall be marks of a true Gospel church. Psalm 72: 15; 
Isa. 56:7; 65 : 16; 66:23. Suppose a church should be 
found, whose members in solemn oaths swore by some other 
than the true God, and never prayed to the Lord, nor daily 
praised his name, could any man fail to see that it was with- 
out the marks of a true church ? And if no Sabbath was 
observed in the church of God, it would prove that Mes- 
siah's reign had not yet commenced. Christianity would 
not be what prophecy required that it should be. The test 
is a fair one. Just in proportion as churches decline in 
the practice and power of godliness, become unsound in 
doctrine, licentious in life, and lax in discipline, wedded to 
human inventions, and heedless of the law of God in other 
respects, in the same proportion do they lightly esteem the 
Sabbath of the Lord. No Sabbath, no Church, is the rule 
laid down in Scripture. It is a correct rule. Without that 
holy day, all true religion v/ould soon vanish from the 
earth. 

A SABBATH AFTER CHRIST'S RESURRECTION. 

When our Lord was upon earth, he foretold the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem, stating that the enemies of the holy city 
should cast a trench about it, and that the Roman easfle, 
the abomination that maketh desolate, should be seen from 
its walls. He directed his disciples how they should, with 



THE LAW OF THE SABBATH. IX 

the utmost haste, flee from the city, and said, " But pray 
ye that your flight be not in the winter, nor on the Sabbath- 
day." Matt. 24 : 20. Now, Jerusalem was not destroyed 
for more than thirty years after Christ's ascension, and this 
prophecy was deUvered for the direction of Christ's disci- 
ples, when the siege, leading to its destruction, should take 
place. They were to pray that their flight " be not in the 
winter," on account of the difficulty of fleeing at that sea- 
son, " nor on the Sabbath-day." Whatever may have been 
the reason why the Sabbath-day was undesirable for flight, 
whether because it was not deemed lawful to travel far on 
that day — a Sabbath-day's journey being less than three 
miles — or because their tender consciences miMit cause 
them to hesitate, and not embrace the favored hour of es- 
cape, yet the fact is clear, that Christ foretold that at the 
destruction of Jerusalem, long after his ascension to glory, 
long after tens of thousands had been converted to the 
faith of Jesus, his people should have a day of rest, called 
by himself, "the Sabbath-day." Human perverseness 
may annul the force of any reasoning, but candor and piety 
will be satisfied with fair argument. All admit that all 
laws and ordinances given by Moses, and not binding to the 
end of the world, ceased to be of force from the ascension 
of Christ. But the flight of the Christians from the holy 
city was more than thirty years after that event, and yet 
Christ speaks of a " Sabbath-day" that should at that 
date, in the mother church at Jerusalem, bind the con- 
sciences, not of Jews wedded to the law of Moses, but of 
Christians, converted, baptized, and formed into churches 
taught by apostles themselves. 

THE EARLY CHRISTIANS HAD A SABBATH. 

If we look into the early history of the Christians, we 
see that they did observe a day of sacred rest ; the first 
day of each week. On that day of the first week after the 



X2 THE LAW OF THE SABBATH. 

crucifixion, Jesus rose and was worshipped : on that day of 
the second week after his death, he assembled his disciples, 
said, "Peace be unto you," and confirmed their faith. The 
first day of the eighth week after his death, was the day of 
Pentecost, a glorious Christian Sabbath. In several pas- 
sages of Scripture, we find a record of the meeting of the 
disciples and churches of Christ on that day, to worship 
God, to preach the Gospel, to administer baptism and the 
Lord's supper, and to collect alms, so that when Paul 
wrote his first epistle to the Corinthians, he directs that 
collections for charitable purposes be made weekly upon 
that set day. The work he directs them to perform is a 
work of piety, of proper love to their poor brethren, who 
were suffering through the violence of persecution — a work 
proper to a holy day ; for it always was " lawful to do 
well on the Sabbath-days." Matt. 12 : 12. "Pure religion 
and undefiled before God, even the Father, is, to visit the 
fatherless and widows in their affliction." Paul says that 
he had given the same command to other churches — the 
churches of Galatia, 1 Cor. 16: 1 — so that the observance 
was general. Paul gave these directions by the Holy 
Ghost. Galatia was quite remote from Corinth, several 
countries and a sea lying between them ; so that the relig- 
ious observance of the first day of the week was very gen- 
eral, and by no means confined to any one nation or class 
of Christians. 

When we come to the last book of Scripture, we find 
John, Rev. 1 : 10, saying, " I was in the Spirit on the 
Lord's day." We read in the New Testament once of the 
** Lord's supper," and once of the " Lord's day." Does 
any one doubt that these expressions designate a feast and 
a day well known to the early Christians, and distinguished 
from all other days and feasts by their religious character? 

Such are some of the arguments, by which it is shown 
that the Sabbath should be observed by us. Are they not 



THE LAW OF THE SABBATH. 13 

fair, solid, and conclusive ? Are we not bound by the law 
of the Sabbath ? 

The most common method of attempting to destroy or 
lessen the force of these arguments, is by asserting, that if 
we are bound to observe any day, it is the seventh, and not 
the first, as the seventh was the day observed from the 
creation till the death of Christ. It is sufficient to reply, 

1 . That the term Sabbath signifies rest ; and that rest 
by divine appointment may, without at all changing its na- 
ture, be transferred from one day to another. Some other 
Jewish festivals were called sabbaths, but never is one of 
them called "the Sabbath," "the rest." 

2. There is nothing in the fourth commandment, fixing 
this weekly rest to the seventh day of the week. The law 
in the decalogue does not point out any day of the week, 
but only a day succeeding six days of labor. It is said, 
** God blessed the Sabbath-d^y, and hallowed it." 

3. The resurrection of Christ was a very glorious event, 
to which the highest importance is properly attached, and 
which is well worthy of a weekly and joyful commemo- 
ration. His resurrection was life from the dead to all his 
people, and to all their hopes. If the completion of crea- 
tion was worthy of a weekly celebration, much more is the 
same true of the completion of redemption. For Christians 
to celebrate the seventh day of the week, would be to keep 
a feast on the gloomiest day of the week — the day on 
which their Lord lay in the sepulchre of Joseph. 

4. Apostolic example is as safe and correct a guide as 
apostolic precept, and no serious and candid reader of the 
New Testament can doubt that the apostles and early 
Christians did observe the first day of the week as the rest 
appointed by God. This fact, therefore, clearly determines 
our duty. Many duties are taught us by the example of 
inspired men. An appeal to such example is fair, and the 
example itself is binding. 

VOL. VI. 5* 



14 THE LAW OF THE SABBATH. 

5, It is believed by many sound writers, that prophecy 
foretold that the day of Christ's resurrection should be 
kept as the Sabbath under the Gospel. This prophecy is 
in the 118th Psalm: "The Stone which the builders re- 
fused is become the headstone of the corner." They re- 
fused him when they demanded his death. He became the 
headstone by his resurrection ; for by that " he Avas de- 
clared to be the Son of God with power." Rom. 1 : 4. 
The very next words in the Psalm are, " This is the day which 
the Lord hath made ; we will be glad and rejoice in it." 

Some have suggested that the weekly day of rest under 
the Gospel, which is an eminently spiritual dispensation, is 
not to be a rest from labor or business, but only from sin. 
To such it is sufficient to reply, that every day of life 
ought to be a day of abstinence from all sin ; and when it 
shall be shown that we are at liberty to indulge in sin six 
days out of seven, and then avoid it for one day only, it will 
be time enough to make a more serious and extended answer. 

But some persons of more seriousness ask, " Does not 
the apostle Paul, Rom. 14 : 5, 6, declare the observance of 
days a matter of indifference ?" He does ; but the context 
clearly shows that he speaks not of the weekl}^ Sabbath, 
nor of any institution of the decalogue, but of matters be- 
sides the moral law. The same remark is substantially ap- 
plicable to Avhat he says in Gal. 4:10, and in Col. 2 : 16. 

Every law is to be known by its position and connection 
in a code. This is an invariable rule in interpreting every 
body of laws, and ought to be applied to the laws of God 
and the teaching of the apostles. When the whole con- 
nection of one of their arguments shows that they are 
simply endeavoring to wean their converts from Jewish 
ceremonies, it is most unfair to extend their general remarks 
to institutions as old as the creation, and observed before 
the fall of man, and by all the pious after the fall, up to 
the giving of the ceremonial law, and then not reenacted 



THE LAW OF THE SABBATH. 15 

as a part of the ceremonial law, but put in the middle of 
the moral law. " The handwriting of ordinances which was 

o 

against us," is indeed " blotted out ;" but that can never 
prove that the Sabbath, Avhich is for us, is blotted out also. 
If no time be set apart by a competent authority for 
public worship, there Avill be no public worship. When 
Paul rebuked some of the early Christians, for " forsaking 
the assembling of themselves together," Heb. 10 : 25, it 
would have been ample justification for them to have re- 
plied, " No such thing is required, and no time is set for 
it." But we hear of no such plea. It never was made. 
There was as much agreement among the early Christians 
in observing the Lord's day as in observing the Lord's 
supper. It would be mere will-worship to observe the 
Lord's day, if it had not been appointed to be so observed 
by God himself. Is it credible that God should have left 
the whole church so ignorant of his will, that all believers 
for eighteen hundred years should have been mistaken 
as to their duty in so important a matter as this? The 
apostle James says, " He that keepeth the whole law, and 
yet ofFendeth in one point, is guilty of all." That he here 
means the moral law is evident, for he cites two of the 
precepts of it in the next verse : " Do not commit adultery," 
"Do not kill." James 2: 10, 11. Now, if you do not 
kill, or swear profanely, yet if you violate the fourth com- 
mandment, you are " become a transgressor of the law." 
Let those who indulge in Antinomian laxity concerning the 
law of the Sabbath, solemnly consider the course of reason- 
ing adopted by James, and be warned in time. 

Having shown that the law of the Sabbath is still bind- 
ing, let us see what it forbids. 

1. It forbids all labor not required by necessity or 
mercy. The divine example, recorded in Gen. 2:2, 3, 
teaches as much. " And God rested on the seventh day 



16 THE LAW OF THE SABBATH. 

from all his work which he had made." So also, in the 
very words of the fourth commandment, we are required to 
do "all our work'''' in six days, and are forbidden to do 
"any work'' on the Sabbath. In Exodus 23: 12, God 
says, " Six days shalt thou do thy work, and on the seventh 
day thou shalt rest." And in Ex. 31 : 15, *' Six days may 
work be done ; but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, 
holy unto the Lord." So in Lev. 23 : 3, "Six days shall 
work be done ; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, 
a holy convocation : ye shall do no work therein ; it is the 
Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings." And in Jer. 
17:21, " Bear no burden on the Sabbath-day, nor bring it 
in by the gates of Jerusalem ; neither cany forth a burden 
out of your houses on the Sabbath-day, neither do ye any 
work, but hallow ye the Sabbath-day." These several 
commands are in plain words, are clearly expressed, are 
given by divine authority, in the most solemn language, and 
are subject to no exceptions but those of necessity and 
mercy, as God has himself laid down the law in Matt. 12 : 
1-13 ; Mark 3:1-6; Luke 6 : 6-11 ; Luke 13 : 10-17 ; 
Luke 14 : 1-6 ; and John 5 : lO-lV. Although carnal men 
will abuse the doctrine of necessity and mercy to defend 
their violations of the Sabbath-day, yet " the law is good if 
a man use it lawfully." 

Works of necessity are of two kinds — permanent, and 
occasional. Permanent works of necessity chiefly consist 
in preparing for the house of God, going to it, and return- 
ing from it. Occasional works of necessity arise from 
unusual events ; as the burning of a house, the inundation 
of a flood, or the destruction of a tempest. In either case 
the necessity should be real, and not feigned ; and should 
be such as previous care could not have avoided. 

Works of mercy are also permanent, or occasional. 
Permanent works of mercy, are such as the use of necessary 
and sufficient food and drink for ourselves, and the giving 



THE LAW OF THE SABBATH. 17 

of them to our families, and to guests, and to brute animals. 
Occasional works of mercy, are such as the providence of 
God unexpectedly brings before us ; as dressing a wound, 
nursing the sick, and visiting the poor and afflicted, for the 
purpose of administering relief and comfort. 

2. Nor should the Lord's day be made a day of indul- 
gence in sumptuous feasting. This sin seems to be pointed 
at in Ex. 16 : 23 ; in Ex. 35 : 2, 3 ; and in Num. 15 : 32-36. 
It is true, God has never commanded that the Sabbath be 
a fast-day ; nor would it be proper so to observe it. But 
let us not run to the other extreme. This is important, be- 
cause sumptuous feasting produces drowsiness in religious 
exercises ; because, as far as possible, servants should be 
relieved from labor, and have an opportunity of going to 
the house of God ; and because, in such feasts we are too 
apt to seek the presence of others, who could better keep 
the Sabbath at home. 

3. God, who has promised that " while the earth 
remaineth, seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and 
summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease," 
has expressly said, in Ex. 34:21, "Six days shalt thou 
work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest : in earing- 
time and in harvest thou shalt rest." Very diverse from this 
law is the practice of many. But if man and beast ever 
need refreshment from rest, is it not during the excessive 
heat and labors of harvest ? It is also a solemn question, 
and may be pertinently pressed. Who hath hardened him- 
self against God, in violating this law, and prospered ? 
But even if apparent success has attended any man in pro- 
faning the Sabbath in harvest-time, let him remember, that 
"the prosperity of fools shall destroy them." 

4. It was a resolution of pious men, in the days of Ne- 
hemiah, that " if the people of the land bring ware or any 
victuals on the Sabbath-day to sell, they would not buy it 
of them on the Sabbath, or on the holy day." Neh. 10 : 31. 



18 THE LAW OF THE SABBATH. 

The thirteenth chapter of Nehemiah, from the fifteenth to 
the twenty- second verse, records the efforts of that resolute 
and pious man to enforce this solemn purpose. He did not 
regard it as a merely civil regulation, but says to the nobles 
of Judah, " What evil thing is this that ye do ? Ye bring 
more wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath." From 
these passages it is very evident, that the law of God for- 
bids the opening of markets and shops, and the driving of 
bargains, on the Lord's day. 

5. The Scriptures, with equal explicitness, forbid travel 
upon the Sabbath-day. *' Thy stranger that is within thy 
gates" is put down by name in the fourth commandment, 
and is as much required to keep the Sabbath holy as any 
other person. So in Ex. 23 : 12, " the stranger" is required 
to " rest," and the reason is given, that he " may be 
refreshed." Many and ingenious, but wicked are the pleas 
urged by men for disregarding the fourth commandment 
when on a journey; but they are "refuges of lies," which 
will be swept aAvay the moment man appears in the presence 
of God. This is a great sin in our nation. Its influence is 
vastly mischievous. The traveller is seen by many, and sins 
openly. He requires the services of those who conduct the 
public conveyances ; or, if travelling privately, he at least de- 
mands the services of keepers of public or private houses. 
The whole moral law, including the fourth commandment, 
was given from Sinai to a whole nation on a journey. 

6. The fourth commandment, like all the precepts of 
the decalogue, is spiritual, ''and is a discerner of the 
thoughts and intents of the heart." It forbids us not only 
to do and to speak what we please on that day, but it binds 
our thoughts and hearts, and requires us to "delight" in its 
holy services. By the prophet Isaiah, chapter 58 : 13, 14, 
God says, " If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, 
from doing thy pleasure on my holy day ; and call the Sabbath 
a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable ; and shalt honor 



THE LAW OF THE SABBATH. 19 

him, not doing thine own waj^s, nor finding thine own pleas- 
ure, nor speaking thine own words : then shalt thou dehght 
thyself in the Lord ; and I will cause thee to ride on the high 
places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob 
thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it," 

v. The first words of the fourth commandment forbid 
us to forget this day before it comes, and after it is gone. 
"Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy." Many 
instances are given in the Scriptures of pious men preparing 
for this day, by a proper arrangement of all their affairs. 
Even the pious women who wished to anoint the body of 
the Saviour, prepared their spices before the Sabbath be- 
gan. Who was ever a loser by imitating these pious 
examples ? " In keeping God's commandments there is 
great reward." This reward as certainly follows obedience 
to the fourth commandment as to the fifth, or any other. 
See Isaiah 58 : 14 ; and 56 : 2-7. One of the most remark- 
able men, that his own or any other age has ever produced, 
was Sir Matthew Hale, chief- justice of England. His tes- 
timony shall close this address. He says, 

" I will acquaint you with a truth, that above forty 
years' experience, and strict observation of myself, hath 
assuredly taught me. I have been, near fifty years, a man 
as much conversant in business, and that of moment and 
importance, as most men ; and I assure you I was never under 
any inclination to fanaticism, enthusiasm, or superstition. 

" In all this time I have most industriously observed in 
myself, and in my concerns, these three things : 

*' 1. Whenever I have undertaken any secular business 
on the Lord's day, which was not absolutely necessary, 
that business never prospered and succeeded well with me. 

"2. Nay, if I had set myself that day but to forecast 
or design any temporal business, to be done or performed 
afterwards, though such forecasts were just and honest in 
themselves, and had as fair a prospect as could be expected. 



20 THE LAW OF THE SABBATH. 

yet I have always been disappointed in the effecting of it, 
or in the success of it. So that it almost grew proverbial 
with me, when any importuned me to any secular business 
on that day, to answer them, that if they expected to suc- 
ceed amiss, then they might desire my undertaking it upon 
that day. And this was so certain an observation with me, 
that I feared to think of any secular business on that day ; 
because the resolution then taken would be disappointed, or 
unsuccessful. 

"3. That always the more closely I applied myself to 
the duties of the Lord's day, the more happy and success- 
ful were my business and employments of the week follow- 
ing. So that I could, from the loose or strict observance 
of that day, take a just prospect and true calculation of my 
temporal success in the ensuing week. Though my hands 
and mind have been so full of secular business, both before 
and since I was a judge, yet / never ivanted time in my six 
days to ri2:>e7i and fit myself for the business and employ- 
ments I had to do ; though I borrowed not one minute from 
the Lord^s day to prepare for it, by study or otherwise. But 
on the other hand, if I had at any time borrowed from this 
day any time for my secular employments, I found that it 
did further me less than if I had left it alone ; and there- 
fore, when some years' experience, upon a most attentive and 
vigilant observation, had given me this instruction, I grew 
peremptorily resolv^ed, never in this kind to make a breach 
on the Lord's day, which I have strictly observed for above 
thirty years. 

" This relation is most certainly and experimentally true, 
and hath been declared by me to hundreds of persons, as I 
now declare it unto you." 



]¥o. 188. 

A ¥ORD TO MOTHERS. 



"Train up a child in the way he should go," is the 
divine command; and the promise runs, ** when he, is old 
he will not depart from it." Examine, affectionate mother, 
whether you have felt the authority of this awful injunction, 
and diligently aimed at obeying it. You are, in a certain 
sense, the author of existence to your children ; you have 
travailed in birth, bringing them into the natural world ; do 
you knoAv what it is to "travail in birth" for their spiritual 
being, frequently and fervently wrestling in prayer for their 
salvation ? Like the woman mentioned in the Gospel, have 
you often gone to the compassionate Saviour, expostulating, 
" Lord, have pity on my son, my daughter, for they are 
born under the curse of a broken covenant, and are heirs of 
wrath by nature ; have mercy upon them, in pardoning their 
sins ; let thy precious blood, dear Redeemer, be sprinkled 
upon their consciences, purging them from dead works, that 
they may become alive to GodT'' 

You have spent many painful, anxious hours, in provid- 
ing for their bodies, securing meat and drink, and whatever 
was necessary for the present life ; what time have you spent 
about their precious souls — their everlasting concerns ? 
When did you spend an hour with God in prayer for their 
conversion and salvation ? Abraham supplicates, " that 
Ishmael might live before thee !" Are you often supplica- 
ting, " 0, that Timothy, that John, that James, that Mary, 
that Martha, might live before thee ! that the incorruptible 
seed might early take root in their hearts, and spring up, 
bearing fruit in their lives, producing love to God, love to 
their parents, and love to all men?" What hours do you 
spend with your children, teaching them, from the word of 
God, their danger by nature ; recommending Jesus as their 
only portion, and entreating them, in his name, to be " rec- 
onciled to God?" What hours do you spend covenanting 
with Jehovah in their behalf, saying, " Lord, here am I, 
and the children whom thou hast given me ; they are thine 
by creation, and I now resign them wholly to thy gracious 
disposal, both for time and eternity : I desire not great things 
for them in this world, but Oh, may their souls be saved in 
the day of the Lord Jesus Christ ? Thou hast said, ' Suffer 
VOL. VI. 



2 A WORD TO MOTHERS. 

"little children to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom 
of God :' at thy command I now bring them, and cast them 
upon thy free, sovereign mercy ; there I will leave them ; 
I cannot take them away Avithout thy blessing." 

But does not the conscience of some mother bear wit- 
ness, while she reads these pages, that she is a stranger to 
such exercises ? She has, perhaps, scarcely spent a thought 
about the spiritual and immortal interests of her children. 
She can suffer days and weeks to pass, without repeating a 
promise to them, or without offering up a prayer /or them. 
Is this your kindness to your offspring ? Is not the great 
God, who created the world and your children, a proper 
judge of the value of both ? and he has declared, a man is 
not profited, if he should " gain the whole world, and lose 
his own soul." What profit is it, therefore, to your chil- 
dren, should you acquire for them all riches and honors, if 
you neglect their souls, and suffer them to perish for ever ? 
Suppose that one of these little ones, whom you tenderly 
regard — who often captivates your heart with a thousand 
expressions of love — in whose sorrows you now sympathize, 
in whose health and happiness you rejoice — suppose one of 
these little ones should meet you at the left hand of the 
Judge, and address you in the following language : " 
cruel, accursed mother, instrument of my existence, and, 
through your neglect, instrument of my destruction ! Behold 
my dreadful condition, doomed here to the left hand of the 
Judge, as an object of his indignation ; as unfit for the 
society of good angels or men ! Behold the dreadful pros- 
pect which now lies before me ; the Judge is ready to frown 
me from his presence, angels ready to bind me hand and 
foot, and the devouring flame ready to receive me. See, on 
yonder right hand of the Judge, a companion of my child- 
hood and youth, one that was born in the same place, that 
was taught in the same school, stands now clad with the 
righteousness of Jesus, and wearing a crown of glory ; but 
I must be an eternal castaway, the abhorrence of God, the 
scorn of angels, the companion of devils, and a prey to 
unquenchable fire ! You were diligent in promoting my 
outward welfare : you fed me when hungry, you clothed me 
when naked, you sheltered me in the hour of danger, you 
sympathized with me in distress ; but you never told me 
that ' I was shapen in sin,' and thus a ' child of the curse ;' 



A WORD TO MOTHERS. 3 

you never told me that there was pardon in the blood of 
Jesus, nor urged me, by all the value of my soul, to ' flee 
from the wrath to come.' " AVhat mother could endure 
such a sight, or salutation ! 

Affectionate mother, do not pronounce these hard say- 
ings." '' The redemption of the soul is " unspeakably " pre- 
cious." My pen — the pen of an archangel, could not 
describe the ten thousand thousandth part of its value. 
Could I be the instrument, under God, of awakening you 
to reflect on its worth, on the vastness of eternity, on the 
happiness of heaven, on the miseries of hell, how would the 
instruction of your children become your chief employment, 
and their salvation your chief concern ! Think often of those 
words of inspiration : " What is a man profited, if he shall 
gain the whole world, and lose his own soul : or what shall 
a man o-ive in exchange for his soul ?" " Seek first," first for 
yourselves and your children, " the kingdom of God and his 
righteousness, and all other things shall be added unto you." 

Great are your encouragements to be faithful to the 
spiritual interests of your children. 

Think of the plain and repeated promises of God. " I 
will be your God, and the God of your seed : I will circum- 
cise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord 
thy God. My Spirit that is upon thee, and my word which 
I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, 
nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy 
seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth even for ever." 
Take these promises and present them, with 3"0ur children, 
one by one, pleading, ''Lord, do as thou hast said." 

Remember how our Lord Jesus, when on earth, always 
expressed a peculiar affection and concern for the young. 
When the scribes and pharisees rebuked the little children 
as they cried, '' Hosanna to the Son of David," did the 
Saviour unite with them in damping their rising ardor ; in 
"breaking the bruised reed," or "quenching the smoking 
flax?" No; Jesus encouraged them, and said, "Have ye 
never read. Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou 
hast perfected praise ?" 

When the Saviour was on earth, and little children were 
brought to him ; when parents came Avith their offspring, 
and masters with their servants ; all that came were wel- 
come ; there is not an instance in all the history of his life. 



4 A WORD TO MOTHERS. 

•that one was rejected ; " he took them in his arms, and put 
his hands upon them, and blessed them." And the Lord 
Jesus is as gracious now as he was in the days of his Hesh ; 
he is as able and willing to save to the very uttermost now 
as he ever was ; and has left, for the encouragement of all 
generations, those precious words : " Him that cometh unto 
me, I will in no wise cast out." 

Remember, too, that the Lord God ivill have a seed to 
serve him, while sun and moon endure ; and why not your 
seed ? " Men shall be blessed in him, and all nations shall 
call him blessed ;" and why may not your offspring be par- 
takers of these blessings? He has promised to "take the 
children instead of the fathers, and make them noble princes 
in all the earth;" and why may not your little ones be 
sharers of these honors ? 

From all these considerations, in the instruction of your 
children, be encouraged to sow in hope. While you teach, 
and admonish, and entreat, the fire may begin to burn in 
their little bosoms, even love to a bleeding Saviour ; that 
spark of grace may be enkindled by the Holy Ghost, which 
will shine brighter and brighter, until it blaze unclouded in 
the region of glory. And how great beyond expression 
would be your happiness ! By being instrumental in ren- 
dering these children pious towards God, you would render 
them affectionate and obedient, your crown in prosperity, 
and consolation in adversity. When called to close your 
eyes in death, you could leave them with their God and 
your God, in the confidence that he is " able to keep them 
from falling, and present them faultless before the presence 
of his glory with exceeding joy." What transports of bliss 
would mutually fill your bosoms, upon meeting, together 
with all the ransomed, at the riofht hand of the Judcre ! 
How would they be constrained to bless Jehovah for such 
a mother ; for one that taught them the truth as it is in 
Jesus : and how would you, in return, raise the shout of 
praise to Him who applied the word of his handmaid to 
their hearts, and rendered it effectual to their salvation ! 
" thai men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and 
for his wonderful works unto the children of men. And let 
them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his 
works with rejoicing." Amen. 



PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY. 



No. 189. 

A WORD IN THE EAR 



OF 



THE PROFESSED CHRISTIAN, 



Are you not asleep ? What ! you cannot be dead ! And 
one or the other must be the fact. If loth to admit the first, 
how startling must be the thought of the last ! But try. 

You believe there is an eternity — that in it God's 
justice will display itself in the everlasting punishment of 
sinners — that there is but one single hope of escape from 
so tremendous a doom, and that it is held out to us in the 
blood of the Son of God. Now, on that blood have you 
really cast yourself? And is it the hope which springs 
from this alone, that supports you in the view of all that is 
to come ? 0, then, if it be indeed so, you are not dead. 

But are you not asleep ? That question is still to be 
tried. And if you have fairly passed the trial of the other, 
you would not, for the world, leave this one unsettled. 
Try, then, again. 

Just lift up your eyes. Behold the crowds around you; 
and among which you walk, and sit, and stand every day 
of your life. How many souls of them, think you, have, 
like you, cast themselves on the blood of Christ ; and are, 
as you think you are, placed beyond the reach of perdition ? 
Mark them — not with the dull eye of this world's charity, 
but as they stand exposed in the light that shines from on 
high. How many such are there ? Now, look over the im- 
mense remainder; and say. What are you doing for them? 

VOL. VI. 6* 



A WORD IN THE EAR OF 



Behold the numbers who profess to know the great 
transforming things of the Gospel, and are yet going steadily 
after their vanities and their lusts ; and walking in the ways 
of that very world, whose every maxim and passion are in 
direct hostility to Christ. And then behold, here, there, 
and everywhere, the multitudes w^io do not even profess 
subjection to God the Saviour ; are at this moment in the 
open field of rebellion against him; and stand habitually 
aloof from the temples of his grace where the offers of 
reconciliation are held out. Now ask again, For these per- 
ishing creatures, what are you doing ? How many of them 
have you taken hold of, and warned, and besought, as for 
their life ? — Oh ! are you not asleep ? 

You understand, it is supposed, what is their condition — 
how dreadful ! You foresee what is to be their lot — how 
appalling ! And you behold , them, all the time, passing 
in rapid succession from our streets, and going down, by 
scores, every week, to that place where they will realize, 
for the first time, when for ever too late, that a Redeemer 
has indeed appeared on the earth, and that in Jesus they 
have rejected him, to their endless undoing. And yet you 
will not lift a hand, or utter a word, to stop them — Oh ! are 
you not asleep ? 

You believe yourself a fast disciple and true follower of 
Him who wept at the tomb of the mortally dead, and shed 
floods of tears over a whole nation ; na}^ poured out his 
life-blood, and sustained the storms of Almighty Avrath, for 
a whole world of enemies. And here are your countrymen 
and fellow- citizens, who are all good- will to you; and 
among them, acquaintances and friends, and perhaps your 
own kindred — it may be father and mother, and husband 
or wife, and children, the "bone of your bone, and flesh of 
your flesh," hastening to everlasting graves, and falling into 
the tombs of eternity, from which they shall never be called 
forth ; and you will not give an hour in the day, or a half- 



THE PROFESSED CHRISTIAN. 8 

day of the week, to avert from them such a destiny, though 
it be also to bring them to immortal life. Oh ! are you not 
asleep ? 

But you think that you pity them and pray for them. 
But what is that pity that succors not, when it may? And 
are you to be told, that praying and doing, when any thing 
can be done, always go together ; and that the earnest desire 
of the heart ever prompts to the actual effort of the hands ? 
You pity and pray for them — but can you do nothing for 
them ? Have you not a tongue to speak to them ? Have 
you not feet to bear you about among them ? And can 
you not sound the alarm in their houses and walks ? Can 
you not place before their eyes God's own written warn- 
ings ; and circulate through their habitations God's own 
•written offers of mercy ; and urge their attention to all that 
they there read about the coming wrath, and the glorious 
salvation ? Can you not ? And if you do it not, what 
is your pity but a mockery of man ; and your prayer but 
as a mockery of God ? Oh, are you not asleep ! asleep ! 
asleep? 

Now, y6u, who will not warn others, at least open your 
ear to a word of warning to yourself ; which comes from 
every quarter from which such a word can come ; from God 
on high, who sees all that is going on ; from holy angels 
and glorified saints, who know what heaven is, and what 
hell is ; from your fellow- Christians, who, here and else- 
where, are toiling in the work of salvation, and ready to 
faint, wdth the greatness of it and the fewness of their 
mimbers : and if you are proof against this, listen, at any 
rate, to that voice which comes from within yourself — from 
the recesses of your own soul, as it cries to you, from mercy 
to your own undying spirit, to awake and arise ; for, in a 
sleep like this, how can you know, after all, that you are 
even alive ? Is it not, at least, a deathlike ^leep ; and may 
it not be, in fact, the sleep of death ? 



4 A WORD IxN THE EAR, ETC. 

Without the vivid and effective sympathies of the Chris- 
tian, how can you think that you are a Christian indeed ? 
Without the feehngs of fear, of horror, of sorrow, and coiur 
passion, in the view of perishing immortals of your own 
race— perishing, as it were, under your own eyes — and 
without the feehngs of joy and hope at the very thought 
of their rescue, and of confidence in the means divinely 
appointed for it— all animating your conduct, and exciting 
you to action, and sustaining you in ardent endeavors for 
their salvation, how can it be otherwise than that, either 
you see not their danger, and so cannot have any right ap- 
prehension of eternal things, and are still yourself in the 
darkness of nature ; or, you care not for them, and so are 
still wrapt in the selfishness of nature's corruption ? And, 
in either case, if they are two cases, must you not be dead ! 
dead ! dead ? 

Would you escape so frightful a view of your own con- 
dition and prospects ? There is but one way ! Would you 
know that you are indeed a living soul, and not buried your- 
self in the death around you ? Once more, hear. Awake ! 
Arise ! Walk abroad in the spirit of life, and do the actions 
of a living man. Go forth, and take your stand, and march 
your rounds among the dead of your own flesh, and show 
and prove yourself a living soul, by calling on them, in the 
name of the Lord of life, to live also. Behold ! eternity is 
at hand — and what a transient moment separates you from 
it ! The judgment is before you, and that day of transport 
and of terror — 'tis but as to-morrow — when every man 
shall be judged according to his works ! Death beckons ! 
Should you be presently in his hand, how would you wish 
you had received this appeal ! 



PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY. 



TXo. 190. 

DEATH 



OF 



HUME AND FINLEY COMPARED. 



BY REV, JOHN M. MASON, D. D. 



The common sense and feelings of mankind have always 
taught them to consider death as a most awful and inter- 
esting event. If it were nothing more than a separation 
from all that we love in this world, the dissolution of our 
bodies, and the termination of our present mode of exist- 
ence, there would be sufficient reason for approaching it 
with tender and solemn reflection. But when we add those 
anticipations of which very few, if any, can wholly divest 
themselves ; that scene of " untried being," which lies before 
us; and especially that eternity which the Christian revela- 
tion unfolds, death becomes an object of unutterable moment ; 
and every sober thought of it bears upon the heart Avith a 
weight of solicitude which it is not in the power of unaided 
reason to remove. The mere possihiliti/ of our living here- 
after, is enough to engage the attention of a wise man ; the 
2)7'ohahiUtij of it is too grave and affecting to leave an excuse 
for indiiference ; and the certainty with which the Scriptures 
speak of it, as of an immortality of blessedness or of woe, 
allows to light and ludicrous speculations concerning it, no 
other character than that of the insanity of wickedness. 

When that hour draws nigh which shall close the busi- 



2 DEATH OF HUME AND FINLEY COMPARED. 

ness of life, and summon the spirit to tlie bar of " God who 
gave it," all the motives to deception cease, and those false 
reasonings which blind the judgment are dissipated. It is 
the hour of truth, and of sincerity. Such, at least, is the 
general fact, which cannot be invalidated by the concession 
that, in some instances, men have been found to cherish 
their infatuation, and practise their knavery, to the very last. 
Their number in places w^hich enjoy the pure Gospel, the 
only ones in our present view, is too small to make any per- 
ceptible difference in the amount ; or to disparage that 
respectful credence with which the rustic and the sage 
listen to the testimony of a dying bed. 

By this testimony, the " Gospel of the grace of God" 
has obtained, among every people, and in every age, such 
strong confirmation, and has carried into the human con- 
science such irresistible appeals for its truth, its power, and 
its glorious excellency, that its enemies have labored with 
all their might to discredit these triumphs. They have 
attacked the principle upon w^hich the testimony of a dying 
believer rests. They have said that the mind, being neces- 
sarily enfeebled by the ravages of mortal disease upon the 
body,^ is not a competent judge of its own operations — that 
the looks, the tears, the whole conduct of surrounding 
friends, excite artificial emotions in the dying — that super- 
stition has a prodigious ascendency over their imagination — 
that their joyful impressions of heaven are the mere reveries 
of a disturbed brain — that their serenity, their steady hope, 
their placid faith, are only the natural consequence of long 
habit, which never operates more freely than w^hen the 
faculty of reflection is impaired. All this, and more like 
this, do unhappy mortals, who take, or pretend to take 
pleasure -in putting an extinguisher upon the light of life, 



DEATH OF HUME AND FINLEY COMPARED. 3 

detail with an air of superiority, as if they had fallen upon 
a discovery which merits the plaudits of the world. 

But were it even so — were the Christian victory over 
death only a dream, it is a dream so sweet and blessed, that, 
with the scourger of lord Bolingbroke's philosophy, I should 
"account that man a villain that awoke me — awoke me to 
truth and misery." But I am not going to discuss this 
question. The poor infidel does not believe himself, and 
why should others believe him ? With one breath he en- 
deavors to cry down the argument to be derived in favor of 
their religion, from the peaceful death of Christians ; and 
with the next to enlist it in his own service. He omits no 
opportunity of celebrating the intrepidity or composure 
displayed by sceptical brethren in their last moments. 

Let the letter of Dr. Adam Smith, concerning the death 
of David Hume, Esq. be a proof. Every sentence betrays 
his anxiety to set off his friend to the best advantage. The 
dullest observer cannot but perceive his design to compare 
Mr. Hume dying an infidel, with a Christian dying in the 
faith of Jesus. Let us draw out, at length, that comparison 
which he has only insinuated ; and that the effect may be 
more decisive, let us remember, that the whole annals of 
unbelief do not furnish a more favorable example than he 
has selected. Mr. Hume was a man of undisputed genius. 
His versatile talent, his intense application, his large acquire- 
ments, and his uncommon acuteness, place him, perhaps, at 
the head of those enemies of revelation who attempt to 
reason ; as Voltaire stands without a rival among those who 
only scoff. He had, besides, Avhat rarely belongs to the 
ascertained infidel, a good moral reputation. We mean that 
he was not addicted to lewdness, to drunkenness, to knavery, 
or any of those grosser vices which are the natural and 



4 DEATH OF HUME AND FINLEY COMPARED. 

ordinary companions of enmity to the Gospel. For other- 
wise, as he labored to unsettle all fixed principles of belief, 
to overturn the whole system of moral obligation, to obliter- 
ate a sense of God's authority from the conscience, and 
positively to inculcate the innocence of the greatest crimes, 
he must be accounted one of the most flagitiously immoral 
men that ever lived. 

His panegyrist, too, was a man of superior parts and 
profound erudition. The name of Adam Smith will always 
rank high in the republic of letters ; and will never be 
pronounced, but with respect, by the political economist. 
Mr. Hume can have lost nothing, has possibly gained much, 
by the pen of his friend. Taking him, therefore, as Dr. 
Smith's letter to Mr. Strahan represents him, let us contrast 
his last hours with those of that servant of the Lord Jesus 
Christ, Dr. Samuel Finley, formerly President of the Col- 
lege of New Jersey, as given by those who attended his 
dying bed. 

Whatever be a man's opinions, one of his most rational 
occupations, in the prospect of leaving the world, is to look 
back upon the manner in which he has passed through it ; 
to compare his duties with his conduct, and to inquire how 
far he deserves the approbation or the reproach of his own 
conscience. With a Christian this admits not of dispute. 
Nor will it be disputed by a deist, who professes his faith 
in the being and providence of God, and a state of rewards 
and punishments hereafter, proportioned to the degree of 
crime or of virtue here. To such a one it is, upon his own 
principles, a question of unspeakable importance, whether 
he shall commence his future existence with the hopes of 
happiness, or with fears of misery ; especially, as he relies 
much upon the efficacy of penitence and prayer, in procur- 



DEATH OF HUME AND FINLEY COMPARED. 5 

ing forgiveness of his faults, indulgence to his infirmities, 
and a general mitigation of Avhatever is unfavorable. Nay, 
the mortal deist, or the atheist himself, for they are not 
worth the trouble of a distinction, ought, for their own 
sakes in this life, to be so employed. If, with the rejection 
of all religious constraint, they have not also uprooted every 
affection of their nature, nothing could afford them more 
gratification, in the evening of their days, than the con- 
sciousness of their having contributed something to the 
mass of human comfort. In short, whether we argue upon 
Christian or unchristian grounds, it can be the interest of 
none but the worthless and the malio-nant, to shut their 
eyes upon their own history, and sink down in death, as a 
bullock drops under the knife of his executioner. 

Yet, strange as it may appear, and inconsistent as it 
certainly is with his high pretensions, there are few things 
so rare as a dying injBdel taking a deliberate retrospect of 
life. We say a deliberate retrospect ; for it is undeniable, 
that on many of those who, like the apostate Julian, Avaged 
implacable war with the Galilean, conscience, recovering 
from its slumbers, has, at the hour of death; or the appre- 
hension of it, forced an unwilling and tormenting recollection 
of their deeds. The point of honor in their philosophy 
seems to be, and their utmost attainment is, to keep com- 
pletely out of view both the past and the future. This 
was evidently the case with Mr. Hume. In Dr. Smith's 
letter to Mr. Strahan, relating the last conversation of his 
infidel friend, you will not find a syllable from which you 
could gather that there is an hereafter, a providence, or a 
God — not a sentence to indicate that Mr. Hume believed he 
had ever committed a sin, or was, in any respect, an ac- 
countable being. 

VOL. VI. 7 



6 DEATH OF HUME AND FINLEY COMPARED. 

Turn now away from the philosopher, and hear what a 
behever in the Lord Jesus Christ has to say. Melting into 
gratitude for that mercy which he had received from his 
heavenly Father, Dr. Finley went back to the commence- 
ment of his Christian course, and desired a friend to pray 
that God *' would be pleased to let him feel just as he did 
at that time when he first closed with Christ," and the 
rapture of his soul came near to the blessedness of heaven. 
With deep humility he owned his sinfulness : not a whisper 
of extenuation or apology did he utter — " I know not in 
what language to speak of my own unworthiness — I have 
been undutiful." But with great tenderness, as in the 
presence of the Omniscient, he attested his satisfaction with 
time spent in his Christian duties and enjoyments. ** I can 
truly say that I have loved the service of God — I have 
honestly endeavored to act for God, but with much weak- 
ness and corruption — I have tried my Master's yoke, and 
will never shrink my neck from it." That he had been 
useful to others, and instrumental in their salvation, was to 
him a source of pure and elevated joy. " The Lord has 
giA-en me many souls as a crown of my rejoicing." 

What think you now, reader, of Mr. Hume and Dr. 
Finley, with regard to their retrospect of life ? Who 
evinces most of the good and the virtuous man ? Whose 
reflections, is it reasonable to conclude, were the more 
delightful ? His, who let none of them escape his lips ? or 
his, whose words were inadequate to express their abun- 
dance or their sweetness ? No ; the one had not delightful 
recollections to communicate. High happiness is never 
selfish. The overflowing heart pours off" its exuberance 
into the bosom of a friend. And had Mr. Hume had any 
thing of this sort to impart, his companions and encomiasts 



DEATH OF HUME AND FINLEY COMPARED. 7 

would have shared in his pleasure, and would not have for- 
gotten to tell the world of its luxury. Their silence is a 
sufficient comment. 

Let us extend our comparison to a particular, which, 
more than almost any thing else, touches the pride of phi- 
losophy : we mean the dignity displayed by the infidel and 
by the Christian respectively. 

Ask Dr. Smith. He will tell you that, at the very time 
when he knew his dissolution was near, Mr. Hume con- 
tinued to " divert himself as usual, with correcting his own 
works for a new edition ; with reading books of amusement ; 
with the conversation of his friends ; and sometimes, in 
the evening, with a party at his favorite game of whist." 
Behold the dying occupation of a captain of infidelity ! 
Of one who is eulogized " as approaching as nearly to the 
idea of a perfectly wise and virtuous man, as, perhaps, the 
nature of human frailty will admit" — his most serious em- 
ployment is, " diverting himself." Just about to yield 
up his last breath, and " diverting himself !" From what? 
Let them answer who know that there are apt to be trou- 
blesome \isitors to the imagination and the conscience of 
one who has prostituted his powers to the purpose of spread- 
ing rebellion against the God who made him ! " Divert- 
ing himself!" With what? With correcting his own 
works for a new edition ! a considerable portion of which 
" works " is designed to prove that justice, mercy, faith, 
and all the circle of both the duties and charities, are obli- 
gatory only because they are useful ; and, by consequence, 
that their opposites shall be obligatory when they shall 
appear to be more useful — that the religion of the Lord 
Jesus, which has " brought life and immortality to light," 
is an impostui'e — that adultery is a bagatelle ; and sui- 



8 DEATH OF HUME AND FINLEY COMPARED. 

Tcide a virtue ! With what ? With reading books of amuse- 
ment. The adventures of Don Quixotte ; the tales of the 
genii ; a novel, a tragedy, a farce, a collection of son- 
nets ; any thing but those sober and searching treatises 
which are fit for one who " considers his latter end." With 
what ? With the conversation of his friends ; such as Dr. 
Smith, and Dr. Black, another famous infidel, who, as they 
had nothing inviting to discuss about futurity, and Mr. 
Hume could not bear the fatigue of abstruse speculation, 
must have entertained him with all that jejune small talk 
which makes great Avits look so very contemptible, when 
they have nothing to say. With what ? With an evening 
party at his favorite game of whist ! A card-table, and all 
that nauseous gabble for which the card-table is renowned ! 
The question is to be decided, whether such stupendous 
faculties as had been lavished upon Mr. Hume, were to be 
blasted into annihilation ; or expanded to the vision and 
fruition of the INFINITE GOOD ; or converted into inlets 
of endless pain, despair, and horror ! — a question which 
might convulse the abyss, and move the thrones of heaven : 
and while the decision is preparing, preparing for hi7n, Mr. 
Hume sits down to a gaming-board, with gambling compan- 
ions, to be "diverted" with the chances of the cards, and 
the edifying conversation to which they give rise ! Such 
is the dignity of this almost " perfectly wise and virtuous 
man." Such, 2i 2^hilosopher' s preparation for death ! 

Let us leave him at the card-table, and pay a second 
visit to Dr. Finley. From his gracious lips, not a trifling 
word escapes. In his ardent soul, now ready to speed its 
flight to the spirits of the just, there is no room for " diver- 
sion ;" for '' correcting" compositions ; for "books of amuse- 
ment;" or for "games of whist." The everlasting life of 



DEATH OF HUME AND FINLEY COMPARED. 9 

those around him — the spiritual prosperity of a congrega- 
tion dear to him — the interests of his Redeemer among the 
nations-^— these, these are the themes which fill his thoughts 
and dwell upon his tongue. " Oh that each of you," says 
he to the spectators of his pain, *' may experience what, 
blessed be God, I do, when ye come to die." " Give my 
love to the people of Princeton ; tell them that I am going 
to die, and that I am not afraid of death. The Lord Jesus 
take care of his cause in the world." 

The manner in which Mr. Hume and Dr. Finley directly 
contemplated death, and the effects of death, presents an- 
other strong point of contrast. It is evident, from the whole 
of Dr. Smith's narrative, that the former confined, or wished 
to confine his view to the mere ^9A?/s^ca? event — to the 
bodily anguish which it might create, and its putting a period 
to earthly enjoyments. The whole of the philosopher's 
" magnanimity" centres here. Allowing to his composure 
under these views of death as much as can reasonably be 
demanded, we do not perceive in it all that ** magnanimity" 
which is perceived by Dr. Smith. Thousands who had no 
pretensions to . philosophical preeminence, have been Mr. 
Hume's equals on this ground. If he had succeeded in 
persuading himself, as his writings tend to persuade others, 
that the spirit of man, like the spirit of a beast, "goeth 
downwards ;" that, when the breath should leave his body, 
there would be an end of M?-. Hume — that the only change 
would be to "turn a few ounces of blood into a different 
channel " — to vary the form of a cluster of corpuscles, or to 
scatter a bundle of perceptions up and down through that 
huge collection of impressions and ideas, that stupendous 
mass of nothings, of which his philosophy had sagaciously 
discovered the whole material and intellectual world to be 

VOL. VI. 7* 



10 DEATH OF HUME AND FINLEY COMPARED. 

"composed — if this were all, we cannot discern in what his 
magnanimity consisted. It is chiefly as a moral event, that 
death is interesting — as an event which, instead of putting 
an end to our existence, only introduces us to a mode of 
existence as much more interesting than the present, as 
eternity is more interesting than time. 

It is this view that chiefly engaged the attention of Dr. 
Finley. In common with others, he was to undergo the 
pains of dissolution. But he rested not in these. He fixed 
his eye upon that new form which all his relations to God, 
to holiness, to sin, and the inhabitants of the future world, 
were shortly to assume. The reader, we doubt not, per- 
ceives the immense disparity between these cases. Mr. 
Hume looks at death as it aff'ects the affairs of this world. 
Dr. Finley, as it involves eternal issues. Mr. Hume, ac- 
cording to his own notions, had nothing to encounter but 
the struggles of nature, and nothing to lose but a few 
temporal enjoyments. Before Dr. Finley was the tribunal 
of God, and the stake at hazard was an immortal soul. 
An error here is irretrievable ; the very thought of its 
possibility is enough to shake every fibre of the frame ; 
and proportionably precious and certain must be that relig- 
ion, which can assure the believer of his safety, and convey 
him with peacefulness and pleasure to his Father's house. 

This being the case, let us weigh the consolations of the 
philosopher against those of the Christian. 

Dr. Smith has made the most of them in behalf of the 
former ; but a very little scrutiny will show that they are 
light and meagre indeed. " I am dying" — they are the 
words of Mr. Hume — " as easily and cheerfully as my best 
friends could desire." " When he became very weak," 
says Dr. Black, "it cost him an effort to speak; and he 



DEATH OF HUME AND FINLEY COMPARED. H 

died in such a happy composure of mind, that nothing could 
exceed it." 

We are not without suspicion, that, on the part of Mr. 
Hume, there is some aflfectation here ; and on the part of 
his friends, some pretty high coloring. In the mouth of a 
Christian, "composure," *' cheerfulness," ''complacency," 
"resignation," "happiness," in death, have an exquisite 
meaning. But what meaning can they have in the mouth 
of one, the very best of whose expectations is the extinction 
of his being? Is there any " complacency" in the thought 
of perishing ? any " happiness " in the dreary and dismal 
anticipation of being blotted out of life ? It is a farce ! It 
is a mockery of every human feeling ; and every throbbing 
of the heart convicts it of a lie. But Mr. Hume expected 
a better state of existence — nay, talk not of that. There is 
not, either in his own expressions or those of his friends, 
the faintest allusion to futurity. That glorious light which 
shines through the grave upon the redeemed of the Lord, 
was the object of his derision. No comfort from this quar- 
ter. The accomplishment of his earthly wishes, and the pros- 
perity of his near relatives, are the only reasons assigned 
for his cheerfulness. But these are insufficient. In thou- 
sands, and ten thousands, they have not availed to preclude 
the most alarming forebodings ; and why should they do 
more for Mr. Hume ? 

In the next place, how shall we interpret his " resigna- 
tion ?" Resiof nation to what ? To the divine will ? no ! 
God was not in all his thoughts. But death was at hand, 
and he could not escape ; he submitted to a stroke which 
it was impossible to avoid. And all that is said of his 
"composure," and "cheerfulness," and "resignation," and 
*' complacency," when measured by the scale of truth. 



12 DEATH OF HUME AND FINLEY COMPARED. 

amounts to no more than a sottish unconcern set off with a 
fictitious gayety. It is easy to work up a fine description ; 
and it is often most fine, when most remote from the fact. 
Let any infidel between the poles produce, if he can, a 
reason that shall satisfy a child, why one who has hved 
without God, should find "complacency" in death. No- 
thing but that " hope which maketh not ashamed," is a 
cause equal to such an effect. But *'hope" beyond the 
grave, is a word which had no place in Mr. Hume's vocab- 
ulary, because the thing had no place in his soul. It is 
plain, however, that he 

" Felt his ruling passion strong in death." 

Whatever his decay had weakened, his desire to see " the 
downfall of some of the prevailing systems of superstition," 
which, with Mr. Hume, meant neither more nor less than the 
destruction of Christianity in every modification, retained 
its whole vigor. And thus, while venting his spite at the 
only ''system " which ever could render death comfortable, 
he goes to Lucian's Dialogues, and edifies his friends with 
chattering nonsense about Charon and his boat ! Nothing 
can be more blind and infatuated than the fanaticism of 
philosophy "falsely so called." With this puerile levity 
before our eyes, and this contemptible babbling sounding in 
our ears, we must hsten to tales of Mr. Hume's magna- 
nimity, complacency, and resignation ! 

From a barren exhibition of Atheism, let us repair once 
more to the servant of God. In Dr. Finley, we see a man 
dying, not only with cheerfulness, but with ecstasy. Of 
his friends, his wife, his children, he takes a joyful leave ; 
committing all that he held most dear in this world, not to 
the uncertainties of earthly fortune, but to the " promises 



DEATH OF HUME AND FINLEY COMPARED. 13 

of his God." Although his temporal circumstances were 
very moderate ; although he had sons and daughters to 
provide for, and slender means of doing it, he felt not a 
moment's uneasiness. " Leave thy fatherless children with 
me ; I will preserve them alive ; and let thy widows trust 
in me," was, in his estimation, a better security for their 
support, than any inheritance in lands or lucre. And as to 
death itself, who but one "filled with hopes of immortality," 
could use such lanofuae^e as this : " A Christian's death is 
the best part of his existence." "Blessed be God! eternal 
rest is at hand." " 0, 1 shall triumph over every foe " — he 
meant sin, Satan, death, the grave — " the Lord hath given 
me the victory. I exult ; I triumph ! Now I know that 
it is impossible that faith should not triumph over earth and 
hell." " Lord Jesus, into thy hands I commit my spirit ; I 
do it with confidence ; I do it with full assurance. I know 
that thou wilt keep that which I have committed unto thee." 
We appeal to all the world, whether any thing like this, 
any thing that deserves so much as to be named in compar- 
ison, ever fell from the lips of an infidel ? How poor, how 
mean, hoAV miserable, does he look, when brought to the 
contrast! Let the reader review again the situation of Dr. 
Finley, ponder his words, and mark their spirit ; and then 
let him go back to Mr. Hume's "diversion" — to his cor- 
recting his atheistical writings for a new edition — to his 
"books of amusement" — to his "game of whist" — to his 
insipid raillery about Charon and his boat ! Truly, the infi- 
dels have cause to look big, and despise the followers of 
Jesus Christ ! " Pray, sir," said a young man to the late 
Dr. Black, in the presence of a juvenile company, at the 
Doctor's own table, "Pray, sir, how did Mr. Hume die?" 
"Mr. Hume," answered the sceptical chemist, with an air 



14 DEATH OF HUME AND FINLEY COMPARED. 

of great significance, " Mr. Hume died, as he lived, a phi- 
losophery Dr. Black himself has aided Dr, Smith in tell- 
ing us what the death of a philosopher is. It has taught 
us, if nothing before did, that the pathetic exclamation, 
"Let my soul be with the philosophers," belongs to one 
who is a stranger to truth and happiness. If they resem- 
ble Mr. Hume, we will most devoutly exclaim, " Furthest 
from them is best." Let our souls be with the Christians ! 
with the humble believers in that Jesus who is " the resur- 
rection and the life." Let them be with Samuel Finley ; 
let them not be with David Hume ! 

We cannot close these remarks without again reminding 
the reader, that no instance of composure in death is to be 
found more favorable to the infidel boast, than the instance 
of Mr. Hume. And yet, how jejune and forlorn does he 
appear, compared with Dr. Finley. The latter longs for 
his departure, ** as the hireling pants for the evening shade ;" 
and when it comes, he pours around him his kindly bene- 
dictions ; his eye beams with celestial brilliancy ; he shouts, 
Salvation ! and is away to " the bosom of his Father and 
his God." 

But in the other all is blank. No joy sparkles in his 
eye ; no hope swells his bosom ; an immeanmg smile is on 
his countenance, and frigid ridicule dishonors his lips. Be 
it never forgotten, that no infidels die in triumph ! The 
utmost to which they pretend is, dying with calmness. Even 
this rarely happens ; and, the Scriptures being judge, it is 
a part of their accursedness. It imparts the deeper horror 
to the surprise of the eternal world. But if you reverse 
the picture, and ask how many infidels close their career in 
anguish, in distraction, in a fearful looJcing for of judgment 
and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. 



DEATH OF HUME AND FINLEY COMPARED. 15 

liow endless is the train of wretches, how piercing their cry ! 
That arch blasphemer, Voltaire, left the world with hell 
anticipated ; and we hear so frequently of his disciples " go- 
ing to their own place " in a similar manner, that the dread- 
ful narratives lose their effect by repetition. It was quite 
recently that a youth in the state of New York, who had 
been debauched by the ribaldrous impiety of Paine, yielded 
up the ghost with dire imprecations on the hour when he 
first saw an infidel book, and on the murderer who first put 
it into his hand. But who ever heard of a dying man's 
cursing the day in Avhich he believed in Jesus ? While such 
an instance, we are bold to assert, never occurred, nothing 
is more common than the peaceful death of them who have 
" tasted that the Lord is gracious." They who see practical 
Christianity in those retreats which the eye of a profane 
philosopher seldom penetrates, could easily fill a long record 
of dying beds softened with that bland submission, and 
cheered with that victorious hope, which threw so heavenly 
a lustre round the bed of Dr. Finley. 

These things carry with them their own recommendation 
to the conscience Avhich is not yet " seared as with a hot 
iron." If our pages fall into the hands of the young, we 
affectionately entreat them to " remember their Creator in 
the days of their youth ;" " to make their calling and their 
election sure," before they be '' hardened by the deceitful- 
ness of sin." Rich are the tints of that beauty, and sweet 
the fragrance of those blossoms, on which, in the morning 
of life, the Lord our God sheds down the dews of his bless- 
ino-. You would not wish to be associated with infidels in 
■their death — shun the contagion of their principles, while 
you are in spirits and in health. Your hearts cannot but 
sigh, " Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my 



16 DEATH OF HUME AND FINLEV COMPARED. 

last end be like his." Cast in, then, your lot with him; 
choose for your own God, the God of Samuel Finley ; and 
like him, you shall have "hope in your death;" like him, 
you shall " be had in everlasting remembrance," when **the 
memory of the wicked shall rot." 



BOYLE AND HOBBES. 

What a blessins: to mankind, in himself and in his writ- 
ings, was the ingenious, humble, and pious Mr. Boyle ! 
what a pest to society was the fallacious, proud, and im- 
pious Hobbes ! Accordingly, we find the former bade adieu 
to this world with the utmost serenity, honor, and hope ; 
while the other went out of it in the dark, with an odium 
on his name, as well as with terrible apprehensions of an 
unknown future. He had been an instrument of the prince 
of darkness, in poisoning many young gentlemen and others 
with his wicked principles, as the late Earl of Rochester 
confessed with extreme grief in the hours of affliction. It is 
remarked by those w^ho critically observed him, that though 
in a humor of bravado he would speak very strange and 
unbecoming things of God, yet, in his study, in the dark, 
and in his retired thoughts, he trembled before him. What 
could make this strange man awake in such terror and 
amazement if his candle happened to go out in the night, 
but that he was unable to bear the dismal reflections of his 
dissolute and gloomy mind ; and because he neither knew 
how quite to extinguish, nor yet how to bear the light of 
conscience, that " candle of the Lord " within him ! Many, 
alas, appear like atheists in their mirth, in wine and com- 
pany, who are quite of other sentiments in sickness and the 

gloom of solitude. Dodd's Sermons. 



IVo. 191. 

A WARNING 

TO 

SABBATH-BREAKERS. 




As I was walking^ down 



street, on my way to 



church, I saw a party of young people going on before me, 
whose volatile manners ill accorded with the sanctity of the 
day ; and just as I was passing them I heard one say, " In- 
deed I think we shall do wrong — my conscience condemns 
me — I must return." " There can be no harm," replied 
another, " in taking an excursion on the water ; especially 
as we have resolved to go to church in the evening." " I 
must return," rejoined a female voice, "my conscience con- 
demns me. What will father say, if he hear of it ?" By 
this time they had reached the river, and one of the party 
was busily engaged with a waterman, while the rest stood 
in close debate for the space of five minutes, when they all 
moved forward towards the water. 

I watched them going down the stairs, and thought 
I perceived an air of peculiar melancholy in the counte- 
nance of the female who had objected to the excursion, but 
whose firmness gave way to the ardor of importunity. 
Two of the gentlemen stepped into the boat, two more 

VOL. VI. 8 



2 A WARNING TO SABBATH BREAKERS, 

stood at the water's edge, and the females were handed 
in, one after another ; but still I could perceive great reluc- 
tance on the part of the one who had previously objected ; 
till, at length, being surrounded by all the gentlemen of the 
party, she yielded, and the boat was pushed off. 

It was a fine mornino- thouofh rather cold ; the tide was 
running in at its usual rate ; many were gazing on them, 
like myself, when a naval officer, standing near to me, called 
to them and said, '* A pleasant voyage to you." One of the 
gentlemen suddenly arose to return the compliment ; but, 
from some cause which I could not perceive, he unfortunately 
fell into the water. This disaster threw the whole party 
into the utmost consternation ; and each one, instead of re- 
taining his seat, rushed to the side of the boat over which 
their companion had fallen, which upset it, and all were 
instantaneously plunged into the deep. The shriek which 
the multitude of spectators gave, when they beheld this 
calamity, exceeded any noise I had ever heard ; several 
females fainted ; boats immediately put off; and in a few 
minutes I had the o-ratification of seeinof the watermen res- 
cuing one — and another — and another, from a premature 
grave. Having picked up all that they could find, the dif- 
ferent boats rowed to shore, where some medical gentlemen 
were in waiting ; but when the party met together, no lan- 
guage can describe the horror which was depicted on every 
countenance, when they found that two were still missing. 
"Where's my sister?" said the voice which had said, only 
a few minutes before, " There can be no harm in taking an 
excursion on the water ; especially as we have resolved to 
go to church in the evening." " Where's my Charles ?" 
said a female, who had appeared the most gay and spright- 
ly when I first saw them. 

At length, two boats, which had gone a considerable 
distance up the river, were seen returning ; and, on being 
asked if they had picked up any, they replied, "Yes, two." 
This reply electrified the whole party ; they embraced each 
other with the tenderest emotions ; they wept for joy, and 
so did many others who stood around them. " Here's a 
gentleman," said the waterman, as he was coming up to 
the foot of the stairs, " but I believe he's dead." " Where's 
the lady?" said her brother, "is she safe?" "She is in 
the other boat, sir!" " Is she alive ? Has she spoken ?" 



A WARNING TO SABBATH-BREAKERS. 3 

" No sir, she has not spoken, I believe." " Is she dead ? 
tell me !" " I fear she is, sir." 

The bodies were immediately removed from the boats 
to a house in the vicinity, and every effort was employed 
to restore animation ; and some faint hopes were entertain- 
ed by the medical gentlemen that they should succeed. In 
the space of little more than ten minutes they announced 
the joyful news that the gentleman began to breathe, but 
they made no allusion to the lady. Her brother sat motion- 
less, absorbed in the deepest melancholy, till the actual de- 
cease of his sister was announced, when he stafted up, and 
became almost frantic with grief ; and, though his compan- 
ions tried to comfort him, yet he refused to hear the words 
of consolation. "0 my sister! my sister! would to God I 
had died for thee !" They were all overwhelmed in trouble, 
and knew not what to do. " Who will bear the heavy 
tidings to our father ?" said the brother, who paced back- 
wards and forwards the room, like a maniac broke loose 
from the cell of misery — " 0, who will bear the heavy 
tidings to our father?" He paused — a deathlike silence 
pervaded the whole apartment : he again burst forth, in the 
agonies of despair — "I forced her to go against the dictates 
of her conscience — I am her murderer — I ought to have 
perished, and not my sister. Who will bear the heavy 
tidings to our father?" "I will," said a gentleman who 
had been unremitting in his attention to the sufferers. "Do 
you know him, sir?" " Yes, I know him." " O, how can I 
ever appear in his presence ? I enticed the best of children 
to an act of disobedience which has destroyed her !" 

How the old man received the intelligence, or what 
moral effect resulted from the disaster, I never heard ; but 
it may furnish me with a few reflections, which I wish to 
press upon the attention of my readers. As the Sabbath 
is instituted for the purpose of promoting your moral im- 
provement and felicity, never devote its sacred hours to 
the recreations of pleasure. He who has commanded you 
to keep it holy, will not suffer you to profane it with im- 
punity. He may not bring down upon you the awful ex- 
pressions of his displeasure while you are in the act of 
setting at open defiance his authority ; but there is a day 
approaching when you must stand before him. And can 
you anticipate the solemnities of that day, while going on 



4 A WARNING TO SABBATH-BREAKERS. 

in a course of sin, but with the most fearful apprehensions ? 
You may, like many others, suppose that that da}^ is very 
far off; but you may be undeceived by a sudden visitation 
of Providence, and in a moment be removed from amongst 
your gay companions to appear in his presence. If you 
should, with Avhat terror-struck amazement Avill you look on 
the awful scene around 3^ou ! with what agonizing despair 
will you listen to the final sentence — Depart ! 

Resist the first temptation to evil, or your ruin may be 
the inevitable consequence. " Indeed, I think we shall do 
wrong — my conscience condemns me — I must return," said 
the unfortunate female, when she got near the edge of the 
water ; but, having yielded to the first temptation, she was 
induced to overcome all her scruples — and, within the space 
of half an hour from that time she entered the eternal world. 
Had she refused when her brother solicited her to leave her 
father's house, she had still lived to bless and comfort him 
in his old age ; but, by complying, she lost her strength to 
withstand temptation — and then her life. What a warning ! 

And is this the only one Avhich the history of crime has 
given us ? Alas, no ! Have not many, who have ended their 
days on the gallows, traced up their ruin to their profanation 
of the Sabbath ? This is the day in which the foul spirits 
are abroad, enticing the young and the thoughtless to evil ; 
and if you wish to avoid the misery and degradation in which 
others have been involved, devote its sacred hours to the 
purpose for which they were appointed. Attend some place 
of worship, where the pure evangelical truth of the Scrip- 
tures is preached with pathos and with power ; and attend 
regularly. He who regularly attends a place of worship — 
who engages with reverence in its devotional exercises, and 
receives the truth which is preached, under a deep convic- 
tion of its excellence and importance, enjoys a high mental 
feast on the Sabbath, and becomes imperceptibly fortified 
to resist the fascinating seductions of the world ; while he 
who spends the consecrated hours in the society of the 
impure, amidst scenes of gayety and dissipation, becomes 
an easy prey to the worst of temptations — often retires to 
rest reproaching himself for his folly and impiety ; and is 
gradually led on, from one crime to another, till " iniquity 
proves his ruin." 

PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY. 



THE 



BIBLE OF DIVIIE ORIGIN. 

A DIALOGUE. 



BY REV. JOHN DB WITT, 

rROFESSOR THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, NEW BRUNSWICK, N. J. 



ZENAS. ANGUS. CAIUS. 



Ancus. I was lately struck with a sentiment, whether 
justly ascribed to Lord Byron or not I am unable to say, 
which fastened deeply on my attention. It often recurs to 
me as an affecting truth, and I am not philosopher enough 
to succeed in banishing it from my mind. 

Zenas. Pray, what is it ? 

Angus. I will repeat it. " Indisputably, the firm be- 
lievers in the Gospel have a great advantage over all others, 
for this simple reason, that, if it be true, they will have 
their reward hereafter ; and if there be no hereafter, they 
can be but with the infidel, in his eternal sleep ; having had 
the assistance of an exalted hope through life." 

Zenas. So confident a sceptic as you, moved by so 
simple a reflection ! Why, you have a hundred times 
laughed in derision at the strongest arguments which that 
same Gospel can advance for its support. 

Angus. Ay, Zenas, so I have; and I proudly boasted 
that I could confute its ablest advocates. Nor do I yet drop 
my plume before the world. When I am alone, however, 
Byron's remark will steal over my feelings, and lead me 
back to the days of my early youth. Then I read my Bible, 
and heard two sermons on the Sabbath ; and then, I confess, 
Zenas, I was happier than I am now. In spite of my infi- 
delit)'-, I often catch myself wishing to go back to those tlavs 
of simplicity and ignorance. 

VOL. VI. 8* 



2 THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGIN. 

Zenas. I am glad to hear you speak ^o franJcli/, on so 
important a subject. My own mind is ill at ease. I am 
like a man trying to touch ground in deep waters, who finds 
himself every moment sinking deeper. I have long desired 
an opportunity of hearing a fair statement of what can be 
urged in favor of a religion, which, if it be true, must bring 
with it the purest joy into the soul. 

Angus. Well, if you are so disposed, you are in a fair 
way to be gratified ; for here comes Caius, a staunch believer 
in the divine origin of the Scriptures, and well acquainted 
with the foundation of his faith ; a little spice too hot, though. 

Zenas. Good morning, Caius. I hope we are well 
met. Ancus and I were this moment speaking of the 
grounds of the Christian faith ; and it would be gratifying 
probably to both of us, might we on this subject enjoy the 
privilege of your conversation, were it only for an hour. 

Caius. With all m}^ heart ; and I hope, my friends, 
that w^e shall enter upon the discussion with an earnest de- 
sire of " buying the truth." 

Zenas. It is not controversy that I solicit. I wish to 
hear the reasons of a Christian's belief in the divine author- 
ity of the Bible. It was never made the subject of my 
early instruction, and now I am involved in uncertainty. I 
desire to examine the question ; but I know not where to 
commence. Sometimes my doubts rise to such a pitch, that 
I am ready to say there is no truth in any system of relig- 
ion. In such moments, ray heart is oppressed by despair ; 
and I wish I had never been born. 

Caius. I trust our gracious Lord will yet bring jow 
into his marvellous light. He has himself said, that " the 
whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick." 

Angus. But, Caius, I forewarn you, that in me you 
must not expect to find a disposition so ready to yield. My 
opinions are established ; nor have they been adopted with- 
out investigation. I have examined all the arguments which 
Christianity can plead, and they are very far from satisfying 
my mind. 



THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGIN. . 3 

Caius. I deeply deplore it. Still, as the solicitude of 
Zenas interests me, and as I hope that your heart is not so 
set against conviction as you seem to think it, I will cheer- 
fully go into this debate. You tell us, Ancus, that you 
have examined all the evidences of Christianity. I have 
often observed this boast in the writings of infidels. All is 
a pretty comprehensive word ; and an examination of all 
the evidences of our religion, is a task requiring rather un- 
common qualifications as to talents, literature, patience, and 
industry ; and if we are permitted to judge by the ablest 
productions of freethinkers, it is one of those tasks which 
they have not yet accomplished. I suppose you are w^ell 
acquainted with the original languages of our venerable 
oracles, the Greek and the Hebrew ? 

Angus. I must confess I am not. I never fancied 
them. 

Caius. Well, that is a great pity ; since a number of 
petty objections, which infidels pretend to raise, are easily 
removed by a reasonable knowledge of those ancient lan- 
guages. But a person who has examined all the evidences 
of revelation, is, doubtless, deeply read in ecclesiastical and 
profane Hstory, and in the writings of the fathers, as well 
as of those heathen philosophers and historians who lived 
nearest the times of Christ and his apostles. 

Angus. As for the fathers and the heathen writers, 
with reference to this question, I never opened one of them. 

Caius. Why, that takes off another vast slice of your 
great monosyllable all. An acquaintance with those early 
writers w^ould soon have convinced you, that the enemies of 
our religion not only impose statements upon their followers 
which aie flatly contradicted by the united voice of all anti- 
quity, but that they disingenuously overlook those state- 
ments which undeniably prove the authenticity and veracity 
of the sacred records. You would also have learned what 
was conceded, and what denied, by those great forerunners 
and patriarchs of freethinking, Celsus, Porphyry, and Julian. 
Your time, however, has perhaps been too much occupied 



4 THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGIN. 

by inquiries into the customs, institutions, and opinions of 
the Jews, and their neighboring nations ? 

Angus. And pray, Caius, what have these to do with 
the evidences of revelation ? 

Caius. What have these to do with the evidences of 
revelation ? You surprise me. Is a man qualified to exam- 
ine even the most important, much less, all the evidences 
for the genuineness and truth of a piece of history, which 
claims to belong to a very remote period, and which treats 
of the concerns of a nation which then existed, who is igno- 
rant of the rites, customs, and institutions peculiar to that 
period and nation ? Is he able to ascertain w^hether the 
style, the accidental allusions, the constant references to 
persons, places, and customs — in one word, whether the 
whole dress of that piece of history harmonizes with the age 
and the nation of which it treats ? Had you studied these 
branches of antiquity, you would have seen that the sacred 
writers undesignedly exhibit so various, familiar, and de- 
tailed a knowledge of the local, political, and religious pecu- 
liarities of the subject of their discourse, as stamps their 
productions with incontrovertible marks of genuineness. 
You would also have been enabled to laugh at a number of 
little quibbling objections Avhich infidels parade with vast 
consequence, but which are entirely the creations of their 
own ignorance. As we cannot descend to notice all, let me 
give you one specimen instead of many. Voltaire charges 
Luke with contradicting himself, because in his history he 
represents our Saviour's ascension to have taken place from 
Bethany ; but in the Acts, from the mount of Olives. The 
infidel did not know that Bethany was a small village near 
Jerusalem, on the mount of Olives. Such objections — and 
there are numbers of them — display malignity, and would 
never have been advanced by men who had studied the 
subject, and were properly furnished for this important in- 
quiry. It seems, then, that your boasted examination of 
all the evidences must be set down as a rhetorical flourish. 
I wish to direct your attention to another point. Have you 



THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGIN. 5 

ever taken a comprehensive view of the mode in vi^hich the 
controversy has been conducted ? 

Angus. I do not understand you; pray explain your- 
self. 

Caius. Have you carefully observed the manner in 
which each party manages its own side of the discussion ? 
The advocates of revelation adduce the testimonies which 
prove the authenticity of the sacred records, and the truth 
of the facts which they relate, by appealing to a succession 
of writers, consisting of enemies as well as friends, who 
lived at and soon after the beginning of the Christian era. 
They then examine the character of the witnesses of the 
gospel facts ; and they show their testimony to be rational, 
explicit, full, disinterested, and credible. And then they 
insist upon the miracles, the prophecies, and the intrinsic 
excellency of revealed religion. 

In what manner is the argument conducted on the other 
side ? Do the champions of infidelity meet this testimony ? 
Do they neutralize it by counter testimony ? Do they meet 
document with document, and witness with witness ? Do 
they disprove any material fact, or even any minute allusion 
or reference contained in these ancient writings ? Do they 
convict the witnesses of the gospel history of incompetency 
in reo-ard to the soundness of their understandino-s, or their 
opportunities of obtaining exact information ? Do they 
show their number to be too small ? Do they convict them 
of duplicity, or concert, or dishonesty, or selfishness ? Do 
they explain, in a rational manner, the conduct of these 
men, who abandoned all that man holds dear, and sacrificed 
their lives in testifying that they had personally and sev- 
erally witnessed the facts of the gospel history, on the sup- 
position that those facts had no foundation in truth ? 

Angus. Your language strongly implies, that they do 
not. Can you prove, as well as prefer the charge ? 

Caius. Tell me, Ancus, dare you, who stake so much 
upon their correctness, aflirm that they fairly meet and in- 
validate this testimony? Do they ever attempt it, except 



6 THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGIN. 

by a distorted and defective exhibition of facts, or by insin- 
uations and conjectures unsupported by proof, and discord- 
ant with the estabhshed and ascertained principles of hu- 
man nature? No, Ancus; they are aware that this testi- 
mony cannot be shaken, and hence, they seldom assail it. 
Lest this should pass for mere declamation, I will adduce 
an example which you yourself will acknowledge a complete 
illustration. That ingenious but determined sceptic, Rous- 
seau, thus expresses himself : " It would be more incon- 
ceivable that several men should have agreed to fabricate 
such a book, than that a single personage should have fur- 
nished its subject. Never could Jewish authors have in- 
vented either this tone of character, or this morality. And 
the Gospel has marks of veracity, so great, so striking, and 
so perfectly inimitable, that the inventor of it would be more 
as to7iishing than the hero." Would you not suppose that, 
after such concessions, the man must either turn Christian, 
or, if he continued an infidel, invalidate these proofs of 
veracity ? He does neither, my good friend ; but he imme- 
diately adds, "granting all this, this same Gospel is full of 
things incredible, things that are repugnant to reason, and 
which it is impossible for any man in his senses to conceive 
or to admit. '^ And this is the way with the whole race. 
They direct their assaults principally against the doctrines 
of revelation. Doubts, difficulties, objections, constitute 
the air, meat, and drink of infidels. Here they revel. The 
Trinity is an absurdity ; it is a contradiction of reason. 
The incarnation is an absurdity; it is incomprehensible. 
The atonement is an absurdity ; it is inconsistent w^ith all 
our ideas of justice and mercy. The doctrine of a partic- 
ular Providence is an absurdity ; it is daily contradicted by 
the course of events. A religion which teems with doc- 
trines so irreconcilable with reason, is unworthy of God. 
He cannot be its author. 

Ancus. And can greater absurdities, more unintelligi- 
ble doctrines, more revolting mysteries, be imagined ? 

Caius. All too fast, Ancus. We are not yet prepared 



THE BIBIiE OF DIVINE ORIGIN. 7 

to say any thing about the consistency of the doctrines : it 
is with the inconsistency of the mode in which infidels rea- 
son that Ave are at present concerned. I am showing you 
how strangely they depart from all the laws of sound in- 
vestigation. In every other investigation, where the design 
is to get at the truth of facts, correct inquiry universally 
commences with testimony. It is so in courts of justice, in 
historical inquiries, in natural and moral philosophy. The 
proofs must be accurately weighed ; the witnesses must be 
examined and cross-examined ; and upon the testimony, and 
upon that alone, the decision must rest. But the infidel 
inverts this order. He asks not, " Has God spoken ? where 
is the evidence that he has spoken ?" but, " what has he 
spoken?" He slips by ihafact, and plunges into the mat- 
ter ; and when he finds one difficulty in the matter, he re- 
gards it as a sufficient condemnation of fifty good arguments 
for the/«c^. 

And who are these men who disregard the testimony 
for the fact, under the pretence of inconsistencies in the 
matter? Is the matter of revelation a subject within their 
grasp ? Are they omniscient ? Are their minds capacious 
like God's ? Do they know all about his being, his nature, 
his perfections ? Do their minds embrace in one view the 
universe, in all its parts, circumstances, and relations ? 
What profound ignorance of the most common objects of 
sense has been removed by the progress of modern science 
within a few past years ! The very instruments employed 
by the wisest men in exploring the secrets of nature — the 
retort, the crucible, the electrical apparatus, the air-pump, 
the microscope, the telescope — all, all proclaim their igno- 
rance even of those portions of matter which lie most within 
their reach. Of the human mind they know nothing, save 
a few general laws. As to what regards the union between 
their own spirits and bodies, they grope in absolute dark- 
ness. And yet these men must sit in judgment upon what 
is worthy or unworthy of the glorious Jehovah, whom no 
man hath seen nor can see, Tliey penetrate and.compre- 



8 THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGIN. 

hend his nature and essence ! They must decide how it is 
proper for him to exist ; and what system of administration 
is best adapted to the state of the universe ; and what con- 
duct most becomes his infinite perfections ! Men, who 
confess their incapacity to dissect a gnat, must needs, with 
unparalleled gravity, pretend to dissect the Deity ! 

Is it thus they proceed in other questions ? Do they 
urge the incomprehensibility of other truths as a demon- 
stration of their falsity ? Mathematicians have not been, 
and are not yet agreed as to the meaning of the signs plus 
and minus in algebra ; and yet all are agreed in the utility 
and importance of these symbols. The doctrine of imag- 
inary quantities has hitherto been involved in impenetrable 
obscurit}^, even in the hands of the greatest analyst ; and 
yet, notwithstanding this obscurity, these very expressions 
have led to the discovery of some of the most beautiful and 
general theorems in geometry ; and have enabled analysts 
to resolve questions which, without their aid, would have 
been altogether untractable."* The infinite divisibility of 
matter is, on either side, incomprehensible ; and yet who 
ever thought that circumstance a good argument against 
the truth or the importance of the doctrine ? Your friends, 
Ancus, make me think of a would-be astronomer, who takes 
his position at a telescope. We will suppose that, for the 
first time in his life, he finds the planet Saturn. What are 
the suggestions of sound reason ? "A new object is before 
you ; be modest ; use and believe jouy senses ; observe with 
accuracy ; note down with care the facts which your glass 
so sublimely, and yet so clearly presents to your view." 
But what is the course adopted by our astronomer ? He 
immediately exclaims, " Why, through this glass, Saturn 
shows but two ring-s. This is inconsistent with reason. 

o 

Every man of sense knows that six would keep him tighter. 
And what man, endowed with reason, would think of hang- 
ing such a huge ball upon nothing ? I'll believe none of 
it: away with the instrument — it is all an optical illusion; 
* Edinburgh Encyclopedia, art. Imaginary Quantities. 



THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGIN. 9 

away with it." Whereupon our sage calls for a sledge- 
hammer, and falls to demolishing the faithful telescope for 
revealing to him the glorious wonders of the heavens. Is 
the picture like any inquirers of your acquaintance, Ancus ? 

Angus. It seems, then, Caius, according to your cen- 
sures, that testimony binds us to swallow what we know to 
be the grossest absurdities, or even falsehoods. 

Caius. Again all too quick, Ancus. Common sense 
teaches us, that when we are required to believe upon tes- 
timony, what we knotv to be an absurdity or a falsehood, 
such knowledge is a sufficient proof to us that the testimony 
alleged cannot be true. See to it, however, that your 
knowledge is absolutely perfect and certaiii. But where the 
subject is one which is mysterious in its own nature, or 
which does not fall within the sphere of our senses and 
faculties, or has never been subjected to our observation, it 
would be the greatest folly to reject satisfactory evidence, 
because we are required to assent to what we cannot compre- 
hend, or what may be at variance with our own experience. 
And when we know that our love of sensual pleasures, and 
our vicious appetites and passions, strongly incline us against 
the truths and the duties of the Gospel, we should be 
doubly jealous of ourselves, lest we reject the evidence on 
which they rest, for no other reason than because we dislike 
them. In regard to these topics, the only question can be. 
Have I evidence that God has spoken? And I shall act 
the part of the mad astronomer, if I reject the attested 
fact that he has spoken, because what he has spoken is 
irreconcilable with my prejudged opinions. It was not my 
place to form opinions on a subject confessedly and infinite- 
ly above my reach ; and if I pertinaciously adhere to these 
opinions, the amount will be, that / reveal something to 
God — ^not God something to me. 

Angus. But, Caius, all our authors deride the neces- 
sity of a revelation from God. They insist that the light 
of nature is a sufficient guide. 

Caius. The wisest men of the heathen world thought 

VOL. VI. 9 



10 THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGIN. 

and felt differently. They frankly confessed their ignorance 
of the most important supernatural truths. They longed 
for instruction from heaven. Into their emotions a Chris- 
tian can enter, for he, too, feels his need of imparted spir- 
itual wisdom. Will you not allow, Ancus, that those who 
lived without the aid of revelation were best qualified to 
inform us how far the light of nature answers as a sufficient 
guide in religion ? 

Angus. I will. 

Caius. Let me then remind you, that reason never had 
a fairer theatre for the trial of its best powers in divinity, 
than in ancient Greece. Were not the Greeks endowed 
with the brightest genius ? Did they not, by their wonder- 
ful powers, carry the arts and sciences to a pitch of perfec- 
tion Avhich has commanded the admiration of all subsequent 
ages ? And yet, so far were they from proportionably im- 
proving in their knowledge of God, and of man's duty and 
happiness, that the longer they were left to themselves, and 
the older they grew as a nation, the more absurd were their 
theories, and the more corrupt their morals. Let me refer 
you to a few undeniable facts. 

The wisest of their philosophers acknowledged, that, on 
a variety of the most important subjects, they knew nothing 
with certainty. 

They acknowledged, that it was by tradition, or divine 
teaching, that they arrived at all their religious truths — 
Plato, in Timoeus, Gorgias, Philebus, and Phsedo. 

They acknowledged their need of heavenly instruction, 
in very affecting terms — Plato, in Philebus and Alcibiades. 

The great legislators of heathen antiquity, by claiming a 
divine origin for their institutions, evinced how deep Avas 
the sentiment of the times in favor of communications from 
heaven. Minos pretended to be inspired by Jupiter ; Ly- 
curgus by Apollo ; Zaleucus by Minerva ; Numa by the 
nymph Egeria. 

The actual state of religion and morals was corrupt be- 
yond description. 



THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGIN. 1 1 

Angus. But, Caius, the principles of genuine morality 
were well understood long before the era of the Christian 
faith. Many of the best principles of the Gospel may be 
found in the writings of the best heathen sages. 

Caius. It is true, that the great principles of morality 
were clearly laid down by divine authority in the writings 
of God's ancient people — how well these principles Avere 
understood among the heathen, is abundantly manifest from 
their practice. How could their morals be otherwise than 
debauched, whose views of God were so prodigiously false 
and corrupt ? Some one has justly said, Show me your gods, 
and I will tell you your morals ; and tell me your morals, 
and I will show you your gods. Yet we do not deny, Ancus, 
that amidst this awful darkness there were some gleams of 
light. How far this concession furnishes an argument in 
proof of the sufficiency of the light of nature, I submit to 
your own judgment. For what, pray tell me, would have 
been the efficacy of a few moral maxims, scattered here and 
there in the writings of different philosophers ; never col- 
lected into a moral code ; never published and explained to 
the common people ; never clothed with the requisite au- 
thority and sanction of laws given by a Supreme Legislator, 
for the violation of which men are bound to appear before 
Him in judgment ; and the whole mixed up, by those who 
recorded them, with other principles too licentious and vile 
to be repeated ? You perceive, then, that, even where all 
the circumstances of the case were most propitious to her 
efforts, the light of nature has completely failed. 

Zenas. The point is undeniable. And if such was her 
failure under those advantages, it is easy to see what is to 
be expected from her guidance among nations abandoned to 
a savage state. We need only contemplate the condition of 
our own American savages, to learn how successful a teacher 
of religion reason proves to be, when left to her own un- 
aided powers. 

Caius. Nay, Zenas, I can send you to stronger evi- 
dence than the barbarous tribes you mention. I will send 



12 THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGLY. 

you to one Avho was no savage — to David Hume, the prince 
of free inquirers. He strenuously maintains that polytheism 
must have been the first religion ; and that the doctrine 
of the divine unity and infinity, simplicity and spirituality, 
originated in the disposition of the vulgar to praise and 
panegyric. Essays, vol. 2 : 403-440. And as to the prin- 
ciples of morality, his natural light led him to inculcate, that 
moral, intellectual, and corporeal virtue are all of the same 
kind ; that adultery must be practised, if men would obtain 
all the advantages of life ; that suicide is lawful ; and that 
there is no God ! 

Zenas. I cannot bring myself to believe that indecen- 
cies and blasphemies so monstrous ever proceeded even from 
a savage, much less from a philosopher and a moralist. 

Caius. I call upon you, Ancus, to deny, if you are 
able, that these are the sober speculations of Mr. Hume. 

Angus. I have nothing to do with the speculations of 
Mr. Hume. It will be well if you can defend your own. 
According to your views, those who are left to the unaided 
light of nature are involved in a state of hopeless ignorance 
and misery. Your Deity, who, you say, possesses infinite 
goodness, bestows that light which all need upon only a 
small portion of mankind. The rest are left to perish for 
the want of a revelation. Away with the gross injustice and 
partiality of such a system. I, for one, cannot endure it. 

Caius. Will you inform me, Ancus, which you esteem 
the greatest blessings and enjoyments of human existence ? 

Angus. Willingly. I would rank good bodily health, 
sound mental faculties improved by education, civil liberty, 
a competence of wealth, and the social and domestic rela- 
tions, among the chief sources of happiness. 

Caius. And you would number disease, pain, ignorance, 
insanity, oppression, slavery, loss of beloved friends, and 
pinching poverty, among the principal calamities ? 

Angus. Indeed I would. 

Caius. Now carefully survey the condition of our race. 
Count the multitudes who are pining away under the wast- 



THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGIN. 13 

ing poAver of these calamities, and how small is the propor- 
tion of those whom you find enjoying the blessings which 
you have enumerated ! I turn you over to your own dif- 
ficulties. How will you reconcile these facts, which occur 
under your own observation, with impartial justice ? All 
men possess an equal capacity and feel an equal thirst for 
happiness, and yet the gift, instead of being extended to all, 
is conferred upon only a small number of mankind ; and 
what renders your difficulty greater, it is often conferred 
upon the least deserving : the rest are left to perish amidst 
privations and sufferings at which our feelings recoil. If 
you cannot endure partiality in the one case, how will you 
endure it in the other ? Your system, Ancus, furnishes no 
explanation of these difficulties. You want a key, which 
can be found only in the sacred writings. It is the common 
sense and conviction of mankind in every age, that man is 
an apostate, guilty being. The verbal and sacrificial acknow- 
ledgments of every nation of which I have ever heard, pro- 
claim it. This awful truth is authoritatively declared in the 
word of God. It will also be the decision of every honest 
mind that carefully scrutinizes itself. It follows, that God 
lies under no ohligatlon to bestow any favors upon any of our 
race, farther than he sees it to be best on the whole. Facts 
speak for themselves : ask them, and they will tell you that, 
whilst God is the fountain of all good, he does not bestow 
either his temporal or his moral gifts in the same measure 
upon all. Revelation also explains the nature of his afflic- 
tive dispensations towards those who fear him : they are 
needed paternal chastenings. It further reveals a future 
judgment, at which infinite wisdom, justice, and mercy, will 
rectify all. And, doubtless, were the reasons of his ad- 
ministration to be brought forth, throughout the universe 
there would be heard but one voice, " Righteous art thou, 
O Lord, and upright are thy judgments." 

Angus. After all, I see no necessity for an extraordinary 
interposition of God. In my own character, I daily observe 
the principles of order and virtue. It is true, I do not wholly 

VOL. VI. 9* 



14 THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGll*. 

-escape the sins and errors to which man is Hable, but I sin- 
cerely deplore them, and I earnestly strive to avoid them. 
I trust there is but little in my conduct deserving of disap- 
probation ; and that when God beholds my repentance, he 
will graciously cover my sins. 

Caius. Far be it from me, my friend, to depreciate your 
excellent qualities. Still, the question of our acceptance 
with God is too solemn, too important, to rest upon the es- 
teem of our fellow-men. In the first place, consider well, 
Ancus, by whom the judgment is to be passed. Have you 
to deal with your fellow-man, who regards you with the 
partiality of gratitude as a benefactor, and takes cognizance 
only of your external acts ; or with that Being whom you 
can lay under no obligation ; who will try you by the strict- 
est justice ; whose eye glances through the inmost recesses 
of your heart ; and whose decision will include its most 
secret motives and ends? 

Then, by what standard will the trial be conducted ? 
by the loose and variable principles of morality which govern 
society, or by the spiritual, holy, and immutable laws of an 
infinitely perfect Lawgiver? Unless you have gone the 
length of Mr. Hume, you will acknowledge him essentially 
and infinitely holy, just, and benevolent. If such his attri- 
butes, what does he deserve at your hands ? Nothing be- 
low the habitual supreme love, homage, and service of every 
moral creature. In him also you live, move, and have your 
being. To obey and honor him should therefore be the com- 
manding principle in every thought, word, and deed. The 
least failure here, a Being who has such claims must regard 
as a violation of his right, and an infraction of his law. 
The reasonableness of all this you cannot deny. If such is 
to be the standard, what Avill, what must be the decision ? 
And dare you say, " My heart and life meet the standard ; I 
am assured of my acceptance upon the ground of my merit ?" 

Let me next inquire, are you certain that the light of 
reason warrants the expectation of the forgiveness of your 
sms on the ground of your repentance ? As sin lieth at the 



THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGIN. 15 

door, your reason cannot be certain that vengeance lies not 
near it too. Have you offended God ? Then you have no 
claim upon his favor — your right is forfeited. He is under 
no obligation to forgive. If he does forgive, he must do it 
of his own free choice. And if he does not tell you that he 
chooses to forgive you, whence can your reason infer that 
he will ? Nay, reason rather decides, that indignation 
against sin, and punishment upon the guilty, are insepara- 
bly connected with the idea of infinite, perfect justice. Then 
again ; whence can reason infer that re2-)en tance is the ground 
on which God will forgive sin ? Can your repentance undo 
your past defection ? Alas, it is irrevocable ; tears and 
groans cannot recall it. The claim for perfect and supreme 
service and homage continues ; it is not suspended an in- 
stant. More than justice demands of you for the instant, 
you cannot render, do your very best. Not a single exer- 
cise, affection, or act, can you withhold from the present 
demand, and transfer it as a satisfaction for a past delin- 
quency. Still you look back, and with dread you behold 
the dark cloud of guilt, fraught with danger, pursuing and 
lowering on your rear. If you reason from experience, you 
find that repentance has no influence over the past. If you 
forfeit your property or your reputation by vice, the bitter- 
est regrets cannot recall them : even these penalties your 
repentance cannot remove. Your experience, therefore, is 
directly opposed to the efficacy of repentance in procuring 
the remission of punishment. 

Nor is this all. Let us suppose that, on the grounds 
you state, all is well in your own case. Yet, for one thus 
situated, there are multitudes polluted by every species of 
crime ; the pests of society, hardened in impenitence. Do 
the principles upon which you rest bring a ray of light and 
hope to these ? If the question of acceptance is to be tried 
upon merit or repentance, what will, what must be their 
doom ? 

And let it be farther noted, Ancus, that you are very 
far from exhibiting, in your own person, a fair example of 



16 THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGIN. 

the light of unaided reason. You are indebted, beyond cal- 
culation, to the light of revelation. This I know you are dis- 
posed to deny. But would you test the point of Avhat your 
reason can accomplish in divine knowledge with fairness, you 
must conceive of yourself as having been wholly removed, 
even from your birth, from the influence of all the light 
which God has at any period communicated from heaven. 
What a contrast between the results of such a state and 
your present attainments would then have been witnessed ! 

It is, therefore, demonstrable, that the light of nature 
does not afford the knowledo-e of divine forgiveness. And 
yet that knowledge is necessary to the sinner's return unto 
God. Without it, how deep must have remained his igno- 
rance, his terror, his despair ! Hence, if the offended God 
designed to exercise mercy towards the guilty, it was abso- 
lutely necessary that he should reveal his gracious deter- 
mination. That revelation, it is reasonable to believe, would 
be accompanied by adequate proofs of its divine origin. The 
proofs requisite must be sufficient to command a rational 
belief, to quiet apprehension, and to inspire a lively hope. 

If ever an occasion presented, on which it Avas a glori- 
ous act in God to put forth his hand, it was when he revealed 
his purpose of mercy. Even could reason have surmised 
the probable exercise of this attribute, yet the uncertainty 
suspended over the sinner's fate would have consumed his 
spirit. In such a case, it would have been a condescension 
infinitely desirable in Divine goodness, to have taken the 
guilty wanderer by the hand, and imparted to him the as- 
surance of peace. 

Angus. It would be uncandid in me to deny the weight 
of your suggestions. But my difficulties do not end here. 
Should it be granted that a supernatural revelation is neces- 
sary, what is our evidence that it is contained in that book 
which Christians call the Bible ? You will not deny, that 
a multitude of writings, falsely ascribed to the apostles, 
were extensively circulated at a very early period. In the 
midst of such a number and variety of romances, all claim- 



THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGIN. 17 

ing divine authority, how was it possible to distinguish the 
good from the bad, the genuine from the spurious ? And 
by what rule can the authentic Scriptures now be ascer- 
tained, after the lapse of nearly twenty centuries ? 

Caius. Our bankers could easily answer that question. 
Whatever spurious paper may be in circulation, they always 
know their own bills. The apostles v/rote the different 
books of the New Testament, and intrusted them to the 
churches which they had just planted. The churches Avere 
faithful in ascertaining and preserving the sacred books dis- 
tinct from others which were forged ; and by a transmission 
more sure than exists in the case of any other literary pro- 
ductions, they have been brought down to the present age. 
The precepts, doctrines, and example of Jesus Christ, were 
designed to endure, for the government and direction of 
mankind, unto the end of time. Now, Ancus, what does 
common sense teach us to expect from the Founder and the 
first propagators of a religion upon which they considered 
the salvation of the latest generations to depend ? 

Is it reasonable to suppose, that Jesus Christ would 
have neglected to adopt the most infallible and permanent 
methods for perpetuating the knowledge of his will ? No 
method was so sure as that of written documents. 

Is it reasonable to suppose, that the paternal care and 
zeal so manifest in the apostles, would have permitted them 
to neglect furnishing the churches, planted by their hands, 
with authentic accounts of the doctrines and life of their 
divine Master, whose constant attendants they had been, and 
whose witnesses they were unto the ends of the earth ? 

Is it reasonable to suppose, that the converts of the 
apostles would have omitted soliciting their spiritual fathers 
to prepare such authentic records, not only for their own 
guidance, but also for that of their successors ? 

And after such important authentic documents were 
prepared by the apostles, and deposited in the archives of 
the first churches, is it reasonable to suppose, that the early 
Christians, whose love for the Gospel surpassed that of 



18 THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGIN. 

misers for gold, would have permitted the sacred trust to 
be confounded with forgeries destitute of satisfactory proof 
of their genuineness ? 

Common sense does not hesitate to reply, that, under 
such circumstances, all these suppositions violate the prin- 
ciples of our nature. And what we perceive to be so agree- 
able to the anticipations of common sense, we can prove to 
have actually taken place, by a mass of testimony incom- 
parably more weighty and worthy of confidence, than exists 
in support of the genuineness and authenticity of any other 
writings of a remote age. Permit me, Ancus, to ask, upon 
what grounds do you receive the works of Cicero as gen- 
uine ?''^ 

Angus. Upon the testimony of those writers who lived 
in the orator's day and immediately after. 

Caius. And why do you select their testimony ? 

Angus. That needs hardly to be answered. Those 
writers, Avhether friends or enemies, were deeply interested 
in the subject. Both parties had abundant means of ascer- 
taining which were Cicero's genuine productions. There 
are also many internal marks of style and manner which 
may aid us in the examination. 

Caius. And does this testimony fully satisfy you ? 

Angus. It does, fully. 

Caius. Now, Ancus, listen to the following facts ; and 
then I would ask you, with what consistency can you con- 
tinue to receive the works of Cicero as genuine, and, in 
opposition to your own views of satisfactory testimony, 
reject the sacred Scriptures as forgeries ? 

1. The four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, all the 
Epistles of Paul, except that to the Hebrews, and the first 
Epistles of John and Peter, were known and received as 
genuine from the beginning. They were never called into 
question. They are all contained in the earliest catalogues : 
in the catalogue of Origen, A. D. 210; of Eusebius, 315; 
of Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, 315 : of Cyril, Bishop 
* Cicero died 43 years before Christ. 



THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGIN. 19 

of Jerusalem, 340 ; of the Council of Laodicea, 364 ; of 
Epiphanius, Bishop of Salamis, in Cyprus, 3*70 ; of Gregory 
Nazianzen, Bishop of Constantinople, 375 ; of Philostrius, 
Bishop of Brixia, in Venice, 380 ; of Jerome, 382 ; of Au- 
gustin, Bishop of Hippo, in Africa, 394 ; of the third Coun- 
cil of Carthage, 394. Many others might be mentioned. 
These catalogues, you perceive, were made by different 
men, in parts of the world remote from one another, and at 
successive periods. 

All these books have, moreover, been most abundantly 
cited, as divinely inspired Scrij^ture, by the earliest Christian 
writers, residing in almost every part of the Avorld. Such 
a universal agreement of writers from the first date of Chris- 
tianity, in quoting the same books, and no other, as inspired 
Scripture, is — if the fact be true, and it is undeniable — a 
demonstrative indication that the Canon Avas ascertained 
with certainty. It can be accounted for upon no other sup- 
position, than either that those writers had never seen any 
other books claiming to be divine, or, if they knew of other 
books, that they also knew them to be unworthy of credit ; 
and hence, that they did not esteem them as divine in their 
origin. 

It is also undeniable, that all the books above mentioned 
were pubhcly read, as the word of God, in the worship of 
the primitive churches. 

Thus, whatever doubts may have existed in the minds of 
some individuals, for two or three centuries, in regard to the 
second and third Epistles of John, the second of Peter, those 
of James and Jude, that to the Hebrews, and the Apocalypse, 
yet those books, which contain the whole body of facts, doc- 
trines, and precepts, constituting our Christian faith, we 
have received by an unbroken, unquestionable tradition, 
from the very hands of the apostles. I might here also 
urge the faithful scrutiny and watch exercised by the early 
Christians with respect to the sacred Canon, evinced by the 
very fact that the last named books were for some time 
viewed by them with jealousy. But I proceed to observe, 



20 THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGIN. 

2. That to the same truth we have the assent of all the 
enemies of the Christian religion, without a single excep- 
tion, from the earliest day of its publication. Both Jews 
and Pagans were, from the first, the fierce and untiring 
opposers of the Gospel. All the wealth, all the learning, 
all the talent, and all the religion of the Jewish and heathen 
worlds, was interested and united in putting down the new 
superstition and its troublesome advocates. Why did they 
not, when it could have been accomplished with ease, ex- 
pose forgeries so impudent and gross ? But they never 
denied the authenticity of these writings. The charge of 
fraud was never whispered during the first four centuries. 
I appeal to the apostate Emperor Julian, in the fourth cen- 
tury ; to the learned Porphyry, in the third ; and to the no 
less celebrated Celsus, in the second. The assent of these 
bitter and laborious enemies of Christianity to the genuine- 
ness and authenticity of the holy writings, is entitled to the 
greatest consideration. 

You cannot but perceive, that the testimony which sup- 
ports the claims of the books of the New Testament, began 
with their first publication ; was accessible to friend and foe ; 
was continued down, unbroken and unimpeached, to modern 
times ; and thus fully squares with your own standard of 
evidence. You cannot consistently move a doubt as to the 
genuineness of these writings, which does not impeach the 
credibihty of all history; which does not undermine our 
confidence in all documentary evidence ; which does not 
affect, with even greater force, the genuineness and au- 
thority of every other ancient literary production. 

Angus. I confess that the reasons which you urge in 
proof of the genuineness of the Christian records are forci- 
ble. They shall receive my earnest and early consideration. 
What advantage, however, is to be derived from the most 
unquestionable evidence on this point, whilst the contents 
of these records are unworthy of belief ? They are stuffed 
with the most improbable events. Those who say they 
witnessed them, were illiterate men, weak of brain, liable to 



THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGIN. 21 

be deceived by appearances, and interested in believing, and 
causing others to believe, the truth of the new religion. In 
short, they were either deceived, or they were deceivers ; 
perhaps a little of both. 

Caius. I follow you into tliis field as to a banquet. 
Upon the truth of the witnesses whose testimony is recorded 
in these books, I am willing to join issue. Their testimony 
has every mark of veracity stamped upon its front. 

You say the apostles and witnesses of Jesus Christ were 
liable to be deceived by appearances. Were they not the 
constant attendants, the familiar friends of their Master ; 
who were with him from the beginning ; Avho went in and 
out with him all the time from his baptism to his ascension, 
Acts 1 : 21, 22, witnessing all, hearing all, intrusted with 
all ? A more favorable opportunity of detecting fraud, and 
obtaining^ the most exact information, cannot be imao-ined. 

You say they were liable to be deceived by appearances, 
as if the events to which they testify were not real ; as if 
they were delusive shadows. But what do these writers 
relate ? They relate the discourses, the journeys, the actions, 
the sufferings, the death, the resurrection, and the ascension 
of their Lord. They relate facts — broad, palpable facts ; 
subjected to the examination of the senses of all the wit- 
nesses ; most open to scrutiny ; great in number, and wit- 
nessed by hundreds and thousands besides themselves. Well 
might they say, " That which ive have heard, which loe have 
seen ivith our eyes, which ice have looked upon, and our hands 
have handled, of the word of life, (see particularly Luke 
24 : 39,) declare we unto you^ If the senses of all these 
witnesses, constantly agreeing in their testimony, were de- 
ceived by appearances ; if, when they saw Jesus perform 
supernatural works, they yet saw him not ; if, when they 
conversed and ate with him, and felt him, after his resurrec- 
tion, they yet did not converse and eat with him, and feel 
him, then it is high time that we begin to suspect our own 
senses, and to disbelieve our own consciousness. Then all 
testimony resting upon the senses of witnesses, which has 

VOL. VI. 10 



22 THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGIN, 

always been regarded the strongest, must henceforth be 
rejected, and held most deceptive and treacherous. 

You say they were ignorant, weak men. Ignorant of 
worldly science they indeed were ; . but what evidence can 
you produce of their weakness ? Were they weak in under- 
standing ? The want of strong sense and sound judgment 
could not have been great in men who, by artless and per- 
suasive means, were able to conquer all the prejudice, wis- 
dom, policy, and power of the whole world. Idiots could 
not have invented a religion, the foundations of which have 
survived the assaults of an unparalleled enmity, and the 
changes of nearly two thousand years. Men, whom infidels 
believe capable of devising and propagating such a system 
of imposture, were surely possessed of a degree of reason 
and judgment adequate to their bearing rational testimony 
in matters of fact falling under their own observation. 

Were they possessed by a blind credulity ? What occa- 
sion can you produce which exhibits a neglect of the fullest 
evidence ? Do their deep-rooted prejudices against their 
Master's spiritual empire, their constant doubts, objections, 
and unbelief, prove them credulous ? Were they credulous 
in regard to the grand fact and doctrine of the Gospel, the 
resurrection of their Lord ? Although it was expressly pre- 
dicted by his own lips, they did not expect it. When it was 
reported, they did not believe it. They rejected all testi- 
mony but that of their own senses. Luke 24 : 36-43 ; Mark 
16: 14; John 20: 24-30. 

Were they fanatics and enthusiasts ? What marks of 
fanaticism can you discover ? Fanatics rush headlong into 
their wild schemes, but the conviction of these men was 
produced with the utmost difficulty ; it was the work of 
nearly four years' constant attendance on the instructions 
and miracles of their Master. Zealous and indefatisfable 
they were in their vocation ; but on the supposition of the 
truth of their religion, their ardor was not greater than such 
a cause demanded. In the midst of all their zeal, their dis- 
course and conduct was sober, rational, chastened by gravity, 



THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGIN. 23 

uniform, full of innocence and meekness, mildness and pru- 
dence. 

You say tliey were liable to be deceived. But was not 
the prospect before them sufficientl}'- appalling to render 
them most critically scrupulous, before they ventured to 
engage in the new religion ? What was the prospect? daz- 
zling to the senses — calculated to throw their reason off its 
guard ? Their Master most faithfully destroyed every hope 
of earthly emolument. He set before them persecution and 
death. He required them to surrender all that is endeared 
to man below, as the sole condition of their employment as 
his witnesses. If ever men were goaded, by all that flesh 
can hope or dread, to look sharp to the grounds of their 
duty, the apostles were those men. 

Not the slightest vestige of evidence, therefore, exists, 
that the apostles were deceived in the matters which they 
recorded. If they were deceived, it is a fact of which no 
rational solution can be given. He who attempts to account 
for a fact so opposite to all the principles of our nature, 
must give us something more than a bare 'perhaps. 

There are but two suppositions remaining. If they were 
not deceived, they either fabricated the history which they 
have left us, and hence they deserve to be viewed as falsi- 
fiers, and their writings as impious falsehoods ; or the events 
which they relate occurred as they are related ; and there- 
fore, instead of inventors of falsehoods, and deceivers, they 
are to be regarded as credible witnesses, and all their state- 
ments are to be received as sacred truth. This you deny. 
Now for the trial. 

You afiirm they were deceivers, falsifiers, and therefore 
they are unworthy of belief. 

Falsifiers and deceivers, unless they are mad, never in- 
vent facts of recent occurrence ; never name dates, places, 
and persons. But these witnesses proclaim the particulars 
of their history, immediately after they were transacted. In 
the most public and fearless manner, and without the least 
softening, they publish facts, most galling and offensive to 



24 THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGIN. 

their enemies. They mention names, times, and circum- 
stances, so minutely as to place their own detection and 
exposure within the power of a slight investigation. This 
is not the course of men who are conscious of inventingf 

o 

enormous and provoking lies. Matt. 14 : 13-22 ; 15 : 29-39 ; 
John 11 ; Acts 2, 3, 4. 

Falsifiers and deceivers devise their crafty plots always 
with a view to some personal advantage. Interest moves, 
and the fear of injury restrains them. But these writers 
and witnesses invent and propagate the most wanton false- 
hoods ; and they pretend to supernatural powers, not only 
without regard to personal advantage, but with an absolute 
certainty of extreme loss and suffering. They uniformly 
manifest a thorough contempt of all Avorldly interest. When 
money is offered them, they spurn it. Acts 8 : 18-20 ; 
20 : 33, 34. When honors, they refuse them. Acts 8 : 
18-20 ; 14 : 13, 14. And w^hat is still more opposite to 
the character and conduct of deceivers, in publishing and 
testifying the Gospjel facts, they relinquish without a single 
earthly compensation, their occupations, their country, their 
homes, their reputation ; and, persisting in their disinterested 
course to the very end, they gladly lay down their lives, as 
the last and most solemn pledge of their veracity. Oh, 
Ancus, is this the character and part of deceivers ? 

They invent falsehoods, and yet not an individual of their 
number, not one of their many accomplices, was ever in- 
duced, either by the wit of their adversaries, or the power 
of their bribes, or the fear of suffering, or by exquisite tor- 
tures, to betray the fraud — not even the traitor Judas. 

They invent falsehoods with the avowed purpose of re- 
quiring all men to beheve them with an unhesitating faith ; 
and yet, Avhen the whole field of fiction lies before them, 
and they are free to choose, they come forward with false- 
hoods, which are repugnant to the appetites, passions, hab- 
its, pleasures, prejudices, and religion of the whole world. 
The Author of their religion they represent as obscure in 
his parentage ; mean in his outward state ; subject to hunger 



THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGIN. 25 

and thirst, poverty and sorrow ; hated by his countrymen ; 
betrayed, forsworn, and forsaken by his own disciples ; and 
dying the death of an accursed, ignominious malefactor, 
upon the cross. Thus wilfully and needlessly they render 
their fiction a stumbling-block to the Jew, and foolishness 
to the Greek. Those deceivers must be mad indeed, who 
invent falsehoods which are sure, by their natural tendency, 
to defeat every rational end that can be proposed. 

They invent falsehoods so remarkably absurd, that in- 
fidels have pronounced the sentence of fatuity upon those 
who believed, as well as upon those who contrived them ; 
and yet, within a short period, not by force, not by strata- 
gem, not by eloquence, not by worldly influence, all classes, 
all orders of men, believe these ridiculous inventions, and 
are ready to lay down their lives in their defence ! 

They invent falsehoods, which awoke the attention of 
the world wherever they were published, and drew down 
upon the deceivers a storm of indignation ; and yet not one 
of all these falsehoods, extraordinary as they were, has ever 
been detected and disproved. From the hour of its first 
publication until now, not one of all the enemies of the 
Gospel, whether Jew or Pagan, with every advantage on his 
side, has succeeded in detecting these witnesses in a single 
misstatement. With what ease, for example, might the 
Je\tish Sanhedrim, forewarned of the event by the Saviour 
himself, and intent upon defeating it as they were, have de- 
tected and exposed the tale of the resurrection of Christ, 
had it not been a truth too firm to be overthrown ! What 
would so triumphantly have crushed this troublesome com- 
bination, as to have convicted them of this capital and gross 
imposture ? Truly, the infidels of those days must have been 
marvellously deficient in intellect — living at the very time, 
and in the very region where these impudent fabrications 
were first issued, and with the police and the wealth of the 
country at their backs — not to succeed in doing what an in- 
fidel, eighteen hundred years after, without adequate know- 
lege, witliout access to any other means than the bare writ- 

VOL. VI. 10* 



26 THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGIN. 

ings of these impostors, is able to accomplish with the great- 
est ease ! Prodigious ! Why, Ancus, modern infidels, ac- 
cording to all this, must be a race of intellectual giants ! 

Angus. You are pushing on at a furious rate. Will you 
just give me leave to ask why Jesus did not discover himself, 
after his resurrection, to the Jewish and Roman authorities ? 
This would have put an effectual end to all doubt and un- 
certainty. One of the apostles himself acknowledges. Acts 
10 : 40, 41, that Jesus did not appear after his resurrection 
to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God ; 
that is, to his apostles. This looks like collusion. Why 
show himself only to his friends, if he wished the world to 
believe him arisen from the dead ? 

Caius. Why do you object to the testimony of his 
friends, if they can be proved to have been sufficiently nu- 
merous, and if their qualifications to bear testimony were 
unimpeachable ? This is an objection often heard from 
scoffers ; but I request your particular attention to this 
question. But further — the fact to be proved in this mira- 
cle was the identity of the person : of course, no witnesses 
were competent but those who possessed the most intimate 
knowledge of the person and character of Jesus Christ be- 
fore his death. Such witnesses alone could testify that he, 
•whom they had seen and handled after his return to life, 
was the same person with whom they had spent several 
years before he was slain by his enemies upon the cross. 
Were the priests and elders, and the Roman authorities, 
competent to bear such testimony ? Had Jesus complied 
with your requisition, you would have still objected, and 
with greater effect than you can object at present, that nei- 
ther the multitude nor their leaders were able to identify 
his person, because their intercourse with him, previous to 
his death, had been so transient and slight. Whereas I 
conceive, Ancus, that his appearing to the eleven apostles, 
with Matthias — compare Luke 24 : 33, with Acts 1:26, and 
1 Cor. 15 : 5 — the loitnesses before chosen of God, is the capi- 
tal circumstance which the evidence required to render it 



THE BIBLE OF DIVIJSE ORIGIN. 27 

adequate : it is that which constitutes its distinguishing 
value. 

But let us return to the general question. The supposi- 
tion, then, that these men were deceivers and falsifiers, is 
utterly incredible. If they were deceivers and falsifiers, 
and if these facts are the results of their invention, they 
acted a part which outrages all the laws of human conduct. 
All confidence in the veracity of witnesses, possessing full 
and accurate knowledge of the concerns which they mi- 
nutely detail, and giving the highest and best marks of 
integrity, must for ever cease. Nothing, therefore, is left 
but to reject your position, that these men were interested 
deceivers, and that they fabricated the facts which they 
have committed to writing and sealed with their blood. 

We must, therefore, regard them as holy men ; faithful 
witnesses, whose testimony is true, and should be received 
with profound veneration and confidence. Other most 
weighty evidences might be brought, would our time permit. 
It is the only view which not only explains their conduct, 
but accords with their moral character throughout, Avith the 
doctrines which* they announce, and Avith the style and 
manner of their narrative. Their whole lives were patterns 
unto others, of unexceptionable purity, temperance, pa- 
tience, integrity, devotion, and charity. On all occasions 
they manifest an abhorrence of falsehood, and the most 
solemn regard for truth : they teach and enforce the omni- 
science, holiness, and justice of God ; and a future judgment, 
in which every idle word shall be condemned : they tell a 
simple, unvarnished tale, without concealment, and they 
leave it to work its own effects : they betray no concern as 
to its reception : they relate the most uncommon events, 
they state the most sublime and comprehensive doctrines, 
and the most exalted hopes, in a calm, unmoved, and dignified 
way, becoming men who spoke under a superior guidance. 
If enough had not already been adduced, I might now 
insist on the confirmation which the veracity of the sacred 
writers receives from coetaneous heathen authors. 



28 THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGIN. 

Zenas. I lately saw an infidel publication, in which the 
assertion was confidently made, that " no writers of anti- 
quity, but such as were interested, have written any thing 
respecting Jesus Christ;" and that "Tacitus has not only 
taken no notice of" the occurrences related in the Gospels, 
" but even as to the person, called Jesus, his history is 
wholly silent." 

Caius. How gross, how impudent a departure from 
truth ! Tacitus, A. D. 110, as you well know, bears a direct 
and particular testimony to the great events of the Gospel 
history. Annals, b. 15. They are also noticed by Sueto- 
nius, Claud., chap. 25, Nero, chap. 16. These works are 
in the hands of every reader of the ancient classics. The 
calumny will therefore have weight with none but the 
wilfully blind. Why should I repeat the names of Celsus, 
Porphyry, and Julian ? And nothing can be more sat- 
isfactory than the confirmation of the credibility of the 
sacred writers, exhibited in the celebrated letters of 
Pliny to the Emperor Trajan, A. D. 100. Plinii Epist. lib. 
10 : 97. 

In every point of view, therefore, the veracity of the 
Gospel historians is established on an immovable basis. 
Than theirs, no evidence can be more full, no knowledge of 
facts more particular, no motives more disinterested and 
honorable, no narrative better attested and sealed. Their 
claims to our undivided credence cannot be evaded. They 
cannot be evaded by asserting that they were themselves 
deceived, for so were they situated, in regard to the trans- 
actions of which they testify, that this was impossible ; nor 
by asserting that they were deceivers, for the part which 
they acted is wholly irreconcilable with all the principles of 
deception. The falsehood of their testimony, under these 
circumstances, would be a violation of all the laws of our 
moral constitution, inexplicable upon any known principle, 
and unsupported by proof. To set aside, therefore, these 
evidences of their veracity, and to believe their testimony 
false, displays a degree of credulousness, of readiness to 



THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGIN. 29 

believe what is unaccountable and unsupported by proof, 
which defies a remedy from reason.* 

I have been particular in evincing the credibility of the 
evangelical writers, on account of its vast importance in this 
debate. If their credibility is firmly established, and the 
denial of it gives the death-blow to all our belief of truth 
resting upon the testimony of others, then the great ques- 
tion of the divine origin of the Bible is decided. 

Zenas. How does that appear ? 

Caius. We are, then, bound to believe all that these 
witnesses affirm. Consequently, we must believe in the real- 
ity of the miracles, which they affirm were performed by 
Jesus Christ and his apostles, as the credentials of their 
divine commission. 

Zenas. Will you show me the force of the evidence 
arising from miracles, which proves a divine commission ? 

Caius. Most wilhngly. If Jesus Christ required the 
Jews to change their institutions and to receive him as their 
Messiah, they had a right to demand unquestionable proofs 
that his mission was divine and his authority supreme. Now, 
what kind of attestation would best satisfy this demand ? 
Not the doctrines taught, for the divine origin and authority 
of these is the main thing to be proved, and the last to be 
inferred ; and therefore it would be reasoning in a circle, to 
prove the divine commission of the teacher by the doctrines. 

* How justly is the character of the unhappy sceptic delinea- 
ted by a writer of the seventeenth century : " A sceptic in religion 
is one who hangs in the balance with all sorts of opinions ; where- 
of not one but stirs him, and none sways him. A man guiltier 
of credulity than he is taken to be ; for it is out of his belief of 
every thing that he believes nothing. Each religion scares him 
from its contrary, none persuades him to itself. He would be 
wholly a Christian, but that he is something of an atheist ; and 
wholly an atheist, but that he is partly a Christian ; and a perfect 
heretic, but that there are so many to distract him. He finds reasoiis 
in all opinions, t7'uth in none. Indeed, the least reason perplexes 
liini, and the best will not satisfy him. He finds doubts and scru- 
ples better than resolves them, and is always too hard for himself.'' 



30 THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGIN. 

"Nor would holiness of life alone constitute the requisite 
proof. This would prove the teacher a good man, whose 
lessons were worthy of attention ; but it would not give the 
sanction of God's authority to what he might deliver. But 
if, when he required them to receive his words as a revela- 
tion from God, and to convince them that he spoke by divine 
authority, he should exert supernatural power, and produce 
effects wholly different from what are regularly experienced 
as the constant course of nature ; if, for example, he should 
restore the dead to life, or feed a hungry multitude, consist- 
ing of several thousand men, with a few loaves, under such 
circumstances as to make it evident that the result was not 
fraudulent nor accidental, nor effected by second causes, but 
that it was supernatural, and connected with his character 
as a messenger from heaven ; it is clear that such works 
would afford a glorious demonstration that God had trul}'- 
sent him. The Deity would not lend his almighty power 
in giving sanction to the impious appeal of an impostor. If 
God hears him, and sets his hand and seal to his word by 
enabling him to work miracles, it is a most solemn acknow- 
ledgment that he has commissioned him to speak and to act 
in his name and by his authority. 

Angus. I have insuperable difficulties in regard to the 
miracles of Christ and his apostles. Miracles are impossible. 

Caius. Surely you are not serious. Is it because there 
exists no adequate cause to perform them ? But you deny 
neither the Being nor the omnipotence of God. It is as 
easy for omnipotence to restore the dead to life, as it was 
to create the first human being. Or is it because the per- 
formance of miracles is unworthy of God? They were 
performed to restore the soul of man to the enjoyment of 
forfeited bliss, and that has been evinced an end infinitely 
worthy of God. As soon as you can disprove the existence 
of God, or show that he regards our race with indifference, 
you may prove that miracles are impossible. 

Angus. But miracles are so improbable. There is 
nothing in our experience like them ; nay, our experience is 



THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGIN. 31 

against them. Every one regards the accounts of prodigies 
with suspicion, and in proportion to the strangeness of a 
man's story, is the unbehef which it provokes. 

Caius. I grant that the uncommonness of an event 
should excite our caution in beheving its report ; but would 
it not be preposterous on that ground to reject it ? Does 
the circumstance of its being strange and prodigious disprove 
it ? The uncommonness of miracles, or their being dissim- 
ilar to all that we have ever experienced, does not justify 
3'ou in discrediting them, unless you can prove that there 
is no God able to produce them ; or that the restoration of 
peace and heaven to guilty man, is an object beneath the 
Divine regard ; or that miracles do not afford a proper sanc- 
tion of revelation ; or that the testimony of those who both 
witnessed and performed them is undeserving of credit. 

Zenas. It would gratify me to hear your views of Mr. 
Hume's famous argument against miracles. He maintains 
that no miracle can be proved by human testimony. His 
reasoning may be summed up in a few words. A miracle 
is a violation of the laws of nature ; hut those laws have been 
established hy a firm and unalterable experience. Hence, he 
infers that it will always he more probable that the testimony 
in favor of a miracle should he false, than that uniform and 
unalterable experience should be violated. 

Caius. When Mr. Hume says that the laws of nature 
are established by a firm and unalterable experience, he 
must mean one of two things : he means either that expe- 
rience universally, and without a single deviation, has found 
the laws of nature to have their common and regular opera- 
tion ; or that, in most instances, or, in his own personal expe- 
rience, the laws of nature have been found firm and unalter- 
able. In either case his argument is powerless. If he 
chooses the first sense, he is guilty of assuming the point in 
debate as a thing granted. The point to be settled, is, 
whether God, for important ends, has not, in a few instances, 
suspended the ordinary operation of the laws of nature, and 
produced effects different from what would have resulted, 



32 THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGIN. 

"had those laws been suffered to take their usual course. For 
example, has not God, in some instances, restored the dead 
to life ; thus making these instances exceptions to the com- 
mon laws which control the mortality of our race ? This 
Mr. Hume denies. What is his argument ? He says uni- 
form, that is, universal exiierience is against it : that is, an 
experience which admits of no exceptions. Of course, this 
experience includes all the instances of death that have ever 
occurred, and leaves no room foi a single restoration to life. 
Thus he takes for granted the very point which he under- 
took to disprove. He first asserts that the law of mortality, 
admitting no subsequent alteration, has been established by 
a firm and uniform experience — that is, universally ; and 
then it was easy indeed to draw the sweeping conclusion, 
that no instance of return to life was ever experienced. It 
is no wonder that no testimony can prove what never hap- 
pened. If he chooses the second sense of his own premises, 
he fares still worse ; for his own personal experience on the 
subject of the restoration of the dead to life must have been 
so limited, that hundreds of miracles of that kind might 
have been performed, and his experience would still have 
been firm and unalterable. Should credible witnesses ex- 
phcitly and solemnly assert that they had seen a dead per- 
son restored to life, would it impeach their testimony, should 
ten thousand Mr. Humes, multiplied by ten thousand more, 
assert that they had never experienced such a deviation from 
the laws of nature ? Is there not room for truth to exist 
on both sides ? Does Mr. Hume's experience, and that of 
the witnesses, relate to the same individual fact ? If they 
did, there would be a contradiction, and both could not be 
true. So that Mr. Hume's argument is either an assump- 
tion of the very point in dispute, or it is so feeble and 
inconclusive, that an illiterate clown might confute it. I 
have myself tried the experiment with a sensible child. 

From all that has been said, it follows, that the miracles 
which Jesus Christ performed, prove that he was the Son 
of God, the Saviour of the world ; and that the evangelical 



THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGIN. 33 

teachers and writers, in their official character, acted by the 
command, and under the direction of God ; and, therefore, 
that what they have written is his own word. 

Zenas. I wish to ask whether it does not follow, that 
the Scriptures of the Old Testament must be received as 
the authentic word of God, revealed to the patriarchs and 
prophets before the advent of the Messiah ? 

Caius. Such a consequence cannot be avoided, and it 
was my intention to have deduced it. To those writings, as 
being a revelation of God's will to the Jews, and as introduc- 
tory to the facts, and the additional divine communications of 
the Gospel, there are particular and frequent appeals in every 
portion of the New Testament. The Old and New Testaments 
are so interlinked, that they stand or fall together ; they are 
the two essential parts of one grand system. Let me not, 
however, forget to suggest, that, independent of the authority 
ascribed to them in the New Testament, the sacred books of 
the Jew^s possess intrinsic evidences of their divine origin. 

But, gentlemen, we have in reserve another mighty evi- 
dence of the divine origin of the Bible ; an evidence which 
applies to both Testaments ; which is still going.,.on with 
increasing power ; and ^vhich sets all cavilling at defiance. 
It is that which results from the prophecies, and their fulfil- 
ment. A prophecy is a prediction of an event, or of a se- 
ries of events, contingent and still future, the knowledge of 
which could have been derived by the prophet from no 
earthly source. Now, if such a prediction is accurately and 
minutely accomplished, it proves that its author must have 
been taught by omniscience itself. God alone knows the 
end from the beginning, and can declare it before it comes 
to pass. For examples, I refer you to the prophecies which 
relate to the person, sufferings, and glories of Jesus Christ. 
Gen. 3:15; 12:3; 18:18; 49 : 10 ; Numb. 24 : 17 ; 
Dan. 9 : 25, 26 ; Isa. 7:14; 11:1-10; Mic. 5:2; Hag. 2 : 
7, 9. Compare, also, Zech. 11:12, with Matt. 26 : 15 ; Isa. 
63 : 5, 9, 12 ; Zech. 12 : 10; and Ps. 22 : 7, 8, 16, 18, 
with John 20 : 25, 27, and Matt. 27 : 39, 43, 46, 57-60. 

VOL. VI. 11 



34 THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGIN. 

But there is one prediction which deserves particular 
attention. It is that recorded in Deut. 28th. The prophet 
had conducted the nation of Israel to the borders of Ca- 
naan. He then uttered a prophetic description, extending 
through more than three thousand years, of their national 
crimes ; the judgments by which God would punish them ; 
the ruin of their state by the Romans ; the horrors of the 
siege of Jerusalem ; their dispersion among all the nations 
of the earth ; and the light in which they should be regard- 
ed, and the treatment which they should experience in the 
various countries of their exile. To complete this picture, 
add Lev. 26 : 44, and Jer. 30 : 10, 11 ; 31 : 35-37. There 
we behold this people, in their scattered, homeless state, 
preserved separate from every other nation to the latest 
posterity, and we are taught to look forward to their res- 
toration, when they shall once more be gathered unto Zion. 
Weigh these predictions with a candid spirit, comparing 
them with past and present history, and you will not be 
able long to resist the conviction, that the prophets were 
inspired by God ; and that a book which can plead such 
an attestation contains his revealed will, and should be the 
only fountain of our sentiments, and the only standard of 
our practice in religion. 

This leads me to remark, that whatever a book, con- 
firmed to be divine in its origin by such evidences, asserts 
concerninof the mode of its communication from heaven, 
cannot reasonably be called into question. If, then, it de- 
clares that the evanofelical teachers and writers, as well as 
the Hebrew^prophets, spoke and wrote under the immediate 
direction of the Spirit of God, its affirmation is entitled to 
our unhesitating cijnfidence. John 14 : 16-26 ; 16:13; 
1 Cor. 2:4, 10, 13 ; 7 : 40 ; 14 : 37 ; Gal. 1 : 11, 12 ; 1 
Pet. 1 : 10, 12 ; 2 Pet. 1:21; 2 Tim. 3:16. Hence, the 
sacred Scriptures were written by divine inspiration. 

The time now bids us draw our conference to a close. 
Before we part, however, allow me to say a word in regard 
to the matter of the Gospel. Especially unto those who 



THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGIN. 35 

have formed a just conception of themselves, it is a doc- 
trine "worthy of all acceptation." It was designed for 
those who need a physician ; hence, it is not strange that 
men who imagine themselves " whole," should treat it with 
neglect or scorn. It is a doctrine according to godliness. 
In the highest degTee will it be found adapted to the sinful, 
forlorn, and perishing condition of man, and honorable to 
the character and o-overnment of Jehovah. He who has 

o 

studied his own heart, must be conscious of a degree of 
moral disorder, which all the doctrines and precepts of an- 
cient and modern sages can never remove ; of a pollution 
unfitting him for the intimate communion of beings perfect 
in holiness, which all the tears of the bitterest regret can 
never wash away ; of a want of peace and consolation which 
all the pleasures of the world can never satisfy. 

But let him turn his attention to the gospel message. In 
the mediation of the Son of God, let him contemplate the 
reconciliation of that holiness and justice which fill him 
with dread, with that boundless love and mercy which alone 
are commensurate to his guilt. Let him revolve the Gospel 
scheme as proposing the pardon of his sins and the purifi- 
cation of his heart ; as proposing to free him from the do- 
minion of those lusts which make him loathe his very exist- 
ence, and to associate him Avith those holy beings from 
whose fellowship he is now excluded. Let him follow out 
the scheme of redemption in all its holy influences, diffusing 
truth, love, and happiness through the various relations of 
the human family ; and then let him ask. Is this the Gospel 
which to me has proved so long a rock of oft'ence ? And 
what is there in all this to offend me ? Why should it not 
rather command my veneration, my gratitude, my submis- 
sion ? 

Let it be approached under the solemn conviction of 
your need of illumination from heaven, and with humble 
and hearty prayers for the blessing and direction of God, 
and I am persuaded you will find it the only religion which 
the world has ever seen, that manifests the divine Majesty 



36 THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGIN. 

as a suitable object of supreme affection, reverence, and 
trust ; the only religion which provides a ransom for the 
guilty soul, whilst in the very act it upholds the government 
of God, and magnifies his violated law ; the only rehgion 
which brings peace to the conscience, hope to the mind, and 
holiness to the heart and life. 

Instead of ascribing to the Bible the crimes of those 
who have inconsistently styled themselves its friends, let us 
rather ask, from what grosser crimes have not these very 
persons been restrained by its mighty influence ? How can 
that which, in its nature and tendency, is a pure and perfect 
antidote, be the cause of disease ? The disease rages, be- 
cause the antidote is despised and rejected. In truth, if 
the world has ever contained those who have '' stood in the 
breach," w^ho have opposed with any success the torrent of 
iniquity, who have borne an honorable and a soul-moving 
testimony for God and for righteousness, let it be ascribed 
to the true and only cause — the Bible. Thousands and 
millions have been converted by it to purity and joy ; and 
but for it they would have remained the disgrace of their 
species, the curses of the world. 

Were all the philosophers, from Socrates to Newton, to 
be united in the eff"ort, they never could produce a book so 
benevolent in its design ; so original, and yet so true in its 
views ; so efficacious in its operation ; so sublime in its dis- 
coveries. That it contains mysteries which angels desire to 
look into, is rather a confirmation than an objection. In 
one word, "Study the Holy Scriptures ; therein are con- 
tained the words of eternal life." " They have God for 
their author, salvation for their end, and truth, without any 
mixture of error, for their matter." And " we appeal to 
the infidel himself, whether he does not approach the Bible 
with AWE, read it with fear, and close it with a painful 

CONVICTION OF ITS DIVINE AUTHORITY." 

Note. — A premium of fifty dollars, proposed by a benevolent 
individual, was awarded to the authors of this Tract and Tract 
No. 227. 



]\o. 193. 



THE 



VILLAGE IN THE MOUNTAINS. 




M. 



a merchant, at the head of one of the first com- 



mercial houses in Paris, ^ had occasion to visit the manufac- 
tories established in the mountainous tracts of the depart- 
ments of the Loire and the Puy-de-D6me. The road that con- 
ducted him back to Lyons traversed a country rich in natural 
productions, and glowing with all the charms of an advanced 
and promising spring. The nearer view was unusually diver- 
sified ; not only by the fantastic forms of mountains, the un- 
certain course of small and tributary streams, and the varying 
hues of fields of pasture, corn, vines, and vegetables, but by 
the combinations and contrasts of nature and of art, and the 
occupations of rural and commercial industry. Factories 
and furnaces were seen rising amidst barns and sheep-cotes ; 
peasants w^ere digging, and ploughs gliding, amidst forges 
and foundaries ; verdant slopes and graceful clumps of trees 

* An American gentleman, then residing in that capital. 
VOL. VI. 11* 



2 THE VILLAGE L\ THE MOUNTALXS. 

were scattered amidst the black and ugly mouths of ex- 
hausted coal-pits ; and the gentle murmur of the stream 
was subdued by the loud rattle of the loom. Sometimes 

M. and his friend halted amidst all that is delightful 

and soothing ; and, after a short advance, found themselves 
amidst barrenness, deformity, and confusion. The remoter 
scenery was not less impressive. Behind them were the 
rugged mountains of Puy de Dome ; the lofty Tarare lifted 
its majestic head beside them, and far before appeared the 
brilliant summit of Mont Blanc. 

In this state of mind he arrived at the outskirts of a 
hamlet, placed on the declivity of a mountain ; and being 
desirous of finding a shorter and more retired track, he 
stopped at a decent-looking dwelling-house to inquire the 
way. From the windows several females were watching 
the movements of a little child ; and just as M. in- 
quired for a road across the mountains, the infant was in 
danger of being crushed by a coal-cart which had entered 
the street. The cries and alarms of the females were met 
by the activity of the travellers, and the companion of 

M. set off to snatch the infant from danger, and place 

him in security. An elderly female, from the second story, 

gave M. , who was still on his horse, the directions he 

desired ; and, at the same time, expressed her uneasiness 
that the gentleman should have had the trouble to seek 
the child. 

" Madam," interrupted M. , '' my friend is only 

performing his duty: we ought to do to another as we 
would that another should do to us ; and, in this wretched 
world, we are bound to assist each other. You are kind 
enough to direct us travellers in the right road, and surely 
the least we can do is to rescue your child from danger. 
The Holy Scriptures teach us these duties, and the Gospel 
presents us the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, 
when Ave were in ignorance and danger, came to our world 
to seek and to save that which was lost." 



THE VILLAGE IN THE MOUNTAINS. 3 

"Ah! sir," replied the good woman, *'you are very 
condescending, and what you say is very true ; but your 
language surprises me : it is so many years since in this 
village we have heard such truths, and especially from the 
lips of a stranger." 

''Madam," resumed M, , " we are all strangers here, 

and sojourners bound to eternity ; there is but one road, one 
guide, one Saviour, who can conduct us safely ; if we feel 
this, young or old, rich or poor, we are all one in Christ ; and, 
however scattered on earth, shall all arrive at the heavenly 
city, to which he is gone to prepare mansions for us." 

''These doctrines, sir," exclaimed the female, "support 
the hearts of many of us, who have scarcely travelled be- 
yond our own neighborhood ; and it is so rare and so de- 
lightful to hear them from others, that, if it will not be an 
abuse of your Christian politeness, I would request you to 
alight, and visit my humble apartment." 

"I shall comply most cheerfully with your lequest," 

replied M. ; "for, though time is precious, I shall be 

thankful to spend a few minutes in these mountains, among 
those with whom I hope to dwell for ever on Mount Sion." 

M. mounted to the second story, followed by his 

companion. He found the female with whom he had con- 
versed, surrounded by her daughters and granddaughters, 
all busily employed in five looms, filled with galloons and 
ribbons, destined for the capital, and the most distant cities 
of the world. The good widow was between sixty and 
seventy years of age ; her appearance was neat ; and all 
the arrangements of her apartment bespoke industry, fru- 
gality, and piety. "Ah! sir," she exclaimed, as M. 

entered, " how happy am I to receive such a visitor I" 

" Madam," replied M. , "I am not worthy to enter 

under this roof," 

" Why, sir," exclaimed the widow, " you talked to us 
of Jesus Christ, and " 

"Yes, madam, but I am a poor, guilty sinner, and hope 



4 THE VILLAGE IN THE MOUNTAINS. 

"only for salvation through the cross. I was yesterday at 
St. , where they were planting a cross with great cer- 
emony ; were you there ?" 

" No, sir ; for it is of little use to erect crosses in the 
streets, if we do not carry the cross in our hearts, and are 
not crucified to the world. But, sir, if you will not be 
offended, may I ask what you are called ?" 

M. , giving a general sense to the French phrase- 
ology, answered, " My name, madam, is ." 

" Thank you, sir, I shall not forget ; but this is not 
what I meant : I wished to know whether you are Protest- 
ant or Catholic — a pastor or a priest?" 

"Madam, I have not the honor to be either; I am a 
merchant : I desire to be a Christian, and to have no other 
title but a disciple of Christ." 

*' That is exactly as we are here, sir," exclaimed the 
good widow, and added, '' but, as you are so frank, are 
you, sir. Catholic, or Protestant ?" 

" Catholic," rephed M. . Madam looked confused, 

and observed, " that it was rare for the Catholics to talk as 
her visitor had done." 

" I am a Catholic," resumed M. , ''but not a mem- 
ber of the Roman Catholic church. I love all that love 
our Lord Jesus in sincerity. I do not ask in what fold 
they feed, so that they are guided and nourished by the 
good Shepherd and Bishop of souls." 

" O, what a favor the Lord has granted us, to meet 
Avith a Christian like ourselves," said the affected widow, 
looking round her. " We desire to live in charity with all 
mankind ; but, to be frank also, sir, we do not go to mass, 
nor to confession, for we do not learn from our Testament, 
which is indeed almost worn out, that we are required to 
confess to sinners like ourselves, nor to worship the host, 
nor to perform penance for the salvation of our souls ; and 
we believe we can serve God acceptably in a cave, or in a 
chamber, or on a mountain." 



THE VILLAGE IN THE MOUNTAINS. 5 

" I confess, madam, in my turn," said M. , ''that I 

am exceedingly astonished to find such persons on such a 
spot : pray, how many may there be of your sentiments ?" 

" Here, sir, and scattered over the mountains, there are 
from three to four hundred. We meet on Sabbath even- 
ings, and as often as we can, to pitiy to Jesus, to read the 
Testament, and to converse about the salvation of our souls. 
We are so much persecuted by the clergy, that we cannot 
appear as publicly as we wish. We are called heguines^ 
and fools ; but I can bear this, and I hope a great deal more, 
for Him who has suffered so much for us." 

While the conversation, of which this is a sketch, was 
passing, the rooms had filled, the neighbors had been in- 
formed and introduced, at the request of the worthy host- 
ess ; and as many as could quit their occupations pressed 

to hear of the things of the kingdom of God. M. 

desired to see the New Testament. It was presented. The 
title-page was gone, the leaves were almost worn to shreds 

by the fingers of the weavers and laborers, and M. 

could not discover the edition. A female of respectable 

appearance approached M. , and said, " Sir, for several 

years I have sought everywhere a New Testament, and I 
have offered any price for one in all the neighboring vil- 
lages, but in vain. Could you, sir, possibly procure me a 
copy? I will gladly pay you any sum you demand " 

" Madam, I will not only procure you one,'" replied 

M. eagerly, " but, in forty- eight hours, I will send 

you half a dozen." 

" Is it possible ?" exclaimed the astonished villagers. 
** May we, sir, believe the good news ? May we rely on 
your promise ? It appears too great — too good. We will 
pay for them now, sir, if you please." 

" You may depend on receiving them," said M. , 

"if God prolongs my life. But I entreat you to do me the 

* Relijrious enthusiasts. 



G THE VILLAGE L\ THE MOUNTAINS. 

favor to accept them, as a proof of my Christian regard, and 
an expression of my gratitude for having been permitted to 
enjoy, in this unpromising spot, the refreshing company of 
the followers of Christ." 

The conversation then turned on the value of the sacred 
volume, and the sinfulness of those who withhold it from 
perishing and dejected sinners. After some time, the 
hostess inquired, "Pray, sir, can you tell us if any thing 
extraordinary is passing in the world? We are shut out 
from all intercourse ; but we have an impression that God 
is commencing; a o-reat work in the earth, and that wonder- 
ful events are coming to pass." 

" Great events have taken place, and news is arriving 

every day," said M. , "from all parts of the world, of 

the progress of the Gospel, and the fulfilment of the Holy 
Scriptures." He then gave to his attentive and enraptured 
auditory an outline of the moral changes accomplished by 
the diffusion of the Bible, the labors of missionaries, and 
the establishment of schools ; but only such an outline as 
was suited to their general ignorance of the state of what 
is called the relio-ious world. And when he had concluded, 
they all joined in the prayer, " Thy kingdom come, thy will 
be done on earth, as it is done in heaven." Anxious as was 

M. to pursue his journey, he devoted three hours to 

this interview. He exhorted them to receive and practise 
only what they found in the Scriptures, and to cleave to 
the Lord with full purpose of heart. 

The termination of this extraordinary meeting was most 
affecting : tears of pleasure, gratitude, and regret, streamed 
from the eyes of the mountaineers ; and the traveller, though 
more deeply moved by having seen the grace of God, than 
by all the scenes through which he had passed, went on 
his way rejoicing, and following the directions of the good 

widow, he arrived at the town of S . In this town he 

had correspondents among the principal inhabitants and 
authorities, and under the impression of all he had wit- 



THE VILLAGE IN THE MOUNTAINS. 7 

nessed, he inquired, as if with the curiosity of a traveller, the 
name of the hamlet he had passed on the mountains, and 
the nature of the employments, and the character of its 
inhabitants. 

"The men," said the mayor, ''work in the mines, drive 
the teams, and labor in the fields ; and the women and 
children weave. They are a very curious people, outres 
illu7iiin€S, new lights, but the most honest work-people in 
the country — probity itself. We have no occasion to weigh 
our silk, either when we give it out or take it in ; for we 
are sure not to lose the value of a farthings ; and the kindest 
creatures in the world ; they will take their clothes off their 
backs to give to any one in distress : indeed, there is no 
wretchedness among them ; for, though poor, they are in- 
dustrious, temperate, charitable, and always assist each 
other ; but touch them on their religion, and they are 
almost idiots. They never go to mass nor confession ; in 
fact, they are not Christians, though the most worthy peo- 
ple in the world — and so droll : imagine those poor people, 
after working all the week, instead of enjoying the Sunday, 
and going to a fete or a ball to amuse themselves, meeting 
in each other's houses, and sometimes in the mountains, to 
read some book, and pray, and sing hymns. They are very 
clever w^ork-people, but they pass their Sundays and holi- 
days stupidly enough." 

This testimony, so honorable to his new acquaintance, 

was confirmed to M. from several quarters ; and he 

learned from others, what he had not been told by them- 
selves, that, besides their honesty and charity, so great is 
their zeal, that they flock from the different hamlets, and 
meet in the mountains, in cold and bad weather, at eight 
or nine o'clock at night, to avoid the interruption of their 
enemies, and to sing and pray. 

These accounts were not calculated to lessen the inter- 
est excited in the breast of M. , and immediately on 

his arrival at Lyons, he dispatched six copies of the New 



8 THE VILLAGE L\ THE MOUNTAINS. 

Testament, and some copies of the Tract entitled " Les 
Deux Vieillards,'" The Two Old Men. Some time after 

his return to Paris, M. received, through one of his 

correspondents at Lyons, a letter from the excellent widow 
with whom he had conversed. Of this letter, a literal 
translation is subjoined ; the modesty, dignity, and piety 
of which not only evince the influence of true religion, but 
will satisfy the reader, that, in this narration, no exagger- 
ated statement has been made of the character of these 
mountaineers. 

" Sir — I have the honor to Avrite you, to assure you of 
my very humble respects, and at the same time to acknow- 
ledge the reception of the six copies of the New Testament 
w^hich you had the goodness and the generosity to send us. 
My family, myself, and my neighbors, know not how ade- 
quately to express our sincere gratitude ; for we have noth- 
ing in the world so precious as that sacred volume, which 
is the best food of our souls, and our certain guide to the 
heavenly Jerusalem. 

" As we believe and are assured that the Spirit of our 
Lord Jesus Christ could alone have inspired you with the 
desire to distribute the sacred Scriptures to those who are 
disposed to make a holy use of them, we hope and believe 
that the divine Saviour will be himself your recompense ; 
and that he Avill give to you, as well as to all of us, the 
grace to understand and to seek a part in his second com- 
ing ; for this ought to be our only and constant desire in 
the times of darkness and tribulation in which we live. 

" It is with this view, sir, that I entreat you to have the 
goodness to send six more copies of the sacred volume for 
several of my friends, who are delighted, not only with the 
beauty of the type, but especially with the purity of the 
edition ; for it is sufficient to see the name of Monsieur le 
Maitre de Sac}^ to be assured that this edition is strictly 
conformable to the sacred text. Sir, as tlie persons who 



THE VILLAGE IN THE MOUNTAINS. 9 

have charged me to entreat you to send six more copies of 
the New Testament would be sorry to abuse your generos- 
ity, they also charge me to say, that if you accomplish their 
wishes, as your truly Christian kindness induces them to 
hope, and will mark the price on the books, they shall feel 
it to be a pleasure and duty to remit you the amount, when 
I acknowledge the arrival of the parcel. Could you also 
add six copies of the little Tract, entitled ' Les Deux Vieil- 
lards V 

" I entreat you, sir, to excuse the liberty I have taken, 
and to believe that, while life remains, I am, in the Spirit 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, 

" Your very humble servant, 

" The Widow ." 

The reception of this letter revived in M. that live- 
ly interest which he had been constrained to feel for the 
prosperity of these happy villagers. Often had he called 
to mind the Christian kindness with which they received 
him, and often had he presented his ardent prayer to the 
God of grace, that he who " had begun a good work in 
them," would carry it on to " the day of Jesus Christ." 

Instead of complying with the request of this venerable 
woman to send her six copies of the New Testament, he 
sent her twenty, authorizing her to sell them to such as 
were able to pay ; but to present them, at her own discre- 
tion, to those who were desirous of obtaining them, and 
had not the means to purchase, " without money and with- 
out price." With these he also presented to the widow, as 
a mark of his Christian affection, a Bible for her own use, 
together with a dozen copies of the Tract which she had 
requested, and several other religious books. In acknow- 
ledging this unexpected bounty, she thus replied, in a letter 
dated July 17, 1821: 

" Respected Friend and Brother in our Lord Jesus 
Christ — It is impossible to describe the satisfaction that 

VOL. VI. 12 



10 THE VILLAGE IN THE MOUNTAINS. 

my heart experienced on the arrival of the kind communi- 
cations which you have been pleased to send me. I could 
not help reading over and over again the letters enclosed, 
which afford fresh proof of the desire of yourself and your 
friends to contribute to the advancement of the reign of 
the divine Redeemer. I cannot find words to express the 
happiness I have derived from perusing the entire copy of 
the Old and New Testament, which you beg me to accept 
as an expression of your Christian affection. I was more 
gratified and edified by this mark of your regard, as it was 
my intention to have requested, in my last letter, some 
copies of the Old Testament ; but I dared not execute my 
design, for fear of abusing your Christian kindness and 
charity. The Old and New Testament, properly under- 
stood, are but one Testament ; such is the connection of 
the sacred books — for the New Testament is the key to 
the Old, and the Old the same to the New, In innu- 
merable passages of the Old Testament, the birth, death, 
and glory of our divine Redeemer are announced, in 
terms more or less distinct. In reading the prophecies 
of Jeremiah and Isaiah, we perceive that these prophets 
spoke of our Saviour almost as though they had lived 
with him on the earth. His second coming: is also fore- 
told in many passages, especially in the prophecies of 
Ezekiel and Daniel. 

" The box which your Christian generosity has sent, has 
excited universal joy in the hearts of all our friends in this 
district. Immediately after they learned the agreeable 
news, they flocked to see me, and to have the happiness 
and advantage of procuring the Testament of our Redeemer ; 
and in less than Jive days the box was emptied. I gave 
copies of the Gospel of St, Matthew to those who had not 
the satisfaction and consolation to procure a complete copy 
of the Testament. The whole was so soon distributed that 
many could have nothing ; and there are also many who 
do not yet know of the arrival of the second box. I intend 



THE VILLAGE IN THE MOUNTAINS. 1 J 

to lend the copy of the Bible, and of the books which I 
have reserved for myself, among our friends in the neigh- 
borhood, in order that the books we have may be as useful 
as possible. 

"As I hope you will do me the honor and the Christian 
kindness to acknowledge the receipt of this, I request you 
to inform me how I can remit you sixty francs, which I 
have received for fifteen of the New Testaments. As our 
brethren and sisters in Jesus Christ, who, by an effect of 
his grace altogether free and unmerited, look for his second 
coming to salvation, are delighted and edified by the truly 
Christian salutation Avhich you have sent through me ; they 
desire me to express their gratitude, and to request you to 
accept theirs in the same spirit. I unite with them in be- 
seeching you and your respectable friend , and all 

your friends, not to forget us in your prayers to the Father 
of lights, that he may give us grace to persevere in the same 
sentiments, and grant us all the mercy to join the general 
assembly, the heavenly Jerusalem. Amen. Expecting 
that happy day, I entreat you to believe me your very 
humble servant and friend in Jesus Christ, 

"The Widow ." 

It may well be supposed that the reception of this in- 
teresting letter produced an effect on the mind of M. , 

as well as on the minds of many of his Christian friends at 

Paris, of the happiest kind. M. informed the widow 

of the great satisfaction with which he had learned the 
eaoferness of the villao^ers to obtain the word of God, and 
that he had directed his friend, the publisher of the New 
Testament of De Sacy, to send her fifty copies more ; at the 
same time promising her a fresh supply, if they should be 
needed. He also expressed to her the hope, that, as he 
expected his business would, within a few months, call him 

again to S , he should be able. Providence permitting, 

to avail himself of that opportunity, and enjoy the happiness 



12 THE VILLAGE IN THE MOUNTAINS. 

of another visit at her residence. To this communication 
she some time afterwards returned the following reply : 

''Dear Sir, and Brother in our Lord Jesus Christ — 
May the grace and unmerited mercy of our Divine Saviour 
be our single and only hope in our pilgrimage here below. I 
beseech you and your dear friends to pray for us, that the 
celestial Comforter, promised in the Scriptures, would 
vouchsafe to visit our hearts and warm them with his love ; 
for without the aid of this Divine Light, even though we 
should commit to memory the Old and New Testament, it 
w^ould avail us nothing ; but rather tend to our greater con- 
demnation in the sight of our Sovereign Judge. 

*' I am now able to acknowledge the receipt of the box 
which you had the goodness and Christian charity to send 
me, containing fifty copies of the Testament of our blessed 
Saviour, which did not arrive until the 25 th of last month, 
on account of its having been detained in the public store 

at S for several days, without my knowledge. As soon 

as I learned it was there, I sent one of my daughters to 
inquire for it, as I was then so ill as to keep my bed, and 
to induce a belief that I was about to quit this land of exile. 
I have felt myself so much better for a few days past, that 
I begin to think that my pilgrimage will be prolonged for 
some time, and that I may yet have the pleasure and con- 
solation of again seeing you, and conversing with you upon 
the things which regard our eternal peace. It is with such 
feelings that I would beg an interest in your prayers, that 
the precious blood which the Divine Saviour has been will- 
ing to shed for us and other sinners, may be found effica- 
cious to me in that moment when I shall depart from this 
vale of tears ; for my age admonishes that this time is not 
far distant. Believe me, my dear brother in Christ, that I 
shall never forget you in my prayers, however feeble they 
may be ; for I can never forget the day when, urged by 
Christian friendship, you entered my house, and imparted 



THE VILLAGE IN THE MOUNTAINS, 13 

that truly spiritual nourishment which serves for time and 
eternity, and we discoursed together upon the second com- 
ing of our Divine Redeemer, and the restoration of the cov- 
enant people. 

" I look forward to the happy moment when I shall have 
the honor and pleasure of seeing you again ; and in the 
mean time beg you to beheve me your very humble and 
affectionate friend and servant in Jesus Christ, 

'' The Widow ." 

In a letter received soon after the above, M. was 

informed that the Bibles and Testaments had all been dis- 
posed of within hvo days from the time of their arrival, and 
that many, who earnestly desired a copy, were yet unsup- 
plied ; the distribution having only created an increased 

demand. M. resolved not to neglect their wants, as 

long as it was in his power to supply them ; and the day 

being not far distant, when he proposed to repair to S , 

and to make a second visit to the village in the mountains, 
he prepared a case of a hundred New Testaments and a 
hundred octavo Bibles, which he forwarded to Lyons by 
the roulage accelere, or baggage wagon, to meet his arrival 
there ; and soon after took his departure from Paris. 

There were some interesting incidents in the progress 
of this tour, which so delightfully point to the hand of God, 
that the reader may be gratified in becoming acquainted 

with them. On his arrival at Lyons, M. , finding no 

other way of transportation except the common diligence, a 
public stage-coach, was obliged to resort to this conveyance. 
The case of Bibles and Testaments which he had forwarded 
was so large, that the only method by which it could be 
carried was to set it up on end in the basket attached to 
the back of the diligence ; and such was the weight and 
size of the box, that it was with no small diflficulty, and by 
the assistance of several men, that it was safely adjusted. 
At first the passengers objected to taking their seats with 

VOL. VI. 12* 



14 THE VILLAGE IN THE MOUNTAINS. 

such a weight behind, lest they should meet with some 
accident, or be impeded in their progress. After much 
persuasion, however, and after presenting a number of reUg- 
ious Tracts to each passenger, and requesting the conductor 
to drive slow, they were prevailed on to proceed on their 
journey. The course they were pursuing led through a 
part of the country solely inhabited by Roman Catholics, 

where, the year before, M. had distributed a number 

of Bibles and Tracts, the reading of which, he had subse- 
quently ascertained, had been forbidden by the priests, who 
had not only demanded them, but consigned most or all of 

them to the flames. M. thought necessary, in this 

journey, to suspend his distributions in this immediate vicin- 
ity. But the providence of God had other views, and so 
ordered it, that, Avithout the instrumentality of men, the 
sacred records should be scattered among that people. On 
reaching the place of his destination at the foot of the moun- 
tains, and alighting from the diligence, M. discovered 

that the case had opened at the top, and that not a few 
Bibles and Testaments had been scattered along the way. 
Travellers were soon seen coming up, some in wagons, and 
some on horseback, some with a Bible and some with a 
New Testament under their arm. They informed him, that, 
for eio-ht or ten miles back, the inhabitants had been sup- 
plied by the diligence, as the books had fallen out whenever 
they descended a hill, or travelled over rocky and uneven 
ground. 

While takina: the case from the dilio-ence, several more 
persons came up, each bringing his Bible or Testament, 

which they most readily offered to return to M. , but 

which he as cheerfully requested them to accept, observing 
to them, that they had been destined for their perusal by 
that Providence whose unseen hand directs all human 
events. Though ignorant of the contents of the volume 
which God had thus given them, they expressed many 
thanks to M. for his generosity, and were about to 



THE VILLAGE IN THE MOUNTAINS. 15 

proceed on their way, apparently rejoicing, when M. 

dismissed them by saying, " My friends, I feel peculiarly 
happy in thus being the instrument of putting into your 
hands that volume which contains the records of eternal 
life, and which points you to 'the Lamb of God, which 
taketh away the sin of the world.' If you faithfully read 
it, and imbibe its glorious and precious truths, and obey its 
precepts, it will render you happy in this life, and happy 
during the endless ages of eternity." 

Having opened the case, M. found that forty-nine 

Bibles and Testaments had been thus distributed. Some 
of his fellow-passengers were ready to believe that the box 

had been intentionally left open, but M. assured them, 

that it had been carefully secured in the usual manner, and 
that not until his arrival at the spot Avhere they alighted, 
had he known that any had fallen out. 

Having made arrangements to have the case forwarded 
to the widow, and having addressed to her a note informing 

her of his intention to proceed to the large village of S , 

where he proposed tarrying a few days, during which time 

he hoped once more to visit her and her friends, M. 

resumed his seat in the diligence, and arrived at S the 

same night. On the next day but one after his arrival, he 
was agreeably surprised, at an early hour in the morning, 
to find the hotel where he lodged surrounded by fifty or 
sixty persons, inquiring for the gentleman who had, a day 
or two before, 23resented to a number of their citizens the 
BOOK, which, as they said, '' contained a true history of the 
birth, life, sufferings, death, resurrection, and ascension of our 
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." Others of them called 
it by its proper name, the New Testament of our Lord 
and Saviour Jesus Christ. All of them were anxious to 

purchase a copy of it. As soon as M. ascertained the 

object of their visit, he appeared on the balcony, and ex- 
pressed his regret that he had no more of those interesting 
volumes with him ; informing them that, if it pleased God 



16 THE VILLAGE IN THE MOUNTAINS. 

lie should return to Paris, he would forward a hundred i^ 
his correspondent in that place, that each of them might be 
furnished with a copy. This Avas accordingly done imme- 
diately after his return to Paris. And during his residence 

there, M. had the satisfaction to see, that more or less 

individuals from S , who came to solicit orders for their 

manufacturing establishments, also brought orders for an 
additional supply of the sacred volume. And the number 
of Bibles and Testaments which were introduced into a dense 
Catholic population, in consequence of the apparently trivial 
circumstance of the opening of the case in the diligence, will 
probably never be ascertained until the great day of account ; 
nor w^ill it be known to wliat extent they have been instru- 
mental in reclaiming and saving the souls of deluded men. 

On the day following, M. received a deputation 

from the village in the mountains, anxiously desiring to hear 
on Avhat day and hour they might hope to enjoy his long- 
expected visit. He proposed to be at the widow's house 
the following morning, at 11 o'clock. Furnished with a 
carriage and horses by one of his friends, he set out accord- 
ingly ; and, on reaching the foot of the mountain, was met 
by a deputation of twelve or fifteen of these faithful follow- 
ers of the Lamb, who greeted his approach with demonstra- 
tions of joy. He immediately descended from the carriage, 
and was conducted to the house of the widow with every 
expression of the most sincere Christian affection, some 
taking him by the sleeve, and others by the skirts of his 
coat, some preceding and others following him. But what 
was his surprise, on arriving at the house, to find an assem- 
bly of from sixty to eighty, who, with one voice, desired 

him to preach to them ! M. observed to them, that he 

was an unworthy layman, and totally unqualified for such a 
responsible duty, and the more so at that time, as his mind 
had been occupied in his secular business ; and he felt the 
need of himself receiving instruction, instead of attempting 
to impart it to others. But a chair had been placed for him 



THE VILLAGE IN THE MOUNTAINS. 17 

in a suitable part of the room, and a small table, covered 
with a green cloth, placed before it, on which was laid the 

copy of the Bible which M. had, some months before, 

presented to the widow. M. saw he could not avoid 

saying something to this importunate company, and looking 
to God for assistance and a blessing, took the chair which 
had been set for him, and resolved to attempt to draw from 
the Bible, for their benefit, such instruction and consolation 
as he might be enabled to impart. 

To the eye of M. every thing gave beauty and 

solemnity to this unexpected scene. The room into which 
he was conducted was tilled with the villagers, all con- 
veniently accommodated on benches. A large door opened 
in the rear of the house, and discovered the declivity of the 
mountain on which it stood, skirted also with listening 
auditors. While, at a distance, the flocks and herds were 
peacefully feeding, the trees, covered with beautiful foliage, 
were waving in the breeze, and all nature seemed to be in 
harmony with those sacred emotions which so obviously 
pervaded this rural assembly. 

After addressing the throne of grace, M. read a part 

of the fourth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. He 
turned their attention more especially to that interesting 
passage in the twelfth verse : " There is none other name 
under heaven given among men, whereby we must he saved.''^ 
He endeavored to point out to them the exceeding sinful- 
ness of sin, the awful consequences of violating the law of 
God, the inefficacy of all those expedients which the ig- 
norance, the pride, or the self-righteousness of men had 
substituted for the ''only name" Christ Jesus. He spoke 
of the necessity of this great sacrifice on the cross, of the 
love of God in sending his Son into the world, of the fulness 
and all-sufficiency of the mighty redemption, and of the 
duty of sinners to accept it and live. " It is through Christ 
alone," said he, "that you can have hope of pardon and 
salvation. You must take up the cross and follow Christ. 



18 THE VILLAGE IN THE MOUNTAINS. 

You must renounce your sins and flee to Christ. You must 
renounce your own righteousness, and trust alone in Christ. 
You must renounce all other lords, and submit to Christ. 
If you had offended an earthly monarch, to whom you could 
have access only through his son, w^ould you address your- 
selves to his servants, rather than his son ? And will you 
then, in the great concerns of your souls, go to any other 
than the So7i ? Will you have recourse to the Virgin 
Mary, or some favored servant, rather than address your- 
selves to Him who is ' the way, and the truth, and the life ?' 
and when God himself assures us, that ' there is none other 
name under heaven given among men, whereby ive must he 
saved V'' 

Having thus proceeded for the space of fifteen or twenty 
minutes, and at a moment when the greater part of his 
audience were in tears, the widow suddenly came running 
to M. , saying, with great agitation, " Monsieur I Mon- 
sieur T^ 

'' What, madam, what ?" said M. . 

*'l perceive," said she, *'at a distance, the Deputy 
Mayor of a neighboring village, in company with several 
women, approaching with a speedy step towards my house. 
These people are among our greatest persecutors — shall I 
not call in our little band of brothers and sisters, and fasten 
the doors?" "No, madam," said M. , "on the con- 
trary, if it be possible, open the doors still wider ; trust 
in God our Saviour, and leave to me the direction of this 
matter." 

By this time, considerable alarm seemed to pervade the 
whole assembly, and some confusion ensued, in consequence 

of several leaving their seats. M. begged them to be 

composed, and to resume their seats, saying, that the object 
for which they were assembled was one which God would 
accept of and approve, which angels would delight in, and 
at which Satan trembled ; and that they had nothing to fear 
from the arm of flesh. By this time the Mayor made his 



THE VILLAGE IN THE MOUNTAINS. 19 

appearance at the threshold of the door, together with his 
attendants. 

" Come in, sir," said M. , "and be seated," pointing 

to a chair phiced near the table. 

" No, sir," said he, " I prefer to remain here." 

**But I prefer," said M. , "that you come in, and 

also your companions, and be seated." 

Perceiving M. to be firm in his determination, they 

complied, and were all seated among his nearest auditors. 

M. then, without any further remarks, having the 

Bible open before him, directed their attention to those 
w^ords in Christ's Sermon on the Mount : " Blessed are they 
which are 2^€rsecutecl for righteousness^ sake ; for theirs is 
the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall 
revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of 
evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and he ex- 
ceeding glad ; for great is your reward i7i heaven ; for so 
persecuted they the p)'i'02:)hets which were before you.'"' Matt. 
5: 10, 12. 

M. proceeded to set before them the sufferings of 

the apostles and primitive Christians for the truth as it is 
in Jesus, and the constancy and firmness with which, in all 
circumstances, they endured these sufferings, on account of 
the love which they bore to their Saviour ; that they had 
good reasons for so doing, for they were assured by Christ, 
in the words just read, that " great should be their reward 

in heaven." M. then proceeded to show the immense 

responsibility which those assumed, and the enormity of 
their guilt, who, ignorantly or designedly, persecuted the 
followers of Christ. That they were but " heaping up to 
themselves wrath against the day of wrath." That the day 
was not far distant, when the awful reahties of eternity 
would burst upon their view ; and that every man would 
then be judged " according to the deeds done in the body." 

When M. had proceeded in this manner for ten or 

twelve minutes, bringing the truth to bear especially upon 



20 THE VILLAGE IN THE MOUNTAINS, 

* . 

the minds of his new audience, he perceived the Mayor 
wiping his eyes with the cuff of his sleeve, Avho, rising at 
that moment from his seat, exclaimed, 

" Sir, I acknowledge that I have heretofore felt an en- 
mity toAvards many of the people whom I here see before 
me ; and have, as far as my influence extended in my official 
capacity, endeavored to break up what I have considered 
their illeofal assemblies, and to coerce them back Avithin the 
pale of the mother church, Avhich one after another of them 
have been abandoning for years past. But, if all that you 
have expressed be true, and is in conformity AA'ith the sacred 
volume of God's Avord, and if the book Avhich you hold in 
your hand is a correct translation of the original copy, I 
beg you to sell it me, that I may peruse it myself, and give 
the reading of it to others better able to judge of its con- 
tents ; and if I there find the promises and threatenings as 
stated by you to be correct, you may rely upon it, that, so 
far from persecuting these, in other respects, harmless peo- 
ple, I Avill hereafter be their friend." 

On hearing this, M. immediately requested the 

widoAv to brino; several Bibles from the case which he 
brought Avith him in the diligence, and which had reached 
the house according to his direction ; one of which he pre- 
sented to the Mayor, and one to each of his Catholic asso- 
ciates. On the Mayor's offering to pay for the one put into 

his hand, M. observed, that he had much pleasure in 

presenting it to him, as well as to his companions, in the 
hope that they Avould hereafter not only become the friends 
of this interesting people, but, AA'hat Avas of more impor- 
tance, the friends of Jesus Christ, who is the *' only Mediator 
between God and man." With this they took their depart- 
ure : M. observing to them, that his heart's desire and 

prayer to God Avas, that, by a careful, humble, and prayer- 
ful perusal of that sacred volume, their understandings 
might become enlightened, and their hearts imbued with 
the riches of divine grace ; that they might thereby be led 



THE VILLAGE IN THE MOUNTAINS. 21 

hereafter to advocate the very cause which they had hitherto 
been attempting to destroy ; and that, when they had done 
serving God their Saviour here below, they might find 
themselves among that happy number " whose names are 
written in the Lamb's book of life." They left the house, 
all of them in tears, and, as it appeared, deeply impressed 
with the truths which had been exhibited. 

After he had concluded these remarks, M. request- 
ed that some of the remaining Bibles and Testaments might 
be brought and laid before him on the table. These he 
distributed gratuitously to all present, who had not before 
been supplied, and who were unable to purchase them. 
While he was doing this, many who had previously receiv- 
ed the sacred volume, came forward and manifested their 
gratitude by laying upon the table their various donations 
of from two to ten francs* each, till, in a few moments, the 

table was well nigh covered. M. told them, he was 

unwilling to receive money in that manner, and wished them 
to put their gifts into the hands of the widow, accompanied 
by the names of the donors, that they might be regularly 
accounted to the Bible Society. This they consented to 
with some reluctance, when the widow brought from her 
drawer a purse containing a hundred and seventy francs, 

saying to M. , that he could not refuse that money, as 

it wa« the proceeds of Bibles and Testaments which she 
had sold in compliance with his directions. M. re- 
plied to her, that he had indeed requested her to sell these 
volumes to such as were able to purchase, that he might 
ascertain whether there were persons in that neighborhood 
who sufficiently appreciated the word of God to be willing 
to pay for it ; but, that object having been accomplished, 
it was now his privilege, on his own personal responsibility, 
to place the hundred and seventy francs in the hands of 
the widow, to be distributed, in equal portions, to the three 

* Five francs are nearly equal to one dollar. 
VOL. VI. 13 



22 THE VILLAGE IN THE MOUxXTAINS, 

unfortunate families whom they had mentioned as having 
recently lost their husbands and fathers by the caving in 
of a coal-pit. 

On hearing this, they together, spontaneously as it were, 

surrounded M. , and, with tears streaming from their 

eyes, loaded him with their expressions of gratitude and 
their blessings, rendering it the most touching scene which 
M. ever witnessed. 

Amidst all these tokens of their Christian affection, 

M. was compelled to prepare for his departure, and 

imploring the richest of heaven's mercies upon their heads, 
bade them an affectionate farewell. 

The whole company followed him to the carriage, and 
just as he had reached it, he once more addressed them, 
saying, " My dear friends, if any of you have not yet 
submitted yourselves to God, and are out of the ark of 
safety, I beseech you, 'give not sleep to your eyes, nor 
slumber to your eyelids,' until you flee to the Saviour. 
And those of you who have tasted that the Lord is gra- 
cious, live near to God, bear cheerfully the cross of your 
Redeemer, follow on to know the Lord and do his will, and 
by his grace reigning in your hearts, j^ou shall come off 
conquerors, and more than conquerors!" When he had 
said this, and had again commended them to the God of 
all mercy through a crucified Redeemer, he drove off, amid 
their prayers and blessings, to see them no more till that 
day when they shall meet in the kingdom of their Father, 
where sighs and farewells are sounds unknown, and where 
God shall wipe away all tears from every eye. 

After M. 's return to Paris, he had the pleasure to 

learn from the widow, that all the Bibles he had left with 
her were disposed of, and that many, in various directions 
from the village, were earnest to obtain them, but could 
not be supplied. In the mean time, a deep interest in the 
spiritual welfare of these villagers had diffused itself beyond 
the limits of Paris, or even of France. The first eight pages 



THE VILLAGE IN THE MOUNTAINS. 23 

of this Tract, having found its way to England, had been 
pubUshed by the Religious Tract Society of London, and 
had obtained a very wide circulation. A parish in one of 

the interior towns of Encrland had forwarded to M. 

twenty pounds sterling, for the purchase of Bibles to be 
presented to the widow for gratuitous distribution ; and a 
family of Friends from Wales, having read the narrative, 
visited M. at Paris, and proceeded thence to the vil- 
lage in the mountains, where they tarried no less than three 

weeks, assuring M. , on their return to Paris, that it 

had been the most interestingr three weeks of their lives. 

O 

As the proceeds of the twenty pounds, M. for- 
warded to the widow fifty Bibles and fifty Testaments, 
with a selection of several other choice books and Tracts. 
These Bibles, Testaments, and Tracts, were all actually 
disposed of in eight days, of which the widow gave early 

information, accompanied by letters to M. , and to the 

benevolent donors in England, expressing, in the most cor- 
dial manner, her gratitude, and that of those who had thus 
been supplied with the word of life. She gave a particular 
statement of the eagerness with which they had been read, 
of their distribution in many Catholic families, and the 
conversion of some to the truth as it is in Jesus. She in- 
formed that many individuals and families were still un- 
supplied ; and for herself and those around her, expressed 
her thanksg-ivino-s to God for the wonders of his love in 
inspiring the hearts of his children to unite their efforts in 
Bible and other benevolent institutions, and to contribute 
of their substance to extend to the destitute a knowledge 
of the Gospel. 

The last letter which M. received from the widow, 

before he left the country, contained two hundred francs, 
which she and her children had contributed as a donation, 
in acknowledofment of the Bibles and Testaments which he 
had from time to time forwarded. 

Mr. replied to her, that it gave him more joy than 



24 THE VILLAGE IN THE MOUNTAINS. 

to have received twenty thousand francs from another 
source, as it testified their attachment to the word of G-od. 
He returned her the full amount of their donation in Bibles, 
with two hundred and fifty Testaments from the Society, 
together with fifty from himself, as his last present before 
his departure, and also six hundred Tracts and several 
other religious books. Pointing out to her an esteemed 
friend in Paris, to whom, if further supplies should be need- 
ed, she might apply with assurance that her requests would 
be faithfully regarded, and exhorting her to remain steadfast 
in the faith, and to fix her eye always upon the Saviour, 

M. commended her to God, in the fervent hope, that, 

through the unsearchable riches of his grace, he should 
hereafter meet her and her persecuted associates, in that 
world "where the wicked cease from troubling, and the 
weary are at rest." 



Note. — The original letters of the widow, in Frencli, are 
deposited in the archives of the American Tract Society. 



T%o. 194. 

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

BY BEV. CHARLES B. HADDUCK:. PROF. DARTMOUTH COLLEGE, K H 




Christian Parent — Have you thouglit what a charge 

you have assumed ; what amazing responsibility God has 

attached to the blessed relations of Father and Mother ; 

what power these relations imply over the character and 

destiny of the little ones who owe their being to you ? 0, 

have you ever paused, amid the scenes of this busy world, 

to think, for a moment, what God did w^hen he blessed you 

with a son, or a daughter — what you did, when you exult- 

ingly welcomed the heavenly gift ? Since you received the 

charge at the divine hand, has your eye often pursued these 

new adventurers through all the paths of life ? Have you, in 

imagination, laid one in its little grave, and seen another, 

fatherless, motherless, friendless perhaps, toiling and suffering 

on its lengthened and solitary way to its long home ; and, 

having watched them till the last dear one has laid down in 
VOL. VI. 13* 



CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 



death, have you seemed to yourself to take them — to go 
up with them to the throne of Christ, saying, " Here, Lord, 
am I, and the children whom thou hast given me ;" and to 
wait there, with them, for their eternal sentence and your 
own ? From that throne have you seemed to go with them 
into eternal life ; or, there, to separate from them, for ever ? 

If you have not done this — if you have not done it with 
a heart ready to sink within you, let me tell you, that you 
do not yet know the full meaning of the dear, yes, with all 
its fearful import, the dear, dear name you bear. If you 
have done it, need I say with what thrilling interest you 
have listened to the voice of inspiration, " Train up a child 
in the way he should go ; and w^hen he is old, he will not 
depart from it." A Christian father, or a Christian mother, 
alone, can tell with what emotion you have exclaimed, as 
this blessed promise has fallen upon your ear, " Not depart 
from it ! never depart from it ! divine declaration ! de- 
lightful privilege of opening to my children this immortal 
course ; and guiding their feet into the path of life !" And 
none but a Christian parent can tell with what eagerness 
you have gone to your Bible, and turned it over and over — 
with -what importunity you have gone to your God, and 
prayed that you might know what it is so to *' train up a 
child." 

Permit me, then, to assure you, that all you need to 
know is implied in this one short precept of Solomon: 
*' Train up a child in the way he should go^ 

The object of a Christian education is to make a Chris- 
tian man. If, then, you would know what a Christian edu- 
cation is, consider what a Christian man is. If you would 
see in what way to train up a child, consider in what way 
he should go, when he has become a man. What a man 



CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 3 

ought to be, he ought to hegin to be while he is a child. In 
external features ; in intellectual powers, such as memory, 
reason, taste, imagination ; and in all our moral powers, in 
conscience, in the whole circle of the affections and passions 
which make up our moral nature, the man is only ia. full- 
grown child. Thei-efore, it is with the strictest propriety 
that Solomon says, " Train up a child in the way he should 
go " — accustom a child, from the beginning, to think, to feel, 
and to act, in his little sphere, just as you would have him 
think, and feel, and act, in the larger sphere of manhood — 
as you w^ould have him do, indeed, for ever. 

The subjects of thought and feeling, the scenes of in- 
terest and action, are not, it is true, the same at all periods 
of life. But these subjects and these scenes address them- 
selves to the same nature ; they exercise the same faculties ; 
and awaken, in kind, the same feelings. The child has a 
little world of his own, as large to him, as full of objects, as 
much diversified by good and evil, as capable of engaging 
his thoughts, of kindling his ambition, and of firing all his 
petty passions, as is the w^orld in w^hich the man exists, to 
him. And the child as really has a character in that little 
world, as the man has in his greater world ; a character as 
truly proportioned to the objects and scenes w^hich occupy 
a child ; as really depending on certain causes, and leading 
to certain consequences. 

This character — momentous thought ! — this character, in 
essential points, is likely to be permanent — to be the germ, 
the foundation of all future character. It will not be shaken 
off, unless by divine power, on going into higher scenes of 
life. Its features may be modified, as those of the face are, 
by age ; but, like those also, they will probably continue 
substantially the same — will only become more prominent, 



CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 



more distinctly marked, and more unchangeable, as life ad- 
vances, and the sphere of action widens, and widens, and 
widens, till the child, which, yesterday, seemed to live only 
in the present moment, and to have all its thoughts and 
desires limited by the walls of the nursery, has become a 
man, extending his thoughts over a world, and linking his 
sympathies with his whole race — has become an angel, 
taking in the creation at a view, and dwelling in eternity. 

What is it, then, you may ask, to be a Christian man ? 
It is to think, feel, and act, upon all subjects which concern 
us as moral and religious beings, as Christ teaches us to do. 
It is to think as he teaches us, for example, concerning God ; 
his power, wisdom, love, mercy, acts, and purposes : con- 
cerning Christ himself ; who he was ; whence and why he 
came into our world ; what he did and said, while in it ; 
how he suffered, died, rose, and ascended ; what he does 
now, and what he will do hereafter : concerning ourselves ; 
our motives, feelings, obligations, conduct, our whole char- 
acter, and our end : and concerning the glorious heaven 
which God has revealed over our heads, and the hell which 
he has laid open at our feet. To be a Christian man, is to 
feel just as we know those, who think thus, ought to feel — 
as those, who thought thus in ancient times, did feel — as 
Stephen, and Paul, and John felt, when they came to think 
thus. It is, also, to act, purely and openly, from the im- 
pulse of such feelings. But in thus thinking, feeling, and 
acting, we are to be men still, and to continue in man's 
world ; we are not to do these things as angels do, but as 
men may do them — not as men may do them in heaven, and 
in some distant period of our being ; but as men may do 
them on the earth, with all their earthly frailties — as men 
may do them now. 



CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 5 

If, then, this is being a Christian man, and if a man 
should hegin to be, while a child, just what he ought to be 
when he grows up, you must see, I think, what it is to be 
a Christian child. It is, you perceive, to have such a 
knowledge of Christian objects, and such feelings towards 
those objects, as a child may have; to do all those things 
which such feelings naturally lead a child to do ; and to 
avoid all those things which such feelings, in their proper 
influence, would lead him to avoid. To be a Christian 
child is not to become a premature man — to have ideas and 
feelings which are appropriate to men — to act, in all respects, 
as men should act. It is not to go out of the sphere of child- 
hood. It is to think, and feel, and act right, in that sphere — 
to be the same rational, moral, religious, amiable, and holy 
being, in all the relations and circumstances of a child, which 
we are bound to be in the higher, and more responsible re- 
lations and circumstances of a man. 

If the day is ever to arrive, when such shall be the 
character of our children, when the Gospel shall lay hold 
upon the youthful intellect and heart with a sweet, a holy, 
and a mighty influence, that day is to be brought forward 
chiefly by the instrumentality of Christian parents. And 
they can never exert the desired influence without effort — 
without a devotion of themselves to the education of their 
children, becoming the immense, the eteiTial consequences 
suspended on their success. Be entreated, then. Christian 
parent, to give yourself to this business ; and to consider 
the following hints, suggested by one who anxiously prays 
that you may be guided in your interesting, your momen- 
tous work, by better wisdom than his — " the wisdom which 
is from above." 

1. Regard the education of your children as one of the 



6 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

greatest and most direct objects of your own i^ersonal efforts. 
Feel it to be a business of too mucli importance to be en- 
tirely left to others. Parents are the natural instructors of 
children. They have means of access to the infant mind, 
and of control over the infant heart, which never can be 
acquired by others. And I must believe, that, if Christian 
parents would only enter into this business with the zeal 
and patience which are so often almost entirely thrown 
away upon objects comparatively unworthy of their pursuit, 
more would be done for the moral welfare of the world, 
by parental influence, than the most ardent mind ever an- 
ticipated. 

While others, then, are seen studying, and toiling, and 
denying themselves, that they may leave their children a 
name or an estate, remember, Christian father. Christian 
mother, remember, that the richest legacy you can bestow 
on your children, is a. pious education; and never feel satis- 
fied to do so much for any other object, as for training them 
up in the way they should go. Only give your child the 
right character, and how easy it must be for him, in this 
land, to acquire all the knowledge and all the wealth that 
can ever do him any real good. Let him fail of that 
character, and what can institutions of learning, what can 
riches do for him ? He may die a beggar, and his name 
perish. 

2. Do not regard education merely as a preparation for 
future life. To be always looking forward to the future 
condition and character of the dear objects of your love 
and solicitude, may tempt you to leave things in them, 
which are now positively defective or wrong, to be corrected 
by time, or accident, at best very uncertain reformers of 
bad habits. The only way to secure the future good con- 



CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 7 

duct and character of a child is to make him 7iow just what 
he should no'w be. Look upon him as living now, in his 
little world, a real and most interesting life ; a life of pro- 
bation for a higher state. And try to feel as solicitous, and 
take as great pains that he should live that little life well, 
as if it were to be his only, his highest life. Think, always, 
that we, in childhood, prepare for manhood, as we, on the 
earth, prepare for heaven ; not by overlooking or neglecting 
the present, but by doing and being, every day and every 
hour, as it passes, just what that day or that hour requires 
of us. Be satisfied with nothing, in your child, short of 
present perfection, according to the measure of a child. The 
parent who disregards faults, and indulges wrong and per- 
nicious practices to-day, in the hope that a future day will 
correct them, may, indeed, find the expectation realized ; but 
there is every reason to expect, that time, instead of cor- 
recting what is wrong, will only give to it the obstinacy and 
permanency of habit. 

3. Rely not too exclusively on regular and stated means 
of instruction. In every well-regulated family, or society, 
there are many stated occasions of moral and religious in- 
struction. None of these is to be undervalued. They are 
doing much for society — they effect a great deal of all that 
distinguishes the morals and happiness of Christian nations 
from those of the Pagan world. But they all occupy only 
a small portion of a child's time. And if advantage is taken 
of them alone to train him up in the way he should go, it 
w^ill be by no means certain that any truly valuable influence 
can be exerted over him. They do not supply the principal 
impressions which are daily made on the youthful heart. 
They leave an immense amount of influence to be exerted 
by other, and, perhaps, opposite causes. And all they en- 



8 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

able us to do for a child may prove utterly inadequate to 
counterbalance the degrading and demoralizing tendency of 
those hours, those employments, those amusements, and 
those associations, into which the parental eye never fol- 
lows him, and in which he feels the (yuidino- and restrainino; 
power of no guardian, no friendly hand. Let your influence 
upon him, then, be unceasing, universal — let him feel it to 
be, not the hand of an enemy, withering the joys of youth, 
but the sweet presence of virtue, of parental love, casting 
health into every fountain, and breathing fragrance through 
all the paths of life. Thus control every scene of interest 
to him, every employment, every friendship of his ; and be 
sure that the great, and, above all, the constant impulses, 
which his mind receives, are impulses to virtue and piety. 

4. In giving religious instructions, bring your oivn mind 
into the most intimate and familiar intercourse with the mind 
of your little piqnl. Be to him not so much a teacher, a 
lecturer, as an older and more intelligent, yet easy and 
communicative companion. All education, even to the 
very last stages of it, is but the intercourse of one mind 
with another ; it is only the mind of the pupil striving, by 
successive efforts, to follow the mind of the teacher in ex- 
cursions of reason or imagination, before unattempted, as 
the new-fledged bird strives to follow its experienced par- 
ent, till its own wino-s have learnt to soar as hio-h. There 
is no lack of good thoughts. They abound in books and 
in the memories of instructors. To communicate these 
thoughts to a child, and to fix them in its mind, requires 
consideration and invention. It can be done only by laying 
aside the habits of thinking and reasoning, which we have 
insensibly acquired in the progress of life ; and by going 
back, as it were, ourselves to childhood, and endeavoring to 



CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 9 

seize and present those aspects of objects which strike the 
infant mind; and enofaofe the infant heart. 

There is a prevalent impression, that children are averse 
to all instruction on religious subjects. This, to the extent 
which seems to be implied, is untrue. They are perhaps 
averse to that well-meant, but strangely injudicious instruc- 
tion, which attempts to interest their minds in dry, abstract 
speculations ; to store their memories with general princi- 
ples and doctrines, or with facts which take no hold of the 
heart. But they may be greatly interested in that in- 
struction, which, adapting itself to their capacities, brings 
before them such objects of thought and affection only as 
they can comprehend and appreciate. Of such objects 
the Christian religion presents an almost endless variety. 
The Bible is an inexhaustible source of familiar incidents 
and touching moral stories. And there is scarcely a truth 
or precept of revelation, to which a palpable and attractive 
form may not be given, that will be found to create, even 
in very young children, an insatiable curiosity for religious 
knowledge. 

Lay it down as a first principle, in all your instructions, 
that you must be understood. The habit of taking words 
for things — of admitting propositions to the mind, which 
distinctly convey no truth, and, of course, take no hold of 
the mind, is one of the worst of all habits. It not only 
fails to exercise and invigorate the understanding, but it 
also tends to stupefy the intellectual faculties, and to de- 
stroy their tone. It is this, more than almost any thing 
else, that leads to the fatal habit of hearing and reading 
the Bible, and listening to all religious instruction, with 
so little true conception of Divine truth, and so deadly an 
apathy to the condition and interests of the soul. Who, 

VOL. VI. 14 



10 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

that has reflected upon himself, or looked round upon a 
Christian congregation, gathered, for their solemn worship, 
about the altar of God, to which cling so many bright, en- 
dearing, av/ful associations, has not thought with astonish- 
ment, what beautiful, what sublime, what amazing truths, 
every Sabbath, enter our ears, in the burning words of 
inspiration, with scarcely more effect upon the heart, the 
imagination, or the intellect, than if we had been deaf from 
our birth ? Who must not regret, that words should ever 
have become, to him, so unnaturally divorced from things ? 
What Christian would not look with ardent anticipation for 
a period, when the language of the Bible should carry home 
the thoughts, the high conceptions, the momentous truths 
of the Bible, to every understanding ? what a different 
being would short-sighted, undiscerning man then appear 
to himself ! What new visions, what new prospects, would 
open upon him ! What new feelings would move him ! And 
who shall say how much may be done to produce such a 
revolution in the world, by training the youthful mind to an 
habitual association of the signs of thought with thoughts 
themselves ? 

In this attempt, it is not enough for you to tell a child, 
for example, that " God made all things." The truth in- 
tended to be taught is not communicated. No reply may 
be made ; but you certainly are not understood. The child 
sees things every day which he knows to have been made 
by men. You must explain in what sense God makes all 
things. And you would be generally surprised to find how 
easy it is, by a simple process of reasoning, of which a 
child is abundantly capable, to lead his mind up to the full 
understanding of the proposition, which ascribes the cre- 
ation of all things to God. It is not enough to say to a 



CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. H 

child, '' God gives you every thing." You should show 
him, in a familiar way, how God gives him food, and clothes, 
and other things. He knows, perhaps, the person who 
makes his clothes. But he can be carried up, step by step, 
to God as the real giver of them. He can be made to un- 
derstand that clothes are made of cloth ; that cloth is made 
of wool ; that wool grows on sheep ; that sheep live on the 
produce of the field ; that this is made to grow by the rain 
and the sun ; and that God makes the rain to fall, and the 
sun to shine. In a similar way very young children may 
be taught the agency, the goodness, and the love of God ; 
and led by suitable pains, to associate, far more than we 
are wont to suppose, the idea of God with every thing they 
see or enjoy. And, by carefully consulting their capacity 
— by adapting instruction to take hold of their minds, be 
assured. Christian parent, that you may succeed in bringing 
them forward with a rapidity and an eagerness of inquiry, 
in the knowledge of religious truth, which you have not 
probably anticipated. 

5. Be judicious and unwearied in the use of motives. 
On this subject you can hardly be too solicitous. The 
skilful use of motives is one of the principal secrets of 
Christian education, the hinge on which your success will 
be found chiefly to turn. Keep always in mind the nature 
of the little being you wish to act upon. Look upon him 
as possessing all the elements of a man — as a man in min- 
iature. Remember that he is, even now, as truly, if not 
equally, rational, as truly sensible to moral considerations, 
to right and wrong, to duty, and to interest — as really sus- 
ceptible of grateful, benevolent, humble, honorable senti- 
ments, within the narrow sphere in which he exists, as he 
will be fifty years hence. Prepare to influence him, then. 



12 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

just as you prepare to influence a man — a child grown up. 
Possess yourself fully of his character ; his turn of mind ; 
the avenues to his heart ; the objects which occupy his 
thoughts, and engage his feelings ; his views of life in his 
petty world — all his habits — all his peculiarities. Thus 
understanding the being upon whom you have to act, and 
the scenes, interests, and objects, which make up the cir- 
cumstances of his existence, proceed with him as with 
men — hold up life to him — the life of a child — in all its 
views. Touch this part of the picture with an attractive 
lustre, and darken that with a repulsive shade. Spare no 
pains to keep onght vieivs of things constantly before him, 
and to give right feelings the habitual predominance in his 
mind. The more effectually to secure the predominance 
of right feelings, suffer no opportunity of carrying those 
feelings into action to pass unimproved. There is a satis- 
faction attendinof the consciousness of having acted from 
such feelings, which, as it constitutes one of the richest 
earthly rewards of virtue, so it becomes one of its surest 
supports. On the other hand, fail not, if possible, to pre- 
vent every wicked or undesirable feeling from terminating 
in deed or word. 

In the use of motives be patient and persevering ; and 
be sure that you employ them in their proper order. Never 
resort to bodily pain as a motive, till all the higher and 
nobler motives have failed to effect your purpose. Appeal 
first to the approbation of God, to the sense of duty, to the 
generous feelings — gratitude, love, kindness — and to the 
happiness of virtue and the miseries of vice. In the last 
resort, and then only, have recourse to punishments. In 
case of necessity, scruple not to use them, to use them till 
your purpose is effected. When a choice of motives is left 



CHRISTIAN EDUCATIOX. 13 

to you, select the purest, the highest ; but, in no case, as 
you value the character and happiness of your offspring, 
in no case suflfer your purpose to be frustrated by a pitiful 
weakness, that would spare your child a momentary pang, 
at the expense of lasting injury, or it may be, of final ruin. 
If men cannot always be governed without the aid of prisons 
and fetters ; if all the appeals of God to our reason and 
conscience and interest so often prove ineffectual to restrain 
us from the way of the transgressor, till He " put forth his 
hand, and touch our hone and our flesh ;^^ you cannot doubt 
that there may be " foolishness bound up in the heart of a 
child, ^ which the ''rod of correction" alone is able to 
drive far from him. 

6. Pray for your children, that God would guide them 
"in the way they should go." You know there is no 
hope for them, unless He shall be pleased to breathe the 
Holy Spirit into their minds. You cannot rely on all the 
means of education which men or angels might employ, if 
that Almighty Power, which created the souls of your chil- 
dren, be not entreated to new-create them. Plead, then, 
with God. Appeal to the compassion of Jesus, who loved 
little children, and "took them in his arms, and blessed 
them, and said. Suffer little children to come unto me, and 
forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of heaven." 
0, if the voice of prayer ever ascends from this guilty globe 
into the ear of Infinite Love, it must be the prayer — the 
morning, the noon-day, and the midnight prayer — the 
"agonizing prayer" — of a Ch?'istian mother for the child 
of her bosom. 

1. Finally, see that your example cooperate with your 
eflforts and your prayers. In this respect, you have a 
power over the character and destiny of your offspring, of 

VOL. VI. 14* 



14 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

wliicli no degree of poverty, of ignorance, or of misfortune, 
can possibly deprive you. We are too apt to look upon 
example as something essentially different from precept — 
from instruction — from all the other means of education. 
But what is Christian instruction ? Why, it is only bring- 
ing certain objects of thought and of feeling, certain truths, 
or facts, before the mind of a child, and, by some means, 
fixing the attention upon those objects. Suppose you could 
impress the whole Bible upon the mind of a child, could 
make it as familiar to him as his alphabet, what would this 
be but fixing in his memory all those interesting and im- 
portant facts, truths, and scenes, which God has revealed 
in the Bible ? If this could so be done, that what the Bible 
contains should fill and occupy the mind as it deserves to 
do, and cast all other objects into the shade which becomes 
them, in comparison with the truths of God, the work of 
Christian education would be done. We might expect, on 
the Divine promise, that the heart, which he alone controls, 
w^ould not fail to be moulded after the holy and perfect 
imaofe of its Divine Maker. 

And now, what is example but another 7node of accom- 
plishing this same end — another dialect, I may say, of one 
universal and comprehensive language ? When you last 
took that dear little one into your arms, and looked upon 
its sweet and innocent face, and smiled, you saw with what 
instant sympathy its bright ^ye glistened and laughed, and 
its whole countenance brightened wdth joy. And when, 
under the pressure of affliction, you have sometimes looked 
heavy-hearted and despairing, and shed upon that same 
fair face the tear of parental anguish, did you not mark 
how the cloud of grief suddenly overspread its features, 
and with what equal truth your sorrows, also, were reflected 



CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 15 

from that faithful mirror of your own heart ? And can 
you suppose that your looks conveyed no new ideas — pre- 
sented no new objects of thought and feehng, to the mind 
of that child ? Can you doubt that those looks spoke to it 
with an eloquence, of which mere words are utterly incapa- 
ble ? And can you doubt that all the expressions of your 
countenance, that all the actions of your life — your social 
intercourse, your domestic habits, your pursuits — every fea- 
ture and every motion in which your heart and character 
are seen — can you doubt that all these are an intelligible 
and powerful language to your children ? Think how they 
have clung to you, and hung upon your lips, as you have 
told them of other examples, of Cain, of Joseph, of Moses, 
or of Christ ; and how deeply the lessons, which such ex- 
amples teach, have been graven upon their minds. Then 
ask yourself what must be the power of this language of 
nature, in the example of Si father or a mother — not merely 
read or heard of, but seen and felt — not only occasionally, 
or accidentally, but daily and habitually. 

Whatever other means of Christian education, then, 
may be out of your power, be sure, my friend, that you 
neglect not the influence of a Christian example. For you 
cannot, in this case, be guilty of neglect inerely. Your 
example will teach your children — will either train them 
up in the way they should go, the way of the just, which 
''shineth more and more, to perfect day;" or " the way 
of evil men," which "leadeth down to the chambers of 
death." Console not yourself with the idea that you faith- 
fully reason wuth your children, remonstrate against their 
improper conduct, and, with all your power, endeavor to 
persuade them to a pious course. ''Says your life the 
same ?" Were the language of your own example to be 



16 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

turned into speech, would there be found in it no mischiev- 
ous, no ruinous advice, no eloquence of enticement into the 
paths of destruction ? 0, could those inconsistent, ungodly 
parents, who seem so willing, nay, sometimes, so anxious, 
that their dear children should be brought up in the nur- 
ture and admonition of the Lord, could they but read the 
lessons which their own lives have inculcated upon those 
children, with an eloquence beyond the power of the tongue 
to utter, methinks, if they have no mercy on themselves, 
they might yet, out of compassion to their offspring, be 
constrained to set them an irreproachable Christian ex- 
ample. 



O happy day, that fixed my choice 
On thee, my Saviour, and my God ! 

Well may this glowing heart rejoice, 
And tell its raptures all abroad. 

O happy bond, that seals my vows 

To him who merits all my love ! 
Let cheerful anthems fill his house, 

While to that sacred shrine I move. 

'Tis done — the great transaction's done • 

I am my Lord's, and he is mine ; 
He drew me — and I followed on — 

Charmed to confess the voice divine. 

Now rest, my long-divided heart. 
Fixed on this bhssful centre, rest ; 

With ashes who would grudge to part. 
When called on angels' bread to feast ? 

High heaven, that heard the solemn vow, 
That vow renewed shall daily hear. 

Till in life's latest hour I bow. 

And bless, in death, a bond so dear. 

Doddriage. 



No. 195. 

THE 



SEVENTH COMMANDMEIT. 



BY REV. TIMOTHY DWIGHT, D. D. 



The thing which is here universaHy prohibited, is lewd- 
ness, in every form ; in thought, word, and action. This is 
unanswerably evident from our Saviour's comment on this 
precept : " He that looketh on a woman, to lust after heVy 
hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.^' 

Before I begin the immediate discussion of this subject, 
I shall premise a few observations on the propriety of its 
introduction into the sacred desk, against which it is univer- 
sally known that there is, and for a great length of time 
has been, a riveted prejudice. When the peculiar delicacy 
attending this subject is considered, it cannot be thought 
strange that such a prejudice should in some degree exist. 
Even the most chaste and correct observations concerning 
it are apt to give pain ; or at least to excite an alarm in a 
refined and apprehensive mind. But is it not a plain and 
prominent part of the counsel of God, to forbid, to discour- 
age, to prevent this profligate conduct of mankind ? Why 
else was this precept inserted in the decalogue, and pro- 
mulgated amid the lightnings of Sinai ? Why else is it 
throughout the Scriptures made the subject of such forcible 
prohibitions, and the object of such awful threatenings ? 

What reasons can be given, why it should not be intro- 



2 THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT. 

duced into the desk ? Can common sense either prove or 
discern the usefulness of excluding it ? Is it fit, is it safe, 
is it not preposterous, is it not ruinous to the best interests 
of mankind, to leave the whole management of it to loose 
and abandoned men ; and to suffer them, from year to year, 
and from century to century, to go on in a course of cor- 
ruption ; seducing and destroying thousands and millions, 
especially of the young, the gay, and the giddy ; while the 
ministers of Christ, divinely appointed to watch for the souls 
of men, quietly sit by, and see them hurried on to perdi- 
tion ? Shall we be awed by the cry of indelicacy, originally 
raised by the most indehcate of mankind, only to keep the 
field open for its own malignant occupancy ? Shall we not 
infinitely rather lay hold on every opportunity, and all the 
means furnished in the desk, as well as elsewhere, to rescue 
our fellow- creatures from destruction? 

I consider it as my own duty to bring this subject into 
the desk without hesitation ; and, on all proper occasions, 
to treat it in the same definite and earnest manner which 
is demanded by the precepts of the Gospel. I feel bound, 
however, to treat it in such a manner, that if any are led to 
entertain thoughts concerning it, forbidden by their Creator, 
it shall be their own fault, and not mine. I proceed to 
observe, 

I. That this command forbids all impure thoughts. 
There is scarcely a more dangerous employment than the 
indulgence of a licentious imagination. This is an evil to 
which youths are'peculiarly exposed. The peculiar strength 
of every passion, and the peculiar want of watchfulness and 
self-restraint, render them an easy prey to every vice which 
sohcits admission. Still greater is the danger, when vice 
approaches under a form especially alluring ; and, at the 



THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT. ^ 

same time, steals gradually, and therefore insensibly, upon 
the mind. By all these evils is the sin under consideration 
accompanied. It rises in the minds of the young, instinc- 
tively ; suiTOunded with many allurements, and unaccom- 
panied by that loathing and horror with which the mind 
naturally regards vice of many other kinds. At the same 
time, the mind is prone to be utterly unconscious of any 
transgression, and of any danger. The imagination, thought- 
less and unrestrained, wanders over the forbidden ground, 
often without thinking that it is forbidden ; and has already 
been guilty of many and perilous transgressions, when it is 
scarcely aware of having transgressed at all. In this man- 
ner its attachment to these excursions continually gains 
strength. Continually are they repeated with more eager- 
ness, and with more frequency. At length they become 
habitual ; and scarcely any habit is stronger, or with less 
difficulty overcome. In every leisure season, the mind, if 
it will watch its own movements, will find itself roving with- 
out restraint, and often without being aware that it has 
begun to rove, on this interdicted ground ; and will be aston- 
ished to perceive, after a sober computation, how great a part 
of all its thinking is made up of these licentious thoughts. 

Most unhappily, aids and allurements to this licentious 
indulgence are never wanting. Genius, in every age and 
in every country, has, to a great extent, prostituted its 
elevated powers for the deplorable purpose of seducing 
thoughtless minds to this sin. The unsuspecting imagina- 
tion, ignorant of the dangers which spread before it, has, 
by this gay and fiery serpent, glittering with spots of gold, 
and painted with colors of enchantment, been allured to 
pluck the fruit of this forbidden tree, and hazard the death 
denounced against the transgression. The numbers of the 



4 THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT. 

poet, the delightful melody of song, the fascination of the 
chisel, and the spell of the pencil, have been all volunteered 
in the service of Satan, for the moral destruction of unhappy- 
man. To finish this work of malignity, the stage has lent 
all its splendid apparatus of mischief; the shop been con- 
verted into a show-box of temptations, and its owner into 
a pander of iniquity. Feeble, erratic, and giddy, as the 
mind of man is in its nature ; prepared to welcome tempta- 
tion, and to hail every passing sin ; can we wonder that it 
should yield to this formidable train of seducers ? 

To a virtuous mind scarcely any possession is of more 
value, or more productive of enjoyment or safety, than a 
chastened imagination, regularly subjected to the control 
of the conscience. Wherever this faculty is under this 
control, the mind has achieved a power of keeping temp- 
tation at a distance, of resisting it when approaching, and 
of overcoming it when invading, attainable in no other 
manner. Its path towards heaven becomes, therefore, com- 
paratively unobstructed, easy, and secure. Sin does not 
easily beset it ; and its moral improvement, while it is on 
the one hand undisturbed, is on the other rapid and de- 
lightful. 

II. This command forbids all licentious words of the 
same nature. Impure thoughts beget impure words ; and 
impure words, in their turn, generate, enhance, and multi- 
ply impure thoughts. No serious observer of human life 
can doubt, that by our own language, as well as that of 
others, whenever it is impure, impure thoughts are awak- 
ened, a licentious imagination set on fire, and licentious 
designs, which otherwise would never have entered the mind, 
called up into existence and execution. 

In this employment, also, our fellow-men unite with us 



THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT. 5 

in the strange and melancholy purpose of mutual corrup- 
tion. All the dangers and mischiefs, all the temptations 
and sins, presented to each other by evil companions, are to 
be found here. Here, '' wicked men and seducers wax 
worse and worse ; deceiving, and being deceived ;" mutually 
seducing, and being seduced. 

The only safety, with respect to this part of the subject 
in hand, is found in an exact conformity to the very forcible 
precept of St. Paul : " But filthiness, foolish talking and 
jesting, let it not be so much as named among you." Of all 
these the apostle says not. Let them not be used, but, ''let 
them not be so much as named among you, as becometh 
saints." Let no foundation be furnished by your conver- 
sMion even for mentioning it as a fact, that such language 
has ever been uttered by you. For no conversation, besides 
that which is thus pure, can become your character as 
Christians. See Eph. 5 : 3, 4. Strict and virtuous delicacy 
in our language is not only indispensable to decency and 
dignity of character, but to all purity of heart, and all excel- 
lency of life. 

III. This command forbids all licentious conduct of this 
nature. As this position will not be questioned, and as 
this conduct, in every form, is prohibited elsewhere, in a 
multitude of scriptural passages, I shall spare myself the 
labor of proof, and shall proceed to suggest several reasons 
for our obedience to this precept ; or, what is the same thing, 
to mention several evils arising from disobedience. 

1. The licentious conduct forbidden by this p7'ecept dis- 
courages and prevents marriage. This discouragement and 
prevention regularly take place in exact proportion to the 
prevalence of the conduct ; and are therefore chargeable 

upon it whenever, and wherever and however it exists. 
VOL. VI. 15 



6 THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT. 

The blessings of the marriage institution are innumera- 
ble and immense. They are the blessings which keep the 
moral world in being, and secure it from an untimely and 
most terrible dissolution. They are the blessings, without 
which life, in instances literally innumerable, would be 
blasted in the bud ; without which, when it escaped this 
premature destruction, its continuance would prove a curse ; 
without which, natural affection and amiableness would not 
exist ; without which, domestic education would be extinct, 
industry and economy never begin, and man be left to the 
precarious subsistence of a savage. But for this institution, 
learning, knowledge, and refinement would expire ; govern- 
ment sink in the gulf of anarchy ; and religion, hunted from 
the habitations of men, hasten back to her native heavens. 
Man, in the mean time, stripped of all that is respectable, 
amiable, or hopeful, in his character, and degraded to all 
that is odious, brutal, and desperate, would prowl in soli- 
tudes and deserts, to satisfy his rage and hunger. The 
correspondence between heaven and earth would cease ; and 
the celestial inhabitants would no longer expect^ nor find 
new accessions to their happy society, from this miserable 
world. 

To all these evils every lewd man directly contributes. 
Were his principles and practices adopted universally by 
his fellow-men, all these evils would universally prevail. 
That they do not actually thus prevail is, in no sense, owing 
to him. To the utmost of his power he labors to introduce 
them all. 

2. l^his conduct, in almost all cases, presupposes seduc- 
tion. Seduction, in its very nature, involves fraud of the 
worst kind. It is probably always accomplished by means 
of the most solemn promises, and often with oaths still more 



THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT. 7 

solemn. Both the promises and oaths, however, are violated 
in a manner supremely profligate and shameful. The object 
to which they are directed is base, malignant, and treacher- 
ous, in the extreme ; and the manner in which it is prosecuted 
is marked with the same treachery and baseness. He who 
can coolly adopt it, has put off the character of a man, and 
put on that of a fiend ; and, with the spirit of a fiend alone, 
he pursues and accomplishes the infernal purpose. The 
ruin sought, and achieved, is immense. It is not the filching 
of property. It is not the burning of a house. It is not the 
deprivation of liberty. It is not the destruction of life. The 
seducer plunders the wretched victim of character, morals, 
happiness, hope, and heaven ; inthralls her in the eternal 
bondage of sin ; consumes her, beyond the grave, in endless 
fire ; and murders her soul with an ever-living death. With 
the same comprehensive and terrible malignity he destroys 
himself; calls down upon his own head the vengeance of 
that Almighty hand which will suffer no sinner to escape ; 
and awakens the terrors of that undying conscience which 
will enhance even the agonies of perdition. All this is per- 
petrated, in the mean time, under strong professions of 
peculiar affection ; with the persuasive language of tender- 
ness ; and with the smiles of gentleness and complacency. 
For the seducer 

" Can smile, and smile, and be a villain." 

3. It brings incomprehensible wretchedness upon the de- 
voted object. No human being can support the pressure of 
infamy ; a degradation below the level of mankind ; and the 
envenomed stings of reproach, sharpened by a guilty con- 
science. I well know, that philosophy prates and vapors, 
on topics of this nature, with a proud self-complacency, 
and an ostentatious display of patience, fortitude, and seren- 



g THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT. 

ity. But I also well know, that philosophy is, in these 
respects, a mere pretender ; a bully, and not a hero. Phi- 
losophy never furnished, and never will furnish, its catalogue 
of martyrs. All its votaries, like Voltaire, intend only to 
rule and triumph ; not to suffer, nor even to submit. As 
cool and parading reflections on subjects of a calamitous 
nature are uttered in the peace of the closet, the possession 
of ease and safety, the conviction of acknowledged reputa- 
tion, and the enjoyment of friends, comforts, and hopes, 
philosophy rarely encounters real suffering. Her hardihood 
is all premature ; and is all shown in telling the world what 
she would do, and what others ought to do ; and not in the 
history of what she has done. 

The excruciating anguish to which the miserable female 
victim is reduced, is dreadfully exemplified in the unnatural 
and enormous wickedness to which she is driven, in the 
desertion and the consequent destruction of her helpless 
offspring. " Can a Avoman forget her sucking child, that 
she should not have compassion on the son of her womb ?" 
is a question which points out the strongest affection, the 
hiefhest tenderness of human nature : the attachment which 
outruns, survives, and triumphs over every other. To this 
question, the exposure to a merciless sky, the drowning, the 
strangling, the smothering, of illegitimate children, returns 
a terrible and excruciating answer. What must be the 
agonies of despondence and degradation which can force the 
susceptible heart of a female parent to the contrivance and 
execution of a design like this ? Yet such is the dreadful 
catastrophe of the wickedness in question. It is worse than 
trifling, for the author of all these evils to allege that this 
catastrophe is neither contrived nor accomplished by him- 
self. They are all, and all are known by him to be the 



THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT. 9 

frequent as well as natural consequences of this iniquity. 
They are chargeable to hira, therefore, as the legitimate 
results of his own conduct : results which, by every obliga- 
tion, human and divine, he was bound to foresee and pre- 
vent. Both the murder itself, and the miseries which give 
birth to it, are stains of that crimson guilt in which he is so 
deeply dyed. 

4. This licentious character soon becomes habitual. To 
a person moderately acquainted with human conduct, an 
attempt to prove this assertion would be mere trifling. All 
transgressions of this cast soon become fixed, obstinate, and 
irreclaimable. The world teems with evidence of this hu- 
miliating position ; and the whole progress of time has daily 
accumulated a mountainous mass of facts, evincing its cer- 
tainty in a more and more humiliating manner. 

Of these, the most humiliating and dreadful collection is 
found in those baleful tenements of prostitution and profli- 
gacy which deform, so far as my information extends, every 
populous city on the globe; and stand pubhcly at the 
gateway to hell ; opening to their miserable inhabitants a 
broad and beaten road to perdition. Into these deplorable 
mansions, the polluted female, cast off by mankind as an 
outlaw from human society, torn even from the side of 
natural afl"ection and parental mercy, betrayed by the vil- 
lany of a second Judas, and hurried by shame, remorse, 
and anguish, enters, never to escape. Here, from the first 
moment, she closes her eyes upon friends, kindness, and 
compassion ; takes her final farewell of earthly comfort ; 
and sees, with a dying eye, the last glimmerings of hope go 
out in eternal night. Here she bids an everlasting adieu to 
the Sabbath, the house and the word of God. To her, the 

calls of mercy are made no more. To her, the voice of the 
VOL. vr. 15* 



10 THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT. 

Redeemer sounds no more. The Spirit of truth cannot be 
supposed to enter the haunts of sin and death ; nor to shed 
the dew of hfe upon these voluntary victims of corruption 
by whom they are inhabited. Immortal life here becomes 
extinct. Hither the " kope''^ of heaven " never comes, that 
comes to all ;'* and the wretched throng, embosomed by 
these baleful walls, enter upon their perdition on this side 
of the grave. 

Who, that is not lost to candor, and buried in misan- 
thropy, could believe, unless he were forced to believe, that 
princes, and other rulers of mankind, have taxed and licens- 
ed these houses of ruin; and that in countries where the 
Gospel beams, and the voice of salvation is heard in the 
streets ? Who could believe that sin would be thus bar- 
tered in the market, and damnation be holden up, as a 
commodity, for bargain and sale ; that the destruction of 
the human soul would be publicly announced, granted, and 
authorized, as a privilege ; and that patents would be made 
out, signed, and sealed, for populating more extensively the 
world of woe ? 

In the mean time, it is ever to be remembered that the 
betrayer accompanies, to the same dreadful end, the victim 
of his treachery. "None, who go into" these outer cham- 
bers of perdition, " turn again, neither take they hold of the 
paths of life." 

5. This conduct destroys all moral principle. ** How- 
ever it be accounted for," says Dr. Paley, "the criminal 
commerce of the sexes corrupts and depraves the mind, and 
moral character more than any single species of vice what- 
soever. That ready perception of guilt, that prompt and 
decisive resolution against it, which constitutes a virtuous 
character, is seldom found in persons addicted to these in- 



THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT. 1 1 

dulgences. They prepare an easy admission for every sin 
that seeks it ; are, in low hfe, usually the first stage in men's 
progress to the most desperate villanies ; and, in high life, 
to that lamented dissoluteness of principle which manifests 
itself in a profligacy of public conduct, and a contempt of 
the obligations of religion and moral probity," 

What is here asserted by this very able writer, forced 
itself upon my mind, many years before I saw the work 
containing these observations, as a strong and prominent 
feature in the character of man. These very declarations 
I have long since seen amply verified in living examples. 
This progress towards abandonment cannot be very easily 
described, much less thoroughly explained, except in a 
detailed account of the subject. Such an account cannot 
here be given. Yet the following observations will, if I 
mistake not, contribute to illustrate the point in question. 

Almost all persons, perhaps all, derive from early in- 
struction and habituation, a greater or less degree of con^ 
scientiousness ; a reverence for God ; a sense of account- 
ableness ; a fixed expectation of future rewards and punish- 
ments ; a veneration for truth and justice ; and an establish- 
ed conviction of the excellence of kindness. These, united, 
constitute that temperament of mind on which evangelical 
virtue is usually, as well as happily, grafted ; and to exter- 
minate them, is to destroy what is here meant by all moral 
principle. 

Persons who commit the crimes which form the princi- 
pal subject of this treatise, always commit them in secret. 
After they are committed, the same secrecy is indispensable 
to the safety of the perpetrators. There must be, howev- 
er — there are, unavoidably — some persons, who, at times, 
and in one manner and another, become acquainted with 



12 THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT. 

the wickedness. These must be engaged, at all events, to 
conceal what they know. To effect this purpose, the per- 
petrators are often driven to employ the grossest corruption, 
and the basest and most profligate measures. Agents, also, 
are often absolutely necessary to the successful accomplish^ 
ment of the crimes themselves. None but abandoned men 
can become such agents ; and none but abandoned measures 
can be employed with respect to their agency. As the 
principal criminal makes progress in this iniquity, such 
persons become more and more necessary to him, and fa- 
miliar with him ; and as, during his progress, he renders 
himself an object of detestation to all decent society, these 
profligates soon become his only companions, and these 
measures his only conduct. He who devotes himself to 
such companions and such conduct, will always debase and 
corrupt his own mind faster than he is aware ; and, with an 
unexpected rapidity in guilt, will very soon become a mere 
profligate. 

Nor will he be less rapidly corrupted by the innumerable 
vile expedients, base fetches, treacherous plans, abominable 
briberies, and foul perjuries, to which he resorts for the 
successful perpetration of his villanous designs. To all 
these must be added the putrefactive influence of impurity 
itself; which, as the pestilence through the body, diff'uses 
mortification and rottenness throughout the soul, and con- 
verts it into a mere mass of death and corruption. 

Conformably to these observations, we see, in the ordi- 
nary course of things, that impurity manures and waters 
every growth of sin. Wherever it prevails, all crimes be- 
come gross, rank, and premature. Impiety, blasphemy, 
treachery, drunkenness, perjury, and murder, flourish around 
it. How justly, then, as well as how solemnly, did the 



THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT. 13 

divine writer declare, concerning the strange woman, "Her 
house is the way to hell ; going down to the chambers of 
death." 

6. Whenever this conduct assumes the Jlagrant character 
of adultery, it involves a numerous and dreadful train of 
additional evils. 

It involves the most open and gross violation of the mar- 
riage covenant ; and exposes the guilty person, therefore, 
to the peculiar wrath of that tremendous Being, invoked as 
a witness of it ; and incomprehensibly, as well as most im- 
pudently, affronted by the violation. 

It accomplishes the greatest injury which the innocent 
party to that covenant can receive on this side of the grave. 
This injury is formed of a vast combination of sufferings, 
reaching every important interest in this world always, 
and, often, in the world to come ; exquisitely keen and 
poignant, piercing the very seat of thought, and sense, and 
feeling, and awakening in long succession, throes of agony 
and despair. The husband, for example, is forced to behold 
his wife, once and always beloved beyond expression, not 
less affectionate than beloved, and hitherto untarnished even 
with suspicion, corrupted by fraud, circumvention, and vil- 
lany ; seduced from truth, virtue, and hope ; and voluntarily 
consigned to irretrievable ruin. His prospects of enjoyment, 
and even of comfort, in the present world, are overcast with 
the blackness of darkness. Life, to him, is changed into a 
lingering death. His house is turned into an empty, dreary 
cavern. Himself is widowed. His children are orphans — 
not by the righteous providence of God, but by the mur- 
derous villany of man. Clouded with Avoe, and hung round 
with despair, his soul becomes a charnel-house, where life, 
and peace, and comfort, have expired ; a tomb, dark and 



14 THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT. 

hollow, covering the remains of departed enjoyment, and 
opening no more to the entrance of the living. 

It involves injuries to the children, which numbers can- 
not calculate, and which the tongue cannot describe. The 
hand of villany has robbed them of all their peculiar bless- 
ings : the blessings of maternal care and tenderness ; the 
rich blessings of maternal instruction and government ; the 
delightful and most persuasive blessings of maternal ex- 
ample ; the exalted privilege of united parental prayers ; 
and the exquisite enjoj^ments of a peaceful, harmonious, 
and happy fireside ; once exquisitely happy, but now to be 
happy no more. 

To this most affecting and pitiable train of mourners, a 
numerous and additional train of friends unite themselves, 
to deplore the common woe. A singular, an agonizing 
procession is formed at the funeral of departed virtue. 
Tears stream, which no hand can wipe away. Groans as- 
cend, which no comforter can charm to peace. Bosoms 
heave with anguish, which all the balm of Gilead cannot 
soothe. The object of lamentation is gone for ever ; and 
all that remains is a mass of living death, soon to be buried 
in the eternal grave. 

'7. This ivlckedness, when it becomes extensive, ovei'spi'eads 
a country with final ruin. It is the nature of this evil, not 
only to become greater and greater in individuals, but to 
extend continually, also, to greater and greater numbers 
of individuals. The corruption of Sodom, and the neigh- 
boring cities of the plain, was rapid and complete. Within 
a short period after they were built, ten righteous persons 
could not be found in them all. What was true of these 
cities, is true of others in similar circumstances. To the 
Israelites, before they entered into Canaan, God prescribed 



THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT. 15 

a long series of laws, requiring absolute purity of conduct ; 
prohibiting, in the most solemn manner, lewdness of every 
kind ; and enacting against it the most dreadful penalties. 
"Do not," said Jehovah, "prostitute thy daughter; lest 
the land become full of wickedness. Ye shall not commit 
any of these abominations, that the land spew not you out, 
also, 'when ye defile it, as it spewed out the nations that 
were before you." In the sight of God, therefore, this sin 
is peculiarly the source of corruption to a land ; a source 
whence it becomes full of wickedness, and vomits out its 
inhabitants, as being unable to bear them. Those who 
practise it, and the nation in which the practice prevails, 
are, he declares, abhorred by him, and shall be finally de- 
stroyed. "For whosoever," saith he, "shall commit any 
of these abominations, that soul shall be cut off from his 
people." 

As crimes of this nature become less and less unfrequent, 
they become less and less scandalous ; and by all, who are 
inclined to perpetrate them, are esteemed less and less sin- 
ful. Of course they are regarded with decreasing reluc- 
tance and horror. The father practises them ; and with 
his example corrupts his son. The husband in the same 
manner corrupts his wife, the brother his brother, the friend 
his friend, and the neighbor his neighbor. Soon the brothel 
raises its polluted walls, and becomes a seminary of Satan, 
where crimes are provided, taught, perpetrated, multiplied 
without number, and beyond degree ; and, to a great ex- 
tent, concealed from the public eye. To one of these cav- 
erns of darkness and death another succeeds, and another; 
until the city, and ultimately the whole land, becomes one 
vast Sodom. Lost to every thought of reformation, and to 
every feeling of conscience ; an astonishment and a hissing 



16 THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT. 

to manMnd ; a reprobate of heaven ; it invokes upon the 
heads of its putrid inhabitants a new tempest of fire and 
brimstone. Morals, hfe, and hope, to such a community, 
have expired. They breathe, indeed, and move, and act ; 
and to the careless eye appear as living beings. But the 
life is merely a counterfeit. They are only a host of mov- 
ing corpses, an assembly of the dead, destined to no future 
resurrection. Disturbed and restless spectres, they haunt 
the surface of the earth in material forms, filling the sober 
and contemplative mind with alarm and horror ; until they 
finally disappear, and hurry through the gloomy mansions 
of the grave to everlasting woe. 



]¥o. 196. 

ADVICE TO YOUNG CONVERTS. 



BY REV. JONATHAN EDWARDS. 



ORIGINALLY ADDRESSED TO A YOUNG LADY AT S , CONN., 

IN THE YEAR 1741. 

Dear Young Friend — As you desired me to send you, 
in writing, some directions how to conduct yourself in your 
Christian course, I would now answer your request. The 
sweet remembrance of the great things I have lately seen at 
S , inclines me to do any thing in my power to con- 
tribute to the spiritual joy and prosperity of God's people 
there. 

1. I would advise you to keep up as great a strife and 
earnestness in religion, as if you knew yourself to be in a 
state of nature, and were seeking conversion. We advise 
persons under conviction, to be earnest and violent for the 
kingdom of heaven ; but when they have attained to con- 
version, they ought not to be the less watchful, laborious, 
and earnest, in the whole work of religion, but the more 
so ; for they are under infinitely greater obligations. For 
want of this, many persons, in a few months after their 
conversion, have begun to lose their sweet and lively sense 
of spiritual things, and to grow cold and dark, and have 
" pierced themselves through with many sorrows ;" where- 
as, if they had done as the Apostle did, Phil. 3 : 12-14, 
their path would have been " as the shining light, that shines 
more and more unto the perfect day," 

2. Do not leave off seeking, striving, and praying for 
the very same things that we exhort unconverted persons 
to strive for, and a degree of which you have had already in 
conversion. Pray that your eyes may be opened, that you 
may receive sight, that you may know yourself and be 
brought to God's footstool, and that you may see the glory 
of God and Christ, and may be raised from the dead, and 
have the love of Christ shed abroad in your heart. Those 
who have most of these things, have need still to pray for 
them ; for there is so much blindness and hardness, pride 
and death remaining, that they still need to have that work 

VOL. VI. 16 



2 ADVICE TO YOUNG CONVERTS. 

of God wrought upon them, further to enhghten and en- 
hven them, that shall be bringing them out of darkness into 
God's marvellous light, and be a kind of new conversion and 
resurrection from the dead. There are very few requests 
that are proper for an impenitent man, that are not also, in 
some sense, proper for the godly. 

3. When you hear a sermon, hear for yourself. Though 
what is spoken may be more especially directed to the 
unconverted, or to those that, in other respects, are in dif- 
ferent circumstances from yourself ; yet, let the chief intent 
of your mind be to consider, " In what respect is this appli- 
cable to me ? and what improvement ought I to make of 
this, for my own soul's good?" 

4. Though God has forgiven and forgotten your past 
sins, yet do not forget them yourself : often remember, what 
a wretched bond- slave you w^ere in the land of Egypt. Often 
bring to mind your particular acts of sin before conversion ; 
as the blessed apostle Paul is often mentioning his old blas- 
pheming, persecuting spirit, and his injuriousness to the 
renewed; humbling his heart, and acknowledging that he 
was "the least of the apostles," and not worthy "to be 
called an apostle," and the "least of all saints," and the 
" chief of sinners ;" and be often confessing your old sins to 
God, and let that text be often in your mind, Ezek. 16 : 63, 
" that thou may est remember and be confounded, and never 
open thy mouth any more, because of thy shame, when I 
am pacified towards thee for all that thou hast done, saith 
the Lord God." 

5. Remember that you have more cause, on some ac- 
counts, a thousand times, to lament and humble yourself 
for sins that have been committed since conversion, than 
before, because of the infinitely greater obligations that are 
upon you to live to God, and to look upon the faithfulness 
of Christ in unchangeably continuing his loving- kindness, 
notwithstanding all your great unworthiness since your 
conversion. 

6. Be always greatly abashed for your remaining sin, 
and never think that you lie low enough for it ; but yet be 
not discouraged or disheartened by it ; for though we are 
exceeding sinful, yet we have an Advocate with the Father, 
Jesus Christ the righteous ; the preciousness of whose blood, 
the merit of whose ricrhteousness, and the greatness of 



ADVICE TO YOUNG CONVERTS. 3 

whose love and faithfulness, infinitely overtop the highest 
mountains of our sins. 

V. When you engage in the duty of prayer, or come to 
the Lord's supper, or attend any other duty of divine wor- 
ship, come to Christ as Mary Magdalen did, Luke Y : 37, 38, 
come and cast yourself at his feet, and kiss and pour forth 
upon him the sweet perfumed ointment of divine love, out 
of a pure and broken heart, as she poured the precious oint- 
ment out of her pure broken alabaster box. 

8. Remember that pride is the worst viper that is in the 
heart, the greatest disturber of the soul's peace, and of sweet 
communion with Christ : it was the first sin committed, and 
lies lowest in the foundation of Satan's whole building-, and 
is with the greatest difficulty rooted out, and is the most 
hidden, secret, and deceitful of all lusts, and often creeps 
insensibly into the midst of religion ; even, sometimes, under 
the disguise of humility itself, 

9. That you may pass a correct judgment concerning 
yourself, always look upon those as the best discoveries and 
the best comforts, that have most of these two eflfects : 
those that make you least and lowest, and most like a child, 
and those that most engage and fix your heart, in a full and 
firm disposition to deny yourself for God, and to spend and 
be spent for him. 

10. If at any time you fall into doubts about the state 
of your soul, in dark and dull frames of mind, it is proper to 
review your past experience ; but do not consume too much 
time and strength in this way : rather apply yourself, with 
all your might, to an earnest pursuit after renewed experi- 
ence, new light, and new lively acts of faith and love. One 
new discovery of the glory of Christ's face, will do more 
towards scattering clouds of darkness in one minute, than 
examining old experiences, by the best marks that can be 
given, through a whole year. 

11. When the exercise of grace is low, and corruption 
prevails, and by that means fear prevails, do not desire to 
have fear cast out any other way than by the reviving and 
prevailing of love in the heart : by this, fear will be effect- 
ually expelled, as darkness in a room vanishes away when 
the pleasant beams of the sun are let into it. 

12. When you counsel and warn others, do it earnestly, 
and aflfectionately, and thoroughly ; and when you are speak- 



4 ADVICE TO YOUNG CONVERTS. 

ing to your equals, let your warnings be intermixed with 
expressions of j^our sense of your own unworthiness, and of 
the sovereign grace that makes you differ. 

13. If you would set up religious meetings of young 
women by yourselves, to be attended once in a while, be- 
sides the other meetings that you attend, I should think it 
would be very proper and profitable. 

14. Under special difficulties, or when in great need of, 
or great longings after any particular mercy for yourself or 
others, set apart a day for secret prayer and fasting by 
yourself alone ; and let the day be spent, not only in petitions 
for the mercies you desire, but in searching your heart, and 
in looking over your past life, and confessing your sins be- 
fore God, not as is wont to be done in public prayer, but by 
a very particular rehearsal, before God, of the sins of your 
past life, from your childhood hitherto, before and after 
conversion, with the circumstances and aofirravations at- 
tending them, spreading all the abominations of your heart 
very particularly, and fully as possible, before him. 

15. Do not let the adversaries of the cross have occa- 
sion to reproach religion on your account. How holily 
should the children of God, the redeemed and the beloved 
of the Son of God, behave themselves. Therefore, " walk 
as children of the light, and of the day," and "adorn the 
doctrine of God your Saviour ;" and especially, abound in 
what are called the Christian virtues, and make you like the 
Lamb of God ; be meek and lowly of heart, and full of pure, 
heavenly, and humble love to all ; abound in deeds of love 
to others, and self-denial for others ; and let there be in you 
a disposition to account others better than yourself. 

16. In all your course, walk with God, and follow Christ, 
as a little, poor, helpless child, taking hold of Christ's hand, 
keeping your eye on the marks of the wounds in his hands 
and side, whence came the blood that cleanses you from sin, 
and hiding your nakedness under the skirt of the white 
shiningf robes of his rio-hteousness. 

17. Pray much for the ministers and the Church of God ; 
especially, that he would carry on his glorious work which 
he has now begun, till the world shall be full of his glory. 



PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY. 



i\o. i»r. 



LETTERS 



ON 



CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

BY A MOTHER. 




LETTER I. 

My dear L. — If the existence of your children were 
limited to a few years, and then the soul and body were to 
expire together, maternal tenderness would impel you to 
make the life which was to be so short, as happy as possible ; 
and you would, with a mother's vigilance, seek to render 
this brief period a season of uninterrupted sujishine. But 
this temporal life, though prolonged to fourscore years, is as 
a rivulet to the ocean, when compared with eternity. Yet 



VOL. VI. 



IG* 



2 LETTERS ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

the unutterable interests of the soul, in that boundless im- 
mortaHty, are suspended upon the manner in which this 
fleeting moment is employed. Upon its wise improvement, 
or abuse, depends our eternal possession of joys which eye 
hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceiv- 
ed, or our irrevocable doom to the prison of despair. 

To train up our children for one of these abodes, is the 
work assigned to us. My heart faints in view of the respon- 
sibility — a responsibility which we can never measure, until 
we see the full influence of all the associations, instructions, 
and events, which combine to form the character of an im- 
mortal ; until our minds are expanded to appreciate the hap- 
piness of a redeemed spirit, and the misery of a lost soul. 
This responsibility calls for the highest degree of diligence, 
the most solicitous watchfulness, and a spirit of wisdom, and 
fervor in prayer, which none but God can bestow. 

If you were aware of the high trust reposed in you, when 
you received into your arms your first-bom infant, you de- 
layed not a moment, with a heart full of gratitude, yet trem- 
bhng with fear for the future, to say, " that this child 
might live before thee I" and often did you renew this peti- 
tion, and solemnly covenant with God, in the closet. In thus 
dedicating your children to God, you chose him for their 
Father, Jesus Christ for their Saviour, and the Holy Spirit 
for their Sanctifier. You chose a treasure in heaven for their 
riches, the service of Christ for their employment, and the 
honor of being children of God as their highest distinction. 
You engaged, by the assistance of his grace, submissively to 
receive every afflictive dispensation of his providence respect- 
ing them ; and, if he should recall them, to say, Thou hast 
taken thine own ; " Thy will be done." A frequent consid- 
eration of these solemn engagements will excite us to fidel- 
ity, and to fervent prayer, that they may begin to serve God 
here, and in eternity be to the praise and glory of his rich 
grace in Christ Jesus. Yours, truly. 



LETTERS ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 3 

LETTER II. 

My dear L. — The affectionate husband, and the tender 
and judicious father, will afford most efficient aid, by the 
general influence of his character upon his family, by his 
counsel, and by tlie respect which he will manifest for the 
feelings and opinions of the mother of his children ; and 
often by the direct exercise of his authority. But early 
instruction and discipline are necessarily the peculiar work 
of the mother. It is her steady and gentle influence, and 
the daily incidental instructions which fall from her lips, 
that are to form the infant mind, and give a direction to the 
character. A sensible and pious mother once remarked, 
" If I may have but ten years of the life of a man of seven- 
ty to form his character, give me the first ten." 

Many parents, who would on no account fail of govern- 
ing their children properly, defeat their own designs in this 
particular, by delaying to bring them under subjection 
until their wills have become obstinate, their passions strong, 
and until, by frequent practice, they have learned to gov- 
ern, rather than to obey. This delay arises, in part, from 
an idea, as erroneous as it is prevalent, that children do not 
understand what is required of them until at least two 
years old ; and, in part, from a secret dread, of which, per- 
haps, the parent is scarcely conscious, of beginning this 
contest for supremacy. This is a radical error, and the 
frequent cause of habitual disobedience and open rebellion 
in succeeding years. I once heard a clergyman remark, 
that "the overbearing spirit which is exhibited in the cra- 
dle, is the same which, in manhood, constitutes the des- 
pot and the tyrant." I would be the last to recommend 
the corporal punishment of an infant ; but there are few 
children, of eight or ten months old, who do not sometimes 
attempt to procure the gratification of their wishes by pas- 



4 LETTERS ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

sionate crying or obstinate perseverance. If you would 
have them understand, in the very outset, that you are to 
govern, never give them the desired object until they have 
become quiet. Severity of manner is unnecessary, and 
would be unkind ; you have only to be yourself tranquil, 
and your child will soon become so. 

You may think yourself a favored mother, if, before 
your little ones have attained the age of eighteen months, 
you are not compelled to subdue them by the gentle use of 
the rod. At this period they are incapable of being influ- 
enced by reason, and yet have sufficient intelligence to be 
determined in their own way. If they are indulged in this 
determination, because they are too young to be reasoned 
with, their resolution will soon acquire a degree of strength 
which neither the force of reason, nor the use of corporal 
punishment, can easily conquer. I know that this method 
is often denounced, as a remnant of unenlightened ages, or 
of puritanic prejudice ; but Christian parents will seek to be 
directed by God's word ; and there we are taught, that **he 
that spareth the rod hateth his son, but he that loveth him, 
chasteneth him betimes." I know how the parental heart 
shrinks from this trial ; I know the conflict between tender 
maternal feelings and a deep conviction of duty, under such 
circumstances. As you value the well-being of your child 
and your own future peace, never yield when you have 
once attempted to produce an obedient spirit. Lift up your 
heart to Him who giveth power to the faint, and then go 
forward with quiet firmness. You will succeed ; you will 
have the happiness of seeing the turbulent and rebellious 
spirit followed by gentleness and aff"ectionate obedience. 

There is a great diff"erence in the dispositions of chil- 
dren ; and those who are naturally gentle may never need 
a repetition of this mode of correction for the same oftence ; 
while others, of a quick temper, may oblige you to resort 



LETTERS Oi\ .CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 5 

to it, painful as it is, again and again. Should this be the 
case, do not be discouraged. Prevent, Avhenever it is pos- 
sible, the excitement of self-will ; but, if it be excited, never 
yield to it. If you are careful, by steadiness and consis- 
tency, not to lose what you have gained, your children will 
learn to practise self-government ; and will probably, at 
length, become habitually obedient. 

Were I to attempt to enumerate the motives for thus 
early subduing the waywardness of children, I should find 
myself lost in a subject too extensive for the limits of these 
letters. Their happiness and usefulness, every day and 
hour, will greatly depend upon it. When I see devout 
Christians perpetually subjected to trials, which originate 
in faults produced in them by early indulgence, and when 
I see the hand of God chastising them for these faults, that 
they may be made partakers of his holiness, I cannot but 
say. From what severe providential correction may we save 
our children, by seasonably subjecting them to the salutary 
discipline of parental authority. 

The opinions of parents on this subject should be uiiit- 
ed, and their government so perfectly blended, that the 
will of the one shall ever be seen to be the will of the other 
also ; so that, when reproved or corrected by the father, 
the child will not expect sympathy from the mother ; or, 
if by the mother, will not think of appealing to the father. 
If, in any instance, however small, there is a difference of 
views between parents, with respect to the children, the 
mother should yield her opinion, and act with the father, 
and afterwards, in the absence of the children, seek union 
of sentiment upon the point in question. I can scarcely 
believe that there ever was a child who could not be made 
submissive to the wise decision of united parents. But, for 
the want of union in opinion and practice, many a family is 
ruined, both for this life and that which is to come ; many 



6 LETTERS ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

a husband and wife are permanently alienated, and the 
dwelling, which might have exhibited that most lovely of 
all earthly scenes, a harmonious family, is converted into 
the abode of discord and misery. 

It is expedient to make but few rules, lest you should 
be frequently obliged to pass the violation of them unno- 
ticed, or to administer reproof so often as to harden the 
feelings, and render admonition ineffectual. Children are 
incapable of retaining a great number of rules ; they are 
heedless, and must remain so, until, by observation and 
experience, they have acquired some knowledge of what is 
expected of them. 

It is of far greater importance than is generally sup- 
posed, that the language which we employ in our inter- 
course with children should be perfectly intelligihle to them. 
The waywardness of a child, who is compelled to listen to 
commands and expostulations which he does not understand, 
will inevitably become confirmed in obstinacy; and the 
conscientious and laborious parents will see their efforts for 
the good of their children worse than unavailing, while 
they themselves are the cause of the evils which perplex 
and distress them. 

The difficulties attendant upon the government of chil- 
dren are great, and of frequent occurrence ; but the great- 
est of all is the difficulty of ruling one's own spirit. How 
often is a mother, amidst her numerous and pressing cares, 
so disturbed in her feelings, that, although she be not 
really ill-humored, she has lost that mildness of demeanor 
by which she was wont to quiet the restless spirits of her 
children. A recollection of the follies of our own childhood 
will tend to allay this impatience ; and a candid inspection 
of our hearts will convince us, that we are indebted to the 
customs of society, the restraints of pride, or a sense of 
propriety or duty, for the concealment of the very faults 



LETTERS ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 7 

whicli trouble us in our children. But believe me, my dear 
friend, nothing will act so powerfully, and produce so salu- 
tary an effect upon your little ones, even when they are not 
more than two or three years old, as that self-possession, 
on your part, which is the result of communion with God. 
When you find yourself assailed by a thousand perplexities, 
and teazed with the follies of your children, so that you 
are tempted to speak unadvisedly with your lips, fly to the 
closet, and implore the ornament of a meek and quiet 
spirit, the patience and gentleness of Christ ; and, if you 
do not immediately obtain that tranquillity which you seek, 
go again and again. God hears prayer, and, blessed be 
his name, he giveth wisdom liberally to them that ask him, 
and upbraideth not. Go, then, to him, and you will learn, 
by sweet experience, that the soul which is filled with 
spiritual peace, can quietly endure the little adversities of 
Ufe. 



LETTER III. 



My dear L. — Should you early succeed in training your 
children to habits of "prompt and cheerful obedience," 
you w411 still find, that many evils remain to be vanquished. 
It is an humiliating truth, that our children possess a fallen 
nature, and with this we have to contend at every step in 
their education. While they are greatly endeared to us by 
their winning ways and lovely traits of character, we are 
painfully compelled to see, that they early "go astray" 
from God, " speaking lies." 

Probably there are few parents who have escaped the 
agony of knowing, for the first time, that a beloved child 
has uttered a deliberate falsehood. The disposition to de- 
ceive exhibits itself in a variety of forms in young children, 
and it should be carefully watched, and steadily resisted. 



S LETTERS ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

It is indispensable to the formation of upright and estima- 
ble character, that every disingenuous, artful habit should 
be prevented or eradicated. So far as you can, with safety, 
confide in their veracity ; and let them see that you honor 
uprightness and truth, and despise deceit and cunning. 
Our example should be blameless in this respect ; for chil- 
dren are frequently led into the practice of deception, by 
the want of sincerity and integrity in those about them. 
These little creatures early learn to imitate the ways of 
others ; and, with surprising vigilance and accuracy, do 
they detect inconsistencies between language and conduct. 
If, then, they witness a disposition to concealment in those 
with whom they associate, how can it be expected that 
they should speak and act with frankness ? But how often 
do we see a mother exciting the sympathy of her child, 
by professing to be grieved, and to weep ! How often, too, 
is the little prattler beguiled of an unwilling kiss, by the 
promise of seeing the horse, or the birds, or some other 
object, which it was not intended should be shown him. 
Unpardonable indiscretion ! 

It is to be feared, that children are often driven to false 
representations in their own favor, by the exercise of too 
great severity towards their faults ; and here is a motive, 
could none be derived from the tender regard due to their 
feelings, to induce us to avoid a harsh course of conduct 
towards them. The child who resorts to artful subter- 
fuges, and fears to tell the truth, lest he should meet with 
unkind treatment, is indeed to be pitied. I am reminded, 
by these thoughts, of a sentiment expressed by the excel- 
lent Cotton Mather, in his " Essay upon the duties of Par- 
ents :" *' The slavish, boisterous manner of governing chil- 
dren, too commonly used, I consider as no small article in 
the wrath and curse of God upon a miserable world." Be 
careful, then, when your children are in fault, especially if 



LETTERS OxN CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 9 

you suppose yourself wholly, or in part, unacquainted with 
the circumstances, to encourage them, by your mildness, to 
tell you the Avhole affair ; bidding them recollect exactly 
how it took place. Remind them, that God, who knows 
all things, will know whether they speak truth, and will be 
greatly displeased, if they say what is false. If, after all 
your care, the child will not acknowledge the truth, parental 
fidelity requires you to punish him, and, as I think, with 
the rod ; for such is the manner in which this sin is spoken 
of in the Bible, and so woful are the effects of its indulgence, 
that I see not how Christian parents can acquit themselves, 
before God and their own conscience, without showingr 
towards it severe displeasure. 

Let your conduct, on these occasions, be such as to 
make a deep impression upon the heart of your child. 
Take him immediately into a retired room, and, with af- 
fectionate solemnity, tell him the dreadful nature of the 
sin which he has committed. Repeat to him those passages 
of Scripture, in which God has expressed his displeasure 
against the sin of lying. Read to him the story of Ana- 
nias and Sapphira, and entreat him, if he wishes to be 
happy here, and to go and live with God and all the good 
in heaven, to repent, and beg of God to forgive him, and 
keep him from doing so any more. After this, pray with 
him ; carefully adapting your petitions to his case, and your 
language to his understanding. Possibly the solemnity of 
these instructions and admonitions may produce that tender 
contrition, and abhorrence of his crime, which will furnish 
a high degree of assurance that it will not be repeated. If 
so, and if this be the first offence of the kind, it will be 
safe to omit the use of more severe means. Otherwise, tell 
him that God, in the Bible, requires you to punish him for 
such sins, and that you must obey. After having adminis- 
tered the chastisement, more painful, no doubt, to you than 

VOL. VI. 17 



10 LETTERS ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

to him, induce him to kneel down, and, in his own language, 
ask the forgiveness of his heavenly Father. I have seen 
the powerful influence of this method, in producing up- 
rightness and integrity of character. God blesses his own 
word ; and if we more frequently availed ourselves of its 
authority, and of the influence of prayer upon our little 
ones, we should be happier parents, and they would be 
better and happier children. 

Intimately connected with this subject is the cultivation 
of a sense of justice. Opportunities daily occur, in a 
family of young children, for teaching them the obligations 
of justice ; and no pains should be spared, and no suitable 
occasion omitted, to enforce upon them the respect due to 
each other's rights. The snatching of a plaything from 
its owner ought never to be winked at, or overlooked. 
The offender should not only be reminded of the impro- 
priety of his conduct, but of the sin of taking from another 
that which is not his. They should also be made to feel 
that they have no right to play with, or to use each other's 
toys, without the consent of the owner; and lest you should 
by example counteract the influence of precept, always re- 
store to a child that of which you may have deprived him 
by way of correction. 

Our Saviour's golden rule will be understood by chil- 
dren almost as soon as they are capable of teazing each 
other in the manner above described ; and after they have 
learned to repeat it, it is surprising with what facility they 
will apply it to their own conduct, and that of others. I 
once heard a little girl, of four years and a half, while 
playing with her younger brother, say to him, " Shall I 
tell you the meaning of the golden rule?" She then re- 
peated it, and said, " This means, that I must be just as 
kind and obliging to you, as I should like to have you be 
to me. Do you understand what is meant by doing good 



LETTERS OA' CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. H 

to them that hate you ?" He rephed, " No." '' Then I 
will tell you. If any one is very, very unkind to you, you 
must be very kind to him. Do you understand now ?" 
"Yes," was the answer. Condescending Saviour, I thank 
thee that so many of thy holy precepts are adapted to the 
understanding of a little child ! Yours. 



LETTER IV. 

My dear L.— There is one error in practice, from which 
I fear but few parents are wholly exempt. It is the in- 
dulgence of severe remarks upon the faults and weaknesses 
of others. If evil-speaking were not classed, in the Bible, 
with the most heinous offences, an application of that in- 
fallible test, the golden rule, would reveal its true nature. 
It brings with it a train of evils, and its effects are most un- 
happy upon the manners, and, what is far worse, upon the 
heart. Never allow your children to amuse themselves at 
the expense of others ; nor, unnecessarily, expose to their 
view the faults of your acquaintance. Especially, avoid 
making unkind remarks upon the character or performances 
of your minister. The consequences of slander, or even of 
criticism, in this case, may be such as you will bitterly 
lament, when it is too late to obtain a remedy. 

The utmost vigilance is insufficient, as most families are 
situated, entirely to shield children from the influence of 
vicious example. This is particularly the case in large 
towns, where they can scarcely walk the length of a street 
without hearing profane language. There are few children 
thus exposed, who do not, at some time, transgress the third 
commandment. If there can be a sin more to be dreaded 
than lying, it is this ; and if you would not see your chil- 
dren abandoned despisers of God, and of every thing sacred, 
meet their first approaches to it with marked displeasure. 



12 LETTERS ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

accompanied with a clear explanation of the nature of the 
crime, and solemn admonitions against the repetition of it. 
Should this prove insufficient to check the evil, your duty 
and the well-being of your child require that you punish 
him with severity. 

The habitual use of mild and decorous language is 
highly important. Vulgarity stands next to vice in its dis- 
astrous influence upon children and youth ; and, if profane- 
ness and licentiousness are to be dreaded, see that the way 
for their entrance be not prepared by the use of expressions, 
and the indulgence of manners, which are an offence against 
delicacy and propriety. 

You will have it in your power to promote in your 
children the early exercise of kind and gentle feelings. 
Appropriate occasions will daily occur for inculcating this 
part of their duty. But, in this respect, as in all others, 
" a mother should he what she wishes her children to he- 
come ^'^ for example is the most efficient kind of instruction. 
You will then perceive the importance of daily exhibiting 
that amiableness and affection, that interest for the happi- 
ness, and attention to the wants of others, by which life is 
so much sweetened, and the human character so greatly 
improved. How is it possible that our children should be 
adorned with lovely traits of character, and amiable man- 
ners, if they are accustomed to have their tender expressions 
and childish kindnesses coldly received, or disregarded ? 

Children should be taught to be attentive to the feel- 
inofs and convenience of others. Let it not be thouo-ht that 
politeness is requisite only in grown people, or among the 
fashionable. The amiable Doddrido-e calls the forms of 
politeness *' the outworks of humanity." The Earl of 
Chatham, in his ''Letters to his Nephew," defines polite- 
ness to be, ''benevolence in trifles." The apostle Peter 
instructed the Christians to Avhom he wrote, to "be cour- 



LETTERS ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 13 

teous ;" and St. Paul, among other directions to the Ro- 
mans, exhorts them, "in honor" to ''prefer one another." 
The practice of neatness and regiihirity is also of great 
consequence. The brightest excellencies may be obscured, 
and the usefulness of the most devout may be hindered, 
by the want of good habits in these respects. Many con- 
scientious people seem to regard these as but little things. 
I answer, it is the combination of a thousand little circum- 
stances, which forms the character, and gives direction to 
the whole life. Look at two families exhibiting opposite 
examples in these respects, and say, which has the fairest 
prospect of being brought under the influence of religion, 
and which promises to be most useful in the community ? 
No, there are no trifles in the work of education. Yours. 



LETTER V. 

My dear L. — If we are true Christians, our first wish 
for our children will be, that they may early be brought 
into the fold of the great Shepherd ; and thus be shielded 
from those enemies of the soul, by which so many youth 
are fatally enticed. 0, if there is any thing which should 
constrain us, at early dawn, when surrounded with midday 
cares, at evening hour, yes, and in the watches of the night, 
to enter into the closet — ^if there is any thing which should 
lead us to God, with a fervor of supplication surpassing 
that with which we plead for our own souls, it is the early 
conversion of our children. 

We have the example of Timothy, of St. Augustine, 
and, in later times, of Hooker, Doddridge, Wesley, Newton, 
Dwight, and many others, to illustrate the blessed effects 
of maternal faithfulness ; and, could the history of the most 
pious of every age be exposed to our view, I cannot doubt 
we should see that, to the instrumentality of a mother's 

VOL. VI. IT* 



14 LETTERS ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

teaching, the world is indebted for its greatest benefactors, 
and the church for her most ilhistrious sons. 

One of the most dehghtful offices of a mother is that 
of leading the minds of her little children up to God, as a 
Father. Early should they be taught, that he takes care 
of them every day, and keeps them safely every night ; 
that he knows when they are sick, and pities them ; that 
it is he that cures them, and gives them kind parents to 
love and watch over them. They should be taught short 
prayers, such as they will perfectly understand ; and be en- 
couraged to offer some one of them, morning and evening. 
And often, at these times, will the heart of the devout 
mother be gladdened by the intelligent inquiries of the little 
children about the great God. When they have reached 
the age for learning these simple prayers, a new and effi- 
cient means is put into the hands of parents for influencing 
them to a right course of conduct. The often-repeated 
sentiment, that God loves the good, and is displeased with 
the wicked, will make an impression upon their docile minds. 
Improve the opportunity, when they have been guilty of 
misconduct, to tell them that they have a wicked heart, 
and never will be really good until they have a new one. 
They should be persuaded to go alone and confess their 
sin, and to ask their heavenly Father to make them better. 
The frequent reference of their sins and troubles to this 
source, will powerfully tend to teach them that happiness 
is inseparable from love and obedience to God. It will 
make them feel the importance of prayer, and prepare 
them to understand their need of a Saviour. 

I know of no way in which we can so effectually impart 
to children a knowledge of God and their duty, as by in- 
structing them in the history and precepts of the Bible. A 
new era in the religious condition of mankind will com- 
mence, when parents universally seek to govern their chil- 



LETTERS ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION, 15 

dren by the influence of the Bible, and to form their opin- 
ions upon the principles which it inculcates. This is not 
to be done by occasional, or stated exhortations upon the 
subject of religion. The morality of the Bible must be 
applied to their daily conduct ; and by this unerring stand- 
ard we must habitually teach them to judge of their feelings 
and behavior. The remarks which have been made re- 
specting the golden rule, will apply with equal force to a 
great number of scriptural precepts, I have seen the pet- 
ulance of a little child instantly checked, by being reminded 
of this text : " Be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, 
forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, for- 
giveth you." 

Almost the first wish expressed by a little one, after he 
can speak intelligibly, is to hear a story ; and with none are 
children so dehghted, as with those narrations which abound 
in the Scriptures. We should avail ourselves of this desire, 
to pour divine knowledge into their tender minds, and thus 
open to them the fountain of religious truth. If we per- 
form this duty with fidelity, we shall be abundantly repaid, 
at every step, not only in the pleasure with which we shall 
be heard, but also in the benefit derived to our own 
minds. 

The story of Moses, concealed b}^ his anxious mother by 
the side of the river, exposed to be devoured by crocodiles, 
discovered and adopted by the king's daughter, and nursed 
by his own mother, will awaken deep interest. After they 
have become familiar with these circumstances, tell them 
of his progress in learning, and that he became a pious man, 
and God employed him to do a great deal of good. Per- 
haps they will inquire where he is now ; and when you 
have told them that he is in heaven, and that all good peo- 
ple will go there, it will be well to add, that, if they love 
and obey their heavenly Father, they will go there too. 



16 LETTERS ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

God's displeasure with the wicked, and his kind care of the 
good, may be illustrated by the history of the deluge, and 
in the inimitable story of Joseph and his brethren. The 
sad effects of anger and ill-will may be strikingly exhibited 
by the story of Cain and Abel ; and the manner in which 
one sin leads to another, should be pointed out in Cain's 
answer, when inquired of by God respecting his brother. 

It is very important to communicate these histories in a 
gradual manner ; making them perfectly familiar with one, 
before you relate to them another. Carefully observe, also, 
whether you are understood by your little auditors. The 
pains taken by many parents to instruct their children are 
often lost, because they do not understand the meaning of 
the w^ords which are used. If they appear listless and 
inattentive, we may be sure, unless they are fatigued by 
prolonged attention, that our language is above their com- 
prehension ; and this error, if continued, w ill not only defeat 
our object in teaching them, but give them a distaste for 
religious instruction, by w^hich we shall be deprived of the 
means of access to their minds, and thus of the opportunity 
of doing them good. 

When they are old enough to learn the commandments, 
they will be filled with wonder, and a salutary awe, on 
hearing of the manner in which they were given on Mount 
Sinai ; and will express their surprise that these are the 
same commandments w^hich they are taught. They will 
eagerly inquire whether that Moses, who saw and talked 
with the great God, is the same that was laid in the ark of 
bulrushes, by the side of the river. 

The story of Samuel is one which invariably delights a 
child. Relate it minutely, and point out the condescension 
of our heavenly Father, in speaking to a little boy. On 
some occasions, Avhen you are obliged to correct them, tell 
them of the troubles which were sent upon Eli and his sons, 



LETTERS ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 17 

because of his unfaithfulness to them, and their disobedience 
to him ; and thus show them that you will displease God 
by indulging them in misconduct. Tell them of Daniel's 
courageous perseverance in the service of God, and his 
preservation from the fury of the lions. And here, again, 
the love and care of our gracious Father, towards such as 
obey and trust him, may be happily impressed upon their 
minds. The sad consequences of disobedience to God 
cannot be more vividly portrayed than in the history of 
Jonah. 

It would be unnecessary to mention all the Scripture 
narrations, in which most valuable instruction and entertain- 
ment are mingled, and by which the minds of children may 
be enriched Avith divine knowledge. Indeed, when I con- 
sider the inexhaustible sources of instruction contained in 
the Bible, and the appropriateness of its diversified exam- 
ples and holy precepts to young minds, I am surprised that 
we should ever be at a loss how to entertain and teach our 
children. 

It is of infinite importance that your children have just 
views of our blessed Saviour. The happiest consequences 
may result from a proper exhibition of his character and 
works, and a judicious inculcation of his instructions. Let 
me say to you that you will never communicate the know- 
ledge of him so suitably, and with such happy effect, as 
when your own soul is filled with his Spirit. Learn of 
Him, who was meek and loAvly in heart, and whose meat 
and drink it was to do the will of his Father, and you can 
scarcely fail to produce in your children reverence for his 
character, and respect for his precepts. Endeavor to im- 
press them deeply with a sense of his wonderful condescen- 
sion and love, in laying aside the glory which he had with 
the Father before the world was, and assuming our nature, 
that we might be redeemed from eternal destruction. Make 



18 LETTERS OX CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

them acquainted with his history, from his humble birth, 
through his Ufe of sorrows, to his crucifixion, resurrection, 
and ascension into heaven. Tell them of the miracles which 
he wrought, his continual acts of benevolence, his tender 
sympathy for the afflicted, his condescension to little chil- 
dren, his forbearance towards the wicked, his forgiveness 
of his enemies, and his meek endurance of suffering in the 
garden and on the cross. Mingle your instructions with 
remarks upon the odious nature of sin, which was the cause 
of all his humiliation and suffering ; and seek to make them 
understand the necessity of repentance, of love to Christ, 
and trust in him, in order to being saved. When you ob- 
serve them tenderly affected by Avhat they have heard from 
you, pray with them ; minutely confessing their faults, and 
affectionately commending them to the mercy of this kind 
Saviour. 

This method of instruction has been found to be exceed- 
ingly happy, in giving just views of God and our obligations 
to him, and in producing a general improvement, which it 
is difficult to describe, unless it be called a moral cultivation 
of the whole character. In this way, their consciences are 
enlightened and made tender, to such a degree, that it 
would seem impossible they should ever be so far lost to a 
sense of moral obligation, as to become confirmed in vice. 
They may, indeed, for a while be entangled and beguiled 
by the fascinations of a wicked Avorld ; but, even in the 
haunts of sin, which are as the suburbs of hell, the con- 
science, once enlightened, will thunder its remonstrances in 
the pale delinquent's ear, and remind him of the prayers 
and exhortations of a pious father and mother. Thus will 
early instructions " hang upon the wheels of evU," and at 
this dark hour, it may be that the wanderer will arise, with 
a penitent heart, and go to his heavenly Father. 

It may be thought that I do not sufficiently recognize 



LETTERS OX CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 19 

the work of the Holy Spiiit in sanctifying the heart ; and 
that too much efficacy is attributed to rehgious instruction. 
I answer, we do not look for the rewards of industry with- 
out its toils, nor the autumnal harvest without having cast 
in the seed, and cultivated the soil. And we are tau^^ht in 
the Scriptures, that the Holy Spirit does not commonly 
sanctify men without means ; and that this is the way in 
which we are to expect a blessing upon our offspring. 
Moses, speaking to the Israelites of the manner in which 
they should inculcate the precepts of religion, says, " And 
thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and 
shalt talk of them, when thou sittest in thine house, and 
when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, 
and when thou risest up." Of Timothy it is said, that 
*' from a child he had known the Holy Scriptures, Avhich 
were able to make him wise unto salvation, through faith in 
Christ Jesus." Our Saviour prayed that his disciples might 
be sanctified "through the truths We have the highest 
possible encouragement to pursue this course, because God 
declares that he will bless his own word ; and we see that 
he does so. And w^ho can tell, but, in some favored hour, 
the Holy Spirit may descend and fill the hearts of our chil- 
dren with the love of God, through the instrumentality of 
those instructions which are derived from the Bible. Let 
us, then, take courage ; let us, with diligence, patience, and 
love, pour these divine truths into their minds, and never 
cease to implore God's blessing, without which all our 
efforts will be fruitless. Yours. 



LETTER VI. 

My dear L. — The manner in which the Sabbath should 
be spent, is a subject of too much consequence to be passed 
over in silence. All parents, doubtless, encounter many 



20 LETTERS ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

difficulties in leading their children to a proper observance 
of the sacred day ; and my own embarrassments on this 
subject will lead me to offer my advice with diffidence. 

It is not to be supposed that any one can interest chil- 
dren in religious duties so deeply as their parents ; and their 
influence to restrain them from improprieties, will be greater 
than that of any other. You will therefore find it necessary 
to devote nearly your whole time on the Sabbath to your 
little family, with the exception of the hours of private de- 
votion and public worship. 

The Sabbath, and every thing connected with the sub- 
ject of religion, should be rendered pleasant, if possible. 
Many truly pious people increase, to a high degree, the 
natural aversion of their children to divine things, by the 
severity with which they administer instruction. Contempt 
of religion, hardness of heart, and infidelity itself, are the 
frequent consequences of often-repeated, reproachful, over- 
bearinof admonition. 

Is there not, however, at the present day, a fearful 
absence of that high reverence for the Sabbath which 
characterized the days of our fathers ? If it be not kept 
as a day in which we must neither " think our own thoughts, 
speak our own words, nor find our own pleasures," disre- 
spect for divine ordinances and instructions will ensue ; and 
the children thus brought up, will be advocates for those 
customs in the community which tend to remove the land- 
marks of religion. Our deportment on the Lord's day 
should be such as to discountenance all triflinor conversation 
and unnecessary secular employment, and to impress the 
minds of our families with the conviction that this is a season 
which is solemnly set apart for sacred duties. 

The relation of Scripture stories, as before described, 
may be practised with excellent effect upon the Sabbath ; 
and you will derive much assistance from a Bible, or sacred 



LETTERS ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 21 

Jxistoiy, with plates. These will be particularly serviceable 
in the instruction of the little ones who have not learned to 
read. With respect to the older children, instead of giving 
them a long lesson for the occupation of the Avhole day, let 
their employments be varied. Require them to study a 
portion of Bible history, and relate it in their own language ; 
or, if you can obtain a book of Scripture questions, assign 
them one or two chapters at a lesson. These catechisms 
generally awaken interest, and cannot be recited without an 
accurate knowledge of the parts of Scripture to w^hich they 
relate. You will derive great assistance from sharing in 
their employments and studies. Their interest in reading 
will be increased by your reading with them ; and if you 
yourself learn a hymn or catechetical lesson to recite with 
them, they will be the more solicitous to have theirs well 
committed. 

Children who are old enough to write, should be fur- 
nished with a blank book, and be required to remember the 
texts and leading thoughts of the sermons which they hear, 
and to write them, after their return from worship. This 
practice is productive of at least three good effects: it 
furnishes one method of em^Dloying the time suitably on the 
Sabbath ; the frequent expression of the thoughts of others 
in their own language will give them facility in conversation 
and writing ; and a habit of attention to preaching will also 
be created, which is of immense consequence. How often 
is the faithful minister grieved with the conviction, that his 
toils in the study have availed nothing for the good of his 
people, because they have not listened to his instructions in 
the sanctuary. How many hearts remain unaffected by re- 
ligious truth, because its language does not enter the ear ! 

It is one of the pleasant characteristics of the present 
period, that those juvenile books, and memoirs of pious 
children, which were once rarely to be found, may be ob- 

VOL. VI. 18 



22 LETTERS ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

tained in every village. A well-regulated taste for these 
books will be very beneficial ; and much assistance may be 
derived from the use of them, particularly for those who 
have passed the period of childhood. 

As the Sabbath draws towards a close, the father and 
mother should accompany their children to a retired room, 
and, after hearing their recitations, and tenderly counselling 
them, as their characters require, fervently give them up in 
prayer to that God who keepeth covenant and showeth 
mercy, that they may be his children for ever. The half 
hour thus spent will be a hallowed season to devout 
parents ; and, if their own hearts are made tender by the 
holy influence of religious duties, the minds of their children 
will receive a salutary impression. 

You must expect to meet with discouragements, and 
sometimes to witness the entire failure of every endeavor to 
make your children spend the day properly ; but a correct 
example and unwearied diligence, it may be hoped, will at 
length accomplish the end which you seek — their reveren- 
tial observance of the Sabbath. Yours. 



LETTER VII. 



My dear L. — Parents, at the present day, are under 
peculiar obligations to train their children into the benevolent 
spirit of the age. Having steadily endeavored to pursue 
such a course in their education as shall prepare them for 
the service of Christ, we must remember that this is a 
period of the world in which the great Head of the church 
is pleased, in a special manner, to honor his people, by 
making them coworkers with him in the cause of truth and 
righteousness ; and we should earnestly seek for our chil- 
dren the exalted privilege of being thus employed. If our 
supplications to God for them, that they may be ivholly his. 



LETTERS ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 23 

are sincere, tliey will also be unconditional ; and when we 
are permitted to make near approaches to our heavenly 
Father, we should there, in his presence, ask ourselves 
whether we are willing that he should call them to priva- 
tion, suflPering, or death itself, for the advancement of his 
kingdom. Remembering our weakness, let us plead, that 
when he puts our fidelity to the trial, he will not suffer us 
to break our enofaorements. 

Too long have Christians sought worldly ease for them- 
selves and their children. It is a low, an ignoble course, 
for those who profess to love a crucified Saviour, and the 
souls which he died to redeem. We must seek to have our 
children eminently instrumental in alleviating the temporal 
miseries of this wretched world, and of saving immortal 
beings from the wrath to come. What honor so high ! 
What pursuit so ennobling ! What course so safe ! How 
does the contemplation of this glorious work cast into insig- 
nificance the trifling pursuits and ephemeral pleasures of the 
gay worldling ! Let the hearts of our children glow with 
an inextinguishable desire to do good ; let us see them 
treading in the steps of Howard, Martyn, Mills, and Hall, 
and we will ask no more. 

We should early and uniformly endeavor to make them 
sensible of their high obligations to live for the glory of God 
and the good of their fellow-men. We should inculcate the 
duty of habitual self-denial, and endeavor to influence them 
to the practice of it, by the hope of being useful. Our ex- 
ample should convince them, that the great business of our 
lives is to do good, and that we shrink from no sacrifice, or 
exertion, for this purpose. Let their sympathies be early 
awakened for the friendless and homeless, and, when enjoy- 
ing their comfortable meals and soft beds, remind them of 
the poor children who suffer with hunger and nakedness, 
and have not where to lay their heads. Inform them of the 



24 LETTERS ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

miserable situation of those who never heard of the true 
God, and who worship idols of wood and stone. Point out 
to them the sad effects of heathenism, in destroying parent- 
al affection and filial respect and obedience, in bringing upon 
both parents and children the greatest miseries of this life, 
and in sinking them into eternal perdition. They will not 
need to be compelled to reserve a part of their spending 
money, and make other sacrifices, that they may aid in 
sending them Bibles and teachers. The sympathies of 
children are easily excited, and thus the Creator has put 
into our hands the most pleasing facilities for influencing 
them to acts of kindness towards the miserable and unhappy. 
But, without the renewing and sanctifying influences of 
the Holy Spirit, benevolence will not be an inwrought 
principle of the character ; self-denial will not be uniformly 
practised. Every day, then, should witness our increased 
solicitude, our more earnest prayers, that the hearts of our 
children may be now filled with the love of God, so that their 
whole lives may be employed in doing good. Yours. 



LETTER VIII. 

My dear L. — A want of success in the education of 
children may frequently be traced to some one of the follow- 
ing errors : the neglect to establish a habit of subordination ; 
the unsteady and inconsistent exercise of authority ; extreme 
severity ; or the want of union between parents. The same 
evil consequences, though in different proportions, will com- 
monly arise from each ; and if Ave fall into either, we must 
not be surprised to find ourselves involved in perplexit}!-, and 
distressed with apprehensions, Avhen our children attain to 
the period of youth. Our daughters will be vain, deceitful, 
selfish, and disrespectful ; our sons obstinate, self-sufficient, 
and, probably, vicious. It will be too late to retrace the 



LETTERS ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 25 

steps by which this sad result was accomphshed. Rigid 
restraint will confirm an obstinate, and exasperate an irrita- 
ble temper ; and rouse a spirit of rebellion, which will defy 
parental influence and filial obligation. All that we can do 
in such a case is, to watch, with unsleeping vigilance and love, 
every opportunity of imparting instruction, administering 
caution, withdrawing from temptation, exciting to industry, 
winning confidence and affection, and making home attractive. 
Possibly these late efforts may avert the worst evils con- 
sequent upon such errors as have been mentioned ; but 
regenerating grace is the only eff"ectual remedy. The Spirit 
of God can bring their hearts into the obedience of Christ, 
and establish in them the living principle of every virtue. 

But, if a proper course has been pursued in childhood, 
we may hope that parental ascendency will be maintained 
in youth, without the use of coercive measures, or the exer- 
cise of absolute authority. The influence of wise instructions, 
reasonable requisitions, and consistent conduct, accompanied 

by 

A constant flow of love that knows no fall, 

will prepare them for a gradual change of the authority of 
the parent for the influence of a superior friend. Genuine 
religion excepted, parental friendship will more effectually 
guard young people from going astray than all other influ- 
ences combined. The desire of gratifying the wishes and 
receiving the approbation of beloved and revered parents, 
whose happiness is interwoven with his own well-being, 
will be, to a well-educated youth, a powerful restraint from 
vice, and a strong incentive to good conduct. Let, then, 
the interests of your children be identified as closely as 
possible with those of their parents. Seek to possess their 
entire confidence, so that, when they do wrong, they will be 
the first to tell you of it. Encourage them freely to make 
known their feehngs, opinions, pleasures, and sorrows to 

VOL. VI. 18* 



26 LETTERS OX CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

•you. Never let your sons feel that their father will frown 
upon these communications, as too trifling to deserve his 
attention, or that their mother will hear them with indiffer- 
ence. Habitually endeavor to make them happy in your 
society, and to fasten their attachment to home. One of 
the best methods of accomplishing this desirable end is too 
little regarded by parents generally ; namely, the habit of 
conversing with their children upon useful and interesting 
subjects. Knowledge promotes happiness ; and how can it 
be so pleasantly conveyed as by the lips of an intelligent 
affectionate father and mother ? Those parents who feel 
themselves deficient in mental cultivation, would be amply 
repaid for exerting themselves to acquire knowledge, in the 
beneficial effects which the communication of it would have 
upon the characters of their children. 

A frequent cause of failure in education is, that a hahit 
of industry is not seasonably and firmly established. It 
has been justly remarked, that industry is the fountain, 
under God, of all human attainments and enjoyments. 
Without it, the most splendid talents are comparatively 
useless ; and with it, an ordinary mind may rise to high 
attainments and extensive usefulness. Those men who have 
been most distinguished in politics, literature, and science, 
or any branch of knowledge, owe their elevation and useful- 
ness, in a great measure, to the regular distribution and 
diligent improvement of time. Industry is as essential to 
the respectability and happiness of the rich, as of the poor ; 
and idleness is as fatal to the well-being of the heir of a 
million, as to the child of a day-laborer. There is not a 
single immortal, whose wealth can purchase for him the 
right to be prodigal of time. Idleness not only prevents 
the future usefulness and happiness of children, but makes 
them an easy prey to temptation, leads them to kill time in 
evil company, and is the j^rolific parent of the worst vices. 



LETTERS ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 27 

If it is necessary that our sons be removed from home 
for a pubHc education, or for the acquirement of a know- 
ledge of active business, it is obviously important that we 
place them where salutary restraint is exerted, and a steady 
moral influence felt. We should commit them to the in- 
struction or superintendence of those who daily discharge 
every duty in the fear and love of God, and endeavor to 
secure for them the friendship of religious associates. In 
thus placing them beyond our immediate inspection, and 
committing them to the direction of others, care must be 
taken that our influence over them be not lost. They should, 
therefore, be frequently visited by their parents, especially 
by their father ; and both should often address such letters 
to them, as will discover a solicitude for their happiness, 
counsel them against temptation, and remind them of their 
high obligations to God, and to the Saviour, who died that 
sinners might live. 

There may be instances of children, who sustain little 
injury from promiscuous intercourse with vicious compan- 
ions ; but the opinion, that, as they are to live in the world, 
they should early be made familiar with a view of its cor- 
ruptions, is, with rare exceptions, a destructive one in 
practice. Our own resolution is not proof against tempta- 
tion, and nothing is more commonly remarked by us, than 
our need of divine restraints from sin. Shall, then, the pliant 
joung mind be exposed to the influence of evil example ? 
No youth should be left to the exercise of his own discretion 
in the choice of companions, until good habits have become 
fixed, and his mind so deeply impressed with an abhorrence 
of vice, that he will choose to associate only with youth of 
good principles and correct deportment. Especially should 
he be excluded from the society of those who ridicule relig- 
ion and religious people. What evil cannot this one weapon 
accomplish ! How often has it swept away from young 



28 LETTERS ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

minds all reverence for sacred things, and with it the dearest 
parental hopes. 

In conducting the education of our daughters at this 
period, we should be directed by the same general prin- 
ciples which apply to the guidance of our sons. As the 
superintendence of the latter, in youth, is appropriately the 
work of the father, so the care of the former is the peculiar 
duty of the mother. But in well-disciplined and well-in- 
structed families, the power of both parents over the minds 
of sons and daughters will be more perfect at this time, than 
at any preceding period. And what scene upon earth pre- 
sents such moral beauty, as a family in which united parental 
influence, and filial reverence and love, are seen in perfection ? 

The most prominent requisites of the female character 
are amiableness, discretion, intelligence, and piety. These 
include a " family of virtues," and may be considered the 
corner-stones of a fair and Avell- proportioned edifice. A 
truly Christian mother will not be ambitious to see her 
daughters become fine ladies, but good children, good sisters, 
good wives and mothers ; and with your views of human 
responsibility, you will consider it no trifling concern to 
prepare them for the duties of either of these relations, 
especially the last. Remember, then, that the Christian 
character of your children's children, for many generations, 
may depend upon your wisdom and fidelity. 

The endearing confidence of a judicious and pious mother 
is of inestimable value to young females. For the want of 
it, many an amiable girl has solaced herself with the friend- 
ship of those whose influence upon her character has been 
most unhappy. Secure and reciprocate the confidence of 
your daughters, and your power over their minds will be 
greater than that of any other human being. Use this 
power to inspire them with a love for the innocent recrea- 
tions, the useful and rational employments of home. Guard 



LETTERS OX CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 29 

them against every tendency to frivolit}^ self-display, and 
excessive love of dress. These follies are too commonly 
cultivated, rather than repressed, at this age ; and many 
religious mothers seem to consider them as the necessary 
attendants of the early youth of females. Beware of excit- 
ing a thirst for false pleasures. Teach them to depend 
upon their own invention and resources for entertainment. 
Their buoyant spirits will be animated by every pleasant 
object ; and every change of circumstance and season will 
afford enjoyment, and the simplest recreations fill them with 
delight. Many of the amusements which are fashionable 
for little girls, are directly calculated to destroy all relish 
for these innocent, healthful, and appropriate pleasures, and 
should be firmly discountenanced by religious people, as 
being preparatory to extravagant dissipation at a later 
period. It is indeed surprising, that, at the age when we 
should expect the solicitude of religious parents for the 
conversion of their children to become intense, and their 
intercessions for them doubly importunate, they are often 
seen — as if forgetful of the infinite blessings to be won or 
lost — freely surrendering them to the influence of the opin- 
ions and customs of the world, and aiding in their conform- 
ity to it. Does not this fact furnish an answer to the often- 
repeated question, why the children of religious people so 
frequently become mere votaries of pleasure ? It is said of 
Dr. Thomas Scott, who was eminently successful in the 
education of his children, that "The grand secret of his 
success appears to have been this : that he always sought 
for his children, as well as for himself, in the first place, 
' the kingdom of God and his righteousness.' " In his view, 
" this should extend, not only to the instructions directly 
given, and the prayers offered on behalf of his family, but 
to his whole conduct respecting them ; to the spirit and 
behavior habitually exhibited before them ; to the value. 



30 LETTERS ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

■practically and evidently, set upon eternal, in preference to 
temporal things ; and, very particularly, to the disposal of 
them in life ; the places of instruction to which they should 
be sent ; the families which they should visit ; the connec- 
tions which they should form ; and the openings which 
should be embraced or rejected for them." 

That mental cultivation which is the result of a taste 
for reading, is, generally speaking, more necessary to the 
usefulness and respectability of women than of men. Nu- 
merous opportunities for observation are presented to the 
latter, by their intercourse with the world ; and those who 
are publicly educated, are, of course, more conversant with 
books than females are, who, after passing a few years at 
school, are generally, from the very nature of their occu- 
pations, prevented from continuing the systematic cultiva- 
tion of their minds. It is too commonly the case, that 
parents congratulate themselves upon the entire discharge 
of their duty, in reference to the mental improvement of 
their daughters, when they have given them a good school 
education. Important as this is, it is not all that is requi- 
site for the cultivation of the mind. She, who, with cir- 
cumscribed opportunities of attending school, devotes her 
leisure moments, and the hours which can be spared from 
other duties, to the reading of useful books, will acquire 
more information, and possess more practical knowledge, 
than the best taught female who has no taste for solid read- 
ing. 

One of the most intelligent and lovely women that ever 
adorned society, was deprived of going to school, when a 
child, in consequence of the prejudices existing against her 
father's political opinions. This circumstance compelled her 
to depend upon her own efforts, and such occasional instruc- 
tion as could be given her by a mother and sisters, who 
were suffering bitterly under the calamities of war. When 



LETTERS ON CHRISTIAiN EDUCATION. 3X 

relating these facts to a friend, slie said that she was never 
but once so unhappy that she could not be consoled by a 
book; and added, "The Spectator educated me." 

A knowledge of domestic duties is an essential part of 
the education of females. Whether their station requires 
their actual labor or not, they should understand the eco- 
nomical, neat, and regular arrangement of household con- 
cerns. If they ever become wives, the good order and 
peace of their families will greatly depend upon their skilful 
and considerate superintendence. I will not affirm that this 
humble branch of knowledge is generally undervalued ; but 
is there not danger, that an exclusive appropriation of the 
years of early youth to study, may prevent our daughters 
from being sufficiently interested in these employments ever 
to give them due attention ? A lady may be very sensible, 
very accomplished, very elegant, and very religious ; but 
if she is ignorant of her appropriate duties, she hazards the 
happiness and usefulness of herself and of her family. 

Yours. 



LETTER IX. 

My dear L. — After having; bestowed unceasinof atten- 
tion upon the early education of your children, you may be 
in danger of losing the rewards of your solicitude, in conse- 
quence of a desire to have them admired and caressed by 
the world. Even Christians are too prone to forget the 
high purposes for which an immortal should live. The 
specious desire that their children should avoid singularity, 
and mingle ivith the fashionable, in order that they may 
exert a useful influence, is the rock upon which the hopes 
of many a pious parent have been dashed. And we are all 
in danger of being misled by the belief, that oiu^ children 



32 LETTERS ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

have too much correct principle to become ''lovers of 
pleasure." 

The prevalent opinion, that, in withdrawing young peo- 
ple from gay amusements, we deprive them of that to which 
their age entitles them, finds too many advocates among 
professors of religion. There is great justice in the remark 
of a late practical writer,'^ that " young people stand in 
much less need, than is generally supposed, of any amuse- 
ment, properly so called. Their cares are light, their sor- 
rows few, and their occupations rarely very fatiguing to the 
mind." Allowing, however, that amusements are essential 
to the happiness of our children, we are bound to select for 
them such, and only such, as are innocent ; and those can- 
not be so, which drown reflection, corrupt the morals, or 
impair the health. 

If the pleasures of the theatre will bear to be judged by 
this rule, let them be enjoyed. But who w411 say that the 
virtue of young people is not endangered, when they enter 
the place almost beyond all others the nursery of vice in 
every form ; where, even if the temple were pure, the ves- 
tibule is a scene of pollution, through which a youth can 
scarcely pass uncontaminated. No truly modest female can 
witness dramatic exhibitions, as they are commonly con- 
ducted, without blushing. And shall we trust our daugh- 
ters in scenes where they cannot be happy, until they lose 
that delicacy which is their brightest ornament ? And what 
will be the consequence to our sons, of resorting to a place 
where the modesty of their sisters would be offended, or 
endangered ? Is this amusement favorable to the health ? 
Is the body invigorated and the mind relaxed by loss of 
sleep and the agitation of excited feeling ? The strongest 
advocates of the stage hesitate to avow that its exhibitions 

* Rev. J. A. James. 



LETTERS ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 33 

are actually beneficial ; they only affirm that they are capa- 
ble of being made so. 

Let us now inquire into the benefits to be derived from 
the assembly-room. Is its conversation adapted to im- 
prove the mind ? Do its civilities flow from the heart, and 
promote social kindness and valuable friendship ? Are the 
hours chosen for resorting thither more favorable to health 
than those of the theatre ? Is not the style of dress usually 
adopted, such as to excite, rather than allay, that vanity 
which is so inconsistent with the humility and decorum of 
the Gospel ? Does it not compel the wearer to expend 
more money, thought, and time, in preparation, than can 
possibly be justified in a being who is hastening to the grave 
and to the judgment ? Is it not the direct tendency of this 
amusement to drown reflection, to heat the imagination, to 
unfit the soul for holy devotion, and to produce a habit of 
mind totally diverse from the spirit of the Bible ? Christian 
parents often quiet their consciences, while they indulge 
their children in this gay pleasure, by saying, that genteel 
manners can be acquired nowhere but in the dancing-school 
and the assembly-room. Is it indeed so ? For me, I am 
well convinced, that there is more real goodhreeding and 
true politeness out of the ballroom than is found in it. But 
suppose that the assertion were true, we are admonished, 
in God's word, "not to be conformed to this world," and 
that ''the friendship of the world is enmity with God;" 
and upon us rests the momentous responsibility, relying 
upon the aid of divine grace, of training them up for the 
holy employments and society of heaven. But is not the 
style of manners generally acquired there, greatly deficient 
in gentleness, benignity, and delicacy ? It is indeed won- 
derful, that sensible parents, pious or not, can consent to 
exchange these inestimable graces for the forwardness and 
vanity of a fashionable trifler. The mind, which is culti- 

VOL. VI. 19 



34 LETTERS ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

vated by an acquaintance with books and intercourse with 
intelligent and refined society, and the heart that is elevated 
by the influence of religion, can scarcely fail of being ac- 
companied by a propriety and ease of deportment incom- 
parably superior to the ceremonious politeness taught by a 
master. 

An acquaintance with music and drawing, where the 
circumstances of parents admit of their acquisition, will fur- 
nish recreation, useful, independent, and ever at hand ; and 
it is desirable that a native taste for either of these arts 
should be cultivated, as affording innocent enjoyment, and 
producing a happy effect upon the mind. A love of the 
beautiful and sublime scenes in nature is a source of elevated 
pleasure, and may be enjoyed, even from early childhood, 
and in every station. Young people Avho have a taste for 
reading, can scarcely be at a loss for relaxation. An inter- 
esting book will raise a depressed spirit, relieve the mind 
fatigued with business, and pleasantly beguile the hour that 
would otherwise have passed heavily. The endearments 
of home will afford the purest happiness to young people 
who have been judiciously educated. Let, then, the do- 
mestic fireside ever be a scene of rational enjoyment, intel- 
lectual improvement, and an affectionate interchange of 
kind offices between parents and children, brothers and 
sisters. Above all, let a dignified consistency ever be wit- 
nessed between your instructions and your practice. Let 
them never hear you mention the opinion of the world, as 
the ruling motive to any course of conduct. Daily leave 
this testimony in their consciences, that you seek to please 
God. 

Those unhappy parents, whose children have become 
despisers of the sacred obligations of religion, may tell you, 
that early instruction and parental influence are wholly in- 
sufficient to meet the overwhelming force of youthful appe- 



LETTERS ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 35 

tite and surrounding example. Instruction will, indeed, 
present a feeble barrier against this tide, if parents be not 
united in opinion and practice. Union is the soul of paren- 
tal authority, of successful education, arid of domestic happi- 
ness ; and the cases are extremely rare, in which one parent 
has a right to pursue a course, relative to children, to which 
the other is conscientiously opposed. If a mother, secretly 
or openly, countenance her children in amusements, of which 
their father religiously disapproves, she not only violates 
her sacred duty to her husband, but, with her own hands, 
demolishes the foundation of her domestic felicity ; and her 
conduct will produce a reaction upon herself, the tremen- 
dous effects of which can be estimated by those only who 
have seen a mother slighted and despised by the children 
whom she Avickedly indulged. But the child who yields a 
prompt obedience to the wise, firm, and united authority of 
his parents, and who is not abandoned to his own guidance 
by their early relinquishment of the right to control him, 
will, ordinarily, respect their opinions, as he advances in 
years, and allow to their wishes the authority of commands. 
In conclusion, I can only say, during the tender solici- 
tudes and frequent watchings of infancy, when discouraged 
by the waywardness and ever-recurring folly of childhood, 
and when afterwards, in their youth, you find your mind 
assailed by that insidious and powerful temptation, paren- 
tal ambition, strengthen your resolution, renew your cour- 
age, and repress unhallowed wishes, by the oft-repeated 
dedication of yourself and your offspring in fervent prayer 
to God. Daily inquire what you can do to prepare them 
for usefulness here, and for glory, and honor, and eternal 
life hereafter. Cast off a slothful spirit, and rouse yourself 
to untiring diligence, by the consideration of the everlasting 
happiness, or the eternal misery, which await them in a 
future world. 



36 LETTERS ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

After all your exertions for the good of your children, 
should your heart be wrung by seeing them become profli- 
gates, escaping from the sphere of parental influejice, burst- 
ing the ties of parental tenderness and filial love, and spurn- 
ing the remembrance of religious precept, abandon them 
not. Remember all your own ingratitude and alienation 
from God. Consider his patience and long-suffering with 
the rebellious, to which a parallel can never be found among 
finite beings. And follow your wandering children, with 
deep commiseration, and unceasing prayer to Him whose 
mercy endureth for ever, and who beholds and meets the 
returning prodigal. It may be that you will yet witness 
his blessing upon parental faithfulness, in restoring your 
children to the paths of virtue and obedience. 

Yours. 



]¥o. 198. 

SCRIPTUML MOMLITY. 



"Morality" is not a scriptural expression; and, as 
used by the world, it is far indeed from importing what a 
Christian Avould consider to come within its scope. Yet 
the term may not be improperly adopted by the Christian, 
to denote a particular conformity to the demands of the 
law of God, or, in other words, general holiness. 

Whatever benefit man has derived from schemes of hu- 
man philosophy and legislation, infinitely superior is that 
morality which is taught in the Sacred Scriptui-es. This 
we propose to prove, by mentioning some particulars in 
which it is most strikingly distinguished from the morality 
of the world. And while we do so, let the reader pause at 
the close of each, examine his heart and review his past 
conduct; and then let, conscience testify, whether his mo- 
rality has been derived from the maxims of men, or the 
unerring word of God ; whether it be such as merely sub- 
serves some present or temporary purpose, or that which 
will endure the scrutiny of Omniscience, and the ordeal of 
the final judgment. 

1. Scriptural morality regards the heart, and not merely 
the outward conduct. Proofs of this might easily be de- 
rived from the Old Testament. But it is sufficient to refer 
merely to the instructions of our Saviour on this head. He 
teaches, that he who hates his brother is a murderer, as 
well as he who takes his life ; and that he who indulees a 
lascivious look, has already committed adultery in his heart. 
The enactments of human lawgivers have no such extent as 
this. They only pertain to the overt act. The systems of 
moralists, too, reach, generally, only the outward conduct, 
while the Scriptures apply to the motives. In the discharge 
of duty, if the action accord with the literal tenor of the 
precept, the world is satisfied ; but to render it acceptable 

VOL. VI. 19* 



2 SCRIPTURAL MORALITY. 

to God, the act must spring from pure intention. A for- 
mal, outward service, without the heart, God can never 
accept. A constrained submission to prescribed obhgation 
cannot be equally pleasing to him, with that which pro- 
ceeds from real gratitude and love. A man's being honest 
from policy, will not, in his mind, be the same as being up- 
right from principle, or his being temperate from regard to 
health, the same as keeping the appetites in subjection from 
regard to God. In his view, motive is every thing. 

2. Scriptural morality has reference to our duties both to 
God and man. No actions can be acceptable to God but 
those which spring from love to him, and a desire to please 
him ; yet the Bible neither inculcates a devotion uncon- 
nected with benevolence, nor a benevolence that is inde- 
pendent of devotion. How common among men to sepa- 
rate these. Some have professed much love to God, and 
exhibited much interest in exercises of devotion, whose love 
to man has been but little manifested. Others have avowed 
an enlarged spirit of philanthropy, but separate from any 
devout enofao-ement of the aftections towards God. But the 
doctrines, and precepts, and examples of Scripture, instruct 
us uniformly to deduce love to man from the love of our 
Creator and Redeemer. We are taught that '' God so loved 
the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoso- 
ever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlast- 
ing life," and the precept follows, " Beloved, if God so loved 
us, we ought also to love one another," while the life of 
Christ exhibits a perfect example, both of piety to God and 
of the most enlarged and active benevolence towards men. 

3. Scriptural morality is " ?(^/^Ao«^2^ar^/a^e7y." Men of 
the world have always practised a partial morality. They 
are inclined to just so much virtue as is common in their 
age, or thought creditable in their particular circle, or 
adapted to their peculiar profession. Such morality is va- 
rious, local, mutable. It changes with the parallel of lati- 
tude. It is one thing in England, another in Africa, or the 
West Indies. It is one thing in Europe, another in Tarta- 
ry, or Egypt. It alters with the other fashions of the coun- 



SCRIPTURAL MORALITY. 3 

try. It was of one kind in ancient, it is of another in mod- 
ern Rome. It depends on climate, on forms of government, 
on a thousand accidental circumstances. It sometimes va- 
ries when you have climbed a mountain or passed a river. 
In one place, the prevailing morality has been modified by 
the peculiar temperament of some leader of a sect ; in an- 
other, by the policy of some ancient founder of the commu- 
nity. Here, it has received an influence from municipal 
laws, enacted on the spur of some peculiar occasion ; there, 
from institutions imposed by the sword of a successful in- 
vader. In many regions we trace a part of its character to 
moral and philosophical writings ; and in more, to the in- 
fluence of wealth and luxury. Human morality has, there- 
fore, almost endless varieties. It sometimes forbids that 
which should be allowed ; at others, allows that which 
should be forbidden. Ancient and modern sages have dif- 
fered from each other ; and, among them all, there is no 
standard by which their absurdities can be remedied, or 
their contradictions reconciled. 

But the law of God is consistent and clear, and it speaks 
with a paramoimt authority to all. It is made for all ages, 
and countries, and climates ; for all sexes and conditions ; 
and it allows of no exceptions or abatements. Like its x\u- 
thor, it is " without variableness, or shadow of turning." 
Its universal language, addressed to all mankind, is, " Thou 
shalt have no other god before me." " Thou shalt not 
make unto thee any graven image." '' Thou shalt not take 
the name of the Lord thy God in vain." Thou shalt " re- 
member the Sabbath-day." Thou shalt " honor thy father 
and mother." " Thou shalt not kill." '' Thou shalt not 
commit adultery." " Thou shalt not steal." " Thou shalt 
not bear false witness." '' Thou shalt not covet." " Curs- 
ed," declares the inspired word, " is every one that con- 
tinueth not in all thinr/s written in the book of the law to 
do them." " Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet 
offend in one point, he is guilty of all." 

All the precepts of the moral law are of eternal, as well 
as universal obligation. As there was not one rule of mo- 



4 SCRIPTURAL MORALITY. 

l*ality, and one mode of final judgment, appointed for the 
privileged Jew and the unprivileged Gentile, so there is not 
now one plan of procedure ordained for the believer, and 
another for the unbeliever. Christ is alike the Judge of 
all. " Before him shall be gathered all nations," when he 
*' will render to every man according to his deeds : indigna- 
tion and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of 
man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gen-, 
tile ; but glory, honor, and peace to every man that worketh 
good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile ; for there is 
no respect of persons with God." 

4. Scriptural morality is accompanied and characterized 
hy humility. Vanity, pride, ambition, or some other equal- 
ly hateful principle, constitutes the chief support of worldly 
morality. But the Scriptures give no countenance or ap- 
probation to the spurious virtue erected on such false 
foundations. In the Old Testament " proud" and " wick- 
ed" are frequently used as nearly synonymous, and in the 
summary of man's duties there given, he is required not 
only to "do justly and love mercy," but to " walk humbly 
with his God." Frequent are the exhortations, throughout 
the sacred pages, to the acquisition and continual employ- 
ment of this grace. How emphatical the question, " What 
hast thou, that thou hast not received ?" How admirably 
adapted to produce self-abasement is that blessing of our 
Lord pronounced upon the *' poor in spirit." How appro- 
priate his exposition of this duty, when, calling a little child, 
and setting him in the midst of his disciples, he said, " Veri- 
ly, I say unto you, except ye be converted, and become 
as little children, ye shall not enter the kingdom of heaven." 

5. Scriptural morality is insejjarahly connected with faith 
in the doctrines of the Gospel. By the doctrines of the 
Gospel, we mean not merely those acknowledged by all 
who call themselves Christians, but those which strictly 
deserve the epithet of evangelical. This morality is con- 
nected with the doctrine of a life to come, and a future 
judgment. The sacred Scriptures call each individual to 
the habitual exercise of faith in these interesting truths, with 



SCRIPTURAL MORALITY. 5 

a view to their influence on his conduct. He may profess 
to believe them, and neglect them in his intercourse with 
the world. He may dismiss them from his thoughts, at the 
moment when temptation occurs. He may habitually deny 
the practical consequences to which they lead. He may 
act thus inconsistently, and yet claim to be sound in doc- 
trine. But the Scriptures provide against errors of this 
kind, by speaking of true faith as " the substance of things 
hoped for," that is, as giving subsistence and reality to the 
distant objects of Christian expectation ; as " the evidence 
of things not seen," that is, as that evidence, or manifesta- 
tion of them to the mind, which makes them influential, 
like the things Avhich strike our senses. A faith of this de- 
scription becomes a faith in exercise. " By faith Noah, 
being warned of God, prepai'ed an ark to the saving of his 
house." *' By faith Abraham went out, not knowing whith- 
er he went." " By faith Moses chose rather to suffer afflic- 
tion with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of 
sin for a season ; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater 
riches than the treasures of Egypt ; for he had respect unto 
the recompense of reward.'^ By faith men are said to have 
borne " the trial of cruel mockings and scourgings," and to 
have " wrought righteousness." It is with the same prac- 
tical view, that we read in the New Testament of " walk- 
ing by faith," of " living by faith," and of being enabled to 
" stand by faith :" expressions wliich all imply that faith 
is operative, and Christian morality its natural and neces- 
sary fruit. 

And this faith has peculiarly this character, when it is 
viewed as embracing the doctrines of the Gospel, and par- 
ticularly that of justification by faith. This might be shown 
by a reference to many Christian graces. We will only in- 
stance the one already referred to, humility ; and we select 
it on account of its peculiar importance. Is this virtue to 
be acquired merely by exhortations to its acquisition ? No. 
But let a man be well grounded in the leading principles 
of the Gospel. Let him have learned the spiritual charac- 
ter and vast extent of the law of God. Let him under- 



6 SCRIPTURAL MORALITY 

stand that all " sin is the transgression of this law." Let 
him see that he is a sinner, and condemned by it. Let him 
realize that he is without excuse, and justly liable to pun- 
ishment ! and must he not be humble ? Let him further 
be instructed, that " Christ hath redeemed us from the 
curse of the law, being made a curse for us ;" that God 
hath '' set him forth to be a propitiation through faith in 
his blood," " that he might be just, and yet the justifier 
of him that believeth in Jesus;" and will not his heart be 
affected, and still further inclined to humility ? How the 
doctrine of justification by faith beats down the natural 
pride of the human heart by the exclusion of all boasting ; 
and by referring the sinner, for all his hopes of final happi- 
ness, to the mere mercy of God, through the atonement of 
Jesus Christ. 

The invariable tendency of the doctrines of the Gospel 
to produce religious feelings and dispositions, and of these 
feelings and dispositions to result in an exemplary discharge 
of moral duty, might be in many ways illustrated. But we 
will dwell on this point no further than to say, that Chris- 
tian faith without Christian morality, or Christian morality 
without Christian faith, never can subsist. For, 

6. Scriptural morality is the fruit of GocVs Holy Spirit 
upon the heart. '' Now the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, 
peace, long-suflfering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, 
temperance," "Do not err, my beloved brethren; every 
good gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, and cometh 
down from the Father of lights." Human morality may be 
obtained by human strength. Scriptural morality proceeds 
from a higher source. It is an emanation of the Divine 
Spirit. Of course, it never can be associated with that self- 
suflficiency and pride, that high estimate of the dignity of 
human nature, and the unassisted powers of man, which is 
the general attendant of the morality of the world. 

From the considerations that have been suggested, it is 
obvious, that, if the design of God in the communication 
of his will in the sacred Scriptures be carried out into prac- 
tice by those who profess to be believers, they will possess 



SCRIPTURAL MORALITY. 7 

every virtue, and perform every duty, in a far higher de- 
gree than any human system has contemplated, or the 
practical conduct of unbelievers ever exhibited. 

Are some of these fair and honest in their dealings ? 
The Christian must be more than honest; he must be be- 
neficent. Are some of them beneficent ? The Christian 
must be large in his beneficence. Do some of them give 
freely out of their abundance ? The Christian must impart 
freely, though he should have a scanty income. He must 
even '' work with his hands the thing that is good, that he 
may have to give to him that needeth." Do men of the 
world show gratitude to their benefactors ? Do they love 
their friends, and do good to them ? " But I say unto 
you," says Christ, " love your enemies. Do good to them 
that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you, 
and persecute you." Are unbelievers occasionally candid ? 
The Christian must be not merely candid, but forgiving 
also ; knowing that, " if he forgive not men their trespasses, 
neither will his heavenly Father forgive him." Are there 
unbelievers who keep their bodies under some degree of 
subjection, and Avhose conversation is usually decorous ? 
The Christian must not only " let no corrupt communica- 
tion proceed out of his mouth," but also " speak that which 
is good, to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace 
to the hearers." Do some unbelievers support adversity 
with fortitude ? The Christian is required to bear it, not 
with fortitude only, but with pious resignation. He can 
even rejoice in tribulation, under the hope that his " light 
affliction, which is but for a moment, will work out for him 
a far more exceeding and eternal Aveight of glory." Are 
there infidels, sceptics, and worldly men, who refrain from 
the generally prevailing sin of common profane swearing? 
The Christian feels himself required to have such reverence 
for God, as neither lightly to mention his holy name, nor 
trifle with any sacred subject. Are many irreligious men 
unwilling to violate the laws of the land, and disposed to be 
faithful and obedient to the governments under which they 
live ? The Christian is subject to the magistrate, not only 



8 SCRIPTURAL MORALITY. 

for wrath, but for conscience' sake. Agreeably to the pre- 
cept of his divine Master, he renders " to Caesar the things 
that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." 
He is patriotic and piibhc spirited, in the most extensive 
sense. He has been taught, that, on all occasions, we are 
to " look, not every one on his own things, but every one 
also on the things of others." If true to his principles, no 
sinister or ambitious motive will prompt him to aspire after 
the honors of elevated station. He will be satisfied with 
his own allotment, " minding not high things, but conde- 
scending to men of low estate." In short, his plan of life 
will be to give, rather than to receive ; to be useful to 
others, but to want little for himself; to bear injuries, but 
never to inflict them ; to "do good and lend, hoping for 
nothing again;" to do well, knowing that " hereunto he is 
called." 

Such is Scriptural morality. Be constant, reader, in 
the study of that sacred book in which it is taught. It is 
by the hallowed law of God that every moral deed will be 
tried at last. By its prescriptions let your conduct be now 
directed. Fear not to avow the unerring criterion to which 
you wish all your actions to be conformed. " Hold forth 
the word of life," by acting confessedly upon it. Let it be 
manifest, that the " grace of God, which bringeth salva- 
tion," has taught you " to deny ungodliness and worldly 
lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this 
present world." Let the superiority of your walk in life 
evince the superiority of the principles by which it is di- 
rected. Finally, let your sole dependence for success be 
on the grace of your Redeemer, and look for the accept- 
ance of your obedience at the hands of God, only for his 
sake. Then, not the slightest act of self-denial, not the 
lowest deed of justice, not the gift of '' a cup of cold wa- 
ter," not the humblest manifestation, in whatever form, of 
moral rectitude, for the sake of the Lord Jesus, shall lose 
its reward. 



PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY. 



No. 109, 

THE 



VILLAGE PRAYER-MEETING. 



It is the custom of many in our village from time to 
time to meet, that they may edify each other by Christian 
conversation, and mingle their hearts in prayer and praise. 
It has long been usual for the few despised followers of 
Jesus to assemble thus together ; and not unfrequently have 
they experienced their Lord manifesting himself unto them 
as he does not unto the world. One place in our village 
has been so often consecrated to this purpose, that it has 
become peculiarly dear to me. It is a cottage of the most 
humble description, the residence of a poor widow woman. 
It was the good pleasure of Him who doeth all things well, 
to afflict her late husband with a linorerinor and incurable 
illness, and to permit such a degree of poverty — real and 
distressing poverty — to fall to the lot of this poor woman 
and her large family, as few have experienced. I did not 
know them in their most forlorn condition ; but I have 
heard and seen enough to excite compassion almost in a 
heart of stone. Such is the matron whose humble door 
opens every Sabbath evening to a few neighbors, all poor 
in this world's goods, and most of them greatly exercised 
in the school of affliction. 

And is it possible, some may ask, is it possible for any 
one to find it good to be in such a place, and with such 
society ? At least, can it be that a minister, a man of some 
education and acquaintance with higher circles, can find 
it so ? Yes, my astonished inquirer, the thing is certainl}'' 
possible ; at least, it has been so in my own case, and it 
was particularly so, on one occasion, a few Sabbaths since. 
Having ended my public duties, and with them nearly ex- 
hausted both body and mind, I felt utterly unqualified for 
any thing but to sit still and listen to others. Our village 
furnished none of those spiritual evening feasts with which 
many large towns abound. I could not walk into another 
VOL. VI. 20 



2 THE VILLAGE PRAYER-MEETING, 

street, and refresh my soul by attending the preaching of 
a brother laborer in Christ's vineyard : no such privilege 
was within my reach. I therefore directed my steps tow- 
ards the widow's cottage. 

It Avas rather early, and but a few of the little party 
had assembled. To these, I think I may say, my presence 
was welcome ; at least, if the honest and glowing expression 
of the countenance is in any degree an index of the heart, 
theirs said. We are glad to see you here. I took a seat, 
kindly provided for me, saying, that I had come, not to 
speak and instruct, but to rest and refresh myself by hear- 
ing others, if so be they would go on in every respect as 
though I were absent. They soon resumed their friendly 
and Christian conversation. The humble cottao-e stood in 
a low, flat, and swampy place ; and the rugged, broken 
brick floor was in part covered with pieces of old sacks, the 
better to accommodate the knees of those about to bow 
down before the Lord, as also to preserve their clothes 
from the mudlike earth, which, at this wet and wintry 
season, oozed up between the brick joints at every tread. 
A small table was placed before the fire, on which stood 
one lighted taper, a^d three others were in readiness to 
light when the little service commenced. They were not 
bigger in circumference than a common cedar pencil ; the 
four, together with their earthern candlesticks, were cer- 
tainly purchased for less than sixpence. 

From time to time, the uplifted latch and creaking door 
gave notice of an addition to our numbers, and again and 
again it closed with a harsh jar, and the latch fell within 
the head of a projecting nail, as its only receiver and se- 
curity. Two rough and refuse slabs of elm, borrowed from 
a poor but pious carpenter, were laid across the room, and 
received the company as they dropped in. There was a 
seriousness in most of their countenances, which indicated, 
that they came not to trifle, but to worship God. As the 
company increased, the little conversation subsided, and 
for some time all was silent. The wind blew hollow and 



THE VILLAGE PRAYER-MEETING. 3 

stormy down the wide -spreading chimney. The coals were 
stirred, and the shepherd-boy's dog — but newly returned 
with his master from the cold and comfortless work of 
their every day's occupation — stretched himself out, ex- 
ulting in the comforts of an unusual fire. 

A little more time passed, and the candles, or rather the 
tapers, were lighted. The widow, opening the collection 
of psalms and hymns used at church, said, in a low and 
solemn tone, *' Let us endeavor to worship God, by singing 
a hymn." The hues were then given out, and the service 
commenced, in sweet and artless strains. I sat still, but 
my eyes, my ears, my heart, my thoughts, were all oc- 
cupied. I knew that many mourned the absence of such 
little social meetings as ours, while thousands and tens of 
thousands, of all ranks and descriptions of people, were 
then turning their backs on them, and seeking their own 
ways in the paths of sin. Having concluded the hymn, 
the little group fell on their knees, and, by the mouth of 
one of them, offered up thanksgivings, and presented their 
supplications to Him who hears and answers prayer. This 
was done in such a sober, intelligent, and solemn manner, 
as truly surprised me. There was nothing noisy, trifling, 
or light : nothing which savored of self-exhibition. They 
seemed to have God before them, and to address him for 
themselves and for others. The subjects that day 'brought 
forward at church were introduced with much propriety, 
and requests made that the doctrines and their fruits might 
be found in every heart. When they arose from their 
knees, another person gave out a psalm, which was sung, 
and prayer was again made ; and thus a third, a fourth, 
and a fifth addressed the throne of grace, in a short and 
fervent prayer, according to their several abilities, for 
mercy, grace, and peace on themselves, their households, 
their minister, their neighbors, their enemies, and for all 
mankind. Thus they ended the little service for which 
they had assembled together. 

Hitherto I had remained wholly silent; but I could not 



THE VILLAGE PRAYER-MEETLNG. 



see tliem disperse without at least offering up a few words 
to God in their behalf, by way of conclusion. Once more, 
therefore, they bent their knees ; and, out of the abundance 
of a full heart, I besought our common Father to grant the 
requests which had already been offered up ; to bless, direct, 
and guide both minister and people, by his counsel, through 
all the succeeding days and events that lay before us ; and 
finally to receive us to his glory, where prayer is changed 
into praise, and faith into sight. I concluded, with giving 
them my pastoral blessing, when they directed their steps 
to their respective habitations, at peace, I think, with all 
mankind, and, I trust, at peace with God, through the 
blood of sprinkling. Almost half a mile of water and mire 
lay between the widow's cottage and my own abode ; but 
I did not regret my evening's excursion, I recollected the 
promise, " Where two or three are gathered together in 
my name, there am I in the midst of them ;" nor could 
I doubt but it had been fulfilled to the arood of souls that 



£>' 



night. 



Are these the meetings I formerly delighted to disturb ? 
"Father, forgive me, I knew not what I did !" Are these 
the little assemblies at which some grave divines tremble, as 
the growing instruments of destruction to sound religion ? 
Alas, for religion, if such things can endanger its purity ! 
It is, I trust, my heartfelt desire, that every house may 
become a house of prayer, and every tongue an instrument 
of praise. The kingdom of God consists of men of every 
kindred, and nation, and people under heaven, who worship 
God in the Spirit, rejoice in Jesus Christ, and have no 
confidence in the flesh. These are they who compose the 
church of Christ militant here on earth ; and these are 
they who will finally compose his church triumphant in 
heaven ; while the formalists, the self-righteous, and the 
ungodly professors, of every description and name, will be 
cast into outer darkness, where shall be wailing and gnash- 
ing of teeth ! 

PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY. 



No. dOO. 



THE 



RUINOUS CONSEQUENCES 



OF 



GAMBLING. 




I AM a fatlier. I live in a region where Gambling is 
the common and crying sin. I witness its demoralizing and 
ruinous consequences on every side. The village in which 
I write could furnish from its annals a hundred warning 
examples of hopeless misery and ruin — consequences of 
the indulgence of this sin. My heart as a parent, my feel- 
ings as a man, my conscience as professing to be a Chris- 
tian, have prompted me to address a word of warning 
to the community of which I am a member, against this 
sin. There is not another against which I have more 
earnestly prayed God to guard my children. In attempt- 



VOL. VI. 



•20*^ 



2 RUINOUS CONSEaUENCES OF GAMBLING. 

ing to warn them, and my j^oimg readers, and the com- 
munity irugeneral, against it, so many images of desolation 
and ruin crowd upon my mind that I find it difficult to se- 
lect those most calculated to create abhorrence. 

In many parts of our country this vice is little practised 
and less tolerated. Its fatal influences are scarcely felt. It 
is confined to the low and abandoned ; and the places where 
it is known to be practised, are under the ban of public 
opinion. The rumor of its desolations in another region, 
may create no more than the vague feelings of distant and 
uncertain danger with which Ave hear that the pestilence 
rages in another quarter of the globe. But the moral con- 
tagion of gambling is of such a character, that the places 
which are free from it to-day, may be assailed with it to- 
morrow. Every good father and citizen, and especially 
every religious man, ought to be on the watch, striving to 
avert the pestilence, and preserve the spiritual health. 

In other and very extensive regions of our country, it is 
a sweeping epidemic. It pollutes the city, and, associated 
with drunkenness, blasphemy, and murder, stalks abroad 
in the community, shameless and triumphant. High and 
low, rich and poor, suspend their money on the turn of the 
cards. Even females who lead the fashions and give tone 
to public sentiment, are seen alternately blanching with 
terror and flashing with rage, around the gambling-table. 
The serious, and even professors of religion, see it so uni- 
versally practised, or tolerated, that they lose something of 
just abhorrence, and catch something of the contagious in- 
difference. The savages on our borders gamble, like the 
whites ; and when they have lost all, commit suicide. The 
free negroes gamble ; and go on wallowing down the de- 
scending slough of debauchery and crime. The poor slaves, 
when they have accumulated a little by the labors of one 
holiday, when the next returns, sit down to imitate the 
pernicious example of their superiors. In short, in these 



RUINOUS CONSEaUENCES OF GAMBLING. 3 

regions, the mania of gambling is a sweeping pestilence, 
infecting, in its course, the magistrate, the planter, the pro- 
fessional man, and the young aspirant after fame and honor, 
just commencing life ; spreading its contagion around the 
fashionable card-table, making its Avay into the dark cells 
of groceries and taverns, carrying misery and ruin in its 
course, and adding to the sins of blasphemy, drunkenness, 
and cheating, the last sickly finish of despair. No eloquence 
can reach, no pen adequately describe its withering influ- 
ence, in unnerving all honest exertion, in searing all moral 
feeling, and in adding to the squalidness of poverty the 
recklessness of guilt, and the ultimate prospect of temporal 
and eTiernal ruin. Ye, who are yet free from the contagion, 
if ye have not made an immutable covenant with death and 
with hell, " watch and pray, that ye enter not into tempta- 
tion." Virtuous magistrates, you who profess to love your 
country and your kind, good men and good fathers, pro- 
jectors of benevolent designs. Christians and Ministers, 
amidst your hundred plans to cleanse the fountains, to 
avert misery, and bring wanderers home to God, admit a 
place in your thoughts for some powerful, united, efficient, 
and for that end prayerful effort, to arrest the gigantic and 
spreading mischief of gambling. 

In tracing the enormity of this sin, compared with others, 
there is little danger of assigning it too forward a place in 
the black catalogue. The avaricious " love of money," 
when operating even upon honest pursuits, " is the root of 
all evil." But when the unbridled appetite for accumula- 
tion gets scope in the direction of gambling, sharpening it, 
as the gambling-table ordinarily does, by all that can tempt 
the eye or inflame the blood ; then it is that we see avarice 
becoming the most seducing and ruinous passion of human 
nature. Then it is that we sometimes see men and women, 
sustaining the highest rank in society, struggling to suppress 
the visible manifestations on their countenances of what is 



4 RUINOUS CONSEaUENCES OF GAMBLING. 

passing within, and laboring to seem calm when a vulture 
is preying upon their bosoms. Then it is that we sometimes 
hear the impious ejaculation, the loathsome curse, pro- 
ceeding even from the lips of beauty. Who could have 
witnessed such scenes, and not have felt, as we have felt, 
for the degradation of our race ? 

It steals, perhaps more often than any other sin, with an 
imperceptible influence on its victim. Its first pretext is 
inconsiderable, and falsely termed innocent play, with no 
more than the gentle excitement necessary to amusement. 
This plea, once indulged, is but too often " as the letting 
out of Avater." The interest imperceptibly grows. Pride 
of superior skill, opportunity, avarice, and all the over- 
whelming passions of depraved nature, ally themselves with 
the incipient and growing fondness. Dam and dyke are 
swept away. The victim struggles in vain, and is borne 
down by the uncontrolled current. Thousands have given 
scope to the latent guilty avarice, unconscious of the guest 
that they harbored in their bosoms. Thousands have ex- 
ulted over the avails of gambling, without comprehending 
the baseness of using the money of another, won without 
honest industry, obtained without an equivalent; and per- 
haps from the simplicity, rashness, and inexperience of youth. 
Multitudes have commenced gambling, thinking only to win 
a small sum, and prove their superior skill and dexterity, 
and there pause. But it is the teaching of all time, it is 
the experience of human nature, that effectual resistance to 
powerful propensities, if made at all, is usually made before 
the commission of the first sin. My dear reader, let me 
implore you, by the mercies of God and the worth of your 
soul, to contemplate this enormous evil only from a distance. 
Stand firmly against the first temptation, under whatsoever 
specious forms it may assail you. *' Touch not." " Handle 
not." " Enter not into temptation." 

It is the melanclioly and well-known character of this 



RUINOUS CONSEQUENCES OF GAMBLING. 5 

sin, that, wTiere once an appetite for it has gained possession 
of the breast, the common motives, the gentle excitements, 
and the ordinary inducements to business or amusement, are 
no longer felt. It incorporates itself with the whole body 
of thought, and fills Avith its fascination all the desires of 
the heart. Nothing can henceforward arouse the spellbound 
victim to a pleasurable consciousness of existence, but the 
destructive stimulus of gambling. 

To a mind, in fact, not under habitual religious restraint, 
all that is seen in example, and all that is felt in motive, in 
the present order of things, inculcates but too strongly the 
grand maxim of the world, that money iwocures every thing, 
and that money is every thing. No view of life, to young 
minds in general, is so formidable as the prospect of the 
constant struggle and the slow gains of honest acquisition. 
Opposed to this is the seducing view of that shorter path, 
strewed with flowers, which opens from the gambling-table, 
to wealth and pleasure. This shorter track once contem- 
plated, and still more, if once tried, all the tedious and 
laborious processes of honest and necessary callings become 
insupportably forbidding and irksome. As soon as the 
gambler has once thrown himself into the whirlpool of ex- 
citement at the gambling-table, even if his conscience and 
his sense of the nobler objects of existence should, in a 
favored moment, regain the ascendency, he contends in vain 
with the current which bears him down. 

Another appalling view of gambling is, that it is the 
prolific stem, the fruitful parent, of all other vices. Blas- 
phemy, falsehood, cheating, drunkenness, quarrel, and mur- 
der, are all naturally connected with gambling ; and what 
has been said, with so much power and truth, of another 
sin, may, with equal emphasis and truth, be asserted of 
this: "Allow yourself to become a confirmed gambler, 
and, detestable as this practice is, it will soon be only one 
among many gross sins of which you will be guilty." Giv- 



6 RUINOUS CONSEQUENCES OF GAMBLING. 

mg yourself up to the indulgence of another sinful course, 
might prove your ruin ; but then you might perish only 
under the^ guilt of the indulgence of a single gross sin. 
But, should you become a gambler, you will, in all proba- 
bility, descend to destruction with the added infamy of 
having been the slave of all kinds of iniquity, and " led 
captive by Satan at his will." Gambling seizes hold of all 
the passions, allies itself with all the appetites, and compels 
every propensity to pay tribute. The subject, however 
plausible in his external deportment, becomes avaricious, 
greedy, insatiable. Meditations upon the card-table occupy 
all the day and night dreams. . Had he the power, he would 
annihilate all the hours of this our short life, that necessarily 
intervene between the periods of his favorite pursuit. 

Cheating is a sure and inseparable attendant upon a 
continued course of gambling. We well know with what 
horror the canons of the card- table repel this charge. It 
pains us to assert our deep and deliberate conviction of its 
truth. There must be prostration of moral principle, and 
silence of conscience, even to begin with it. Surely a man 
who regards the natural sense of right, laying the obligations 
of Christianity out of the question, cannot sit down with the 
purpose to win the money of another in this way. He must 
be aware, in doing it, that avarice and dishonest thoughts, 
it may be almost unconsciously to himself, mingle with his 
motives. Having once closed his eyes upon the unworthi- 
ness of his motives, and deceived himself, he begins to study 
how he may deceive others. Every moralist has remarked 
upon the delicacy of conscience ; and that, from the first 
violation, it becomes more and more callous, until finally it 
sleeps a sleep as of death, and ceases to remonstrate. The 
gambler is less and less scrupulous 'about the modes of 
winning, so that he can win. No person will be long near 
the gambling-table of high stakes, be the standing of the 
players what it may, without hearing the charge of cheat- 



RUINOUS CONSEaUENCES OF GAMBLING. 7 

ING bandied back and forwards, or reading the indignant 
expression of it in their countenances. Half our fatal duels 
have their immediate or remote orio-in in insinuations of this 
sort. 

The altercations of loss and gain ; the preternatural ex- 
citement of the mind, and consequent depression when that 
excitement has passed away ; the bacchanalian merriment 
of guilty associates ; the loss of natural rest ; in short, the 
very atmosphere of the gambling-table, foster the tempera- 
ment of hard drinking. A keen sense of interest may, in- 
deed, and often does restrain the gambler, while actually 
engaged in his employment, that he may possess the requi- 
site coolness to watch his antagonist, and avail himself of 
every passing advantage. But the moment the high excite- 
ment of play is intermitted — the moment the passions vibrate 
back to the state of repose, what shall sustain the sinking 
spirits ; what shall renerve the relaxed physical nature ; 
what shall fortify the mind against the tortures of con- 
science, and the thoughts of " a judgment to come," but 
intoxication ? It is the experience of all time, that a person 
is seldom a gambler for any considerable period, without 
being also a drunkard. 

Blasphemy follows, as a thing of course ; and is, indeed, 
the well-known and universal dialect of the gambler. How 
often has my heart sunk within me, as I have passed the 
dark and dire receptacles of the gambler, and seen the red 
and bloated faces, and inhaled the mingled smells of tobacco 
and potent drink ; and heard the loud, strange, and horrid 
curses of the players ; realizing the while, that these beings 
so occupied, were candidates for eternity, and now on the 
course which, if not speedily forsaken, would fix them for 
ever in hell. 

We have already said, that gambling naturally leads to 
quarrelling and murder. How often have we retired to our 
berth in the steamboat, and heard charges of dishonesty, 



8 RUINOUS CONSEaUENCES OF GAMBLING. 

accents of reviling and recrimination, and hints that these 
charges must be met and settled at another time and place, 
ringing in our ears, as we have been attempting to commune 
with God and settle in a right frame to repose ! Many 
corses of young men, who met a violent death from this 
cause, have we seen carried to their long home ! Every 
gambler, in the region where we write, is always armed to 
the teeth, and goes to his horrid pursuit as the gladiator 
formerly presented himself on the arena of combat. 

The picture receives deeper shades, if we take into the 
grouping the ivife, or the daughter, or the mother, who lies 
sleepless, and ruminating through the long night, trembling 
lest her midnight retirement shall be invaded by those who 
bring back the husband and the father wounded, or slain, 
in one of those sudden frays which the card-table, its ac- 
companiments, and the passions it excites, so frequently 
generate. Suppose these forebodings should not be real- 
ized, and that he should steal home alive in the morning, 
with beggary and drunkenness, guilt and despair, written 
on his haggard countenance, and accents of sullenness and 
ill-temper falling from his tongue, how insupportably gloomy 
must be the prospects of the future to that family ! 

However harsh and revolting these representations may 
appear, every one who has seen what we have seen, must 
admit their truth to nature. We could not with decorum 
record on this page the numerous proofs which our remem- 
brance could but too easily furnish. 

Such are the present consequences of gambling to the 
individual concerned. We may add, that no vice is so ruin- 
ous to society. In the region where the principal men are 
given up to the absorbing pursuit of gambling, as is lamenta- 
bly the case in many portions of our country, who is to attend 
to the interests of the corporation, of schools, of religion, of 
the charities, of country and home, when the fathers and the 
chief men " tarry long at their wine," and give up all their 



RUINOUS CONSEaUENCES OF GAMBLING. 9 

thoughts to their cards ? What time, or place, can he find 
for aiding the plans of benevolence, or acting on the gener- 
ous principles of public spirit, whose whole mind is given up 
to the perverse arithmetic of calculating the combinations 
and chances of cards and dice ? What can we hope from 
such a mao^istrate and leo-islator ? In what corner of a 
mind so occupied, can originate the generous thoughts, the 
embryo plans of benevolence, that cause us to regard our 
" neighbors as ourselves," and to look to the good of the 
generations to come ? The garden of the gambler, in a 
natural and moral sense, is the "garden of the sluggard." 
The society in which this character predominates, will ne- 
cessarily be a society whose sordid, reckless, and selfish 
calculations are only for the present moment, and wholly 
omit all attention to the public weal. 

These are but feeble and general sketches of the misery 
and ruin to individuals and to society from the indulgence 
of this vice, during the present life. If the wishes of unbe- 
lief were true, and there were no life after this, what perverse 
and miserable calculations would be those of the gambler, 
taking into view only the present Avorld ! But, in any view 
of the character and consequences of gambling, who shall 
dare close his eyes upon its future hearing on the interest 
and the eternal welfare of his soul ? Who shall dare lay 
out of the calculation the retributions of eternity ?- Each of 
the sins that enter into this deadly compound of them all, 
must incur the threatened displeasure and punishment of the 
Almighty. If there be degrees in the misery and despair 
of the tenants of that region, " where the worm dieth not, 
and the fire is not quenched," how must the persevering 
and impenitent gambler sink, as if "a millstone were hung 
about his neck, and he cast into the sea !" Say thou, my 
youthful reader, I implore thee, looking upward to the Lord 
for firm and unalterable purpose, "I will hold fast my in- 
tegrity, and not let it go !" 

VOL. VI. 21 



10 RUINOUS CONSEaUENCES OF GAMBLING. 

No view of the character of our divine and glorious 
Redeemer is more affecting than that which the Gospel so 
frequently gives us of Him, as one who came " to seek and 
save that which was lost." He did not disdain to consort 
even with " publicans and sinners," that he might convince 
them of their sins, and bring them to repentance. He fre- 
quently entered abodes probably of much the same character 
with those where gamblers now resort. Would to God that 
we could use the words of power and persuasion to the ex- 
tent that our heart dictates to us ; which would cause those 
gamblers whom Providence may lead to read this page, to 
contemplate the Lord Jesus himself as personally entering 
among them, and delivering his earnest and affectionate 
remonstrances, instead of these dead letters which they 
read. I beseech you to imagine to yourselves what He 
would say ! With Avhat eyes He would contemplate your 
employment ! How He would listen to the din of blasphemy, 
and the frequent invocations of tlie wrath of God upon your 
souls ! Yes, He would be to you the same forbearing and 
compassionate personage that he was to the publicans and 
sinners with whom he consorted in the days of his sojourn 
in the flesh. What Avords of grace and persuasion would 
fall from his lips ! What solemn and affecting considerations 
would he present to you, to " warn you to flee from the 
Avrath to come !" If he saw such motives lost, and without 
effect upon you, imagine him reversing the scene, and chang- 
ing the mode of his address. Imagine him, as you will 
hereafter see him, in the nakedness of your conscience and 
3^our guilt, when you shall be arraigned at his bar ! I warn 
you, by the mercies of the living God, to forearm yourselves, 
and now to fill your mouth witli those arguments which Avill 
avail you in that dread day. Prepare to answer for the 
misimprovement of your time and talents. Prepare to 
ansAver for defacing all traces of your intellectual and moral 
nature, and turning your back on God and eternity. Or 



RUINOUS CONSEaUENCES OF GAMBLING. H 

rather, answer why God should not, in the depth and 
severity of his righteous judgments, visit at last upon your 
debased and guilty soul the very vengeance which you have 
a thousand times invoked at his hands, when, in your wrath, 
or in your sport, at the gambling-table, you have called upon 
his great and holy name. Full gladly would you, at that 
time, " call upon the rocks and the mountains to fall upon 
you," and shield you for ever from the " face of Him that 
sitteth upon the throne, and from the larath of the Lamhy 

We much fear that these awful considerations, in com- 
parison with which all other motives are but as the small 
dust of the balance, will not touch, as they ought, the 
callous heart, the seared conscience, of the gambler^ He 
will not hesitate to rush, with reckless indifference, '' upon 
the thick bosses of the Almighty's buckler," and meet, 
without dread, all future consequences, if his pursuit can 
but be attended with success in this life. Let us show him 
the nature of the hapinest results that his most sanguine 
hopes can paint for him, in the 2'>^'€sent world. 

We scarcely remember an instance, in which a confirmed 
and persevering gambler did not end his career in poverty. 
But even, if cases could be cited, as no doubt there might 
be, in which gamblers Avere ultimately successful, and trans- 
mitted their ill-gotten gains to posterity, vitiated as moral 
feeling is in the regions where gambling prevails, there is no 
region so depraved, as that the inhabitants would not in- 
dignantly point out these men, as they passed, and sa}'-, 
''There is the man who won his money by gambling !" 

There is another punishment inflicted by public feeling, 
which, to a man who has a heart, is more terrible still. 
Though we have no coat of arms for descent of honorable 
deeds, there is one for those of infamy. The third and 
fourth generation will remember how you acquired your 
wealth, and will bring it up in derision and scorn to your 
posterity : *' Your ancestor won his money by gambling !" 



12 RUINOUS CONSEaUENCES OF GAMBLING. 

To all this, we are well aware, those gamblers of high 
standing, who give the fashion and lead opinion, will reply, 
that we have drawn these revolting outlines too strongly, 
and that gambling, especially as practised in high circles 
and among fashionable society, is a smooth and polished 
thing ; that the parties do not often gamble deep, and never 
except merely for amusement ; and that, frequent these 
societies as often as we may, we shall never see in them any 
violations of the decencies of cultivated society ; that all, 
both the loss and the gain, passes pleasantly and in good 
temper ; and that these loathsome representations only apply 
to the low haunts of common gamblers, and have nothing in 
common with the innocent amusements in which they in- 
dulge. 

To all this we reply, that one soul, in the sight of God 
and good men, is of as much value as another. These 
representations assuredly are faithful, in their application 
to the ten thousand, the great mass of gamblers. 

Even as respects fashionable gambling, it has too often 
been our lot to be required, by circumstances, to be present 
where fashionable gambling was practised. We have seen 
it poorly and thinly veiled under the forms of politeness. 
We have seen it steadily advance from the small stake, put 
down as a counter, to deep play. AVe have seen the 
suppressed emotion, the bitter smile, and have heard the 
half-uttered curse, and the indirect and implied charge of 
dishonesty. We have seen the thing, in short, commence 
in the spirit of apparent kindness and good-will, and for 
mere amusement, and soon end in its own unveiled and 
imdisguised deformity. Show me those who now play 
fashionably and for amusement ; and, in a short time, I 
will show you the same persons transformed into confirmed 
gamblers. 

Away, then, with all palliations of the guilt and enor- 
mity of this sin. Let us dare to look the evil in the face. 



RUINOUS CONSEaUENCES OF GAMBLING. 13 

Let us unmask the fiend, and show him undisguised. Nor 
let us conceal from ourselves the extent of the mischief. In 
our most moral cities and villages, there are dark places, 
well-known haunts of the gambler ; and if we were allowed 
to penetrate them, we should be astonished and appalled at 
the numbers who congregate there. There are other por- 
tions of our country, where gambling, perhaps, is the final 
cause of more temporal and eternal ruin than any other 
vice, if not all the others united ; and slays its ten thousands, 
where other vices slay their thousands. There are societies, 
efficient and powerful, for the suppression of intemperance, 
and the other vices : we know not that, in this great land, 
there is any one for the suppression of gambling. 

Instead of spending our strength in cutting off the 
branches, let us "lay the axe at the root of the tree." 
Let us, if possible, extirpate it from the soil. Let the 
enormity of this evil be sounded in the legislative hall, 
until the legislator shall be ashamed not to have attempted 
something for its suppression. Let the moral essayist por- 
tray its character and its consequences from the press. Let 
the minister of the altar solemnly and steadily paint its na- 
ture and consequences, in the light of eternity. More than 
all, let fathers and mothers watch over their children, and 
guard their young minds from the incipient fondness for 
gambling, as they would save them from temporal and 
eternal ruin. Should we thus unite in our efforts, and look 
to Him, from whom are good purposes, and strength to 
carry them into effect, we may, with the aid of heaven, do 
something at least to banish this crying sin from our land. 

We cannot persuade ourselves to dismiss a subject which 
hes so deeply on our heart, without citing two recent cases 
of the results of gambling. We would be glad, if our limits 
allowed us, to hang up a thousand beacons of this sort in 
the dark and dreary history of gamblers, that they might 
stand recorded as solemn warnings to deter others. 

VOL. VI. 21* 



14 RUINOUS CONSEaUENCES OF GAMBLING. 

I was walking witli a friend in a large southern city, 
where gambling is tolerated by law. In that place are 
numerous gambling establishments, licensed by the police 
authorities ; one of which, as I am credibly informed, ordi- 
narily pays a revenue to the city of about twelve thousand 
dollars ; and the whole annual expense of which establish- 
ment is said to fall not far short of a hundred thousand 
dollars. We passed a splendid brick mansion. My friend 
i^ormed me, that it had been built by the avails of the 
gambling-table. The owner had been in the habit of fre- 
quenting the large gambling establishment for years, and 
had been generally and uncommonly successful. The most 
numerous visitors to these establishments are the boatmen 
and traders from the upper country. Their modes of life 
naturally lead to intemperance, and dissipation of every 
sort. In the intervals of their labor, and while their car- 
goes are for sale, they wander to these resorts, the fore- 
ground of the picture that has always been drawn of the 
avenues that lead to destruction and hell — all fair withoiit, 
but all deformity Avithin ; " and the ways thereof lead down 
to the pit." All the blandishments of pleasure are spread 
before these raw and inexperienced sons of the Avoods. 
Vice conceals her hideous features by paint and tawdry 
splendor, and the glare of torches. Piles of silver, gold, 
and bills, are spread to view, as though the mines had been 
emptied here. They change owners so frequently, that they 
seem to invite the latest comer to possess them. Both losers 
and winners, to the inexperienced eye of these men, so little 
capable of distinguishing, wear the same air of reckless and 
indifferent gayety. They enter, tempt their fate, and some- 
times gain, but more generally lose all. Intoxicated and in 
despair, some perish by disease and want, in houseless neg- 
lect. Others, in the frenzy of despair, commit suicide. I 
have myself seen more than one victim of this kind lying 
dead in the streets of that city. These were the persons. 



RUIKOUS CONSEQUENCES OF GAMBLING. 15 

for the most part, whom the man in question had been 
accustomed to fleece. He had at length become opulent, 
and had built, with the spoils of the gambling-table, " the 
wages of iniquity," the splendid mansion which had ar- 
rested my attention. He already sported, it was said, his 
fine horses and carriage. But, catching something of the 
passion for building which prevailed there at that time, he 
commenced another block, felt the want of money to meet 
his claims, drank wine, became excited, met with a villain 
more adroit than himself, raised his stakes, was unsuccessful, 
and with the characteristic infatuation of gamblers, doubled 
his stakes, in the expectation that the next turn of the cards 
would retrieve all ; until he lost all, and walked moodily to 
this splendid monument of his ill-gotten gains ; and there 
anticipated divine justice, and destroyed himself, and was 
found swinging from the timbers of an upper unfinished 
chamber, a blackened corse ! Happily, he had no wife nor 
child, none to be involved in his ruin, none to mourn or pity 
him. He was buried and forgotten. My dear reader, may 
God keep you from temptation, and grant that such may 
never be your own dark and terrific history ! 

Another affecting case of the consequences of gambling 
is given me by a friend, as having occurred in this vicinity. 
A young man emigrated here from the north, and was 
engfaored as an overseer. His cheek was fresh with the 
healthy blood which had been fanned by the northern 
breeze. He had a fine person, was well educated, and, 
what was better than all, he sustained an unblemished 
moral character. He had been reared in a virtuous family, 
under that religious discipline which was formerly the 
glory of that portion of the country. But he wanted, as 
too many interesting young men, who come among us from 
that region, want, that deep and settled principle, that un- 
yielding purpose, which will make no compromise with 
what is wronor. He married an amiable and distinguished 



X6 RUINOUS CONSEaUENCES OF GAMBLING. 

young lady, wlio brought him an ample fortune. For a 
couple of years, nothing seemed wanting to his prosperity 
and enjoyment. He had the entire affection of his Avife 
and friends, and was growing in the esteem of the country. 
As is too often the case, he gradually imbibed the infection 
of the general example. Every body about him gambled ; 
and he of course had his daily temptations. He at first re- 
garded cards with abhorrence. Some kind of thorn rankles 
in almost every bosom ; and, amid.st all his seeming pros- 
perity, he had his. He was stung with the charge of an 
enemy, that he was a needy adventurer, a fortune-hunter, 
who brought his wife nothing. He sometimes played cards, 
merely as a trial of skill, and was generally triumphant. 
It occurred to him, that success at cards, which seemed so 
much at his command, might redeem him from the reproach 
of having been a needy fortune-hunter. He was gradually 
seduced to the gambling-table ; often, however, stating to 
the narrator his mental upbraidings, and the compunctious 
visitings of his conscience. As is an unvarying circumstance 
in the annals of a gambler, he went deeper and deeper, and 
was for a lono; time successful. He had bargfained for a 
plantation, which he intended as an affectionate present of 
surprise to his wife ; and, in the view of others, to redeem 
him from the stigma of having brought her nothing. I 
need not follow him in his downward course. He had 
nearly realized what would enable him to complete his 
purchase. The fiend, that had tempted him thus far, at 
length deserted him. He doubled stake upon stake, until 
he had lost all his winnings, and all that the affection of his 
wife had enabled him to lose. Her own fortune, much as 
he professed to love her, would have been equally sacrificed, 
but for the stern, and yet just and benevolent providence 
of the laws among us. He even put up, at a certain value, 
the ultimate chance of reversion, in case of her decease be- 
fore him — and lost it. His eyes opened at last ; but he 



RUINOUS CONSEaUENCES OF GAMBLING. 17 

had not the courage to return to her to whom report would 
soon carry the whole transaction. He fled. He was traced 
on shipboard, a self-despising outcast from a happy and 
peaceful home, an affectionate wife, and an infant babe. 
The community which cherished him, in despising him, 
cruelly threw the stigma on the country of his birth. She 
pines still for his return ; and fondly thinks, that the next 
steamboat will bring him back. He probably wanders, if 
he lives, a vagabond on the sea. May we not hope, that 
the influence of an early pious education will be, as an in- 
visible tie about his neck, to bring him, a prodigal, penitent 
and reformed, to his wife, his babe, his country, and his 
God? 



CONFESSIONS OF A FASHIONABLE GAMBLER; COMMUNICATED 
IN A LETTER TO THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY. 

I learned to play cards, says a professional gentleman 
of eminence, when I Avas about sixteen years of age, and 
a member of college ; and soon became so much attached 
to them, that, though I seldom played high, I often went 
without sleep, two, three, and even four nights in a week, 
to indulge my favorite passion, much to the injury of my 
studies and my health. I Avas always very careful to play 
with none but those called gentlemen ; but I soon found 
that my companions were, when at the card -table, not the 
high-minded and honorable men I had supposed them to be. 

One young gentleman, with whom I had been for sev- 
eral years on terms of intimacy, but Avho had been for some 
time familiar with gamblers on the Canada line, I detected, 
at the card-table, attempting to pass counterfeit bills. An- 
other gentleman, who professed to be my best friend, and 
who was old enough to have been my father, after I had 
indulged him for some hours, by playing in the most negli- 



18 RUINOUS CONSEaUENCES OF GAMBLING. 

. gent manner, that he might win back what I had won from 
him, took advantage of my drowsiness towards morning, and 
won from me $200. Such is the friendship of the gambler. 
On another occasion, a member of a card- club in one of our 
large cities, composed solely of young men of the first fam- 
ilies, after I had proposed to give up what I had won from 
him, on account, as I believed, of his intoxication, cheated 
me out of $500, by foul pla}^ In a few years after, he be- 
came an abandoned profligate, and an outcast from societ}^ 
Indeed, it was seldom that I played high but there was 
some sharper present to defraud. On one occasion, I found 
that two of the party were blacklegs in partnership, one of 
them playing, and the other looking over the hands of the 
other players, and by signs informing his partner of the 
state of the hands. Various other modes of defrauding 
were from time to time detected, by which very large sums 
were often won. 

The means adopted by gamblers, even in high life, to 
defraud, are almost endless. Let no one, who indulges in 
card-playing, hope to escape their wiles. Loss of property, 
loss of time, loss of character, loss of health, and loss of 
present happiness, is not all the youth who indulges in 
gambling has to dread. Two of the small party which 
composed the club Avith which I used to play when a youth, 
became intemperate. They were heads of families — were 
the constant source of wretchedness to their wives and 
children, and died sots. 

The gambler becomes uniformly unfeeling, heartless, 
incapable of relishing the beauties of nature and enjoying 
the rational pleasures of life, sensual, and generally intem- 
perate. He sacrifices every thing dear in this world, and 
rejects the offers of eternal life. The entreaties of parents, 
brethren and sisters, of wife and children, have no influence 
on him ; his heart becomes hardened, his mind blinded, and 
he rushes on madly to hell. I was myself acquiring an 



RUINOUS CONSEaUENCES OF GAMBLING. 19 

almost irresistible propensity for strong drink, when tlie 
grace of God, in Jesus Christ, rescued me from thus de- 
stroying myself, inclined me to withdraw utterly from the 
company of gamblers, and, as I hope, humbled me at the 
foot of his cross, and led me to seek my happiness in loving 
and serving him. 



THE FOLLOWING FACT, SAYS A GENTLEMAN OF NEW ORLEANS, 
WHICH RESTS ON THE TESTIMONY OF SEVERAL CREDITABLE 
WITNESSES, DESERVES TO BE RECORDED IN THE ANNALS 
OF THE GAMBLER. 

A few years since a Mr. H , from Kentucky, who 

was accounted a steady and industrious man at home, de- 
scended to New Orleans, having charge of a flat-boat loaded 
with flour, hams, and other productions of the western 
country. Part of the property was his own, and part be- 
longed to his neighbors, who intrusted their share to him 
to sell, and return to them the proceeds. After the usual 
passage down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, he reached 
New Orleans, where he disposed of his cargo, and received 
his checks in return, which were immediately cashed at the 
banks. While walking along Chartres-street, he heard the 
ringing of silver at one of the gaming-houses, and being- 
disposed to "see the world," he went in. He found many 
persons in the room, and a large proportion of them from 
the upper country. These were collected around a table 
on which stood "the wheel of fortune." Many, like him- 
self, came in merely to look on, not mtending to gamble 
themselves. Silver dollars and bank-notes were on the table 
in abundance, and passing rapidly from hand to hand. Some 
were losing, but others were winning ; and especially one 
man, whose hands and Avhose pockets were full to over- 



20 RUINOUS CONSEaUENCES OF GAMBLING. 

• flowing. This was an understood business between him and 
the man at the wheel, and was one of the many contrivances 
by which the managers entrap the imwary. Others, in- 
duced by his apparent good fortune, were tempted to " try 
their luck," as they termed it. Among these was Mr. 

H . At first he put down only small sums, resolving 

that he would not hazard much, and not valuing a few dol- 
lars, if he should lose them. He was successful. He be- 
came interested, and pleased with his good fortune. He 
began to play more freely, and with larger sums. 

This continued for a while with various success. At 
times he won, at others he lost. At length he began to 
lose rapidly ; a large stake he put down was taken from 
him. This was more than he could bear to lose — he must 
recover it. He tried again, and again he lost. Agitated 
and alarmed, he continued to bet till he had lost the whole 
sum received for his boat-load of provisions, except one 
dollar. He broke out into expressions of despair. His wife 
and three children were dependent upon him. He had 
lost not only his own property, but that of his neighbors. 
Frantic, he put down his only remaining dollar with the 
expression, "If this goes, may God Almighty take me too." 
The wheel w^ent round — the ball dropped — the dollar was 

taken — Mr. H fell dead upon the floor. All eff"orts 

'were ineff"ectual to reanimate his lifeless body. The com- 
pany, awed by so manifest a judgment from heaven, gave 
up their game, and retired ; but on the following day, as if 
under the influence of infatuation, it was again resumed ; 
this vortex of ruin for time and eternity was again opened, 
and others, and others still, were hurried on in a " way 
whence there is no return." 



IVo. 301. 



FRIENDLY HINTS 



TO 



THE YOUNG. 




Men are naturally impatient of restraint ; prone to make , 
their own will their laiv, and to pursue the desires of their 
own hearts. And especially is this true of youth, when 
just rising into the vigor of maturity. Having thrown off 
the trammels of childhood — untutored by experience — stran- 
gers to disappointment — impelled by passion — the sport of 
illusion — they urge their liberty to licentiousness, and " seek 
the opportunity to pursue every pleasure — to regale every 
sense — to gratify every inclination." The season of cJioice 
has arrived — there is da?iger lest their choice shall prove 
fatal to their souls. 

Suffer us, then, beloved youth, earnestly and affection- 
ately to beseech you to pause, whilst yet upon the threshold 
of life, and consider the course you are to pursue. There is 
not a parent, a patriot, or a Christian, but regards your 
VOL. VI. 22 



2 FRIENDLY HINTS TO THE YOUNG. 

course and destiny with an intense interest. There is not 
a relation existing in human society but is now, and will 
be hereafter, deeply afiected by the characters which you 
sustain. In most cases the character, both for time and 
eternity, is formed in youth. 

Religion and the ivorld now spread out before you their 
respective claims. God, in his word, sets before your choice 
life and death — a blessing and a cu7'se. The promises of the 
world are fair, and calculated to seduce your unpractised 
hearts ; but they are as false and delusive as they are flat- 
tering and fair. 

Solomon the wise has left his testimony, that the pursuits 
and enjoyments of the present life are vain and uncertain, 
and utterly incapable of affording supreme felicity. He re- 
capitulates the richest possessions and chief delights of earth. 
He sums up his own unrivalled experience upon the subject, 
and pronounces all to be "vanity and vexation of spirit." 
Put the case in its most favorable aspect. " Let a man live 
many days," says he, " and rejoice in them all ; yet, let him 
remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many." 

The result of all the observation, and reasoning, and ex- 
perience of this wisest of men, is given in few words : "Let 
us hear the conclusion of the whole matter : fear God, and 
keep his commandments ; for this is the whole duty of man." 

Having most feelingly described the vanity of earth, he 
is urgent in pressing upon the you7ig the immediate conse- 
cration of themselves to the service of God and true religion ; 
and abundant in describing the peculiar peace and blessed- 
ness of piety, especially of early piety. We are taught by 
the Spirit of inspiration, that " godliness is profitable for all 
things, having the lyroinise f that "wisdom's ways are 
ways of pleasantness, and all her paths peace;" that "the 
way of transgressors is hard ;" that " there is no peace to 
the wicked;" and all this is fully attested by the experience 
of all generations. It is much in favor of the claims of 
religion, that not one solitary pious individual has ever re- 
pented the choice he had made, whatever self-denial, sacri- 
fice, and hardship it may have involved. 



FRIENDLY HINTS TO THE YOUNG. 3 

But who has ever found true happiness in sinful indul- 
gence ? Where is the heart that has ever been satisfied with 
earthly joy? 

The accomplished Col. Gardiner, at the very time when 
his gay companions were congratulating him as " the happy 
rake J' secretly wished himself a dog. 

Sir John Mason, who had been a privy counsellor to 
four successive monarchs, in the evening of life declares, 
" Were I to live again, I w^ould exchange the court for re- 
tirement, and the whole life I have lived in the palace, for 
one hour^s enjoyment of God in my closet. All things else 
forsake me except my God, my duty, and my prayers." 

The learned Selden, shortly before his death, declared, 
that " he had surveyed most of the learning that is amongst 
the sons of men ; that his study w^as filled with books, and 
writings on various subjects ; yet he could not, at that time, 
recollect any passage, out of infinite books and papers, 
whereon he could rest his soul, save out of the sacred Scrip- 
tures f^ and the passage which lay most upon his heart was 
Titus 2 : 11-14: "The grace of God which bringeth sal- 
vation." 

"Father," exclaimed a gay and thoughtless son of rail- 
lery to an aged hermit, who passed him barefoot, " you are 
in a very miserable condition, if there is not another world." 
" True, son," replied the hermit, " but Avhat is thy condition, 
if there is ?" 

Can it be w^ise to make provision for the present life, as 
if it were never to have an end, and for the life to come, as 
if it were never to have a beo-innin^r ? 

It was afFectingly said by Walsingham, prime minister to 
England's boasted queen, when ralhed by those around him, 
upon his habitual seriousness, " Ah ! my friends, while we 
laugh, all things are serious round about us. God is serious, 
who exerciseth such patience towards us. Christ is serious, 
who shed his blood for us. The Holy Ghost is serious, who 
striveth against the obstinacy of our hearts. The saci'ed 
Scriptures bring to our ears the most serious and important 
things in the w^orld. The holy Sacraments represent to us 



4 FRIENDLY HINTS TO THE YOUNG. 

the most serious and awful matters. The whole creation 
is serious in serving God and us. All that are in heaven 
and in hell are serious. How, then, can man, that hath one 
foot in the grave, live in jest and thoughtless levity ?" 

Such, beloved youth, is the testimony of inspiration, 
and of experience, upon subjects in which you are infinitely 
interested. 

"Wherewithal," says the Psalmist, "shall a young man 
cleanse his way ? By taking heed thereto according to thy 
wordr My young reader, is this thy care ? Hast thou 
given away thy heart unto the Lord ? Is thy language, 
"My Father, thou art the guide of my youth?" If so, it 
is well. God has said, "I love them that love me, and 
they that seek me early shall find me." Yes ! it is well. 
Peace, safety, honor, haj)piness await thee. 

But it is to be feared that there are many of a very 
different character, whose hearts, and consciences, and lives 
are not in subjection to the divine authority. 

Dear young friends, lend us, we beseech you, your at- 
tention for a moment, whilst we contemplate some of your 
secret, but cherished inclinations and purposes, in connec- 
tion with the inevitable result of their indulgence. 

You are secretly resolved to lead a life of pleasure and 
enjoyment ; to indulge your own taste ; to do whatever may 
please, amuse, or gratify yourselves ; and to postpone, if not 
until the period of old age and infirmity, at least for the 
present, all sober, earnest, decisive attention to the great 
concerns of yovir souls. And in this way you expect to be 
happy ; and the more happy, tlie more entirely you follow 
the desires of your own hearts, depraved and averse from 
God as those desires are ! 

You may not yet have abandoned every form of pro- 
priety and soberness — become the companions of the infidel 
scoffer, the lascivious, the profane, the shamelessly dissolute 
— or have entirely forsaken the Avay of the messengers of 
Heaven's warnings and of Heaven's mercies. But your 
aim is self-indulgence — to walk according to the sight of 
your eyes and the desii-e of your hearts — to explore freely 



FRIENDLY HINTS TO THE YOUNG. 5 

every source of worldly amusement, and thus to let your 
hearts cheer you, and to rejoice in the days of your youth. 

You are disposed to cast off authority, to shun restraint, 
and to yield to your own inclinations, whether right or 
wrong — to make your own will, and not the commands of 
Jehovah, your law. You choose to waive the control and the 
guidance of religion, and to judge of things merely by their 
present agreeableness to sense and passion. So did the 
mother of all living. " When the woman saw that the tree 
was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eye, she 
took of the fruit thereof, and did eat." 

And in this course of yielding to the impulses of a de- 
praved nature, and the temptations of an ungodly world, 
you are prone to cherish a presu7nptuous security. There 
are, indeed, occasional misgivings. But, when a trouble- 
some conviction interrupts the repose of conscience, or a 
kindly impression of the Divine Spirit, at any time, softens 
the heart, the effort is to dismiss it, as Felix did the mes- 
senger of God : "Go thy way for this time ; when I have a 
convenient season, I will call for thee." 

Such is the course which you are naturally and strongly 
inclined to pursue ; a course which involves the neglect of 
God and of true religion ; a course in which thousands have 
perished before you ; a course in which you can persevere 
only at the price of perdition. And the longer you con- 
tinue in it, the more hazardous and hopeless will be your 
condition. 

" Rejoice, young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart 
clieer thee in the days of thy youth ; and walk in the ways 
of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes ; but Jcnow 
thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judg- 
ment !" Ponder, we beseech you, the inevitable issue of 
an irreligious course — the certain result of substituting your 
own inclinations for the fear and love of God, and induloingf 

' DO 

a presumptuous security. It is the suggestion of the 
'' father of lies," that intimates to the sinner, " Ye shall not 
surely die." 

There is a future, final judgment, in which all mankind 
VOL. vr. 22*^ 



6 FRIExNDLY HINTS TO THE YOUNG. 

shall be called to an account. *' God hath appointed a day, 
in which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that 
Man whom he hath ordained ; whereof he hath given as- 
surance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the 
dead." "We must all appear before the judgment-seat of 
Christ, that we may every one receive according to the deeds 
done in the body, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." 
" The books shall be opened ; and the dead, both small and 
great, shall be judged out of those things which are writ- 
ten in the books, according to their works." *' God shall 
bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing." 
Sometimes, even here, in his providence, he gives an earnest 
of the judgment to come. The sins of youth are often fol- 
lowed by disgrace and wretchedness in after-life ; and con- 
science, in most cases, does, at least occasionally, admonish 
the sinner that a dreadful retribution awaits him. 

Consider, also, that it is God's oivn act to bring men into 
judgment ; God, whose creatures you are, to whom you 
are indebted for your being, and to whom you owe alle- 
giance ; God, who has the most unquestionable right to call 
you to an account ;. God, who seeth in secret, and knows 
all your history ; almighty God, who is able to bring the 
most reluctant sinner into his presence, and to execute his 
righteous sentence to the uttermost. No rocks or moim- 
tains will hear the sinner's wailing, or, falling on him, hide 
him from the face of the Judge. No darkness or shadow 
of death shall be found where the workers of iniquity may 
hide themselves ; and there is no exception in favor of the 
young. " The dead, both small and great, shall stand be- 
fore God." 

"Know ye, that /or all these things,'" for every neglect 
of his service, every violation of duty, every sinful indul- 
gence, "God will bring you into judgment." The great 
God, with whom you have to do, does neither justify nor 
forget these tilings. Job, when suffering under the hand 
of God, confessing his guilt with great sensibility of con- 
science, exclaims, " Thou writest bitter things against me, 
and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth." 



FRIENDLY HINTS TO THE YOUNG. 7 

David supplicates, " Remember not against me the sins 
of my youth, nor my transgressions." And the penitent 
Ephraim bemoans himself, " I was ashamed, yea, even con- 
founded, because I did hear the reproach ofmij youths ! be 
assured, the offences and delinquencies of youth will, sooner 
or later, be the occasion of unfeigned sorrow ; either of 
bitter repentance in this world, or of unavailing, everlasting 
anguish in the world to come. The Lord Jesus Clxiist will 
one day " be revealed from heaven, in flaming fire taking 
vengeance on them that knoAv not God, and obey not the 
Gospel." It is a desperate determination to yield to pres- 
ent indulgence, at the expense of " treasuring up wrath 
against the day of wrath." 

And all this you are required to consider, and to regard, 
as it becomes creatures to whom God has given understand- 
ing and conscience, and the revelation of his will. And to 
choose or refuse that which is presented to you, according 
to the standard which will, at last, decide the character of 
human action — the law of God. 

The interests you have at stake are immense, everlasting, 
infinite ! Your danger, so long as you neglect the Saviour, 
is imminent. The Son of God, touched with compassion 
for your wretchedness, has interposed to save you. The 
present is, to you, an auspicious season. " God is waiting 
to be gracious." The door of mercy is open, and you are 
invited freely to enter. The habits of hardened transgres- 
sion are not yet confirmed. The Holy One has said, " They 
that seek me early, shall find me." He expostulates with 
you, in the language of the prophet to which we have 
already referred, " Wilt thou not from this time cry unto 
me, My Father, thou art the guide of my youth ?" 

Unless you are pardoned through the merits of the 
Saviour's blood, and live under the sanctifying influences 
of his Spirit, there is no safety for you, either as it respects 
time or eternity. Delay not, then, to flee to the only refuge 
provided for the sinner. Beware, heware of putting off 
for future attention the claims of religion, of eternity, of 
God. Religion is the "one thing needful ;^' and "Behold, 



Q FRIENDLY HLMTS TO THE YOUNG. 

now is the accepted time, and now is the day of salvation." 
Before even the days of youth shall have passed, you may 
be hurried to the judgment-seat of Christ, We have seen 
the young in their prime and vigor suddenly cut down, and 
witnessed their amazement of heart and terror of conscience. 
And we have heard their lamentations over opportunities 
neglected, time squandered, follies indulged ! We have 
heard from the lips of dying youth, "Once my soul was 
impressed with a sense of the importance of religion. I 
suffered the impression to be effaced ; I have been a care- 
less, thankless, wretched sinner. pray once more for my 
salvation before I appear at the bar of God." It was a 
moment Avhen worlds Avould have been given for a single 
smile of His countenance, whose service had, throughout 
life, been neglected. And such, reader, may speedily be 
your condition. Neglectful of the only Saviour, a stranger 
to forgiveness, every unholy thought and desire, every idle 
word, every sinful act, is seen, is registered, will be pro- 
duced, must be met, Avhere crime is inseparable from infamy 
and horror ! 

Are you prepared to meet the summons which may come 
both suddenly and unexpectedly ? Resist it, when it comes, 
you cannot. Have you a solitary scriptural warrant to con- 
clude that, in your present condition and character, if called 
to your final account, you shall stand acquitted ? If not, 
will you venture, even till the close of this day, to perse- 
vere in your present course ? 

! " who can dwell with everlasting burnings ?" " For- 
sake the foolish and live, and turn ye into the way of un- 
derstanding." ''Seek the Lord while he may he found ; 
call upon him while he is near'' "■ Wisdom is the principal 
thing ; therefore get wisdom ; and with all thy getting, get 
understanding ; exalt her, and she shall promote thee ; she 
shall bring thee to honor, when thou dost embrace her." 



PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY. 



JVo. SOS. 

IMPORTANCE OF CONSIDERATION. 



BY RT. REV. CHARLES F. M'lLVAINE, D. D. 



Friend, before you throw these pages aside, permit one 
woid with you. You are disposed, perhaps, to treat this 
Tract with indifference. Be so kind to yourself, however, 
as to consider whether it might not be well to read so short 
an address upon the importance of consideration. I an- 
ticipate your reply : " What concern have I with Tracts ? 
I am not a religious man ; nor do I take any interest in 
religious subjects. The Tract has missed its way." No, 
my friend, it has not missed its way ; you are the very one 
^whose condition caused it to be written. 

If I mistake not, you own the necessity of religion to 
the eternal happiness of the soul ; and only wish it to be 
understood, that you at present take no personal interest in 
it. Did it never occur to you, that such a state of mind is 
extremely inconsistent ? Is there any earthly thing, which 
you own to be absolutely necessary, or even very important 
to your comfort, about which you feel so unconcerned ? 
Suppose you were presented with a pamphlet upon the 
danger of losing your sight, and should answer, " I confess 
the necessity of sight to my comfort, but feel no interest in 
its preservation," would not the saneness of your reason be 
questionable ? But how much less astonishing should such 
language seem, than when, after acknowledging the necessity 
of religion to the happiness of your soul for ever, you pro- 
fess entire indifference to its attainment ? What ! allow that 
you are soon to appear at the bar of God, and unless you 
stand there as a Christian, must be sentenced to unquencha- 
ble wrath ; and yet habitually careless w^hether death find 
you a follower of Christ or of the world ? What ! allow 
that you are on a rapid current to the gulf of death, and 
know not but another day may be your last ; and yet feel 
no interest in things of religion ? Were you hastening down 
with the torrent of Niagara, would vou feel no concern ? 



2 IMPORTANCE OF CONSIDERATION. 

Surely there is something in your situation on which you 
have not well reflected. 

Be persuaded to ask, why, if religion be so infinitely 
important, you are not more interested in obtaining it. 
There is one reason by which much may be explained : 
You DO NOT CONSIDER. You consider all other interests 
more than those of your soul. Why is no such strange 
thing seen as your owning the importance of health, or 
property, and yet being conscious of no interest in either ? 
Because you have well considered the value of both. Only 
dwell with half the thought given to the body, upon the 
worth of the soul ; only let the unsearchable riches of Christ 
be half so seriously considered as the perishing riches of the 
world, and no longer will you be able to plead that you feel 
no interest in religion. 

But perhaps you say that you have not left religion en- 
tirely unconsidered. My friend, it has not been supposed 
that the subject has never been in your mind. It may have 
sometimes arrested your attention for hours together, as a, 
matter of speculation and argument; you may have read 
much of the Bible, and even become familiar with the nature 
and grounds of its leading doctrines ; and yet may it still be 
true, that you have not considered religion. Religion con- 
sists in truths not merely to be understood, but to be felt 
and obeyed. It is a practical work of the Holy Ghost in 
the heart. It requires the renunciation of the world, repent- 
ance for sin, faith in the only Saviour, and the entire sub- 
mission of the sinner to the grace and will of God. The 
consideration which it demands is not merely that we may 
understand and prove its doctrines, but feel and realize its 
importance. The consideration which religion requires is 
just like that which health requires — a 'practical considera- 
tion. As, when tempted to the indulgence of something 
injurious to health, we shun the temptation by considering 
our deep concern in the preservation of health ; so should 
one indifferent to relioion endeavor to arouse himself to in- 
stant diligence, by the preciousness of his soul, the hastening 
on of death, the awfulness of eternal retribution, and the 
glory of the crown of life. " What does eternity demand of 
me ? Am I living as if soon to be judged at the bar of 
God ? What am I laying up for the reflections of a dying 
hour ; for the day when the world and all therein shall be 



IMPORTANCE OF CONSIDERATION. 3 

burned up ? Is it not time I had made acquaintance with 
Christ, and gained an interest in his atoning blood ? Is it 
wise to be holding my soul at the mercy of every accident, 
and suspending my escape from hell upon the greatest of all 
uncertainties, for the vanities of such a world as this?" 
These, dying man, are some of the questions which the 
true consideration of religion embraces, Now, be entreated 
to reflect upon the importance of an instant entrance upon 
such a consideration. 

What are you ? A child of the dust ; at the mercy of 
every breath ; uncertain whether you have another hour from 
the ^grave ; certain that your flesh will soon be the spoil of 
worms. But, man ! will your life cease with the breath- 
ing of the body ? Are you not the heir of an immortal 
existence, and of more value than ten thousand worlds ? 
When all the things of time shall have passed away, and 
this whole earth shall have been consumed, and myriads of 
ages shall have followed the winding up of all its doings, 
will you not still be living, the same thinking, acting, con- 
scious being as ever ? Friend, that interminable prospect is 
worth consideration. Reflect. Where will you be — what 
your home and portion, some thousands of ages hence ? 
How solemn the certain truth, that in heaven or hell your 
portion must he ! Will it be yours to awake to " the resur- 
rection of life everlasting," or be summoned to "the resur- 
rection of damnation ?" To say the best of your state, you 
are uncertain. You may repent, and may therefore be saved. 
But you may not. Go on in your wonted carelessness, and 
it is probable you will not repent. But how can you bear 
such uncertainty ? Uncertain whether the despair of the 
lost, or the joy of the ransomed, will await your departure ; 
with strong reason to fear that you will drink the cup of 
endless woe. How can your thoughts be held from such 
forebodings ? Call up all those objects of worldly interest 
which so engross the hearts of men, to stand comparison 
with this question about your eternal state, and how are 
they lost in its awful magnitude ! Say, then, pilgrim to 
eternity, is it wise that things of so much emptiness, to be 
left so soon, crumbling at a touch, should thus engross your 
heart ? Can it be wise to be posting on, certain that, if you 
reach the grave unchanged, the woe of a lost soul will be 
your portion ; entirely uncertain whether another oppor- 



4 IMPORTANCE OF CONSIDERATION. 

tunity, or any disposition, will hereafter be given you, to 
seek the only saving' change ; and yet be feeling no con- 
cern — making no inquiry — using no means of grace ? Say, 
if it would not be wise at once to shake off the world's spell, 
to retire and look within, and converse with your soul about 
eternity, and call up your whole strength to the resolutions 
which such a consideration might lead you to make. 

But reflect upon what the Scriptures say. Of all who 
habitually feel so little sense of religion as you acknoAvledge, 
their language is as solemn as it is plain : That, as they 
" have not the Spirit of Christ, they are none of his," Rom. 
8:9; that they are carnal, and " enmity against God," 
8 : 7 ; that, in their present state, they " cannot please God," 
Rom. 8 : 8, but are " aliens from the commonwealth of Is- 
rael, without hope and without God in the world," Ephes. 
2 : 12 ; being "condemned already, because they have not 
believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." 
John 3:18. The Scriptures, however, assure them, that 
nothing can change their state but a change of heart by 
the Holy Ghost, John 3 : 5, and faith in the blood of Christ, 
Mark 16:16. Before they can become true Christians, they 
must be "new creatures: old things must pass away, and 
all things become new," 2 Cor. 5:17; they must be born 
again, and obtain " holiness, without which no man shall see 
the Lord." Heb. 12 : 14. Before they can possess a Scrip- 
tural hope of eternal life, they must repent, and commit 
their souls by faith to Jesus, Acts 16 : 31, and submit their 
hearts and lives, without reserve, to his grace and will. 
Matt. 11 : 28, 29, 30 ; 16 : 24. These are solemn truths — 
coming to you directly out of the word of God — coming to 
you under the authority, and as it w^ere in the voice of Him 
who will decide the destiny of your soul. It cannot be 
wise to neglect them ; it must be of infinite importance to 
dwell upon them, and consider all the changes in your life, 
and all the resolutions, as to your way hereafter, to which 
they may lead. For, if I understand your case and these 
Scriptures correctly, there is but one promise in all the 
Bible which applies to you, and that is, that if you will 
turn unto the Lord, he will have mercy upon you. 

Havinof now endeavored to show the importance of 
consideration, I would persuade you, friend, to set about 
tliis work ivithout delay. But I anticipate your reflections. 



IMPORTANCE OF CONSIDERATION. 5 

"I see the importance," you perhaps say, ''of attending 
to the subject of religion, and wonder that I have Hved so 
long in so much indifference ; but how can I give it my 
thoughts just noiv — my mind is so much engaged — my 
cares are so pressing?" Thus exactly would Satan have 
you meditate. But should I give you reason to believe 
that a deadly disease is at your vitals, and urge you to 
consider it, would you excuse yourself by the multitude of 
your cares ? Should a messenger arrive, and say, your 
house will soon be consumed unless you protect it, would 
you think of pleading, as an excuse for inaction, the multi- 
tude of your cares ? Why, then, when the disease is not 
of the perishing body, but the immortal soul ; the worst, 
the most malignant, the most destructive of all diseases ; 
banishing its unhappy subject, as a spiritual leper, from 
God; shutting him out "from the covenants of promise;" 
leading directly to "the second death;" and, unless soon 
arrested, becoming eternal — a worm that never dies — a fire 
never quenched — the burning fever of the soul, giving no 
rest for ever ; why, when the destruction which threatens 
is not of houses or merchandise, but of your soul, that out- 
weighs the price of the world ; why, when the fire which 
approaches is the wrath of God, who himself "is a con- 
suming fire," Heb. 12 : 29, why will you plead in excuse 
for neglecting the warning, that you are so much engaged ? 
You would not be too much engaged to consider any new 
scheme of worldly profit, if it were plausibly presented to 
your attention. Can you, then, be too much engaged to 
consider the great scheme of salvation, when its object is 
your redemption from the wrath of God, and its promise is 
"an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not 
away?" 

Consider now ! Because now is the " convenient sea- 
son." I mean not your convenient season. For it never 
was, and never will be, convenient for an unconverted man 
to renounce the world and become a follower of Christ. 
But it is GocVs convenient season, and therefore your best 
season for religion. "iVoz^ is the accepted time; behold, 
now is the day of salvation." If you wait for a season more 
convenient for you, you wait for one less acceptable to God ; 
and as all your ability to turn unto him depends upon his 
Spirit, that Spirit, now quenched, may not hereafter be given. 
VOL. VI. 23 



Q IMPORTANCE OF CONSIDERATION. 

Consider now! Because you are daily becoming more 
and more indisposed and unable to consider. The cares, 
and habits, and prejudices of the world are getting every 
day a deeper and firmer hold upon your thoughts and af- 
fections. Daily is your heart growing harder, your habits 
more inflexible, your feelings more rigid. In a word, re- 
ligion becomes a more difficult and hopeless attainment 
every hour it is delayed. 

Consider now ! Because your sins are rapidly increas- 
ing. Every hour is an hour of additional disobedience and 
rebellion — an additional repetition of ingratitude to God for 
the blessings of his providence, and to J esus for his redeem- 
ing love • an additional expression that you will not have 
God to reign over you, and thus a downright rejection of 
the sovereign right of your heavenly Father to your heart 
and life; a heinous rejection of the blood of Christ, and a 
most dangerous denial of " the Lord that bought you ;" 
aggravating the condemnation already upon you; setting 
you still further from the reach of saving mercy ; grieving 
more deeply the Holy Ghost, and enhancing the danger 
that you will never turn unto the Lord. 

Consider now! Because it is almost time to die. 
Death will soon be here. He may be now at your door. 
If you say to your soul, " Take thine ease," God may say 
to you, "This night thy soul shall be required of thee." 
While you are dreaming of the prospects of the coming- 
year, the archer may already have taken his bow and chosen 
the arrow, and now the fatal shaft may be upon the string, 
only waiting the word, to strike your heart with death. 
Such tremendous uncertainty admonishes you to be always 
ready. 

Consider now ! Because your body is in health ; your 
mind is composed ; your feelings are tranquil. You can 
think, feel, read, inquire, examine, and pray, without weak- 
ness to palsy your thoughts, or fever to distract them, or 
pain to divide them, or the confusion of a sick-room to 
distress, or the view of eternity just at hand to hurry and 
dismay your soul. Should one come to you, while burning 
with fever, racked with pain, and exhausted of strength, 
and urge you to consider some matter of difficult and im- 
portant business, in which an incorrect decision would result 
in the greatest detriment to your property, how would you 



IMPORTANCE OF CONSIDERATION. 7 

cry out at the unseasonableness of the request ; and how 
rash ■would you think it, to decide a question of so much 
consequence, in circumstances so unfavorable to all reflec- 
tion. Take care, then, that you do not leave the business 
of your soul, the incorrect settlement of which must result 
in the loss of your all for ever, to be considered just on the 
shore of Eternity — in the hurry of embarking — under the 
awful countenance of death — in the Aveakness, the fever, 
the lethargy, the pains, the haste, the delirium, and the dis- 
may of dying. " that you were wise, that you under- 
stood this, that you would consider your latter end !" 

My friend, if you will be persuaded to enter upon a 
serious consideration of religion, suffer me to suggest a few 
subjects of consideration. 

You are accustomed to compute the value of things : 
you find it easy to estimate the worth of lands and houses, 
and to settle the price at which you should sell them. 
Compute the worth of your soul — calculate the price at 
which you can aff'ord to sell it. I think I hear you exclaim 
at once, " It needs no calculation. Nothing in all the uni- 
verse could I take in exchange for my soul. It would profit 
me nothing, were I to gain the whole world, and lose my 
soul." True. So said the Lord. But consider whether a 
price, far less than the world, has not already purchased 
your soul. Have you not consented to give up the care of 
its interests for the sake of riches, or pleasure, or some other 
of those paltry considerations for which religion is usually 
neglected ? Has not your attention been thus brought aAvay 
from eternity ? And what was this but a mere bartering 
away of your soul ? The sale was illegal. You may recall 
the transaction. But " lohat thou cloest, do quickly.^' 

There are certain 'portions of Scripture which I would 
suggest for your consideration. You have not repented. 
Jesus said, "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." 
Luke 13:3. You have not been born again. Jesus said, 
" Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom 
of God." John 3 : 3. You are not, in the scriptural sense, 
a believer in Jesus. He said, " He that believeth not, is 
condemned already." John 3:18. You have no holiness. 
The apostle said, ''Without holiness, no man shall see the 
Lord." Heb. 12:14. You are of those who know not God, 
and obey not the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The apostle said 



8 IMPORTAACE OF CONSIDERATION. 

-that a day will come, " when the Lord Jesus shall be re- 
vealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire 
taking vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not 
the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ ; who shall be punish- 
ed with everlasting destruction from the presence of the 
Lord, and from the glory of his power." 2 Thess. 1 : 7, 8, 9. 
" Consider what I say, and the Lord give you understand- 
ing in all things." 

Consider in private ! Not that you should be ashamed 
to have any one see you ; but that it is of great importance 
to shut out the world, and get clear from all fear of inter- 
ruption and observation. It is important that, when con- 
versing with your conscience upon matters of such awful 
moment, you should be alone. Go by yourself. Let none 
be with you but Him who is to call you into judgment. 
Clothe yourself in the vestments of death. Stand beside 
your grave. Walk upon the shore of Eternity. Do all 
under the remembrance that heaven and hell await the 
issue. Be solemn, as in a matter of eternal life and death. 
Be candid, as if it were your last hour. 

Consider tvith the ivord of God in your hand! Let it be 
taken as " the lamp of your feet and the light of your path." 
Hold it up over all your ways, that you may see the dan- 
gers surrounding them ; how they wander from the way 
everlasting ; by what mercy you are continually held up 
from destruction, and how great the necessity of an imme- 
diate turning, lest it become too late to turn. 

Consider with ])rayer ! Begin with earnest supplication, 
that God would give you fully to perceive your dangers, 
sinfulness, and necessities ; and grant you grace to adopt 
and perform whatever resolutions your condition may re- 
quire. 

Friend, is your heart unwilling? Do but consider the 
wretchedness of the condition which such unwillingness ex- 
hibits. How enslaved ; how alarming ! 



PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY. 



IVo. SOS. 

CONVERSATION 



WITH 



A YOUia TRAVELLER. 



BY REV. JOHN MASON, D. D. 

Every one has remarked the mixed, and often ill-assort- 
ed company which meets in a public packet or stage-coach. 
The conversation, with all its variety, is commonly insipid, 
frequently disgusting, and sometimes insufferable. There 
are exceptions. An opportunity now and then occurs of 
spending an hour in a manner not unworthy of rational 
beings ; and the incidents of a stage-coach produce or pro- 
mote salutary impressions, 

A few years ago, one of the stages Avhich ply between 
our two principal cities was filled with a group which could 
never have been drawn together by mutual choice. In the 
company was a young man of social temper, affable manners, 
and considerable information. His accent was barely suffi- 
cient to show that the English was not his native tongue, 
and a very slight peculiarity in the pronunciation of the th 
ascertained him to be a Hollander. He had early entered 
into military life ; had borne both a Dutch and French com- 
mission ; had seen real service, had travelled, was master 
of the English language, and evinced, by his deportment, 
that he was no stranger to the society of gentlemen. He 
had, however, in a very high degree, a fault too common 
among military men, and too absui'd to find an advocate 
among men of sense : he swore profanely and incessantly. 

While the horses were changing, a gentleman who sat 
on the same seat with him took him by the arm, and re- 
quested the favor of his company in a short walk. When 
they were so far retired as not to be overheard, the former 
observed, " Although I have not the honor of your acquaint- 
ance, I perceive, sir, that your habits and feelings are those 
of a gentleman, and that nothing can be more repugnant 
to your wishes than giving unnecessary pain to any of your 
VOL. VI. 2:P* 



2 CONVERSATION WITH 

company." He started, and replied, "■ Most certainly, sir ! 
1 hope I have committed no offence of that sort." 

" You will pardon me," replied the other, " for pointing 
out an instance in which you have not altogether avoided it." 

" Sir," said he, " I shall be much your debtor for so 
friendly an act ; for, upon my honor, I cannot conjecture in 
what I have transgressed." 

"If you, sir," continued the former, "had a very dear 
friend to whom you were under unspeakable obligations, 
should you not be deeply wounded by any disrespect to 
him, or even by hearing his name introduced and used Avith 
a frequency of repetition and a levity of air incompatible 
with the regard due to his character?" 

" Undoubtedly, and I should not permit it ! but I know 
not that I am chargeable with indecorum to any of your 
friends." 

"Sir, my God is my best friend, to whom I am under 
infinite obligations. I think you must recollect that you 
have very frequently, since we commenced our journey, 
taken his name in vain. This has given to me and to 
others of the company excruciating pain." 

"Sir," answered he, with very ingenuous emphasis, 
" I have done wrong, I confess the impropriety. I am 
ashamed of a practice which I am sensible has no excuse ; 
but I have imperceptibly fallen into it, and I really swear 
without being conscious that I do so. I will endeavor to 
abstain from it in future ; and as you are next me in the 
seat, I shall thank you to touch my elbow as often as I 
trespass." This was agreed upon ; the horn sounded, and 
the travellers resumed tlieir places. 

In the space of four or five miles the officer's elbow was 
jogged every few seconds. He always colored, but bowed, 
and received the hint without the least symptom of dis- 
pleasure ; and in a few miles more, so mastered his propen- 
sity to swearing, that not an oath was heard from his lips 
for the rest, Avhich was the greater part of the journey. 

He was evidently more grave ; and having ruminated 
some time, after surveying first one and then another of 
the company, turned to his admonisher, and addressed him 
thus : 

" You are a clergyman, I presume, sir." 

" I am considered as such." He paused : and then, 



A YOUNG TRAVELLER. 3 

with a smile, indicated his disbelief in Divine revelation in 
a way which invited conversation on that subject. 

*' I have never been able to convince myself of the truth 
of revelation." 

''Possibly not. But what is your difficulty?" 

" I dislike the nature of its iwoofs. They are so subtle, 
so distant, so wrapt in mystery, so metaphysical, that I 
get lost, and can arrive at no certain conclusion." 

" I cannot admit the fact to be as you represent it. My 
impressions are altogether different. Nothing seems to me 
more plain and popular ; more level to every common un- 
derstanding ; more remote from all cloudy speculation, or 
teazing subtleties, than some of the principal proofs of Di- 
vine revelation. They are drawn from great and incontes- 
tible facts ; they are accumulating every hour. They have 
grown into such a mass of evidence, that the supposition 
of its falsehood is infinitely more incredible than any one 
mystery in the volumes of revelation, or even than all their 
mysteries put together. Your inquiries, sir, appear to have 
been unhappily directed : but what sort of proof do you 
desire, and what would satisfy you ? 

" Such proofs as accompany physical science. This I 
have always loved ; for I never find it deceive me. I rest 
upon it with entire conviction. There is no mistake, and 
can be no dispute in mathematics. And if a revelation 
comes from God, why have we not such evidence for it as 
mathematical demonstration ?" 

'' Sir, you are too good a philosopher not to know, that 
the nature of evidence must be adapted to the nature of its 
object ; that if you break in upon this adaptation, you will 
have no evidence at all ; seeing that evidence is no more 
interchangeable than objects. If you ask for mathematical 
evidence, you must confine yourself to mathematical disqui- 
sitions. Your subject must be quantity. If you wish to 
pursue a moral investigation, you must quit your mathe- 
matics, and confine yourself to moral evidence. Your sub- 
ject must be the relations ivhich subsist between intelligent 
beings. It would be quite as wise to apply a rule in ethics 
to the calculation of an eclipse, as to call for Euclid when 
we Avant to know our duty, or to submit the question, 
" whether God has spoken," to the test of a problem in the 
conic sections. How would you prove mathematically that 



4 CONVERSATION WITH 

bread nourishes men, and that fevers kill them ? Yet you 
and I both are as firmly convinced of the truth of these 
propositions, as of any mathematical demonstration what- 
ever ; and should I call them in question, my neighbors 
would either pity me as an idiot, or shut me up as a mad- 
man. It is, therefore, a great mistake to suppose that 
there is no satisfactory nor certain evidence but what is 
reducible to mathematics." 

This train of reflection appeared new to him. For, 
however obvious it is, we must remember, that nothing is 
more superficial than freethinking philosophy, and nothing 
more credulous than its unbelief. Dogmatical positions, 
asserted with confidence, set off with small ridicule, and 
favorable to native depravity, have a prodigious eff"ect upon 
the volatile youth, and persuade him that they have en- 
lightened his understanding, when they have only flattered 
his vanity, or corrupted his heart. 

The ofiicer, though staggered, made an effort to main- 
tain his ground, and lamented that the ■' objections to other 
modes of reasoning are numerous and perplexing, while the 
mathematical conclusion puts all scepticism at defiance." 

" Sir," rejoined the clergyman, " objections against a 
thing fairly proved, are of no weight. The proof rests 
upon our knowledge, and the objections upon our igno- 
rance. It is true, that moral demonstrations and relio-ious 
doctrmes may be attacked in a very ingenious and plausible 
manner, because they involve questions on which our igno- 
rance is greater than our knowledge ; but still our know- 
ledge is knowledge ; or, in other words, our certainty is 
certainty. In mathematical reasoning, our knowledge is 
greater than our ignorance. When you have proved that 
the three angles of every triangle are equal to two right 
angles, there is an end of doubt, because there are no ma- 
terials for ignorance to work up into phantoms ; but your 
knowledge is really no more certain than your knowledge 
on any other subject. 

" There is also a deception in this matter. The defect 
complained of is supposed to exist in the nature of the proof ; 
whereas it exists, for the most part, in the mind of the in- 
quirer. It is impossible to tell how far the influence of 
human depravity obscures the hght of human reason." 

At the mention of "depravity," the ofiicer smiled, and 



A YOUNG TJIAVELLER. 5 

seemed inclined to jest ; probably suspecting, as is common 
with men of that class, that his antagonist was going to 
retreat into his creed, and intrench himself behind a tech- 
nical term, instead of an argument. The triumph was 
premature, 

" You do not imagine, sir," said he, continuing his dis- 
course to the officer, " you do not imagine that a man who 
has been long addicted to stealing, feels the force of reason- 
ing against theft as strongly as a man of tried honesty. If 
you hesitate, proceed a step further. You do not imagine 
that an habitual thief feels as much abhorrence of his own 
trade and character, as a man who never committed an act 
of theft in his whole life. And j^ou will not deny that the 
practice of cuii/ crime gradually weakens, and frequently 
destroys, the sense of its turpitude. This is a strong fact, 
which, as a philosopher, you are bound to explain. To me 
it is clear as the day, that his vice has debauched his intel- 
lect ; for it is indisputable, that the considerations which 
once filled him with horror, produce 7iow no more impression 
upon him than they would produce upon a horse. Why ? 
Has the vice changed ? Have the considerations changed ? 
No. The vice is as pernicious, and the considerations are 
as strong, as ever. But his power of perceiving truth is 
diminished, and diminished by his vice ; for had he not 
fallen into it, the considerations would have retained, and, 
should he be saved from it, they would resume their original 
force upon his mind. Permit yourself, for one moment, to 
reflect how hard it is to persuade men of the virtues of 
others against whom they are prejudiced ! You can bring 
no proof of the virtues which the prejudice will not resist 
or evade. Remove the prejudice, and the proof appears 
invincible. Why ? Have the virtues changed ? Has the 
proof been strengthened ? No. But the power of per- 
ceiving truth is increased ; or, which is the same thing, the 
impediment to perceiving it is taken away. If, then, there 
are bad passions among men, and if the object of Divine 
revelation is to control and rectify them, it follows, that a 
man to whom the revelation is proposed, will be blind to 
its evidence in exact proportion to the perverting influence 
of those passions. And were the human mind free from 
corruption, there is no reason whatever to think that a 
moral argument would not be as conclusive as a mathemat- 



Q CONVERSATION WITH 

ical argument is now ; and that the principles of moral and 
relio-ious science would not command an assent as instanta- 
neous and peremptory as that which is commanded by 
mathematical axioms." 

After a short pause, in which no reply was made by the 
officer, and the looks of the company revealed their senti- 
ments, the clergyman proceeded : 

'' But what will you say, sir, should I endeavor to turn 
the tables upon you, by showing that the evidence of your 
physical science is not without its difficulties ; and that ob- 
jections can be urged against mathematical demonstration 
more puzzling and unanswerable than any objections against 
moral evidence?" 

"I shall yield the cause ; but I am sure that the con- 
dition is impossible." 

"Let us try," said the other. 

" I begin with a common case. The Newtonian system 
of the world is so perfectly settled, that no scholar presumes 
to question it. Go, then, to a peasant who never heard of 
Newton, nor Copernicus, nor the solar system, and tell him 
that the earth moves round its axis, and round the sun. He 
will stare at you, to see whether you be not jeering him ; 
and when he sees you are in earnest, he will laugh at you 
for a fool. Ply him, now, with your mathematical and 
astronomical reasoning. He will answer you, that he be- 
lieves his own eyesight more than your learning ; and his 
eyesight tells him the sun moves round the earth. And as 
for the earth's turning round upon her axis, he will say, 
that ' he has often hung a kettle over the kitchen fire at 
night, and when he came back in the morning, it was hang- 
ing there still ; but had the earth turned round, the kettle 
w^ould have been turned over, and the mash spilled over 
the floor.' You are amused with the peasant's simplicity, 
but you cannot convince him. His objection is, in his own 
eyes, insurmountable : he will tell the affair to his neigh- 
bors as a good story ; and they will agree that he fairly 
shut the philosopher's mouth. You may reply, that ' the 
peasant was introduced into the middle of a matured sci- 
ence, and that, not having learned its elements, he was un- 
supplied with the principles of correct judgment.' True ; 
but your solution has overthrown yourself. A Freethinker, 
when he hears some great doctrine of Christianity, lets off 



A YOUNG TRAVELLER. 7 

a small objection, and runs away laughing at the folly, or 
railing at the imposture of all who venture to defend a 
Divine revelation ; he gathers his brother unbelievers, and 
they unite with him in wondering at the weakness or the 
impudence of Christians. He is in the very situation of the 
peasant. He bolts into the heart of a grand religious sys- 
tem ; he has never adverted to its first principles, and then 
he complains that the evidence is bad. But the fault in 
neither case lies in the evidence ; it lies in the ignorance or 
obstinacy of the objector. The peasant's ground is as firm 
as the infidel's. The proof of the Newtonian system is, to 
the former, as distant, subtle, and cloudy, as the proof of 
revelation can be to the latter ; and the objection of the 
one, as good as the objection of the other. If the depravity 
of men had as much interest in persuading them that the 
earth is not globular, and does not move round the sun, 
as it has in persuading them that the Bible is not true, a 
mathematical demonstration would fail of converting them, 
althoup-h the demonstrator were an ano-el of God ! 

" But with respect to the other point, viz., that there are 
objections to mathematical evidence more puzzling and un- 
answerable than can be alleged against moral reasoning, 
take the two following instances : 

" It is mathematically demonstrated that matter is inji- 
nitely divisible ; that is, has an mjinite numher of 2K(rts : a 
line, then, of half an inch long, has an infinite number of 
parts. Who does not see the absurdity of an infinite half- 
inch ? Try the difficulty another way. It requires some 
portion of time to pass any portion of space. Then, as your 
half-inch has an infinite number of parts, it requires an 
infinite number of portions of time for a moving point to 
pass by the infinite number of parts : but an infinite number 
of portions of time, is an eternity ! Consequently, it requires 
an eternity, or something like it, to move half an inchf'' 

"But, sir," interposed the officer, "you do not deny 
the accuracy of the demonstration, that matter is infinitely 
divisible !" " 

" Not in the least, sir ; I perceive no flaw in the chain 
of demonstration, and yet I perceive the result to be infi- 
nitely absurd, 

" Again : It is mathematically demonstrated that a 
straight line, called the asymtote of the hyperbola, may 



8 CONVERSATION WITH A YOUNG TRAVELLER. 

eternally apinoacli the curve of the hyperbola, and yet can 
never meet it. Now, as all demonstrations are built upon 
axioms, an axiom must always be plainer than a demonstra- 
tion ; and to my judgment it is as plain, that if two lines 
continually approach, they shall meet, as that the Avhole is 
greater than its part. Here, therefore, I am fixed. I have 
a demonstration directly in the teeth of an axiom, and am 
equally incapable of denying either side of the contradiction." 

" Sir," exclaimed the officer, clapping his hands to- 
gether, " I own I am beat, completely beat : I have nothing 
more to say." 

A silence of some minutes succeeded ; when the young 
military traveller said to his theological friend, " I have stud- 
ied all religions, and have not been able to satisfy myself." 

"No, sir," answered he, "there is one religion which 
you have not yet studied." 

"Pray, sir," cried the officer, roused and eager, " what 
is that?'' 

" The religion," replied the other, "of Salvation through 
the Redemption of the Son of God : the religion which will 
sweeten your pleasures, and soften your sorrows ; which 
will give peace to your conscience, and joy to your heart ; 
which will bear you up under the pressure of evils here, and 
shed the light of immortality on the gloom of the grave. 
This religion, I believe, sir, you have yet to study." 

The officer put his hands upon his face ; then languidly 
clasping them, let them fall down ; forced a smile, and said, 
with a sigh, " We must all follow what we think best." His 
behavior afterwards was perfectly decorous. Nothing fur- 
ther is known of him. 

Note. — Some time after the interview above narrated, "a 
knock was heard at the door of the Rev. Dr. Mason, at a very 
early hour, and a note, addressed to him, was handed in, accom- 
panied by a handsome heaver hat. The note was from the ' young 
traveller^ and its purport ' to remind Dr. M. of the circumstances 
under which he had once met with him ; to inform him, tliat, in 
consequence of what he had then heard, he had been induced to 
study tfie religion of Jesus ; that his investigation had resulted in 
an entire conviction of the Divine origin of that religion ; and 
that, by the blessing of God, his remarks had been, as he hoped, 
made instrumental to the salvation of his soul.' " 



PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY. 



]\o. 304. 



A SCRIPTUEE HELP. 



ABRIDGED FROM BICKERSTETH. 



I. THE VALUE OF THE BIBLE. 

Suppose a person, compelled to quit a foreign country, 
were invited to return home to receive a large possession 
which his father had promised him. Suppose he Avere en- 
tirely unacquainted with the road he had to go, but knew 
that it was often rugged, difficult, and dangerous ; that 
there were also many false guides to mislead him, and many 
enemies to encounter ; and that thus he would be exposed 
to the loss not only of the promised possession, but of every 
thing he had, and even of life itself ; what would be such 
a person's first inquiries ? "Where can I get a sure direc- 
tion ? Is there any one vrho will defend me from my ene- 
mies ?" With what delight he would hear, " Your father 
has given you a plain, full, and particular direction, and an 
all-sufficient protector." How diligently he would be look- 
ing at this direction as he went along, and how entirely he 
would trust his protector ! 

My friends, this journey is the Christian's life : God is 
his Father ; heaven is his home ; eternal bliss is the prom- 
ised possession ; Christ is the all-sufficient Protector, the 
Captain of our salvation, who has himself gone the road, 
and conquered every enemy, and who now guards and de- 
fends as many as commit themselves to him ; and the Bible, 
Avith the help of the Holy Spirit, affords a sure direction to 
God, to heaven, to everlasting bliss. 
VOL. VI. 2^ 



2 A SCRIPTURE HELP. 

" The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the 
simple." By means of the Bible, God himself condescends 
to "direct your paths." In all important points it is so 
plain, " that he who runs may read," It is also so full 
and particular, that you will find in it something adapted 
to remove your most perplexing doubts, and to guide you 
aright in your greatest difficulties. Its fulness speaks its 
divine Author. 

Some, perhaps, may say, How am I to know that the 
Bible is true ? I will tell you how. Bad men could not 
write a book so plainly condemning all sin. Good men 
would not have deceived mankind by pretending that an 
invention of their own was a divine revelation ; especially, 
when they were likely to get nothing by this deception but 
reproach, imprisonment, torture, and death. Its doctrines 
and precepts are evidently superior to all human wisdom, 
and directly contrary to that corruption of our nature which 
impostors would indulge as the means of gaining their ends. 
It gives you an account of various miracles, which were 
wrouo'ht in the midst of vast multitudes. There are also 
various 2)^'02^hecics in the Bible, such as those respecting the 
fall of Babylon, the dispersion of the Jews, and the appear- 
ance of the Messiah. These, and many others, are well 
known to have been written \ong- before the events to which 
they relate could have taken place ; and their manifest ac- 
complishment is abundantly sufficient to satisfy every sin- 
cere inquirer respecting the truth of the Bible. These 
evidences have convinced wise and good men, in all ages, 
that it is true. And when you have once experienced the 
power of the grace of God in changing your heart by 
means of the Bible, you will then have the strongest evi- 
dence of all. "He that believeth, hath the witness in him- 
self." 

But the Bible is not only true — it contains a revelation 



A SCRIPTURE HELP. 3 

of the will of God. It is expressly declared, that ''all 
Scripture is given by inspiration of God." 2 Tim. 3 : 16. 
** Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy 
Ghost." 2 Pet. 1 : 21. By inspiration is here meant, 
" such an immediate and complete discovery, by the Holy 
Spirit, to the minds of the sacred writers, of those things 
which could not otherwise have been known, and such an 
effectual superintendency as to those matters which they 
might be informed of by other means, as entirely to pre- 
serve them from all error, in every particular which could 
in the least affect any of the doctrines or commandments 
contained in their writino^s." 

As all men have sinned, the Bible is, above every thing, 
valuable, since it is addressed to sinners, and discovers to 
us the person, character, and offices of Christ the Saviour. 
It is this discovery which throws a peculiar splendor on the 
pages of the Bible. It is, therefore, particularly called 
"The word of Christ." When men feel themselves sinners, 
and discover their need of a Saviour, and find in Christ just 
that which they wanted, they see that there is an infinite 
value in every thing which relates to him and his salvation. 

That important question, What must I do to be saved ? 
is likewise here satisfactorily answered. Forgiveness of sins 
through the blood of Christ, reconciliation with God, peace 
of mind, the restoration of the divine image, and a solid 
ground for the hope of eternal life, are clearly set before 
us in the Scriptures, and freely offered to our acceptance, 
through the mediation of a Saviour. Do you feel yourself 
sinful, and do you fear the wrath of God, and mourn under 
the burden of your sins ? In the Bible you will find it de- 
clared, that " God sent his Son to be the propitiation for 
our sins;" that "Jesus Christ came into the world to save 
sinners ;" that " he is the Lamb of God, which taketh away 
the sin of the world ;" and that " the grace of God, which 



A SCRIPTURE HELP. 



bringeth salvation, hath appeared unto all men, teaching us 
that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, Ave should live 
soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world." 
These things were written, that we might believe that Jesus 
is the Christ, the Son of God, and that, believing, we might 
have life through his name. John 20 : 31. 

Finally, the Bible is the only unerring standard of re- 
ligious truth, the source of all religious knowledge. It has 
*' God for its Author, salvation for its end, and truth, with- 
out any mixture of error, for its contents." 



II. THE IMPORTANCE OF HABITUALLY STUDYING 
THE BIBLE. 

The possession of a Bible, if it be rightly used, is one 
of the greatest privileges you can enjoy. But it would 
have been better for you never to have had a Bible, than 
to have one, and neglect to use it, because the Bible is a 
talent intrusted to your charge, for the improvement or 
neglect of which you must give an account : besides, to 
disregard it, as if it were of no value, is a high affront to 
that great God who gave it. Suppose a parent had writ- 
ten a letter to a child at a distance, full of affectionate ad- 
monitions and kind promises, and the child had never opened 
it, or had only read a line now and then ; Avhat an unworthy 
part would such a child act ! Just so are we acting, if Ave 
neglect that book which our heavenly Father has sent us. 
Let all reflect, that, 

1. Tlie study of the Scripture is plainly commanded. 
Tlius Christ says, " Search the Scriptures, for in them ye 
think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify 
of me. Blessed are they that hear the word of God 
and keep it." And again, Paul says, "Let the word of 



A SCRIPTURE HELP. 5 

Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom." Solomon gives 
much the same directions, when he says, *' Cry after know- 
ledge, seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden 
treasure. Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wis- 
dom." Let us not live in the neglect of a plain command. 

2. This study has alwmjs been the livactice of pious men. 
Timothy had known the Scriptures from a child. It appears, 
from the 119th Psalm, that David was continually studying 
the Scriptures ; and he says of the righteous man, " His 
delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he 
meditate day and night." that this were the character 
of all who call themselves Christians ; that they would 
not only read their Bibles, but continually meditate upon 
them ! 

3. This study, in a dependence on the help of the Holy 
Spirit, is necessary to the attainment of that knowledge which 
the Bible imparts. " The Scriptures are a treasure of divine 
knowledge, which can never be exhausted. The most 
learned, acute, and diligent student cannot, in the longest 
life, obtain an entire knowledge of this one volume. The 
more deeply he works the mine, the richer and more abun- 
dant he finds the ore. New light continually beams from 
this source, to direct his conduct, and illustrate the works 
of God and the ways of men." 

4. This study is requisite to the enjoyment of those ad- 
vantages which flow from the religion of the Bible ; namely, 
faith, conversion, sanctification, and hope. Hence, when 
the Bereans " received the word with all readiness of mind, 
they searched the Scriptures daily, and therefore many of 
them believed.''^ David says, " Thy law is perfect, convert- 
ing the soul." Jesus Christ prays for his people : " Sanc- 
tify them through thy truth ; thy word is truth ;" and Paul 
says, " What things were written aforetime, were written 

for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of 
VOL. VI. 24* 



A SCRIPTURE HELP. 

the Scriptures, might have hope^ "Beholding as in a 
ghiss the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same 
image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the 
Lord." Reading the Scriptm-es is one of the great means 
of bringing our souls near to God, and enjoying communion 
with him. " While in prayer, ive speak to God : in the 
Scriptures, God speaks to us^ 

5. This study, therefore, brings real happiness. '' Great 
peace have they that love God's law." The Thessalo- 
nians received the word preached to them ''with joy of the 
Holy Ghost." The word of Christ will often cause your 
hearts, like those of the disciples going to Emmaus, to burn 
within you. As "faith cometh by hearing," you will thus 
not only be persuaded that God's promises will be fulfilled, 
but will see your interest in them, and exult in the hope of 
boundless bliss beyond the grave. 

Do not, however, be discouraged, if these consequences 
do not immediately and palpably appear. Your progress 
may be real, though slow and hardly perceptible. The 
new-born babe daily receives nourishment, yet it does not 
instantly grow up to manhood, but gradually passes through 
the stages of childhood and youth : so it is here. Be not 
disappointed if reading the Bible should sometimes appear 
a task, and your corrupt nature should be ready to call it a 
dry, dull, and tedious study ; still pei'severe in it, remem- 
bering that nothing valuable is gained without self-denial. 
The more constantly you read it, in a right spirit, the more 
comfort and pleasure, profit and happiness, you will find. 

When a man, by much patient study of his Bible, has 
taken his sentiments and principles simply from that source, 
he has the satisfaction of being able to say, " I rest on a 
solid foundation ; I did not take my opinions from this man 
or the other, but from the Bible alone ; I have ' Thus saith 
the Lord,' for the reason of the hope that is in me." Who 



A SCRIPTURE HELP. 7 

can describe the value of this persuasion in the hour of 
temptation and trial ! 

Some may allege, I am satisfied of the truth of all this ; 
but I am poor and unlearned : the Bible, too, is a large 
book, and when I begin to read it, I find many things which 
I cannot understand. Allow me to ask you. Are you not 
every day laboring to provide for yourself and your family ? 
Now, in the beginning of the week, you do not say, " My 
labor is too hard for me, I will sit down and do nothing ;" 
because you know, that, if you did, yourself and your fam- 
ily might starve. But remember, your immortal soul is of 
far more value than your perishing body. Your soul wants 
food, and this food is to be obtained by patient labor in 
reading your Bible. Besides, you did not learn your trade 
at once, nor can you learn the whole truth contained in your 
Bible at once. The Bible is indeed a large book, but it 
consists of many small books ; each of these is complete in 
itself, such as Genesis, the Psalms, and the Prophecies of 
Isaiah. Read one of these smaller books throuo-h before 
you begin another, and by degrees — observing the rules 
hereafter mentioned — the most ignorant may get a consid- 
erable knowledge of the Bible. 

Many are also tempted to say, " / have no time to read 
my Bible ; I have enough to do in my daily occupation, 
without attending to any thing else." Here I must appeal 
to your conscience, whether you do not often needlessly 
give time to things of far less importance. However busy 
you may really be, the study of the Bible will not hinder, 
but help your business, by teaching you to go through it 
with a quiet and diligent spirit. Besides, you can always 
find time for eatino; and drinkingf, and some time for amuse- 
ment ; but is not the food of your soul of infinitely greater 
consequence ? Job said, " I have esteemed the words of 
his mouth more than my necessary food." Remember 



8 A SCRIPTURE HELP. 

again, the Ethiopian was reading the Scripture while trav- 
elling on the road, when he did not understand it ; and you 
know how God rewarded his dihgence by sending Philip to 
explain what he read, and to preach unto him Jesus. But 
are you indeed so busy ? This, then, is the reason why you 
should read the Bible. You are like a man in the midst of 
a battle. This is your armor. Oh, do not throw it away, 
lest you be wounded, and perish for ever. 

Others, again, say, I would read the Bible, but / have 
none, and am too poor to 'procure one. To you it may be 
said, if you really desire to have a Bible, there never were 
so many opportunities as there now are of obtaining one at 
a cheap and easy rate. Should you even be too poor to 
embrace any of these, make your wants known to those who 
can supply you. If you are as much in earnest to obtain 
this food for your never-dying soul, as you are for food for 
your perishing body, you may hope God Avill incline the 
heart of some kind friend to impart this best gift to you. 

Lastly, some who hear this Tract read, may say, I am 
unable to read the Bible. To such I would reply, You 
must make use of the best helps in your power. If you 
are thoroughly persuaded that the knowledge of the Bible 
is not only an important duty, but a great advantage, you 
will make every effort, you will use every opportunity, to 
gain this knowledge. Hence, when persons have become 
really in earnest about religion, they have learned, even in 
old age, to read their Bible ; and happily for many, oppor- 
tunities peculiarly favorable for this end are now aff'orded 
by the institution of Sabbath and other schools. But if you 
cannot learn to read the Bible, your children, neighbors, or 
friends, will surely be glad to read a chapter to you. You 
should also be diligent in attending public worship, where 
you may hear the Bible read. If a kind father had left a 
will, would you ever rest satisfied till you knew what it 



A SCRIPTURE HELP. 9 

contained ? Be then at least as mucli in earnest about your 
eternal welfare, as you are about those temporal concerns 
which most interest vou. 

Yet, after all I have said, I fear many who have a Bible 
will disregard it, and suffer it to lie unopened on the shelf, 
or consider it merely as a task-book for their children. 
What shall I say to you, or hoAv shall I engage you to attend 
to this great duty ? I fear that the true reason why you 
neglect this sacred book is, the love of your sins, and an 
apprehension lest the study of the Bible should either 
oblige you to forsake them, or increase your guilt, if you 
continue in them. *' This is the condemnation, that light is 
come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than 
light, because their deeds Avere evil." John 3 : 19. Your 
disregard of the Bible, unhappy man, will indeed prove an 
evidence of your sin, an aggravation of your guilt, and will 
condemn you for ever. '' Whoso despiseth the word, shall 
be destroyed ; but he that feareth the commandment, shall 
be rewarded." Prov. 13 : 13. "How shall you escape if 
you neglect so great a salvation, spoken by the Lord, and 
confirmed by them that heard him?" Heb. 2:3. If ''the 
love of Christ does not constrain you," let " the terrors 
of the Lord persuade you" continually to read your Bible. 



III. NECESSITY OF DIVINE ASSISTANCE TO ENABLE 
US PROPERLY TO UNDERSTAND THE BIBLE. 

Of all the Avorks of creation, the sun is the most glori- 
ous and splendid, the most enlivening and useful ; it not 
only enlightens the Avorld, but cherishes and gives health 
and strength to all things ; it causes universal joy and 
gladness of heart ; it renews the face of the whole earth, 
*'and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof." 



10 A SCRIPTURE HELP. 

So is the word of God : it is a bright and glorious liglit 
shining in a dark world ; but " the light shineth in darkness, 
and the darkness comprehendeth it not." John 1:5. The 
world lieth in darkness ; men are dead in trespasses and 
sins ; and, while they continue in that state, they can no 
more perceive the real glory of the Bible than a blind man 
can perceive the light of the sun, or a dead man its warmth. 
Hence Ave may learn our need of the help of the Holy Spirit. 
When this is given, " the dead will hear the voice of the 
Son of God, and they that hear will live." Observe, 

1. The express declarations of Scripture. When David 
prays, " Lord, open thou mine eyes, that I may behold 
wondrous things out of thy law," he shows his sense of 
the need of God's help fully to understand divine truth. 
St. Paul also plainly says, " The natural man receiveth not 
the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto 
him ; neither can he know them, because they are spiritu- 
ally discerned." 1 Cor. 2 : 14. 

2. The promises of divine teaching. Our Lord says, 
" When the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into 
all truth." John 16 : 13. And though this promise was, 
in the first place, peculiarly applicable to the Apostles, as 
it respected their divine mission, yet it comprehends the 
more lasting operations of the Holy Spirit. Our Lord says 
of this Spirit, " The Father shall give you another Comforter, 
that he may abide with you for ever." John 14 : 16. And 
again, " They shall be all taught of God." John 6 : 45. 

3. The experience of Christians. How dark was the 
mind of the disciples respecting the prophecies of Christ, 
till he opened their understanding, that they might under- 
stand the Scriptures ! Luke 24 : 45. Lydia was just 
as ignorant and careless as other people, till " the Lord 
opened her heart to attend to the things spoken by Paul." 
Acts 16 : 14. 



A SCRIPTURE HELP. 1 1 

4. The language of devotion. How earnestly David 
prays, " Give me understanding, tliat I may know thy tes- 
timonies : make me to understand the way of thy precepts ; 
so shall I talk of thy wondrous works." How repeatedly 
he says, " Teach me th}^ statutes." The whole of the 119th 
Psalm completely shows how dependent David felt himself 
to be on Divine teaching. 

How infinitely kind and condescending is that God who 
is thus willing to guide and teach his sinful creatures ! 
" Good and upright is the Lord, therefore will he teach 
sinners in the way." And shall we not seek his help? 
Settle it, then, as a firm principle in your mind, that God 
alone can enable you profitably to understand and attend 
to his word, and be earnest in prayer for his help. " If 
ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your chil- 
dren, how much more shall your heavenly Father give his 
Holy Spirit to them that ask him !" " Ask, and ye shall 
receive ; seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and it shall be 
opened unto you." 

" No man can say that Jesus is Lord, but by the Holy 
Ghost." It is his office, not only to sanctify and comfort 
the church, but to " take of the things of Jesus Christ, and 
to show them to us." The apostles themselves did not un- 
derstand the meaning of the Gospel till they were taught 
by the Holy Ghost, Whenever, therefore, you open your 
Bible, never forget to pray that the Holy Ghost may open 
your understanding. 

While the necessity of having the assistance, of this 
Divine Teacher is thus strongly and absolutely insisted 
upon, let it be clearly understood, that the Holy Spirit does 
not guide to any doctrines contrary to the will of God, as 
revealed in his word ; nor can Ave expect his guidance with- 
out prayer, and the use of the other means and helps which 
he has given us for understanding the Scriptures. 



12 A SCRIPTURE HELP. 



IV. PRACTICAL RULES FOR DAILY STUDY. 

The study of the Scriptures being a great and impor- 
tant duty, how shall we perform it to the most advantage ? 
The Bible itself answers this inquiry, and furnishes us with 
the best rules for understanding and being edified by its 
contents. 

The most needful thing is, to gain the assistance of the 
Holy Spirit, which alone can "guide us unto all truth." 
Hence the necessity of that prayer, "Lord, open thou mine 
eyes, that I may see wondrous things out of thy law." 
There is a sacred light in the word, but there is a covering, 
a veil on the eyes of men, so that they cannot behold it 
aright. Now, the removal of this veil is the peculiar work 
of the Holy Spirit. 

With earnest prayer for the teaching of the Spirit, and 
in entire dependence upon his help, there are two things 
chiefly necessary to be attended to, in the study of the 
Bible — one is, to get a right understanding of divine truth. 
For this purpose, a regular plan of study, diligent perse- 
verance in that plan, and using the best human helps we 
can obtain, are things of much importance. It must not, 
-however, be concealed, that great knowledge of the Bible 
may be gained by those who make no progress in the re- 
ligion of the heart. St. Paul supposes a case where a man 
may understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and yet 
not have charity or love, and so be nothing. Another, then, 
and a very important point, is, to malce the truths we Tcnoio, 
the rule hy ivhich our daily conduct is governed. Our Lord 
says, " If any man will do his will, he shall know of the 
doctrine whether it be of God." It is evident, therefore, 
that the gaining; of that reli<j:ious knowleo-e which will make 
us wise unto salvation, very much depends on the disposi- 



A SCRIPTURE HELP. 13 

tions with which we are engaged in this study. "The state 
of the heart has the chief influence in the search after 
truth : humiUty, contrition, simphcity, sanctity — these are 
the handmaids of the understandinjr in the investio-ation of 
rehgion." If the Bible is taken up with a careless, irreve- 
rent spirit, in the same way that we would take up any 
common book, little profit can reasonably be expected. Di- 
vine truth is intended to do far more than furnish our minds 
with right views. It is, through the grace of God, the 
means of sanctifying our hearts, and, when brought home 
to the conscience by the Spirit, and apprehended by faith, 
it never fails to produce this effect. Thus these two points 
of hioiuledge and practice assist and forward each other. 
It is therefore said, *' If ye know these things, happy are 
ye if ye do them." 

I purpose now to give you some practical rules, which 
I am persuaded, if attended to, you will find advantageous 
in helping you rightly to study your Bible. The first six 
relate to the state of mind with which the reader should 
engage in this duty, and the dispositions and Christian 
graces which he will find it advantageous to exercise in the 
performance of it. The next eight relate more immediately 
to the mode of study, and to particulars to be attended to 
in the book itself. 

I. RULES RELATING TO THE STATE OF THE READEr's MIND. 

1. Read the Bible in the spirit of continual prayer : 
prayer before you begin, prayer mixed with your reading, 
■and prayer when you have done ; fervent, earnest, and 
repeated entreaties for the help of the Holy Spirit to en- 
lighten your mind and bring home to your heart all that 
you read. This is one of the most important rules, and is 
indispensably necessary. All the rest will naturally follow, 

if you do but constantly attend to this. Be thoroughly 
VOL. VI. 25 



14 A SCRIPTURE HELP. 

persuaded that you cannot savingly understand the Bible 
without divine teaching. See 1 Cor. 2 : 10-14. This is 
one reason why so many great and learned men utterly 
mistake the true meaning of the Bible. David prayed for 
help in reading the Scriptures, see Psalm 119 : 18 ; and 
if you earnestly pray for the Holy Spirit to guide you into 
all truth, you may depend upon receiving it ; for God has 
promised to give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him ; 
and this Spirit alone can give us an experimental knowledge 
of spiritual things. Farther : turn passages of Scripture 
into prayer — thus, when James says, " Humble yourselves 
in the sight of God,'* pray m- this way, *' God grant that I 
may be humbled for my many and great sins." Look up 
to God, who can alone give you this spirit of prayer. 

2. Mix faith loith all you read. The Gospel is as 
food ; and faith receives, eats, and digests it, and thus it 
becomes nourishing. One who mixes faith with what he 
reads, accepts the mercy offered in God's word, and applies 
it to himself with suitable affections. Remember, the word 
preached by Moses did not profit, not being mixed with 
faith in them that heard it. Heb. 4:2. Let your faith be 
a lively working faith, inducing you not only to believe that 
all you read is true, but earnestly to seek an interest in the 
promises, to escape the threatenings, and to obey the com- 
mands, however difficult they may seem. In reading the 
Bible, you should not only desire, but expect, great spirit- 
ual benefit : you should not only pray for, but depend upon 
the teaching of the Holy Spirit. You may confidently ex- 
pect what God has promised, as far as is needful for your 
salvation. 

3. Read the Bible with great reverence, and with a hum- 
ble and teachable mind. The Thessalonians received the 
Gospel, not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the 
word of God, and they derived benefit accordingly ; for it 



A SCRIPTURE HELP. 15 

did effectually work in them that believed. 1 Thess. 2 : 
13. The Psalmist says, " My heart standeth in awe of thy 
word." Psalm 119: 161. ''The meek will he guide in 
judgment, and the meek will he teach his way." Psalm 
25 : 9. We are to " receive the inorrafted word with meek- 

O 

ness." James 1:21. If you come to your Bible with a 
disposition to cavil and find fault, or with notions of your 
own, formed beforehand, you are not likely to get much 
advantage by reading it ; but if you come sensible of your 
ignorance, with a readiness to receive the impressions of 
divine truth, and with a childlike dependence upon God, 
you shall not come in vain. Remember, Christ says, 
"Whosoever shall not receive the kinofdom of God as a 
little child, he shall not enter therein." Again, a tender 
and broken spirit is an admirable preparative for this study ; 
and therefore it is said, " To this man Avill I look, even to 
him that is of a poor and contrite spirit, and trembleth at 
my word." Isa. QG : 2. "To-day, if ye will hear his voice, 
harden not your hearts, as in the provocation in the day of 
temptation in the wilderness." Heb. 3 : 7, 8. The religion 
of the Scriptures is of a humble, meek, forbearing, and 
heavenly character. 

4. Head the Bihle with patient meditation, and with self- 
application and self- examination. We ought to dwell upon 
the passage we read, and patiently to turn it over in our 
minds, especially if it relates to the doctrine and practice of 
the Gospel, or to the experience of believers. We should 
thus endeavor to enter into its spirit, to find out what prac- 
tical good we can get by it, and to impress it deeply upon 
our consciences ; remembering the apostle's admonition, that 
"we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things 
which w^e have heard, lest at any time we should let them 
slip." Heb. 2:1. You may say, perhaps, that you have 
not time for this ; but remember what David, who had a far 



16 A SCRIPTURE HELP. 

busier life than most of you, saj^s, " how love I thy law ! 
it is my meditation all the day.'" Psalm 119 : 97. ''Mine 
eyes prevent the ?z//7A^watches, that I might meditate in 
thy word." Psalm 119: 148. Thus you might redeem 
time from sleep, or even in your business might be meditat- 
ing upon God's word. Endeavor to enter into the full 
meaning of that expression, " Let the word of Christ dwell 
in you richly in all wisdom." Col. 3 : 16. " We are to be 
MINDFUL of the words spoken before by the holy prophets, 
and of the commandments of the apostles of the Lord." 
2 Pet. 3:2. Again : turn passages of Scripture into ques- 
tions for self-examination. Thus, when Peter says, " Grow 
in grace, and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ," ask your- 
self, " Do I grow in grace, and in this knowledge of Christ ?" 
Your Bible will furnish you with the best hints for going 
through this very important duty. Your progress in this 
mode of study may seem slow, but you will thereby gain 
far more real information and knowledge than by a hasty 
perusal ; and you surely do not read it as a matter of form, 
or merely to be able to say that you have read so much. 
Many persons- have found it useful to choose a verse or 
more out of the chapter they read in the morning, as a sub- 
ject for meditation through the day. 

5. Read the Bible loith s'lnvpUciti/ of mind, desiring to 
he instructed in the truth of God, and ivith a si7igle eye to 
the salvation of your soul ; with that honest and good heart 
which keeps the word of God, and brings forth fruit in 
patience. "As a friend declares his wishes by letter to a 
friend, who ascertains and executes those wishes without 
any labored interpretations ; so, and with just such plain- 
ness, does the Almighty declare his will to us in his word, 
and so did the apostles convey their injunctions to the 
primitive Christians, by Avhich the latter regulated their 
conduct, contented with the simple and obvious meaning, 



A SCRIPTURE HELP. 17 

and unsolicitoiis about the learned and prolix expositions of 
commentators." " The testimony of the Lord is sure, mak- 
ing wise the simple." Psalm 19: 7. "It giveth under- 
standing to the simple." Psalm 119 : 130. We are directed, 
**as new-born babes, to desire the sincere milk of the word, 
that we may grow thereby." Lord Bacon beautifully says, 
" As those wines which flow from the first treading of the 
grape are sweeter and better than those forced out by the 
press, which gives the roughness of the husk and the stone ; 
so are those doctrines best and wholesomest which flow from 
a gentle crush of the Scripture, and are not wrung into con- 
troversies and common-place." 

6. Read the Bible with a heart devoted to God. Have a 
fixed determination to give up every thing the Bible con- 
demns, and to do the whole will of God. Read the Scriptures 
practically. Keep in mind our Lord's direction, and depend 
upon his promise, " If any man will do his will, he shall know 
of the doctrine, whether it be of God." Renounce, then, 
your own will and affections, and devote yourself simply to 
the will and service of your Maker. Determine, in a better 
strength than your own, to " have respect unto all God's 
commandments ;" and this will remove a thousand difficulties 
in understanding and embracing the truth. The great doc- 
trines of the Bible — the guilt and corruption of man, free 
justification by faith, and the need of the Holy Spirit, will 
be readily received by one who has duly attended to this 
rule. " In studying the w^ord of God, digest it under these 
tw^o heads, either as removing obstructions w^hich keep God 
and thee asunder, or as supplying some imiting power to 
bring God and thee together." Augustine says, " In the 
Scriptures, our eyes see with more or less clearness, accord- 
ingly as we die more or less to this present world ; and, on 
the contrary, in proportion as we live to this world, w^e do 
not discern spiritual things." *'I use," says Boyle, "the 
VOL. VI. 25* 



18 A SCRIPTURE HELP. 

Scriptures, not as an arsenal, to be resorted to only for arras 
and Aveapons to defend a party or defeat its enemies, but as 
a matchless temple, where I delight to be, to contemplate 
the beauty, the symmetry, and the magnificence of the 
structure, and increase my awe of the Being there preached 
and adored." 

II. RULES RELATING TO THE MODE OF STUDY. 

7. Read the Bible habitually, and, if practicable, regularly 
at stated periods. Read it according to your opportunities, 
with diligence and perseverance. The Bereans are com- 
mended for searching the Scriptures daily. Acts 17 : 11. 
Let me entreat you, if you can, to make it a rule to read 
some part of it, if it be onl}^ one verse, every day. Most 
of you might read much more ; a portion in the morning 
from the New Testament, and a portion in the evening from 
the Old ; or you may reverse this order. The Bible always 
affords something new, something we had not seen before. 
Self-denial will be required to effect this, and you will have 
many temptations to neglect it ; but persevere, and you will 
be abundantly rewarded. Remember, the welfare of your 
souls is at stake. Much more knowledge and edification 
will be gained by this constant, conscientious, and regular 
method of reading the Bible, than by reading it occasionally, 
in a hasty, uncertain manner, and in detached parts, as your 
fancy suggests at the moment. 

8. Read one book through before you begin another, and 
read the whole Bible through. Thus, if you are reading 
Matthew in the morning, finish that Gospel before you 
begin Mark ; and, if you are reading Genesis in the evening, 
go through with it before you begin Exodus. You will thus 
see the connection between one part and another. Though 
you will properly give those parts most of your time and 
attention, which are most practical, such as the Psalms, 



A SCRIPTURE HELP. 19 

Proverbs, and the New Testament ; yet read tlie whole of 
the Bible : one part throws light upon another ; and you 
will thus obtain an enlarged view of divine truth. There is 
in the Bible ''milk for babes, and strong meat" for those of 
a full and mature age. It is desirable to begin with the 
plainest and easiest books first ; but I know not a better 
plan than regularly reading both Testaments through at the 
same time. They both begin with historical books — then 
follow doctrinal and practical books — and both conclude 
with prophecies, which are evidently the most difficult parts. 
Both Testaments not only throw light upon each other, but 
like two flames, when joined together, their united light 
shines with greater splendor and glory than that of either 
separately. A proper distinction, however, may be made 
in the mode of reading, according to the different ends 
designed by your study. For general reading, the mode 
thus mentioned may be best ; but for devotional reading, 
the following plan has been found profitable : not to read a 
great deal, or the whole Bible in its course, but some select 
parts from its most evangelical books, perhaps ten or twelve 
verses, considering them merely in a devotional and practi- 
cal view — taking such instruction as readily presents itself, 
repeating it to the conscience, and charging the heart relig- 
iously to observe it, and act upon it — looking up for the 
teaching of the Spirit ; and, lastly, praying over the sub- 
stance, with the Bible open before you. You Avill see, 
that I here mean that reading which forms a part of your 
devotions, at your stated times of retirement for secret 
worship. 

9. Compare one part of Scripture with another. We 
are directed to " compare spiritual things with spiritual." 
God, in compassion to our ignorance and want of a teacha- 
ble disposition, gives us precept upon precept, and line upon 
line ; here a little, and there a little. What is obscure in 



20 A SCRIPTURE HELP. 

one place, is made plain and easy in another. Hence, what 
some have complained of as being a repetition, is a great 
advantage to the patient and diligent reader of the Bible. 
Attention to this rule will lead you to see the harmony and 
consistency of Scripture. You will often be equally sur- 
prised and delighted with the fulness of a text, and with 
striking coincidences not before noticed ; you will also find 
this a great help for fixing the Scriptures in your memory. 
10. Have respect to the general plan of revealed truth, 
in interpretmg Scripture. This rule recommends due re- 
gard to the prevailing tendency of Scripture, and guards 
you against interpreting any obscure text, so as to make it 
contradict a plain one. For instance, those texts which 
speak of God as having bodily members, must not be un- 
derstood literally, but as intended, in condescension to our 
weakness, to help our conceptions of those powers and 
perfections which are a part of his spiritual excellencies ; 
for it is elsewhere said, " God is a Spirit." Those texts 
which tell us that, where sin abounded, grace did much 
more abound, and that we are justified freely by the grace 
of God, must not be understood as authorizing sin — which 
would contradict the whole tendency of Scripture — but as 
condemning self- righteousness, magnifying the love of God, 
and showing the way of acceptance with him. And those 
texts which say, " Without holiness no man shall see the 
Lord;" "Fear God, and keep his commandments, for this 
is the whole duty of man ;" are not to be understood as 
authorizing the notion of salvation by works, but as show- 
ing the character and happiness of the converted sinner, 
who is created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Holiness 
is a part of his salvation, and not the procuring cause of it. 
The mirror of divine truth has, as it were, different sides. 
One side is needful for one character, and another for an- 
other. Is a man turning the grace of God into lascivious- 



A SCRIPTURE HELP. 21 

ness ? To him the doctrine of the absolute need of sancti- 
fication by the Spirit of God must be exhibited. Is another 
man trusting in himself that he is righteous ? To him the 
doctrine of free justification by Christ alone, without the 
deeds of the law, must be held up ; and he must be warned 
that Christ shall profit him nothing while he seeks to be 
justified by the law. We must not fancy, because one text, 
at first sight, appears to contradict another, that therefore 
it does so. " Let us not so much as suppose that the 
Scripture can differ from itself, but humbly wait upon God 
till we can better reconcile one text with another : we shall 
find that, in so doing. Gospel truths will open themselves 
to our mind more and more, and we shall come, by degrees, 
to that unity of faith and know^ledge spoken of." Eph, 4:13. 
11. Use such human helps as God has placed within 
your reach, when you meet with any thing you do not under- 
stand. The Ethiopian willingly received instruction from 
Philip, and thus was guided to the knowledge of the truth. 
Acts 8. In cases of difficulty, you will find it advantageous 
to consult your minister, or a pious friend : " The priest's 
lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law 
at his mouth ; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts." 
Mai. 2:7. Yet the instruction they give must be brought 
to the test of Scripture. Acts 17:11, It is useful, also, 
to refer to commentators or expositors of Scripture, not 
with a servile dependence upon them, but as often furnish- 
ing valuable assistance. The first account we have of hu- 
man explanation of the Scripture, is that mentioned, Nehem. 
8:8. " They gave the sense, and caused the people to 
understand the reading." Do not give yourself up entirely 
to any commentator ; if you do, you will often be misled. 
Judge for yourself; take your religion simply from the 
Scriptures, and you will have the comfort of knowing that 
it comes pure from God. 



22 A SCRIPTURE HELP. 

12. Endeavor to ascertain the literal or first sense of a 
passage, hcfore you looTc for any other. Any thing may be 
made of the Bible, if this rule be entirely neglected. Search, 
then, first for the literal sense, as you would in the writings 
of any human author : in order to discover this sense, it is 
very useful to consider the connection of the particular pas- 
sage Avith what precedes and follows. "The literal mean- 
ing," says Luther, "is the whole foundation of faith, the only 
thing which stands its ground in distress and temptation." 
All important truths are, in some place or other, made plain. 

13. Endeavor to obtain a view of the ivhole truth which 
was intended to he made known hy the passage you are read- 
ing, and to discover its proper application. While the Bible 
affords instruction adapted to the most simple and ignorant, 
it contains a depth of wisdom sufficient to reward the most 
diligent inquirer. Our Lord says, " Search the Scriptures." 
In this expression, he alludes to the practice of men who 
dig in a mine ; and he that would find the precious ore must 
dig deep. Thus seek, and you shall find. You cannot 
thoroughly understand your Bible, without an experimental 
acquaintance with the nature and influence of the truth it 
reveals, and a knowledge of its spirit and intention. With 
respect to the experience of the truth, much of the Bible 
must be unintelligible to a Avorldly man : he has never ex- 
perienced the blessings of the peace of God, and joy in the 
Holy Ghost ; and he can, therefore, have no right conception 
of them. With respect to the spirit and intention of the 
word, our Lord said to his disciples, on one occasion, "The 
words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are 
life." John 6 : 63. There is often a deep and valuable 
meaning conveyed under simple expressions. When any 
action is forbidden or commanded, the principle from which 
the evil or good flows is also comprehended. Thus, when 
it is said, " Thou shalt not kill," it literally means that we 



A SCRIPTURE HELP. 23 

should not deprive another of his life ; but the full meaning 
comprehends the words and thoughts, and requires us to 
love others as ourselves. See Matt. 5 : 21, 22. Again, 
the truth is conveyed by figurative language, types, and par- 
ables, the spiritual meaning or interpretation of which it is 
important to ascertain. Further, there is a practical im- 
provement to be derived from all the events recorded. 
"Those things happened unto them for examples, and they 
are written for our admonition." Knowledge of the Bible, 
simplicity of mind, singleness of heart, and fervent prayer, 
will, through the teaching of the Spirit, guide a man to 
those views of divine truth which will be most profitable 
to his soul ; and the Holy Spirit will bring passages home 
to the heart, with a life and power beyond all human teach- 
inof. 

14. Read the Bible, ohserving its testimony throughout 
to Jesus Christ. This is what he himself directs : Search 
the Scriptures, for they testify of me. John 5 : 39. All 
thingrs must be fulfilled which were written in the law of 
Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning 
me. Luke 24 : 44. And again he says, Moses wrote of 
me. John 5: 46, 47. "To him,'" says Peter, "give all 
the prophets witness, that, through his name, whosoever 
believeth in him shall receive remission of sins." Acts 
10 : 43. Jesus Christ is the key that unlocks this sacred 
treasury, and opens to us what before Avas mysterious. The 
grand secret in the study of the Scriptures is, therein to 
discover Him who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. 
"The light of the knowledge of the glory of God will 
shine into your heart, in the face of Jesus Christ." Read 
the Bible, with a view to guide you to this knowledge of 
him. "The knowledge of Christ," says Cecil, "is a won- 
derful mystery. To understand and enter into his various 
offices and characters, the glories of his person and work ; 



24 A SCRIPTURE HELP. 

his relation to us, and ours to him, and to God the Father 
and the Spirit, through him ; this is the knowledge of 
Christ. To know Jesus Christ for ourselves, is to make 
him our consolation, delight, strength, righteousness, com- 
panion, and end." 

The following extract from Leighton contains the sub- 
stance of many of the above rules: "Let this, also, com- 
mend the Scriptures much to our diligence and affection, 
that their great theme is our Redeemer, and salvation 
wrought by him ; that they contain the display of his ex- 
cellences, and are the lively picture of his matchless beauty. 
Were we more engaged in reading them, w^e should daily 
see more of him in them, and so, of necessity, love him 
more. But we must look into them carefully ; the letter is 
but the case : the spiritual sense is what we should desire 
to see. We usually read the Scriptures in haste, and see 
no other than their outside, and therefore find so little 
sweetness in them ; we read them, but Ave search them not 
as he requires. Would we dig into these golden mines, we 
should find treasures of comfort that cannot be spent, but 
"which would furnish us in the hardest times." 



V. AN ADDRESS TO PERSONS IN DIFFERENT STATIONS 
OF LIFE, ON THE DUTY OF STUDYING THE BIBLE. 

Reader, the sum of what I have said is. Search the 
Scriptures habitually and daily, with fervent prayer for the 
help of the Holy Spirit. The command is express, the 
obligation universal, and the benefit immense. Whatever 
situation of hfe you may fill, there is something in the Scrip- 
tures that concerns you, something which it is infinitely im- 
portant that you should know or remember. 

Parents, heads of families, read the Bible for your own 
sakes, and for the sake of vour children and domestics. 



A SCRIPTURE HELP. 25 

God expects that you will not only read it in private, but 
that you will also instruct your families. He requires you 
" to keep the words which he hath commanded, in your 
heart ; to teach them diligently to your children ; to talk 
of them when you sit in your house, and when you Avalk 
by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up." 
Deut. 6 : 6, Y. How then can you live in the neglect of 
family instruction and j)i'ayer? Or how can you instruct 
your family, if you yourselves are wilfully ignorant of this 
book ? If you have hitherto neglected this great duty, neg- 
lect it now no longer. Remember what the Lord says con- 
cerning Abraham : " I know him, that he will command his 
children and his household after him, and they shall keep 
the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment ; that the 
Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken 
of him." Gen. 18 : 19. Remember the determination of 
Joshua : "As for me and my house, we will serve the 
Lord." Follow their bright examples. 

Children, you also should read the Bible, not merely as 
a task-book, but to become wise unto salvation. I know 
even young children who like to retire by themselves, that 
they may read this blessed book, and pray to God in secret. 
Jesus says, " Suffer little children to come unto me, and 
forbid them not." And again, "They that seek me early 
shall find me." The child Samuel early sought the Lord ; 
Josiah was but eight years old when he did that which Avas 
right in the sight of the Lord ; Jesus, at twelve years old, 
was found in the temple ; Timothy knew the Scriptures 
from a child. In them you will read about Jesus Christ ; 
how he became a child for you, and how kind he was to 
children : there you will learn, also, that it is your duty to 
love one another, and to love and obey your parents and 
teachers. See Eph. 6 : 1-3 ; Col. 3 : 20 ; 1 John, 4. You, 
therefore, should read your Bibles. 
VOL. VL '26 



26 A SCRIPTURE HELP. 

Young men, you must read the Bible. You are about 
to enter the world ; you will there be exposed to innumer- 
able dangers and temptations ; and " Wherewith shall a 
young man cleanse his way, but by taking heed thereto, 
accordino; to God's word?" Psalm 119: 9. David was 
wiser than his enemies, and had more understanding than 
his teachers or his elders, because he meditated on God's 
testimonies, and kept his precepts. Psalm 119 : 98-100. 
that I could prevail upon you to imitate David's exam- 
ple. It would keep you sober-minded, and give a right 
direction to all that warmth, and ardor, and zeal, by which 
youth is distinguished. It would preserve you from innu- 
merable sins, give you peace of mind, and lead you to eter- 
nal glory. Whatever your companions say, let me entreat 
you, read your Bible. 

Servants, you also should read your Bibles. Perhaps 
some of you are in hard service, under severe masters. 
The word of God will console you in the worst service. 
*' Thy statutes," says David, "have been my song in the 
house of my pilgrimage." Psalm 119:54. There you will 
find an account of pious servants ; you will see how faith- 
fully Abraham's servant obeyed his master. Gen. 24 ; how 
a servant-maid was useful to IS'aaman, the captain of the 
king of Assyria's army ; you will see the punishment of a 
lying servant in Gehazi. 2 Kings, 5. There you will find 
your duty fully pointed out and explained. Col. 3 : 22-25 ; 
Eph. 6 : 5-8; Titus 2: 9, 10. It is therefore undeniably 
important that you read the Bible. 

In short, all classes of men and women, in every age, in 
every situation ; kings and subjects, ministers and people, 
husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and ser- 
vants, rich and poor, righteous and wicked, prosperous and 
unfortunate, learned and unlearned, and all kind of persons, 
may " learn in this book all things, what they ought to do. 



A SCRIPTURE HELP. 27 

and what they should not do, as well concerning Almighty 
God, as also concerning themselves and all others." 

I will conclude by addressing persons of two different 
characters : 

1. Those who have hitherto read their Bibles merely as 
a matter of form and custom, or in order to he able to say 
that they had done so, or to satisfy the clamors of their con- 
science. To you this must have often been a task. The 
Bible must very frequently have appeared a dull book. 
You may have some general knowledge of its contents, but 
you must be ignorant of its spirit. Attend, then, to the 
rules, drawn from the Bible itself, which I have endeavored 
to give you. Look for the teaching of the Holy Spirit ; and 
what has been your task will become your highest enjoy- 
ment ; what was dull and tedious will become full of inter- 
est ; what was a blunted and useless weapon against the 
enemies of your soul, will become the SAvord of the Spirit, 
which none of them can resist. You will then, with David, 
rejoice in God's word, as one that findeth great spoil, and it 
will be sweeter to you than honey, or the honey-comb. 

2. Those ivho never read their Bibles. How danoferous 
is your state ! While you neglect this book, it is an evident 
sign that you are not a real Christian. "My sheep," says 
Christ, "hear my voice, and they follow me." They can 
say what you cannot, " how I love thy law !" " What 
excuse will you make at the last day before Christ, that 
delight to hear or read men's fancies and inventions more 
than his most holy Gospel, and will find no time to do that 
which chiefly above all things you should do, and will rather 
read other things than that for Avhich you ought to leave 
reading all other things ?" And must I leave you content 
to remain in this sad condition ? Why will you sit in dark- 
ness, Avhen you may have light ? Let me entreat you, let 
me prevail upon you, to begin from this time to read a per- 



28 A SCRIPTURE HELP. 

tion of this blessed book every day. You know not what 
advantages you have been losing, what privileges you have 
been neglecting, and from what a rich feast you have been 
turning away : now, then, delay no longer ; embrace the 
present opportunity. The Bible will illuminate your mind ; 
its precepts will guide you through every difficulty, its doc- 
trines will support you under every trial, its promises will 
console you in many sorrows, and will enable you even " to 
pass through the valley of the shadow of death, and fear 
no evil." 

My parting advice, then, to every reader, is, 

''SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES." 



How precious is the book divine, 

By inspiration given ! 
Bright as a lamp its doctrines shine, 

To guide our souls to heaven. 

It sweetly cheers our drooping hearts. 

In this dark vale of tears ; 
Life, light, and joy, it still imparts, 

And quells our rising fears. 

This lamp, through all the tedious night 
Of life, shall guide our way ; 

Till we behold the clearer light 
Of an etei'nal day. 



JVo. 905. 

A STRANGE INCIDENT. 



Incredible as the following facts may appear, they may 
be relied on as undoubtedly authentic. 

A mighty prince appointed a set day on which to give 
audience to his subjects. He caused proclamation to be 
made, that as many as chose might attend, and freely pre- 
sent their petitions. At the same time it was intimated, 
that the business to be transacted on the day of meeting, 
was of the utmost importance, both to themselves and to 
the whole empire. When the day arrived, many there were 
•who went to the hall of audience ; but still more refused 
to go, and satisfied themselves with ridiculing and reviling 
the loyal subjects of the prince as they passed along. If 
this conduct was strange on the part of those who disobeyed 
the king's commandment, that of many who entered the hall 
of audience was not less strange and disloyal. For they 
made not even the least preparation to appear in the royal 
presence — they sought no introduction — they brought with 
them no petition — they offered no homage to the monarch, 
nor even looked towards his throne ; but gazed around them 
with the most indifferent air, observing rather the conduct 
of their fellow- subjects, than anxious to turn this golden 
opportunity to their own advantage. All this, it must be 
confessed, was strange ; but the incident about to be men- 
tioned is yet more remarkable. 

Among those who appeared in the hall of audience, was 
a wretched criminal in chains, and under a strong guard. 
This criminal had once been a favorite of the prince, and 
employed in his service ; but he had been detected in re- 
peated acts of treason and rebellion ; for which offences he 
had been arraigned at the bar of justice, tried, proved guilty, 
and received sentence of death. He now only aw-aited the 
moment of execution. It rested wholly w^ith the prince, in 
whose presence he now stood, either to show his justice, by 
dooming him to immediate death, or his clemency, by com- 
manding the prisoner's fetters to be struck off, and proclaim- 
ing his free pardon. 

VOL. VI. "26* 



2 A STRANGE INCIDENT. 

And how, think you, did this wretched traitor conduct 
himself at this awful crisis ? Did he tremble ? Did he 
fall at the feet of his sovereign, and cry for mercy ? Did 
he earnestly implore the forgiveness of his treasonable of- 
fences, and the revocation of the fearful sentence which 
had gone forth against him ? No ! none of all these ! Soon 
as he entered the hall of audience, he showed symptoms of 
hardened indifference and ill- timed levity. One of the king's 
officers read from the court-records the bill of indictment 
against him, which enumerated all his guilty treasons — but 
Jie smiled in derision. Another became his advocate, not, 
indeed, to justify or palliate his crimes, but to implore the 
exercise of royal clemency in his favor. Meanwhile, the 
prisoner, instead of joining in the request, reclined his head, 
folded his arms, and sank into a deep sleep. A royal herald 
was at length commissioned to make this wretched criminal, 
in the name of his offended prince, the offer of a free par- 
don ; but in vain : not a syllable of the proclamation was 
heard — his senses continued locked up in sleep, and the season 
of mercy passed away ! Some of the officers of the court, 
moved by pity for the insensible, deluded wretch, endeav- 
ored to arouse him, but in vain — he still "slumbered and 
slept!" The personal attendants of the prince looked down 
on this spectacle with astonishment and indignation ; and, 
jealous for the honor of their master, seemed almost to 
invoke his vengeance. At length the prince arose from his 
seat in awful majest)^; with the voice of authority he sum- 
moned into his presence his ministers of justice, and gave 
them their commission : " Bind him hand and foot, and cast 
him into outer darkness, thei'e shall be wailing and gnash- 
ing of teeth." 

Reader, hast thou ever ivilfully and deliberately slept 
in the house of God — slejDt under the faithful ministry of 
the Gospel? If so, "thou art the manf'' Thus hast thou 
profaned the sanctuary of the Most High ; treated with 
contempt his overtures of mercy, and insulted, in ''his own 
courts'' the Majesty of heaven and earth. beware ! 
beware ! lest in righteous indignation he pronounce, in terms 
like these, thy final, thine eternal doom : " Slumber on, O 
sinner, unconscious of thy danger, till death and destruction 
overtake thee. Slumber on, till awakened by the arch- 
angel's trumpet, and the terrors of the judgment-day. 



A STRANGE INCIDENT. 3 

Slumber on, till that awful hour arrive, in which devils 
shall be commissioned to drag thee down to the regions of 
everlasting despair." 

But before this tremendous decree go forth, let him 
that is "at ease in Zion," listen to the voice of friendly ex- 
postulation. Consider, I beseech you, where, and in luhose 
jjresence, you indulge these guilty slumbers. Seldom is it 
seen, that the man of business falls asleep in the midst of 
his Avorldly occupations ; or the man of pleasure in the 
hours of convivial enjoyment, and Avhile surrounded by 
his associates in iniquity. To fall asleep amidst the social 
circle is deemed an act of inexcusable rudeness. Wilfully 
and deliberately to indulge in sleep in the presence of a 
superior, and especially of an earthly sovereign, would be 
resented as a gross insult : and is it nothing thus to treat 
Him, before whom devils tremble ; in w^hose august pres- 
ence angels and archangels veil their faces ; whose eyes 
are as a flame of fire ; at the very moment, too, in which he 
is condescending to address to you the overtures of mercy, 
and w^hen his ministers are inviting, entreating, command- 
ing you to be reconciled to God ? 

Consider, too, in. ivhat circumstances of imminent and 
ap'palliiig danger you are sleeping ; how much is at stake, 
while you are w^asting, in guilty slumbers, moments and 
opportunities which can never return. If but a small por- 
tion of your worldly property is endangered, you have 
many anxious days and sleepless nights ; if any temporal 
calamity is dreaded by you, sleep departs from your eye- 
lids, even though the powers of nature are exhausted by 
fatigue ; if you apprehend the death of a near and beloved 
relative, affection prompts you, night after night, to watch 
beside the bed of sickness. But think, seriously think, O 
sleeper, that the soul is at stake — heaven or hell, eternal 
happiness or endless woe, are the questions at issue ! This 
hour, nay, this moment, thy soul may be required of thee — 
the door of mercy shut against thee — the blackness and 
darkness of despair await thee — and yet thou sleejMst ! 
Even now the wrath and curse of God impend over thee — 
the tempest, heavily charged with divine vengeance, is 
gathering around thee — " the axe is laid to the root of the 
tree," and the sentence may go forth in an instant, "Cut 
it down; w^hy cumbereth it the ground?" and yet thou, 



4 A STRANGE INCIDENT. 

sleepestP' ''What meanest thou, sleeper! arise, call 
"upon thy God, if haply he will have mercy on thee, and 
thou perish not," 

The liour is not far distant when you will slee^j in death. 
We hear much of the shortness of human life, yet how 
many expedients do men devise to render it still shorter ! 
Surely, the thoughtless sinner has no reason to be so prodigal 
of life, for it must soon end in the sleep of death, or rather, 
in the anguish of eternal despair. And is it desirable, from 
these sinful, because willingly indulged, slumbers in the 
house of God, to be swept into the grave? Is it your 
wish, your determination, to dream away the few fleeting- 
moments assigned you on earth, till, on a sudden, the night 
of death overtake you, when "no man can work?" No, 
rather shake off, while it is called to-day, 1»his sluggish in- 
dolence ; and " whatsoever thine hand findeth to do, do it 
with thy might ; for there is no work, nor device, nor wis- 
dom, nor knowledge, in the grave, whither thou goest." 

One other consideration the writer of this address can- 
not forbear to urge ; and, ! that it may be duly consider- 
ed by those for whose benefit it is intended : You will not 
sleep in hell! "where their worm dieth not, and their fire 
is not quenched;" "where the smoke of their torment as- 
cendeth up for ever and ever." Though you may, and do, 
now, sleep, while these fearful judgments of the Most High 
are denouncing, you cannot, you will not, when they shall 
be executed. Ah! "who can dwell," much less sleep, "in 
everlastinof burnings ?" Dare not, then, to trifle with that 
wrath which ye cannot endure ! Defy not that arm which 
ye cannot resist or withstand ! Believe on the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Acts 16 : 31. Love him 
with all thine heart, and then thine attention will be secur- 
ed to the messages of his love and mercy. Arise, " watch 
and pray, that ye enter not into temptation ;" that ye fall 
not into endless perdition. 



PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY. 



THE 



COMERSION OF SIINERS 

A COMMON CHRISTIAN DUTY. 



Christians, it is the design of this Tract to present to 
your consideration a most important duty of your profes- 
sion : to insist upon the necessity resting upon all who bear 
the image of Christ, to follow his example in doing good to 
the souls of men ; and, while this duty is portrayed and 
urged, and the qualifications for its performance noted, to 
suggest the encouragements which should prompt to its 
rio-ht discharo-e. 

It is a great mistake to suppose that ministers of the 
Gospel are the only persons required to be engaged in the 
conversion of sinners ; and it is owing to the prevalence of 
this error, that so much apathy on this subject is manifest- 
ed by private Christians. This Tract will fail in its object, 
if professed Christians of every condition in life, who give 
it a perusal, are not awakened from their indifference, and 
convinced that they have a most interesting and much neg- 
lected duty to fulfil. It would, indeed, seem strange, that 
any, who have imbibed the spirit of Christ, should need 
arguments to persuade them of this duty ; yet who can shut 
his eyes to the fact that it is too generally neglected ? 

Christians may sometimes engage in prayer for the con- 
version of others ; they may, in some things, exhibit in 
their dispositions and deportment a salutary example ; but 
do they exert on those around them any such positive in- 
fluence in the concern of the soul's salvation, as they are 



2 THE CONVERSION OF SINNERS 

often seen exerting in matters of worldly business ? Every 
effort is put forth in objects of human interest and enter- 
prise ; while none, or but little, is employed to save their 
fellow-mortals from everlasting death. 

Now, why is this ? Are they destitute of love to the 
souls of men ? Do they esteem them of little value, and 
not worth their care ? Or is it, in point of fact, impracti- 
cable for them to exert a pious influence on the minds of 
others? The two former. inquiries, we would hope, may 
be negatively answered ; and the apology implied in the 
latter, we verily believe, in most instances cannot be truly 
made. Then why this acknowledged indifference to the 
spiritual welfare of others ? Why allow it to grow into a 
habit that seals up the lips and hardens the heart, and at 
length utterly unfits its subject for imitating, in so vital a 
particular, the conduct of his Divine Master, *'who went 
about doing good ;" and in this, as in other respects, has 
left us an ''example, that we should follow his steps." 

I. But, instead of pressing this inquiry further, we 
would invite you just to take a survey of that portion of 
society with which you are personally most intimate. Do so 
with a view of ascertaining whether there be not occasion 
for the performance of the duty in question ; and whether 
there are not cases immediately within your reach, in which 
you might exert an influence in favor of piety, provided 
your own heart were not reluctant to discharge the duty. 

Do you know of none within the sphere of your practi- 
cable exertions, who hold erroneous sentiments in relation 
to the fundamental doctrines and duties of the Gospel? Do 
you not love their souls, and are you not grieved that they 
should entertain false notions of religion ? Do you not see 



A COMMON CHRISTIAN DUTY. 3 

injurious effects upon their practice, resulting from their 
erroneous principles ; and are you not apprehensive they 
may prove fatal to their hopes of happiness beyond the 
grave ? Are you not at times disposed to Avarn them of 
their danger? But something restrains you from what you 
fear will prove an invidious offence. You question the pro- 
priety of your interference with the faith of others, or doubt 
the success of your endeavors to change their opinions ; and 
so you hesitate in doing what the secret intimations of con- 
science may, perhaps at the very moment, suggest to be 
your bounden duty. 

But it may be well for you to reflect whether your back- 
wardness in this matter is not owing to some indifference in 
yourself to the evils resulting from doctrinal errors, even 
when you cannot but perceive them to be followed by per- 
nicious consequences ; and whether your indifference does 
not arise from the want of clear conceptions and decided 
impressions of Gospel truth in your own mind. One would 
think that, if the truth as it is in Jesus has had its due in- 
fluence on your OAvn understanding, heart, and life, you 
could not possibly be indifferent to the standard of faith 
and practice w^hich the Gospel prescribes. 

But if instances of error in doctrine be fewer, within the 
circle of your acquaintance, than those which are seen in 
the disposition and the life, surely the latter call aloud for 
your prompt arid earnest, but, at the same time, prudent 
interference. For example : Is it not right for us all to ask 
ourselves what is the state of our families ? Our servants 
— do we know whether they are pious or ungodly ; the 
servants of Christ, or the slaves of sin ? Do we esteem 
them as hirelings merely, and ourselves as having no other 
connection with them than labor and wages imply ? And 



4 THE CONVERSION OF SINNERS 

were they to go from our threshold now to the judgment- 
seat of Christ, would they carry thither any instruction, any 
pious impressions, any proof that we loved their souls, or 
any token of remembrance in eternity, save the wages of 
unrighteousness ? 

Our children — what is the state of their minds ? Have 
we conversed with them enough on this most interesting 
of all subjects, to understand their feelings ? Or have we, 
as is too often the case with Christian parents, left them to 
forget, as among their childish employments, the Bible and 
prayer ; and been anxious to fill their opening minds with 
every thing but " the truth as it is in Jesus Christ ?" And 
are we now satisfied to see them rising to manhood, and 
spending all their time and thoughts in worldly pursuits 
and vain accomplishments, to the utter neglect of their souls' 
salvation ? Oh, what a dreadful account will many Chris- 
tian parents have to render for withholding from their off- 
spring *' the nurture and admonition of the Lord !" They 
grow up under our eye, our hand, our entire influence ; yet 
it may be, our tutelage has only fitted them to live without 
God, and to die without hope ! 

Our relatives and intimate friends, also, in every degree 
— what is their religious state ? If some of them are pious 
and devoted Christians, do not most of them "err from the 
truth" in disposition and conduct? Some are" thoughtful, 
perhaps, and seriously inclined ; but do they ever hear a 
word from us, that would relieve their doubts, or encourage 
them to persevere, or guide them to Christ ? Others are 
gay and thoughtless, pressing forward in the broad road to 
death, and exerting a thousand times more influence to en- 
tice us to go with them, than we exert to arrest them in their 
sinful course, and bring them back to God. We hear them 



A COMMON CHRISTIAN DUTY 5 

pleading aloud for the idols and follies of the world, and are 
dumb ; we see them running upon the very brink of death, 
and stretch not out our hands to save them. And if they 
are ever converted, it will be because others will speak — 
because other hands will be extended for their rescue. 

Our Christian brethren — those whom we meet at the 
communion table, and profess to love and watch over in the 
Lord, what is their religious state ? Are not some of them 
so cold, and indifferent, and worldly, that we question their 
piety ? Do we not see some of them falling into sin, doing 
things in obedience to custom or some other influence, that 
are inconsistent with the Christian profession ? And might 
we not go to them and tell them their fault, as Christ com- 
manded ; and endeavor to restore them in the spirit of 
meekness ? Are there not a multitude of such cases, in 
which it would not be obtrusive or off'ensive to endeavor to 
exert an influence in favor of piety ? 

II. From such a view of our families, of our social circle, 
and of the church, to say nothing of ''the world that lieth 
in wickedness," with which we are continually in contact, 
and of the heathen that sit in the region and shadow of 
death, do we not see abundant motives for the perform- 
ance OF THE DUTY IN QUESTION? 

Few, indeed, who make any pretensions to Christian 

character, Avill expressly deny this duty ; yet very few of 

those who profess strictness in the faith and practice of the 

Gospel, fulfil it in any thing like the extent and faithfulness 

which the Gospel enjoins. Why ? Because it is one of 

those unlimited and universal duties which, when violated 

in certain degrees, does not absolutely destroy Christian 

character ; and when highly fulfilled, argues an extraordi- 
voL. VI. 27 



Q THE CONVERSION OF SINNERS 

nary piety, that ordinary Christians do not feel bound to 
exhibit. The great mass of professors think they discharge 
this duty in some measure — that is, we pray for our chil- 
dren, and, Avhilc they are children, teach them and urge 
them to pray, for it is beautiful to see a child pray ; but 
when they rise to youth and manhood, and our influence 
should be exerted with most efficiency, we are content, for 
the most part, to pray for them, and advise them to be 
moral in their conduct, and to go to church. We pray for 
our domestics also, and perhaps — though not always — urge 
them to attend Sabbath-schools and means of instruction 
elsewhere, without giving them any under our own roof, or 
ever speaking to them of their soul's welfare. As for others, 
our relatives, friends, acquaintance — the Christian professors 
meeting us at the Lord's table — we feel as if we had done 
our duty towards them when we have prayed without feel- 
ing for them, and set them a good example, without caring 
much whether it be followed or not. And of course, little 
thought or feeling, little anxiety or effort — save what may 
be told of by the public tongue — can be expected for the 
world that lieth in wickedness, for the multitudes that we 
meet every day, or for the poor heathen who '' sit afar off 
in the reofion and shadow of death." 

Now, if this statement be true with regard to the vast 
majority of Christians, let me ask, is this fulfilling the duty 
which our connection with these immortal beings, aside 
from other considerations, demands ? Is this what St. 
James calls, ** converting sinners from the error of their 
way ?" What is it to "convert a sinner?" The word im- 
plies an exertion — a direct agency — a positive influence — 
something more than to pray for him in public or private — 
something more than to set him a proper example. To 



A COMMON CHRISTIAN DUTY. "7 

convert, as the original word imports, is to influence, to 
move, to persuade, to convince, to turn : by any and every 
means that may be used, to " turn a sinner from the error 
of his way." Let, then, the question be. Are we now 
striving to convert, to turn our children, our servants, our 
relatives, and acquaintance, and backsliding brethren, from 
sin to holiness ? Is there one in this wide circle of influence 
upon whom we have fixed our eye, our heart, and over 
whom we are now exerting an influence that, with the bless- 
ing of God, may bring him to the knowledge of the truth ? 
If we are thus doing, in but one instance, then Ave apprehend 
the nature and extent of the duty required, and may look 
to the rich and glorious encouragement which the promises 
of God give to such exertions. But if not, as there is no 
promise to obedience in any duty without a corresponding 
curse to disobedience : if not, I say, then in the last judg- 
ment these souls may be required at our hands. " Father 
Abraham," cried the rich man, who lifted up his eyes in 
torment, " I pray thee that thou wouldest send Lazarus to 
my father's house, for I have five brethren, that he may 
testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of 
torment." That lost sinner would have fulfilled his duty, 
would have testified to his brethren, but it was too late ! 
And shall Christians neglect it when they have opportunity, 
and when they see sinners wasting the day of grace, and 
rapidly going to that " place of torment ?" 

Consider some of the arguments by which this duty is 
enforced. There is the command of God, in all its extent 
and spirituality, " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." 
This command is repeated in all those precepts and exhor- 
tations which regard our children, servants, friends, rela- 
tives, and neighbors ; but how can we love them as our- 



8 THE CONVERSION OF SINNERS 

selves, unless we are as solicitous and active for their salva- 
tion as for our own ? By the constitution of nature, and of 
grace also, we are responsible for all the influence we exert 
over others in all the relations of life : the father for his 
children, the relative for the relative, the friend for the 
friend ; because, by a constant, and ofttimes irresistible 
agency, they are leading one another to heaven or to hell. 
Consider, likewise, how the duty is illustrated by the feel- 
ings and conduct of the saints in Scripture. They loved 
and labored for the conversion of sinners. This was emi- 
nently the spirit of the primitive disciples, derived immedi- 
ately from the force of our Lord's example. No sooner did 
they embrace Christ, than they immediately entered upon 
the duty, I should say privilege, of converting others. Thus 
Andrew, it is said, when he acknowledged Christ, "first 
findeth " — and the expression implies that he sought him — 
" his own brother Simon, and said unto him, We have found 
the Messiah." So also Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith 
unto him, " We have found Him of whom Moses in the law 
and the prophets did write." And on one remarkable occa- 
sion, the Saviour himself gave a specific direction to this pur- 
pose. " Go home to thy friends," said he to the man out of 
whom he had cast a legion of devils, and who had expressed 
a desire to remain with him, " Go home to thy friends, and 
tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and 
hoAv he hath had compassion on thee. And accordingly the 
man departed, and began to publish in Decapolis, how great 
things Jesus had done for him." And have you, Christian 
brethren, no occasion to publish to your children, and friends, 
and neighbors, Avhat great things the Lord hath done for 
you : not as matter of joy merely, but that they also may be 
** brought out of darkness into God's marvellous light ?" 



A COMMON CHRISTIAN DUTY. 9 

Let me say, also, that it is a becoming characteristic of 
the piety of the present day, for private Christians to be 
anxious and watchful to convert sinners. A great change 
is taking place throughout the church in this respect ; and 
among the signs, that the Saviour's universal kingdom is 
rapidly approaching, this is one of the clearest and most 
promising. The love of souls, and exertions for their sal- 
vation in every possible way, is becoming a leading test of 
practical piety ; and already do many that " name the name 
of Christ," especially where vital religion is most seen and 
felt, begin to tremble and doubt of their interest in Christ, 
if they be not found giving, not their gold and silver 
merely, but, like the apostle, "what they have:" their 
time, their talents, their direct and positive influence, to the 
cause of truth and righteousness. Yes, brethren, a Chris- 
tian is now persuaded that he has something more to do 
than to pray, or set an example of passive goodness, or con- 
tribute to a Bible or missionary fund, if he would come up 
to the virtue and glory of imitating his divine Redeemer : a 
deeper and more swaying sentiment occupies his bosom, 
which prompts him to say to his friend and to his brother, 
" Know the Lord ;" which constrains him to fill up his own 
sphere of influence, be it greater or less, with the light and 
power of the Gospel, because he feels the responsibility and 
privilege of being a coworker with Christ in the redemption 
of the world. He sees a glorious day; a day in which it 
is a blessing to live ; a day which kings and prophets, apos- 
tles and martyrs, desired to see ; a day in which every one, 
if he would not seem to be behind, or destitute of the 
redeeming spirit of the age, if he would rather hasten the 
chariot- wheels of the triumphant Saviour, must be active, 

and zealous, and faithful unto death, and, to the very extent 
VOL. VI. 27^ 



10 THE CONVERSION OF SINNERS 

of his widening influence, strive to make men feel the sub- 
duing and merciful sway of that Gospel which is "the power 
of God and the wisdom of God unto salvation." 

III. Let us now call your attention to what is requi- 
site in order to the proper performance of this duty. 
Many imagine they would be disposed to be active, if they 
thought themselves qualified to do any good. Some think 
themselves destitute of the requisite talents ; others, that 
they have not sufficient Aveight of character and influence ; 
others, that they cannot overcome their natural diffidence ; 
others, that they have no time or opportunities for such a 
duty. We may judge for ourselves whether such excuses 
are valid — I should say, whether they are not used as apol- 
ogies for unjustifiable neglect. Whom do we hear com- 
plaining of being destitute of the requisite talents, Avhen 
he would engage his friend or neighbor in some worldly 
scheme ? Though he feel the want of more, he uses what 
he has to the best advantage. And why ? Because he is 
deeply interested. And will 3"ou — dare you, Christians, 
because you have not ten talents at your disposal, bury the 
one Avhich you have ? Will you, because you have not the 
qualifications of a preacher of the Gospel, refuse to speak 
to your relative or friend about his salvation ? And who is 
so destitute of weight of character and influence, in a relig- 
ious sense, that he can do nothing ; that is, to translate this 
phrase, that he cannot do great things ? Let him first 
obtain a religious character, if he really think himself so 
destitute, and then let him do small things ; they will be 
great in the sight of God. And who is so overcome by 
natural diffidence and backwardness, that he cannot speak 
to others on the very subject which lies nearest his own 



A COMMON CHRISTIAN DUTY. ll 

heart ? It will be well for him, so long as he has none of 
this diffidence or backwardness on other subjects of interest 
and importance, to examine himself, and see whether it be 
not owing, in a great degree, to his being " ashamed of the 
Gospel of Christ." And if there be any who plead that 
they have no time or opportunity for the performance of 
this duty, surrounded as they are with souls that might be 
saved from death, they should doubt the validity of their 
hopes as Christians, until they have learned of Christ the 
first lesson of the Gospel, to " go about doing good." 

It is perfectly obvious, that we are either wrong in our 
conceptions of what is required, or these and similar excuses 
for inactivity are the mere apologies for wilful neglect. 
The duty required is what every real Christian can do ; the 
requisite qualifications are such as pertain to every child 
of God. And they are these : 

In the first place, benevolence ; the love of souls : that 
Christlike goodness which will dispose us to impart to 
others the same spiritual blessings which we ourselves en- 
joy ; that principle which contemplates the eternal more 
than the temporal Avelfare of men ; which actuated the 
Saviour in all the days of his humiliation and sorrow ; which 
has ever made those who have felt its influence the lig-hts 
of the world and the benefactors of mankind ; and which 
must, in a greater or less degree, sway the feelings and 
conduct of every one who bears the image of Christ. 

Christians, do you love the souls of men? You love 
your children, domestics, friends, acquaintance, because they 
are your children, your domestics, your friends ; but do you 
love them because they are spiritual, immortal beings, and 
must be for ever happy or miserable ? " If ye love them 
which love you," said our Saviour, " what thank have ye? 



12 THE CONVERSION OF SINNERS 

Do not even the publicans and sinners the same ?" To try 
,this feehng, select an individual from among your friends or 
acquaintance, who has no special claims on you, but who is, 
nevertheless, erring* from the truth, and going down to 
death. Do you love him ? Have you any thing of the 
feeling which the blessed Saviour Avould have manifested 
for such a one, thus thrown within the circle of his influ- 
ence ? Do you ever think of his soul ; of what immense 
value it is ; what a high place it holds in the universe ; and 
that there is danger of its being lost? Do you ever feel 
anxious for his soul, that, though it is an emanation of the 
eternal mind, the brother of angels ; though its capacities 
for pleasure and endurance are boundless ; though immor- 
tality is interwoven in its very being, and the fields of 
its action and enjoyment occupy immensity and eternity ; 
and though ample provision has been made for its salvation, 
it is yet in danger of being lost ? Do you ever feel as if 
you might not, if you sought the opportunity and made the 
experiment, be instrumental in saving that soul, and as suc- 
cessful, perhaps, as Philip was in bringing Nathanael to 
Christ ? If not, then, dear brethren, you know not what 
it is to love the souls of men ; and, of course, must be 
strangers to the love of Christ and of God. But if you 
do — if you have such views and feelings, why not obey the 
impulse they naturally give, and go to that individual and 
speak to him of his error, of his soul's salvation ; and, if 
possible, win him to Christ ? Oh, if Christians Avere but 
faithful, how many would have occasion to thank them now, 
and in the last day to " rise up and call them blessed !" 

Another requisite in the proper performance of this 
duty, is freedom from error ourselves. We must manifest a 
deep solicitude to keep ourselves in the faith and practice 



A COMMON CHRISTIAN DUTY. 13 

of the Gospel, else our zeal will appear to spring from other 
motives than benevolence ; and those to whom we go will 
have a right to say, "Physician, heal thyself." Some of 
us, no doubt, shall be backward in this duty, for fear it may 
be seen that there is "a beam in our own eye;" for fear 
people may ask, struck with the glaring inconsistency be- 
tween this kind of zeal and our Christian character in gen- 
eral, " Is Saul also among the prophets ?" Our duty, then, 
in this case, is not, as we may suppose, to continue back- 
ward and neglectful, because we are not pure and exem- 
plary enough to attempt to convert others, but to reform, 
to become exemplary ; to " cast out the beam out of our 
own eye ;" to manifest that Ave are swayed, not by hypoc- 
risy or spiritual pride, but the love of souls. After all, 
brethren, this may be the grand difficulty with us. No 
wonder that we are not disposed to try to convert sinners, so 
long; as we are conscious of beino- so inconsistent in our 
profession, as to feel rather the need of such influence our- 
selves, than the ability to exert it over others. Our chil- 
dren and domestics see this ; our friends and connections 
see this ; the world and the church see this ; and no won- 
der our lips are silent, when Christ and his cause are con- 
cerned. And Avill not God require it of us, that thus we 
bring a reproach upon his cause ; and, if we are Christians, 
throw this obstacle in the way of our fulfilling a duty of 
such immense responsibility ? Shall we not, then, reform, 
and bring our own lives nearer to the standard of the Gos- 
pel, that we may cause " our light to shine," and so to 
shine, that " others, seeing our good works, may be led to 
glorify God, our heavenly Father?" 

A third requisite is, *' zeal according to hioivledffe." 
There is, I know, an unwise and intemperate zeal, by which 



14 THE CONVERSION OF SINNERS 

men are sometimes influenced, that renders religion offen- 
'sive, rather than inviting, to those who cannot discriminate 
between the thing itself and the manner in which it is pre- 
sented. There is, also, I know, among many Christian 
professors, a prejudice against every appearance of zeal in 
religion, because it savors of enthusiasm or fanaticism. 
Men may be zealous and enthusiastic about the business 
and the bubbles of life, and bring their whole soul into the 
most active and spirited exertion ; but in religion, Avhich is 
calculated to excite all the best affections of the mind to 
the highest degree, and which touches eveiy thing happy 
and glorious in both worlds — in religion, men must be un- 
moved as statues — cold as ice. There is a sacred maxim 
which says, " It is good to be zealously affected in a good 
thing." It is better, infinitely better, that a Christian's zeal 
should err, if his motive be to do good, than that he should 
have none. Oh, let us beware, brethren, how we prefer 
coldness, and lukewarmness, and formality in the service of 
Christ, to that zeal which warms and glows in the bosoms 
of those who love him most, and serve him best. God 
has given us understandings for the examination and com- 
parison of duties, his word and Holy Spirit for our guides, 
the love of souls for our motive, and their conversion for 
our object. According, then, to our knowledge of truth 
and duty, of the necessities and dangers of men, let us 
be zealous. And let us be assured, that in those instances, 
and they are numerous, where the night and the winter 
have long lain upon the embers of Christian feeling, there is 
infinitely more danger of being without a proper zeal for the 
salvation of souls, than of its becoming wild or enthusiastic. 
Let our zeal be directed to this one object, "to convert sin- 
ners from the error of their way ;" and let us labor to accom- 



A COMMON CHRISTIAN DUTY. 15 

plisli this object, "by pureness, by knowledge, by long-suf- 
fering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned;" 
being "gentle unto all, patient, in meekness instructing 
those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will 
give them repentance to the acknowledgment of the truth." 
One more requisite in the proper performance of this 
duty, is opportunity. But why do I speak of opportunity, 
when every day, every hour, is full of it ? But how do we 
improve these opportunities ? Should a stranger come into 
our family circle, or friendly meetings of any sort, how 
long, think you, before he would find out that we had any 
desire to promote Christ's cause, or, indeed, made any pre- 
tensions to religion ? In our families we exhaust the world 
of its topics, and meet to exhaust it again, without a word 
concerning the soul's welfare, or the great interests of piety. 
In our social meetings, or common intercourse with friends, 
we forget the one topic which, to a Christian mind, it may 
be supposed, is replete with interest, and inexhaustible ; and 
after business, and news, and politics, and every thing else, is 
discussed, and we begin to be weary of each other's society, 
and grow dull in conversation for want of topics, still not a 
syllable, perhaps not a thought, of each other's spiritual and 
eternal good. Oh, dear brethren, aside from the duty, did 
we rightly appreciate the privilege we forego, in thus wast- 
ing opportunities of mutual benefit, of Christian communion, 
and of " saving souls from death," we should rather open our 
mouths on every occasion ; we should always have something 
to say that might tell in the book of God's remembrance ; 
we should enter into a covenant with ourselves, and with 
each other, as has sometimes been done with wonderful ef- 
fect, to make it the leading object of our intercourse with 
our famihes and friends, and the world, and the church, to 



16 THE CONVERSION OF SINNERS 

do good to the souls of men. We remember of whom it is 
said, and should be induced to follow their example, " They 
that feared the Lord spake often one to another, and the 
Lord hearkened and heard it ; and a book of remembrance 
'svas written before him, for them that feared the Lord and 
thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the 
Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my jewels, and I 
will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth 
him." 

Such, Christians, are the requisites to the proper per- 
formance of this duty : the ardent love of souls, freedom 
from error ourselves, zeal for the conversion of sinners, and 
opportunity to act. They are such as pertain to every one 
who bears the image of Christ ; and they evince the duty 
to be such as every real Christian may, and ought to per- 
form, if he would consistently claim that character. 

IV. We would present, in the last place, the encour- 
agement a Christian has to labor for the conversion of 
sinners. "Let him hnow^^ says James, "that he which 
converteth the sinner from the error of his way, shall save a 
soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins. ^' 

To "save a soul from death:'''' this is the first topic of 
encouragement. And can any moral influence be considered 
as thrown away ; can any anxieties and labors be too great ; 
can any self-sacrifices be too valuable to be bestowed, when 
the object is to " save a soul from death ?" If we have vital 
benevolence, that powerful spring of action, which, like the 
redeeming love of Christ, extends to all within its range; if 
we love the souls of men because they are spiritual, of in- 
finite value, and capable of immortal bliss or woe, will any 
thing dissuade us, can any thing compel us to withhold what 



A COMMON CHRISTIAN DUTY. 17 

may " save tliem from death ;" especially when the en- 
couragement imports that a little faithfulness on our part, 
a little labor and influence well exerted, shall be blessed of 
God to their salvation ? " Let him know" the apostle says ; 
let him be assured of this result ; let him derive the same 
encouragement to exertion in this case, that he does from 
any of the specific promises of God. And in these days of 
peculiar grace to the church, believers have not only the 
encouragement of promise, but of facts, occurring and mul- 
tiplying all around them, and showing what glorious success 
may attend the exertions of private Christians. 

Look around you, Christians, upon those who " err from 
the truth ;" who are in constant danger of eternal death, 
and whom you must meet by and by at the judgment-seat 
of Christ. They are your dearest relatives ; your friends 
and neighbors, over whom you have much influence. Does 
not God love these souls ? Has he not given his Son to die 
for them, and granted them a day of grace, and through 
your agency offered them his mercy? Does not Christ 
love them ? Has he not suff'ered and poured out his blood 
on the cross that they might be redeemed, and appointed 
you the almoners of his grace to them ? Do not the angels 
love them ; and will there not be joy in heaven over one 
that you bring to repentance ? " Are they not of more value 
than a thousand worlds ? And must they not be miserable, 
without hope, and for ever, unless by some means they are 
brought to the knowledge of the truth ? And are they not 
now in the broad road to destruction, passing within your 
reach ? And do you love them ? Why, then. Oh w^hy are 
you not more anxious for them ? Why do you seem willing 
that they should go down to death, without a tear of pity, 
or an eflfort to save them ? Why is not your arm extended 

VOL. VI. 28 



18 THE CONVERSION OF SINNERS 

to pluck them as " brands from the burning ?" Why does 
not your zeal glow ; your affections rise ; your tongue speak ; 
your time, and talents, and influence, become a willing sac- 
rifice to " save their souls from death ?" 

You remember, brethren, it is not the death of the body 
that is here contemplated, but of the soul : a living death — 
the "second death" — the death eternal! that fearful state 
of darkness and misery in which the soul sinks under the 
wrath of God, ".where the worm dieth not, and the fire is 
not quenched ;" that dreadful destiny which the eye of the 
Lord penetrated when he said, " What shall it profit a man, 
if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul ?" Re- 
member, also, that those who now peacefully surround you, 
and are dear to you by every tie, are the beings who are in 
hourly danger of this doom. Oh, then, save them, if it be 
possible — save them from "going down to the pit!" To- 
morrow they may be beyond your reach, and lost ! To-day 
you may save them, and place them far from death — far 
from hell — hvAi on the threshold of heaven ! 

The second topic of encouragement in this duty is " the 
hiding or pardon of a multitude of sins : of sins as commit- 
ted against God ; and that in two respects : of sins in him 
who is converted from the error of his way, and of sins in 
him who is the happy instrument of such conversion. 

Think then, brethren, of the consequences of converting 
one sinner. He is delivered from the condemnation of sin, 
which, as a dreadful curse, was suspended over his head, 
and threatening to sink him into hell ; his sins are washed 
away in the atoning blood of Christ, never more to appear 
in judgment against him, or prevent his access to eternal 
happiness ; death hath no longer dominion over him ; he is 
redeemed from its darkness, its torment, its unutterable 



A COMMON CHRISTIAN DUTY. 19 

agonies, and made an heir of all the brightness, and felicity, 
and glory of heaven ! 

Think, likewise, of the consequences of converting one 
sinner upon your own soul — the pardon of a multitude of 
sins ! Not as a rew^ard of merit ; for our best services, so 
defiled are they by sin, and our most fervent love, so far 
short does it come of the glory of God, can never merit the 
pardon of the least of our transgressions ; but as a reward 
of grace. Dear brethren, the love of souls is a divine prin- 
ciple, and, in his sovereign mercy, God has been pleased, by 
promise, to suspend upon its exercise the pardon of our sins ; 
because it is a high evidence of grace, and forms the best 
possible preparation for the inheritance of the saints in light. 

Is it true, that he who "gives a cup of cold water to a 
disciple in the name of a disciple, shall not lose his reward ?" 
What then shall be the reward of one who plucks a fellow- 
creature from everlasting ruin ; who saves a soul from death ; 
who disappoints hell of her expectation, and adds another 
blessed one to the church triumphant ? How honored is such 
an instrument ! What reason has he to thank God that he 
was ever born ! What rich consolation has he in his own soul : 
the pleasure of doing good, the light of God's countenance in 
all his way, and the glories of God's presence for his home ! 

Shall we not, then, Christian brethren, under the force 
of such encouragement, bring our minds and our hearts to 
this duty ? Now, while God appears willing to bless the 
churches with the effusions of his Holy Spirit ; while many 
are beginning to aw^aken to a sense of their responsibility 
and privilege; while sinners around us are inquiring, "What 
shall we do to be saved ?" and backsliding' Christians are 
returninix to their first love and first w^orks ; now, while it 
seems to require but a little faithfulness on the part of God's 



20 THE CONVERSION OF SLVNERS, ETC. 

people in this duty, to secure a ricli and lasting blessing for 
ourselves, our families, our friends and neighbors, shall we 
not be "up and doing," laboring to "convert sinners from 
the error of their way ?" We rejoice to know that in many 
churches much of this spirit has already been manifested. 
May it extend and strengthen, until the minds and hearts of 
all that " love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity" are en- 
gaged in this work of redeeming mercy ; until the love of 
souls shall become the grand controUing principle of our 
intercourse with others ; until our own lives are brought to 
the standard of the Gospel ; until our zeal shall tread the 
footsteps of our divine Master, and show us to be " the 
friends of human nature," coworkers with Christ and with 
God in the designs of eternal salvation. 

When we look forward to a day of judgment, and con- 
sider what may then be the result of the influence which we 
are now exerting upon one another, are we not filled with 
fear and trembling ? Will it not then appear that the con- 
trol of a father or mother has been death to his children ; 
that the unfaithfulness of a friend has been death to a friend ; 
that many hearts will be agonized with bitterness and re- 
proaches, because they have been the occasion of each 
other's perdition? But 0, what joy will it be to meet a 
soul in that assemblage of the universe, which we have 
" saved from death ;" be it a child, or a servant, or a friend, 
or a neighbor, or a heathen! What joy to be able to say of 
those we loved so dearly in this world, and have -converted 
from the error of their way, " Here, Lord, am I, and the 
children which thou hast given me !" What joy, to see in 
ourselves fulfilled that glorious promise, " 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 !" 



]%o. 307, 



THE 



PRAYING MOTHER. 




My dear Female Friend — The subject on which I now 
address you, although perhaps novel in its nature, is one with 
which are intimately connected your own eternal welfare, 
and that of those young immortals whom you have been 
the instrument of bringing into the world. The Lord God 
has conferred an honor upon you in making you a mother ; 
but with the honor, high and very awful responsibilities 
are connected, in consequence of sin. Each child that you 
bear is born in sin, an heir of wrath, alienated from the 
life of God, prone, from the very womb, to go astray, and 
therefore needs pardon in the Saviour's blood, and sanctifi- 
cation by his Spirit, to prepare it for admission into the king- 
dom of heaven. But it is only through the use of means 
that this blessed change is either to be sought or expected ; 
and in the use of these means, you, as the mother, are ap- 
pointed by the Head of the Church, to occupy an honorable 
and prominent part. In making you a mother, and giving 
vor . VT. 9-^* 



2 THE PRAYING MOTHER. 

you a living child, the Lord God solemnly addresses you, in 
the language of Pharaoh's daughter to the mother of Moses, 
"Take this child and nurse it for me." And while it is 
the solemn admonition of Him who gave you existence, and 
afterwards gave you an offspring, " Train up a child in the 
way he should go," there is no part of this spiritual nurture 
more profitable, or more important, than family religion, 
devoutly performed in their presence. 

It is readily acknowledged that the discharge of this 
duty is incumbent first on your husband, as the God of 
nature originally ordained him the head of the family. If, 
therefore, this exercise has hitherto been neglected bv him, 
tenderly expostulate with him to commence it. Tell him 
that it is a most reasonahle service ; that it is a small tribute 
of gratitude to the beneficent Being who formed you into a 
family relation, who is sparing you together as mutual helps 
and comforts notwithstanding daily imperfections, and is 
crowning you with many marks of his goodness. Tell your 
husband that the " loving-kindness " of Jehovah to you and 
your dear children is "better than life ;" and that this lov- 
ing-kindness must be sought, if it is expected ; but that his 
frown is more dreadful than death. Remind him of the 
example of David, who " returned from offering burnt- 
offerings and peace-offerings in the tabernacle, and blessed 
his household," 2 Sam. 6 : 17-20 ; of Abraham, who " com- 
manded his children and his household after him, to keep 
the ways of the Lord," Gen. 18 : 19 ; of the patriarch Job, 
who *' rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt- 
offerings for his children," Job 1 : 5 ; of Joshua, who piously 
resolved, " As for me and ray house, we Avill serve the Lord," 
Josh. 24 : 15 ; of Cornelius, who "was a devout man, that 
feared God with all his house, and prayed to God always." 
Acts 10 : 2. 

Consider, and ask your husband to consider, the follow- 
ing portions of Scripture : " The curse of the Lord is in the 
house of the wicked, but he blesseth the habitation of the 
just." Prov. 3 : 33. "The light of the wicked shall be 



THE PRAYING MOTHER. 3 

dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out ; 
terror shall make him afraid on every side ; his confidence 
shall be rooted out, and it shall bring him to the king of 
terrors ; his children are far from safety, and they are 
crushed in the gate, neither is there any to deliver them." 
And how dreadful is the imprecation of an inspired prophet ! 
" Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, 
and upon the families that call not upon thy name." Jer. 
10 : 25. After you have reviewed these passages of Scrip- 
ture with the husband of your bosom and the father of your 
beloved offspring, affectionately ask him whether there is 
nothing awful in these denunciations of a holy God ; of that 
Being, who is not .only mighty to save, but terrible to 
destroy. Ask him if he does not secretly tremble, while 
he lies down at night under this threatening, that " the 
curse of the Lord is on the house of the wicked, and his 
children are far from safety ;" whether his soul does not 
recoil at the thought, that one of these dear pledges of your 
conjugal love shall be an outcast from the favor of Jehovah, 
and doomed for ever to the endurance of his wrath, through 
your neglect. 

But if neither arguments nor entreaties will prevail with 
him to erect the domestic altar, and call upon the name of 
the Lord in your family, remember, that a more undivided 
responsibility devolves upon yourself. Neglect not your- 
self to pray with and for your children. Your own cham- 
ber may become to you and yours a Bethel — the consecrated 
place where God shall reveal his saving mercies. Suppose 
that your husband appeared altogether regardless of the 
temporal interests of the household ; that he made no exer- 
tions for obtaining the means of feeding, or clothing, or 
educating them, would you, therefore, feel excused from 
doing any thing for their support ? Would not his indo- 
lence or inattention rather excite in you a deeper solicitude 
for their welfare, and rouse you to double diligence in de- 
vising schemes for promoting it ? And surely, if, through 
his neglicrence, youranxietv is increased about their interests 



4 ■ THE PRAYING MOTHER. 

in this world, should not the same consideration render you 
still more anxious to promote their welfare for the world to 
come ? And can we imagine any thing more happily suited 
to impress the tender hearts of youth with a sense of their 
dependence on God, of their obligations to fear him, and 
love him, and live for him, of the purity of his law, or the 
enormity of sin, than family religion? When they hear 
their sins confessed, and their mercies devoutly acknow- 
ledged as " coming down from the Father of lights," and 
altogether undeserved ; when they hear portions of the 
Scriptures read as "given by inspiration of God," and de- 
signed to rep'ulate our conduct for this world, and " make 
US wise unto salvation" in the next, how often has the 
youthful heart been impressed and awed, and constrained 
to ask, "What meaneth this service?" and imperceptibly 
led to seek the Lord God of its father or mother, as its 
portion. 

Is not the truth of these remarks confirmed by the his- 
tory of the church in every age ? Have not the most pre- 
cious fruits been produced to the souls of individuals, and 
to the general interests of religion, from famil}^ instruction 
and devotion ? It is highly probable that multitudes, both 
on earth and in heaven, can date their first impressions from 
the religion of the famil}^ and will recollect with gratitude, 
through time and eternity, the admonitions received from 
the lips of a godly father or mother. 

The late Rev. John Brow^n, of precious memory in the 
country and age in which he lived, particularly thanked 
God in his last moments, that he had descended from parents 
who maintained divine worship in the family, morning and 
evening ; and it is a fact, which ought not here to be left 
unnoticed, that these blessed consequences have more fre- 
quently resulted from the instructions and prayers of pious 
mothers. Samuel the prophet, Timothy the evangelist, St. 
Augustine, in the first ages of Christianity, and Gardiner, 
and Newton, and Doddridge, were all, in their turn, reared 
up for eminent usefulness in the church, principally through 



THE PRAYING MOTHER. 5 

the instrumentality of their mothers. Mr. Newton particu- 
larly mentions " that the advice which his mother gave him, 
and the psalms, and promises, and questions which she 
taught him in early life were singularly profitable after the 
Lord commenced a work of grace in his soul." 

The following fact, which I recently witnessed, I record 
with pleasure, as suited to enforce upon motJiers the duty 

of praying with their children. A Mr. , who had 

served in the capacity of a soldier during the late wars in 
Europe, came to our country with the British army in 1812, 
and, at the establishment of peace, settled in the immediate 
vicinity of the writer. Owing to the indulgence of those 
irregular habits which he had formerly acquired in the army, 
the vigor of his constitution became gradually exhausted, 
and his attention, during a lingering illness, was happily 
directed to the things which concerned his everlasting peace. 
In conversation with him relative to his spiritual interests, I 
inquired whether he enjoyed a religious education in his 
youth, and whether his parents prayed in the family ; when 
he mentioned to me, most feelingly, the instructions and 
prayers of his mother ; and the recollection of her example 
and counsel appeared to refresh and support his soul under 
the pressure of severe bodily distress. 

Ye " mothers in Israel," may not these facts admonish 
and encourage you to go and do likeivise ^ Would not your 
instrumentality in raising up another Samuel, or Timothy, 
or Augustine, or Newton, or Doddridge, or Gardiner, or 
another heir of glory, even in the humbler sphere of life, 
reward you a hundred fold, for all your toil in catechizing, 
instructing, expostulating, or praying for your children, and 
with them ? And the promise is no less encouraging to 
you than to the mothers of that cloud of ivitnesses whom I 
have mentioned, and might mention. " I will pour my 
Spirit upon your seed, and my blessing upon your off- 
spring." Their children were as much enmity to God by 
nature as yours either are or can be ; but through the Holy 
Ghost working omnipotently with their instructions, they 



6 THE PRAYING MOTHER. 

were called into the family of grace, and sanctified as emi- 
nent instruments of glory to God, and usefulness in their 
generation. 

My dear female readers who have the charge of a fam- 
ily, what is now your resolution ? If others, actuated by 
love to their offspring, will labor to procure for them the 
"meat that perisheth," will not you henceforth devote a 
part of each day to procure for them "that meat which en- 
dureth to everlasting life ?" If the prospect of a corruptible 
crown may inspire with zeal in using the means which tend 
to insure it, what zeal can be considered too ardent in striv- 
ing for a crown which is incorruptible? Let the worth of 
the souls of your children, and the miseries of that hell 
which is to be avoided, and the joys of that heaven which 
is to be attained, all combine to excite in you the deepest 
solicitude for their salv^ation. 

Look on the dear young immortal, whether son or daugh- 
ter, as you nurse it in your arms, or nourish it at your 
breast : look at it, I say, and reflect, that it is an heir either 
of wrath or of reconciliation ; that it is a candidate either 
for glory or reproach, and that through everlasting ages. 
As you see your children advancing in the journey of life, 
from year to year, recollect that they are performing a 
journey to the eternal world; and aim, by your counsels 
and instructions, to reclaim them from that broad road 
which issues in death, to that narrow way which leads to 
life everlasting. When you are feeding their bodies from 
day to day " with food convenient," remind them of that 
"■livhg bread which came down from heaven," and consti- 
tutes the life of the soul. When you are clothing them witli 
raiment which your hands have spun, or wove, or fitted for 
them, and which will soon decay, tell them that there is a 
robe of righteousness provided by the Surety, provided at 
the expense of the travail of his soul, and dyed in his OAvn 
blood, which, put on by a living faith, will adorn and enrich 
them for ever. When, in the evening, you are laying them 
in bed, remind them of the sleep of the grave, of which the 



I 



THE PRAYING MOTHER. 7 

bed is an emblem, and that they must awake hereafter, 
either to the resurrection of Hfe, or of damnation. 

In this manner be instant in season and out of season, 
calhng up their attention to the great interests of their 
souls, and of their salvation. Read to them occasionally 
instances of early piety recorded in the Old and New Testa- 
ments, with the advantages resulting from it, and let them 
commit such portions of Scripture to memory. Converse 
with them, and act towards them under the impression of 
the truth, that they would not be profited by gaining the 
whole world, and losing their own souls ; and that, on the 
other hand, all neglect, or reproach, or suffering in the 
present life^ are nothing, compared with the prospect of 
glory hereafter. 

Whether you leave your dear children learned or un- 
learned, whether you leave them with or without a fortune, 
in high life or in humble life, are questions of little impor- 
tance ; but 0, how necessary is it to leave them with 
understandinos instructed and established in the truths of 
religion, with memories enriched with the promises of the 
Gospel, and hearts impressed with the fear of God, con- 
strained by his love, and ever willing to spend and be spent 
in his service. Should you be instrumental in bringing a 
single child to the saving knowledge of Jesus now, and to 
the enjoyment of heaven hereafter, the gain would be greater 
than the acquisition of a continent or a world. Yours would 
be the honorable, the benevolent office of rescuing an im- 
mortal being from the curse of sin, from the dominion and 
derision of Satan, from horrors of conscience, from the tor- 
ments of hell ; to live for ever with God, with Christ, with 
angels, and with all the spirits of the just, to be perfectly 
happy in the admiration of his perfections, and the full 
fruition of his love. 

With these few and very familiar remarks, ye mothers 
in Israel, I now leave you. While employed in writing 
them, I have occasionally poured out my soul on bended 
knees, imploring the Father of mercies to crown them with 



THE PRAYING MOTHER. 



his blessing. See that you mingle the reading of them 
■with frequent and fervent supplications, that he would seal 
these truths upon your consciences and hearts. Lay aside 
this Tract, and on the bended knee implore God that he 
would render you faithful to the trust which he committed 
to you in making you a mother; pray fervently that he 
may never permit a son or daughter, whom he has given 
you, to perish through your neglect, and thus their soul be 
required at your hand. 

Most of you who read this short Tract, and I who am 
now writing it, will never see each other on earth ; but the 
manner in which you improve it will be known in that hour 
when God shall "judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ." 
A solemn reckoning must then be rendered by me for the 
manner in which I have written, and an account equally 
solemn must be rendered by you for the manner in which 
you have improved these friendly suggestions. I have 
been constrained occasionally to pass, in imagination, from 
family to family, where the father is living without God, 
or even the form of his worship, and inquire with what 
emotions the mother rose from the perusal of this Tract ; 
to see whether the tear began to flow, whether the sigh of 
solicitude for her offspring was gently breathed, and whether 
the holy resolution was formed, "As for me and my house, 
we will serve the Lord ;" whether, with Abraham, she was 
ready importunately to expostulate, " that Ishmael might 
live before thee !" or with the woman of Canaan, " Lord, 
thou son of David, have mercy upon me." 

To the God of all grace I earnestly and affectionately 
commend you. That your house may be literally a Bethel, 
" sanctified by the word of God and prayer," and that your 
beloved offspring, under the Divine blessing accompanying 
your instructions, may grow up ornaments to the church, 
comforts to you in this world, and your eternal glory in the 
next, is, and shall be, the prayer of your willing servant, 
for Jesus' sake. 

PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY. 



]\o. 308. 



THE 



WORTH OF A DOLLAR. 




The following narrative is a simple history of facts. 
It was related to the writer by a mother in Israel, whose 
veracity is entitled to the most entire confidence. The 
principal actor in the scene was a brother-in-law of hers, 
distinguished for his piety while living, but now with God ; 
and it was from his own lips that she had all the particulars. 
If I may judge from its eflect on myself, it will touch, in the 
heart of many a reader, a cord which will vibrate long with 
tender and delightful emotions. 

About the year 1797, Deacon M. was travelling from a 
town on the eastern border of Vermont to another on the 
western side of the same state. Passing over the moun- 
tainous part of the country between the Connecticut and 
Onion rivers, he perceived the heavens to be gathering 
blackness ; the sound of distant thunder was heard, and a 
heavy shoM'^er of rain w^as seen to be fast approaching. 
The traveller was then in a forest ; no place of shelter ap- 
peared, and he hastened on until he arrived at a small cottage 
on the extreme border of the woods. The rain, just then 
VOL. VI. 29 



2 THE WORTH OF A DOLLAR. 

began to rush down with power. He sprang from his 
horse, pulled off his saddle, and without ceremony darted 
into the house. Surprised to see no family but a single 
female with an infant child, he began to apologize for his 
sudden appearance — hoped she would not be alarmed, but 
permit him to tarry till the rain abated, it was so violent. 
The woman replied, she was glad that any one had hap- 
pened to come in, for she was always much terrified by 
thunder. " But why, madam," said he, " should you be 
afraid of thunder ? It is the voice of God, and will do no 
harm to those who love him, and commit themselves to his 
care." After conversing awhile with her on this topic, he 
inquired whether she had any neighbors who were religious. 
She told him she had neighbors about two miles oft", but 
whether they were religious she knew not ; only she had 
heard that some man was in the habit of cominsf there to 
preach once in a fortnight. Her husband went once, but 
she had never been to their meetings. In regard to every 
thing of a religious kind, she appeared to be profoundly 
ip'uorant. 

o 

The rain had now passed over, and the face of nature 
smiled. The pious deacon, about to depart, expressed to 
the woman his thanks for her hospitality, and his earnest 
desire for the salvation of her soul. He earnestly besought 
her to read her Bible daily, and to give good heed to it, as 
to " a light shining in a dark place." She, with tears in her 
eyes, confessed that she had no Bible. They had never 
been able to buy one. " Could you read one, if you had 
it?" "Yes, sir, and would be glad to do so," "Poor 
woman," said he, " I do heartily pity you — farewell." 

He took his saddle, went to his horse, and was prepar- 
ing to pursue his journey. But he reflected : " This woman 
is in perishing need of a Bible. Oh, that I had one to give 
her ! But I have not. As for money to buy one, I have 
none to spare — I have no more than will be absolutely ne- 
cessary for my expenses home. I must go — but if I leave 
this woman without the means to procure the word of God, 
she may perhaps perish for lack of knowledge. What shall 
1 do?" A voice whispered, "He that hath pity on the 
poor, lendeth to the Lord. Cast thy bread upon the waters, 
for thou shalt find it after many days." His heart respond- 
ed, "I will trust the Lord." He took a dollar from his 



THE WORTH OF A DOLLAR. 3 

purse, went back, and desired the woman to take it, and as 
soon as possible procure for herself a Bible. She promised 
to do so, saying- that she knew Avhere one could be obtained. 

He again took his leave, and set off'. As there were 
then but few taverns on the road, he asked for lodging at 
the private house against which he found himself when 
night overtook him. He had yet a few pieces of change in 
his pocket ; but as a journey of two more days was before 
him, he purposed to make his supper on a cold morsel which 
he happened to have with him. But when the family came 
round their table to take their evening repast, the master of 
the house very urgently invited the stranger to join with 
them — not only so, but to crave God's blessing on their 
meal. He now began to feel himself among friends, and at 
liberty to speak freely on divine things. The family ap- 
peared gratified in listening to his discourse till a late hour : 
it was a season of refreshing to their thirsty souls. In the 
morning, the deacon was urged to tarry till breakfast, but 
declined, the distance he had to travel requiring him to set 
off early. His benefactor would take no compensation, and 
he departed, giving him many thanks. He travelled on till 
late in the morning, when, finding no public-house, he stop- 
ped again at a private one for refreshment. While waiting, 
he lost no time to recommend Christ, and him crucified, to 
the family. When ready to depart, he offered to pay the 
mistress of the house, who had waited upon him very 
kindly, for his repast and the oats for his horse ; but she 
would receive nothing. Thus he went on, calling for enter- 
tainment as often as he needed it, and recommending relig- 
ion wherever he called ; and always offering, as another 
traveller would do, to pay his expenses ; but no one Avould 
accept his money, although it was not known but he had a 
good supply, for he told them not, and his appearance was 
not mean : at home, he was a man of wealth. What, thought 
he, does this mean ? I was never treated in this manner on 
a journey before. The dollar given to the destitute woman 
recurred to his mind ; and conscience replied, / have been 
well paid. It is, indeed, safe lending to the Lord. On the 
second day after he left the cottage in the wilderness, he 
arrived safely at home ; and still had money for the poor, 
having been at no cost whatever. 

About one year and a half after this, a stranger called 



4 THE WORTH of a dollar. 

at the house of Deacon M. for some refreshment. In the 
course of the conversation, he observed that he hved, w^hen 
at home, on the other side of the mountain, near Connecti- 
cut river. The deacon inquired for some gentlemen there 
with whom he was acquainted, and was pleased to find that 
the stranger knew them Avell. He then asked whether the 
people in that vicinity paid much attention to religion. The 
traveller replied, " Not much ; but in a town twenty or 
thirty miles back from the river, where I am acquainted, 
there has been a powerful revival of religion. The com- 
mencement of it was very extraordinary. The first person 
that was awakened and brought to repentance, was a poor 
woman who lived in a very retired place. At the time of 
her baptism, she related that, some time before, a stranger 
was driven into her house by a thunder-storm, and talked 
to her so seriously, that she began, while listening to his 
discourse, to feel concerned about her soul. The man, she 
said, was much affected when he found that she had no Bi- 
ble ; and after he had left the house to go on his journey, 
returned again, and gave her a dollar to buy one ; and 
charged her to get it soon, and read it diligently. She did 
so ; and it had been the means, as she believed, of bringing 
her from darkness into light — from a state of stupidity and 
sin, to delight in the truth and ways of God. The name of 
this pious man, or the place of his residence, she knew not. 
But she believed it was the Lord that sent him. At this 
relation, and the great change which was so obvious in the 
woman, her neighbors wondered much. They were led to 
meditate on the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, dis- 
played in this singular event of his providence. They were 
led to think of the importance of themselves attending more 
to their Bibles, and were finally awakened to a deep concern 
for the salvation of their souls. As many as thirty or forty 
are already hopefully converted, and rejoicing in God their 
Saviour." 

The deacon, who had listened to this artless relation 
with a heart swelling more and more with wonder, grati- 
tude, and joy, could refrain no longer ; but, with hands and 
eyes upraised to heaven, exclaimed, "My God, thou hast 

PAID ME AGAIN !" 



rUBLISIiED BY THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY. 



No. 209. 

WHY 



GOD EMPLOYS FEEBLE MEANS 

TO 

PRODUCE GREAT EFFECTS. 



The employment of means implies no defect either in 
the power or wisdom of God. Without them he created the 
world. It was enough for him to say, " Let there be light," 
and there was light. He spake, and it was done ; he com- 
manded, and it stood fast. But, though he is thus omnip- 
otent, yet he sees good reasons to employ instruments in 
the government both of the natural and moral world ; and 
he often accomplishes ^reat designs hy very feeble and 
unpromising means. 

Abraham, though unused to war, with about three hun- 
dred servants, conquered five monarchs upon the plains of 
Sodom. The humble shepherd of Jethro and the captive 
Aaron, were the agents in effecting the deliverance of Is- 
rael from the house of bondage. Moses lifts up his staff 
to the heavens, and plagues descend upon all the dominions 
of Egypt. He waves it over the waters, and they divide 
and form a dry path for the people of God ; he sways it 
again, and the sea closes and overwhelms their enemies. 
With it he smites the rock in Horeb, and the stream gushes 
out to give drink to the thirsty camp. When met by the 
armies of Amalek, Moses raises his rod in prayer, and Israel 
prevails. The Israelites look upon the brazen serpent, and 
they are at once healed of the bite of the fiery flying ser- 
pents. At the sound of rams'-horns, the walls of Jericho 
were shaken down, and its inhabitants taken captive. God 
sent an army of hornets to drive out the two kings of the 
Amorites, who had fled to the fortresses and mountains of 
VOL. VI. 29=^^ 



FEEBLE MEANS 



Palestine, Gideon, with only three hundred men, holding 
lamps and earthen pitchers, routed an army of two hundred 
thousand, who were encamped in the valley like countless 
grasshoppers. A mere handful of Jews destroyed one 
hundred thousand of Benhadad's troops. A mere sound 
proved the destruction of the Assyrian hosts. A cruse of 
salt pvirified all the polluted waters, and cured all the bar- 
ren land of Jericho. The mantle of Elijah made the waters 
of Jordan part hither and thither. Shamgar, with an ox- 
goad, slew six hundred men. Samson destroyed a thousand 
with a jawbone. David killed Goliath with a sling and 
pebble. Our blessed Saviour, Avith clay, gave sight to the 
blind, and, with a touch of his finger, gave hearing and 
speech to the deaf and dumb. With five loaves and two 
fishes, he fed five thousand men, besides women and chil- 
dren. With a word, he raised the dead, and stilled the 
raging of the seas. By a few feeble ambassadors, employed 
in sounding the Gospel trumpet, he will destroy all the 
delusions of Mohammed, all the abominations of pagan and 
papal idolatry, and convert this world into a lively emblem 
of the paradise of God. 

These are a few instances, out of many that might be 
adduced, in proof that there is no restraint to the Lord to 
save by few or by many. But why he should take this 
COURSE, forms an interesting inquiry. God may take this 
method, 

1. To stain human glory. Had the children of Israel 
effected their deliverance from the house of bondage by 
their superior strength, their own arm would have received 
the honors of victory, and not the Lord of Sabaoth. But, 
to prevent their boasting, they were not permitted to strike 
a single blow. They must stand still, and be humble spec- 
tators, while Jehovah uttered his voice before his numerous 
camp, and led on his troops of frogs, flies, and lice, to lay 
the proud kingdom of Egypt low in the dust. Had they, 
after their entrance into the promised land, driven out the 
natives with the point of their own sword, Israel might 



AND CHEAT EFFECTS. 3 

have said, " By the strength of my hand have I done it, 
and by my wisdom, for I am prudent ; and my hand hath 
fomid, as a nest, the riches of the people ; and there was 
none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped." 
But lest they should thus vaunt themselves, God would not 
allow them any share in the conquest. Saitli he, " I sent 
the hornet before you, which drove them out ; hut not with 
thy sword, nor thy how^ God would not deliver the Mid- 
ianites into the hands of Gideon while he commanded an 
army of thirty-two thousand, but they must be reduced 
to three hundred men ; and these without any weapons of 
war, must be led against the mighty host, " lest Israel vaunt 
themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved 
me." 

2. To check the projjensity of men to ascribe their success 
to external means. They are much inclined to sacrifice 
unto their net, and to burn incense unto their drag, because 
by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous. The 
besiegers of Jericho might have honored the god of forces, 
if they had sprung mines of their own sinking, and had 
blown into fragments her proud and massy bulwarks. But 
when they saw the mighty walls of that city laid flat by 
the blast of the feeblest trumpet, they must give glory to 
the God of heaven. Had God selected the first preachers 
of the Gospel from among the most distinguished orators 
of Greece and Rome, infidels might object and say, that 
their success stood in the wisdom and eloquence of men ; 
and the new converts, too, might not have been able to see 
the glory of the Spirit through the splendor of these mor- 
tal instruments. But, to confound the wisdom of the wise, 
he chose the foolish things of the world. He called the 
first ministers of grace, not from the schools of the prophets, 
not from the feet of renowned rabbis, but he called them 
from the field, the workshop, and the fishing-boat ; and they 
had nothing to do but to leave their tools and tackling, and 
begin to proclaim the words of life, as the Spirit gave them 
utterance. These men Christ sent forth without arms. 



4 FEEBLE MEAXS 

without wealth, without commissions from the supreme tri- 
bunals of church or state. These unlettered men, wherever 
they went, preached the Gospel : how that God so loved 
the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son to die for 
sinners ; that Jesus Christ had come down to this lost world, 
and had been put to death according to the Scriptures, and 
that he had been raised from the dead, and ascended into 
heaven, to plead for all his people at the right hand of God. 
Before these men, altars, gods, temples, and all the pride 
of the Roman world, melted away, while they were followed 
by millions of saints, shouting the high praises of the Re- 
deemer. It would have been the height of folly and impi- 
ety for the human agents in this work to claim the praise 
of the glorious triumph. As well might the sculptor wor- 
ship the chisel with which he shapes his marble into a hu- 
man statue, or the painter adore the brush with which he 
lays on his colors. 

3. To encourage Christians to 2'>ut their trust in God. 
How often has God blasted the best concerted measures of 
human policy, while he has crowned with wonderful success 
those plans which, to mortal eyes, appeared to be schemes 
of folly ! The Catholics designed to crush the heretics by 
a mighty fleet, which they proudly styled the Invincible 
Armada. But the poor Protestants trembled, and fell on 
their knees to make their prayers to the God of heaven. 
" The Lord blew with his breath, and the sea covered the 
enemy ; they sank as lead in the mighty waters." To teach 
saints that Samson's great strength lay in God, and not in 
his hair, he was enabled, even when blind and shorn of his 
seven locks, to overturn the temple of Dagon. God enabled 
David, with unarmed hands, to tear in pieces the bear and 
the lion, to embolden him, though furnished with only a 
sling and stones, to accept the challenge of Goliath. When 
the children of Israel went up against the Canaanites, while 
the ark of the covenant abode in the camp, they were chased 
back with disgrace and slaughter. But when they marched 
at the command of God, and employed the weapons he 



AND GllEAT EFFECTS. 5 

prescribed, no sons of Anak, no confederacy of kings, no 
munitions of rocks, could stand before them. 

4. To intimidate his enemies. When it was known in 
Canaan, how that God, with the rod of Moses, had inflicted 
terrible plagues on the Egyptians, and with it had over- 
thrown the hosts of Pharaoh in the Red Sea, sorrow took 
hold on the inhabitants of Palestine, the dukes of Edom 
were amazed, the mighty men of Moab trembled, all the 
inhabitants of the land melted away. This subject Balaam 
well understood. He knew that all the powers of king 
Balak, and ten thousand more of equal force and malignity, 
could not vanquish the people of God. He well knew 
that that Jehovah, who had sometimes defended them with 
troops of angels, and sometimes with armies of insects, 
and who was then guiding them with his cloudy pillar, to 
their promised rest, and was feeding them on their way with 
manna from heaven, and with drink from the flinty rock, 
could protect and supply them in any emergency. Hence 
he told his master, " Surely there is no enchantment against 
Jacob, neither is there divination against Israel. God 
brought him forth out of Egypt ; he shall eat up the na- 
tions his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce 
them through with his arrows." 

5. To display his own glory. The hand of God is the 
most manifested when there is the greatest disparity between 
the means and the eff'ect produced. The cross, not the 
sword, is the appointed instrument to conquer the world. 
When God, with the foolish things of the world, confounds 
the wise ; when, with the weak things of the world, he con- 
founds the mighty ; and when, with things that are not, he 
brings to naught things that are, no flesh can glory in his 
presence, but those who glory must glory in the Lord. The 
rich treasure of the Gospel is put into earthen vessels, that 
the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of man. 
God assured Paul that his infirmities must be continued, 
that his thorn in the flesh must not be removed ; for, saith 
he, "my strength is made perfect in weakness." 



6 FEEBLE MEANS 

This purpose of God, to accomplish great things by 
small means, may teach us some important lessons. 

1. All have encou7'agement to do something. If no char- 
ities were to avail but the liberal donations of the wealthy ; 
if no sermons were to be blessed but those of the greatest 
men ; if no efforts were to succeed but those of the mighty ; 
then the greatest portion of mankind would have no motive 
for action. But as God is wont to execute great designs 
by the weakest agents, all, and especially the feeble, have 
great inducements to constant exertion. The poor widow's 
two mites have done more good, perhaps, than the be- 
stowed millions of the rich ; and the labors of the unlearned 
will be owned of God, as well as those of Paul or Apollos. 
Have you nothing to bestow on the disciples of Christ but 
a cup of cold water ? are you deprived of ability to move ? 
yet, if you have a heart to weep and sigh for the cause of 
God, your tears shall be bottled, your sighs shall be record- 
ed, and all turn to some great account in advancing your 
Redeemer's interest. 

2. This subject should chastise our confidence of success, 
when we employ poiverful means. The race is not to the 
swift, nor the battle to the strong. Ahithophel gave the 
able counsel of an experienced general, but it was over- 
thrown by the impolitic advice of Hushai, Sisera expected 
to trample in the dust the feeble band of Deborah ; but yet 
this female warrior, with a handful of men, broke in pieces 
his nine hundred chariots of iron, and discomfited all his 
countless host of veteran troops. How fearful the odds 
between the well-armed gigantic champion of the Philis- 
tines, and the beardless shepherd of Israel ; and who v/ould 
have predicted that David was to gain the victory ? 

The famous William Tennant once took much pains to 
prepare a sermon to convince a celebrated infidel. But, in 
attempting to deliver this labored discourse, Mr. Tennant 
was so confused that he was obliged to stop and close the 
service by prayer. This unexpected failure in one who had 



1 



AND GREAT EFFECTS. 7 

SO often astonished the unbeliever with the force of his elo- 
quence, led the infidel to reflect that Mr. Tennant had been, 
at other times, aided by a Divine power. This reflection 
proved the means of his conversion. Thus God accom- 
plished by silence, what his servant meant to eff'ect by per- 
suasive speaking. Hence, Mr. Tennant used afterwards to 
say, " his dumb sermon was the most profitable sermon that 
he ever delivered." 

3. Do means derive all their efficiency from the imme- 
diate power of God ; then we may account for the variety 
of success attending their employment. The same means 
produce very different eff'ects upon different individuals, 
though employed by the same person. The same miracles 
of Christ Avhicli convinced some, hardened others ; and the 
same sermons which converted some, exasperated others. 
Peter preaches upon the crucifixion of Clirist, and three 
thousand of his hearers are converted ; but Stephen takes 
the same subject, and all his hearers are intoxicated with 
madness. Paul preaches in Corinth and Macedonia, and 
wins many converts ; he preaches the same Gospel at 
Athens, and almost all reject his message. He is gratefully 
received in one city, and stoned in another. The Jews had 
nothing but hatred and stripes to give the apostle, but the 
Galatians loved him so well that they were ready to pluck 
out and give him their eyes. But Paul was the same, and 
his preaching the same, in all these diff"erent places. Some- 
times the arrows of God's word rebound from the heart as 
if they struck a wall of adamant : at others they quickly 
enter, and the King's enemies are slain by the power of 
truth. 

Let us, then, take courage, and employ those humble 

MEANS WHICH HAVE OFTEN BEEN ABUNDANTLY BLESSED. 

1. Let US be active in the distribution of Tracts. The 
infidel writers of the last century acted on the maxim, that 
" an army of principles will peneti'ate where an army of 
soldiers cannot. It is neitlier the Rhine, the Channel, nor 



8 FEEBLE MEANS 

the ocean, that can arrest its progress. It will march to the 
horizon of the world, and it will conquer." Hence, they 
issued numerous pamphlets, all deeply charged with the 
infection of licentiousness and infidelity. Let it then be our 
aim to countervail their pernicious influence by distributing 
Tracts of an opposite character. The little messenger of 
mercy which you send forth, may be read by hundreds ; 
and who can tell but this silent visitor may make the drunk- 
ard sober, the lewd chaste, the profane pious, the licentious 
regular, and the stupid sinner a lively saint ? Thus it may 
be the instrument of planting new stars in the Redeemer's 
crown, and of swelling the notes of eternal praise. 

2. Give good counsel. A word, to be sure, is light 
breath, a feeble means of usefulness. But one word may 
produce an amount of good beyond the human powers of 
calculation. Says Solomon, " a word spoken in due sea?on, 
how good is it ! It is like apples of gold in pictures of sil- 
ver." A good w^ord, and a fit time for speaking it, are like 
two beautiful objects, like golden apples set in silver pic- 
tures. A word of instruction may direct the inquirer into 
the path of life ; a persuasive word may save the sinner 
from the error of his ways ; a word of comfort may console 
the afliicted ; and the poor man, by his seasonable counsel, 
may deliver the city. 

3. Let us labor to do good by devising plans of useful- 
ness. Though we may feel ourselves to be of little note or 
use in the world, yet one thought, one hint, one w^ord, or 
plan of ours, may be the means of infinite good in the sal- 
vation of thousands of souls. 

Mr. Carey, and a few others, when they first agreed to 
meet on the first Monday in every month, to pray for the 
spread of the Gospel, little thought that they were then 
commencing a custom which was to spread over the earth, 
and to be the means of exciting, every month, the prayers 
of the people of God, in every quarter of the world, to 
draw unnumbered blessings on Christian and pagan na- 
tions. 



AND GREAT EFFECTS. 9 

A pious female, in Boston, at a dinner hour, proposed 
to the company to hiy aside one cent for some charitable 
purpose, instead of taking their glass of wine, and to repeat 
it weekly. But she was not apprized that she was then 
laying the foundation for those cent and mite societies, 
which have contributed one of the largest streams of char- 
ity to aid in accomplishing schemes of benevolence. The 
cent institutions in New Hampshire paid into the missionary 
treasury, in one year, more than fifteen hundred dollars. 

Robert Raikes, when he opened the first Sabbath-school 
in the city of Gloucester, did not imagine that he was then 
founding an institution which was to be extended through 
Christendom, and even unto pagan lands, and within a 
few years to furnish gratuitous instruction to more than 
600,000 children! On many of these schools God has 
poured out his Spirit, and in them, spreading revivals have 
been commenced, and many children have been gathered 
" from the highways of sin and death " into the fold of 
Christ. That obscure individual, by performing that ob- 
scure act, did not know he was then doing what would 
enrol his name among the most distinguished benefactors of 
mankind. But yet, when all the splendors of royalty, and 
all the fame of conquest are buried in oblivion, Robert 
Raikes will be remembered by saints in glory, " as the father 
and founder of Sabbath-schools." 

The Rev. Joseph Hughes, when the thought first darted 
through his mind of forming a Bible association to supply 
the destitute, did not anticipate that that thought would 
give rise to the British and Foreign Bible Society — a Soci- 
ety which displays most ardent and enlightened zeal, and 
comprises vast weight of influence and vast resources of 
wealth ; whose spirit is so nobly catholic that, disregarding 
all civil and political distinctions, it is pouring forth its 
streams of charity to numerous nations of the earth — a 
Society which may well be styled the glory of the British 
nation, and the wonder of the world. How little did Mr. 
Hughes imagine that this suggestion would be the origin 

VOL. VI. 30 



10 FEEBLE MEANS 

of such immeasurable good ! that it would put in motion 
an institution whose effects will continue and augment till 
the latest moment of time, and throughout every age of 
eternity. 

How encouraging these examples ! One word, one 
thought, one act of yours, may be the source of some un- 
speakably great and everlasting good. A remark of the 
Rev. Mr, Simeon, on the benefit which had resulted from 
the services of Dr. Carey in India, first arrested the atten- 
tion of the late Mr. Martyn to the cause of missions ; and 
his thoughts then became occupied with the vast importance 
of the subject. Soon after which, perusing the life of Da- 
vid Brainerd, his soul was filled with a holy emulation of 
that extraordinary man ; and after deep consideration and 
fervent prayer, he was at length fixed in his resolution to 
imitate his example. Thus, all the incalculable good pro- 
duced by this devoted missionary of the cross, is traced to 
an individual and casual remark. 

4. Let parents remember their ohligations to train up 
their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. 
Should you be the instrument of saving one of your family, 
that one child will, in eternity, enjoy an amount of happi- 
ness infinitely greater than the aggregate sum of all the 
human and angelic happiness that has, as yet, been enjoyed. 
Are you the honored instruments of rearing up a son to be 
an ambassador of Christ ? he may turn many to righteous- 
ness, and hereafter shine as the brightness of the firmament, 
and as the stars for ever and ever. Or you may rear up a 
daughter who, through your instrumentality, may become 
a mother in Israel. Moses, you will remember, after he 
was taken from the waters of the Nile, was again, by the 
special providence of God, committed to his parents. This 
mother, unquestionably, early taught him the character of 
God, his dealings with her people, and his designs of future 
mercies. These instructions, aided by the blessing of God, 
preserved him, in his juvenile years, amid all the profligacy 
of the Egyptian court, and prepared him to become the 



AND GREAT EFFECTS. H 

future deliverer, guide, and legislator of the people of 
God. 

In the city of London lived a poor and obscure woman, 
who brought forth a son, who, at his birth, was laid aside 
as dead. But, through the assiduities of the nurse, the 
expiring flame of life was rekindled. This child his mother 
took and brought up for God. Before he could read, she 
taught him the history of the Old and New Testaments, by 
the assistance of some Dutch tiles in the chimney of the 
room where she usually sat. Little did this woman think 
w4iat an important service she was performing. She was 
then training up the famous Philip Doddridge, who appeared 
in the kingdom of God as a star of prime magnitude. 

Those of you who have read the life of the late cele- 
brated John Newton, will recollect that the instructions 
which his mother gave him before he was four years old, 
made such a deep impression on his mind, that they were 
not wholly defaced during his many years of dissipation. 
They kept him from entire apostasy from the Christian 
faith, and were, without doubt, the means of preparing him 
to become a distinguished minister of Christ. This Mr. 
Newton was the earthly agent in the conversion of Mr. 
Scott, the famous commentator, and of Claudius Buchanan, 
the distine^uished missionary, both of whose writino-s will 
continue to irradiate the church ages after they are slum- 
bering in the dust. Look at this sum of good, and remem- 
ber, that, so ftir as human agency deserves to be mentioned 
in any case, all this is to be ascribed, under God, to paren- 
tal instructions imparted to little children ! 

5. Let us give ourselves to i)rmjer. Praying breath is 
but a feeble means, yet God has often owned it with dis- 
tinguished encouragement in carrying on his work of re- 
demption. The prayers of Moses often removed the 
plagues of Egypt, the prayers of Elijah procured rain from 
heaven, and the prayers of the church liberated Peter from 
prison. Prayer moves the hand that controls the sceptre 
and all the treasures of heaven. Many other instances of 



12 FEEBLE MEANS AND GREAT EFFECTS. 

the efficacy of prayer might be adduced. " Among these 
the destruction of the French armament under the duke 
D'Anville, in the year 1746, ought to be remembered with 
gratitude and admiration by every inhabitant of this country. 
This fleet consisted of forty ships of war ; was destined 
for the destruction of New England ; was of sufficient force 
to render that destruction, in the ordinary progress of things, 
certain ; sailed from Chebucto, in Nova Scotia, for this 
purpose, and was entirely destroyed, on the night following 
a general fast throughout New England, by a terrible tem- 
pest. Impious men, who regard not the work of the Lord, 
nor the operation of his hands, and who, for that reason, 
are finally destroyed, may refuse to give God the glory of 
this most merciful interposition. But our ancestors had, and 
it is to be hoped their descendants ever will have, both piety 
and good sense sufficient to acknowledge that God who 
hears and answers prayer." 

Let us, then, pray often and fervently to the Lord of the 
harvest, and who can tell but one prayer of ours may be 
owned in the conversion of another Brainerd, another 
Swartz, another Carey, to be sent forth to visit another 
spot in the dark places of cruelty, to kindle another Gospel 
fire, and to raise another race of converts, to help fill the 
kingdom of heaven, and to heighten the song of redeeming 
love ? 



PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY. 



IVo. 3IO. 

HISTORY 

OF 

JONATHAN BROWN, 

THE BARGEMAN. 

BT THE LATE REV. DR. CALAMT. OP LONDON 




The followdng history is taken from a narrative left in 
manuscript by the E.ev. Dr. Calamy, being inchided in his 
"Historical Account of his own Life and Times." 

It was my usual custom, from the time of my settlement 
in the congregation at Westminster, on the Lord's day before 
every administration of the sacrament, to give notice of my 
intention to administer that ordinance, and also to invite 
such as were desirous to discourse with me about coming 
to that ordinance, to be with me at my own house, on the 
Thursday evening before. Having at a certain time done 
so — the year I cannot remember — when I came home on 



VOL. VI. 



30* 



2 HISTORY OF JONATHAN BROWN. 

the evening appointed, I found several waiting for me. 
Among the rest, there was a httle old- man, who, upon my 
entering the room, cried out with an audible voice, " Sir, 
here's Jonathan Brown, that can neither write nor read, 
that, according to your invitation on Sunday last, is come to 
see you, and hear what you have to say to him." 

I looked about, and knew none of the others any more 
than I did him ; and, perceiving he was much the oldest 
person in the company, told him that I no more invited him 
than others ; but that, now he was come, if I could be of 
any use to him, I should rejoice in it. 

" Nay, but. Master," said he, " how can you say you did 
not invite me ? for when you spoke, you looked me full in 
the face, which, to me, seemed all one as if you had said, 
Jonathan Brown, do you come." 

I told him that I did not know there was any such per- 
son in being as Jonathan Brown, till now ; nor did I look at 
him, or invite him, any more than others ; but that if I 
could do him any service in the best respects, it would be a 
real pleasure to me, and I should be thankful to God and 
his providence for giving me the opportunity. 

He told me he was in hopes I both could and would do 
him the greatest service in the world, by directing and as- 
sisting him to steer right, in his way to heaven, which was 
the thing he most earnestly desired. 

*' I, sir," said he, *' am well known, and there are few, 
if any, that do know me, but will tell you, Jonathan Brown 
is as honest a man as any in the parish. But I find this 
won't do ; I want something further, and I beg your advice 
upon it ; and that you may the better know how to suit your 
advice to my case, I have such a story to tell you of myself, 
as I dare say you never heard since you were born." 

I could not but take notice of the honest simplicity of 
the poor man, and the earnestness of his spirit, and observed 



HISTORY OF JONATHAN BROWN. 3 

several signs of great concern. I therefore determined to 
hear his narrative, and to endeavor to make such remarks 
on what he said, as, with the blessing of God, might do him 
good. I then separated him from the rest of the company, 
and he told me that he knew nothing of his father or mother, 
but that, when he was about six or seven years of age, he 
was put to a barge -master, and so he was bred up in one of 
the barges that plied between Ware and London ; and that 
he continued with his barge-master till he was twenty-five 
years of age. He told me that, from his childhood, he was 
just to every body, and wronged no one. He hated lying, 
and spoke what was true, according to the best of his 
knowledge ; and found something within him often telling 
him, that such ill things as he heard and saw from day to 
day were to be avoided. His master was kind to him, and 
much favored him, though his fellow-servants and others 
seemed to bear an ill-will to him, because he would not 
speak and act as they did. But, after all, he was uneasy, 
and thought he wanted something farther ; though, through 
the ignorance in which he had been trained up, he could not 
tell what that should be. He added, that in all this time 
he had not any notion of worship due to the great God, nor 
had he ever been present at, or so much as heard of any 
thing of the kind ; nor ever so much as heard who or what 
Christ was, or observed the name of God mentioned by any 
that were about him, but in their oaths and curses : he had 
no knowledge of any difference between one day and an- 
other, or, indeed, between good and evil of any sort, but 
what he had from some inward stirrings in his own breast, 
which he could not account for. And upon mentioning this, 
I observed the tears running down his cheeks. He said, 
that upon the whole he grew so uneasy, that he could not 
be satisfied to continue with his master any longer, but re- 
solved to go away and shift for himself in the wide world. 



4 HISTORY OF JOXATIIAX BROWN. 

One Lord's-day morning-, whilst he was walking about 
the streets of London to make his remarks, without know- 
ing where to go, or having any thing to do, he had wandered 
as far as Temple Bar ; and walking without the gate he ob- 
served a number of people go in at a certain place, and 
them he followed, reckoning they were going to see some 
sight. When he came in, he said, he saw a great many 
people in seats, and one in black, mounted high above all 
the rest, at which he was surprised. He heard the man in 
black talking with great earnestness to the people present, 
and telling them that they had souls as well as bodies, and 
that there was another life after this ; and that all such as 
did not take care to serve and please God, while they were 
in this life, would be miserable in the other life, and that 
for ever. He added, that he told them also of Jesus Christ, 
of whom he had never heard any thing distinctly before, 
who was so exceedingly kind as to come from lieaven to 
earth, to show us the way from earth to heaven ; and that 
it was only by his means that any could get the favor of 
God, so as to be happy in that other life. And the poor 
man added, that he was so affected with these things, that, 
before he stirred, he took up a fixed resolution, that, for the 
tinie to come, he would never live anywhere but where he 
might hear of Jesus Christ ; that so he might become ac- 
quainted with him, in order to his being made happy, and 
having his soul saved by his means. 

At length the barge-master, after making great inquiry 
after him, found him, and tried every means to get him 
back into his service, offering him more wages, and one- 
fourth of his barge, which was supposed to be worth eighty 
pounds ; but Jonathan told him that nothing would induce 
him to return ; that though he could not say he had wanted 
for any thing necessary as to his body, while he was in his 
service, yet his soul, which was his better part, had been 



HISTORY OF JONATHAN BROWN. 5 

wholly neglected : he had been bred up like a mere brute, 
without knowing any thing of the worship of God, or hear- 
ing any thing of Jesus Christ, by whom alone, he now un- 
derstood, he could be saved and made happy. And that 
he had taken up a fixed resolution to live nowhere, for the 
time to come, but where he might have an opportunity of 
getting acquainted with Jesus Christ, whom he declared he 
esteemed and valued as his best friend. The master en- 
deavored to divert Jonathan from such thoughts as these, 
which he did not at all relish, but could not move him ; and 
finding him fully resolved, and being unable to oblige him to 
comply with his own choice, left him to take his own way. 

By living thriftily, and saving all he could, he at length 
got, first a smaller vessel, and then a larger one, of his own, 
till he came and settled at Westminster, where he had an 
established reputation as an honest man, and was worth 
money. From the time of his settling there, he told me he 
was a constant hearer of my predecessor, Mr. Allsop, as he 
was also of me upon my succeeding liim ; though I had 
never heard any thing of him till the time of his coming to 
me upon the occasion forementioned. 

When he thus came to me he was turned of threescore ; 
and I began with asking him if he knew that he was a sin- 
ner. He answered, that he did ; but that he hoped a mer- 
ciful God would forgive him all that was amiss. But pro- 
ceeding to enter upon particulars, about man's fall from 
God, his recovery by grace, the terms of forgiveness, and 
the nature of regeneration and sanctification, I found he was 
very defective in knowledge. He told me he was not book- 
learned, and could neither read nor write, which he much 
lamented ; but hoped God would make him a merciful al- 
lowance, in consideration of his imhappy education. I 
asked him, how it came about, that when he, for so many 
years before, had been so pleased with hearing of Jesus 



6 HISTORY OF JONATHAN BROWN. 

Christ, he should have taken no more pams to get a distinct 
knowledge of him in all this time. He told me that he had 
attended upon God on Lord's day duly, in public worship, 
and called upon him in private as he was able ; and endeav- 
ored to learn to read, on purpose that he might be able to 
consult his Bible, and distinctly learn the way to heaven ; 
but he found himself incapable. He added, that he had 
been forced to take abundance of pains to pick up a liveli- 
hood, and God had therein wonderfully succeeded and 
blessed him, and that he was ashamed he had not made 
better returns ; but that this he could say, that he most 
earnestly desired to be the Lord's, and there was nothing 
that he valued like his favor. When I asked him why he 
did not apply to some minister in private for direction and 
advice, he told me he never had an opportunity of acquaint- 
ance with any minister, though he had heard a great many 
preach and pray, which he hoped he was the better for ; 
and added, that he was afraid of conversing with ministers 
alone, for fear they should despise him when they observed 
his ignorance, and discourage him, instead of giving him 
assistance. 

Asking him further, whether he never thought it his 
duty to remember Christ and his dying love at his table, 
which was a charge he had given all his followers that hoped 
to reach heaven and happiness by his means, he told me he 
had often been thinkuig of it, and more than ever upon his 
hearing me discourse in the pulpit upon that duty ; but that 
he knew not how to imagine, that such a poor, ignorant, 
despicable creature as he was, could ever be worthy of such 
an honor. On the Lord's day before he came to me, when 
I invited persons to my house from the pulpit, he said, he 
thought I looked very pleasantly upon him, as if I was 
desirous he should come ; and that thereupon he took up a 
resolution that nothing should prevent his coming. Asking 



HISTORY OF JONATHAN BROWN. 7 

him wliat he now desired of me, and expected from me, he 
told me, that what he desired and expected was, that, hke 
a faithful minister of Christ, I should direct him how to 
bottom his hopes rightly for heaven, that he might go 
upon such grounds as not to be in danger of miscarrying. 
Asking him further, whether he would be willing to take 
pains to get what knowledge was necessary, and was dis- 
posed to receive and listen to instruction, he burst into tears, 
and told me he was ready and willing with all his soul, and 
should be extremely thankful both to God and me ; w^hich 
put me in mind of the man in the Gospel, that cried to our 
Saviour, "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.'^ Mark 
9: 24. 

I could not help being much affected with this poor 
man's case, and told him that I was very willing to take 
pains with him, to help him by degrees to such knowledge 
as was necessary, without which the heart could not be 
good, nor his state safe. He told me I should find him a 
very dull scholar, and that he knew not how to express 
himself, nor, indeed, to take things in, like others who had 
better capacities ; but he would pray God to help him, and 
earnestly desired me to pray for him. I gave him a short 
explication of the principles of religion, and put him upon 
o'ettino" one to read it over to him again and asrain : and 
told him that if he would come to me at such times as I 
mentioned to him, I would discourse things over particularly 
with him. That, as for expressing himself to me about the 
things of religion, he might take his own plain way, with- 
out cramping himself with words and phrases ; and that, in 
my discoursing with him, I would endeavor to turn things 
several ways, so that he might take them in one way, if he 
did not in another. He went away much pleased, and very 
thankful, saying again and again, he hoped God would re- 
ward me. 



8 HISTORY OF JONATHAN BROWN. 

As I had opportunity afterwards, I inquired this poor 
man's character of some that hved in his neighborhood, 
and of others that he dealt with in the way of business ; 
and all gave him the character of a sincere, honest man, 
who was ready to help any one he knew wanted help, as far 
as he was able, and that would not wrong a worm ; which 
was the very expression that I remember many made use 
of concerning him. He afterwards visited me frequently, 
and I discoursed with him very freely about the main prin- 
ciples of religion, endeavoring to help him to right notions 
of the happiness of man while innocent, the sinfulness and 
misery of the state hito which he fell, the great work of 
redemption, the nature of the Gospel covenant, the evil of 
sin, the excellency of holiness, the duties and blessings of 
vital Christianity, the evidence with which supernatural 
revelation is attended, and the purifying nature of Christian 
hopes. And afterwards I endeavored to give him an insight 
into the nature of the ordinances, especially that I might 
assist him in preparing for the Lord's Supper. This was a 
work of time and pains ; for Jonathan used intense appli- 
cation, and appeared very warmly concerned to get what 
knowledge was necessary upon those heads on which I dis- 
coursed with him ; but he found it attended with abundance 
of difficulty. However, at length, he arrived to such a de- 
gree of knowledge, and what he did attain to was attended 
with such marks and evidences of sincerity, that I durst not 
deny admitting him to the Lord's table ; notwithstanding, I 
found he could as well carry a mountain upon his shoulders, 
as learn to read at his age. 

He was afterwards exceedingly pleased and satisfied, 
and often declared he knew not how to express his thank- 
fulness to God, in the first place, for his great mercy to 
him ; and to me, in the next place, for the pains I had taken 
Avith him. His heart seemed to be wholly set upon doing 



HISTORY OF JONATHAN BROWN. 9 

good. In one of his visits to me, he brought a bag of 
money, and told me he was very sensible he had but a little 
time before him to do good in ; and desired me to take what 
I thouo-ht o'ood out of the bao*, and distribute to such ob- 
jects of charity as I was acquainted with, the relieving of 
whom might be for the glory of God ; and he signified to 
me, that I could not in any way give him a truer satisfac- 
tion and pleasure, than by directing him to any thing by 
which he might glorify that God to whom he was infinitely 
indebted. His discourse in the whole of his conversation 
was very serious, and all his behavior exemplary. No one 
attended divine worship Avith more constancy, or a greater 
appearance of seriousness ; and the Lord's day was no 
sooner over, than he longed for the next. The whole of 
his behavior was indeed exemplary ; and it continued so 
for the remainder of his life. 

Missing him one Lord's-day, my heart misgave me that 
he was not well, and I determined the next day to make 
inquiry after him ; but I was prevented by a message sent 
me early the next morning, that Jonathan Brown Avas very 
ill, and that if I desired .to see him alive, it was requisite I 
should be with him some time that day. I went in the 
morning, and found him in a very bad condition ; and though 
he had good advice, yet nothing afforded him any relief. 
There was a mixed company in the room, talking and chat- 
ting with great freedom. Stepping to the bedside, I said, 
Honest Jonathan, how is it v/ith thee ? " Ah, sir," said he, 
"Jonathan is agoing." Going! said I, Avhither art thou 
going? "To my God, sir," said he, " I hope." I hope so 
too, said I ; but then, I added, I pray thee, let me know, 
in a narrow compass, and that in thine own way, the ground 
of this thy hope. "Why, sir," said he, "you know, as I 
have often told you, that I can neither read nor write : I 
wish I could. But I have heard from several ministers, 

VOL. VT. 31 



10 HISTORY OF JONATHAN BROWN. 

whose faithfulness I have no reason to call in question, and 
from you in particular, who I am satisfied would not impose 
upon me, that, if I gave myself heartily to the Lord Jesus 
Clirist, God would be merciful even to such a poor, misera- 
ble sinner as I am, and own me for his ; and that this was 
the sum of the whole Gospel. Now, sir," said he, " if ever 
I did any thing heartily all the days of my life, I gave my- 
self, my whole self, to Christ, and therefore I hope that 
God, for his sake, will be gracious to me, pardon my sins, 
and take me to himself in heaven, whenever he calls me 
hence." I endeavored to strengthen, coinfort, and encour- 
age him ; and afterwards recommended him to God in 
prayer ; and he died that evening, not only peaceably, but 
triumphantly. To God be the praise ! 

In attempting to draw instruction from this narrative, 
we may observe, 

1. It appears that Jonathan Brown was entirely without 
education, and that his ignorance kept him from rendering 
any worship to God, either in public or in private. Lamenta- 
ble, however, as his condition was, "God had not left him- 
self without witness " in his conscience ; but " the stirrings 
in his own breast, which he could not account for," had 
induced an uneasiness in his mind, and an impression " that 
he wanted something farther, though he could not tell what 
that should be." 

2. This faint light and these feeble convictions undoubt- 
edly came ''from above,'" and were the commencement of 
that "good ivork'' which God was producing in the heart 
of this poor man. Has then the reader of this Tract had 
light to see his ignorance and the darkness which surrounds 
him ? Has he had convictions of his depravity and guilt, 
and felt uneasiness on account of the danger to which they 
expose him ? Let him cherish these impressions, and act 



HISTORY OF JONATHAN BROWN. H 

upon them in every way that the providence and word of 
God point out for his comfort and rehef ; and trusting in 
Christ, he shall never be forsaken, 

3. The effect of the preaching of the Gospel on the soul 
of Jonathan Brown is well worthy of observation. When 
he first heard of Jesus Christ, and of his coming from 
heaven to earth to save sinners, " he was so affected, that, 
before he stirred from the place, he resolved that, for the 
time to come, he would never live anywhere but where he 
might hear of Jesus Christ." How happy was this poor 
man ! his darkness was dispelled, the " true light " now 
shone upon him, and his uneasiness and uncertainty were 
alleviated or removed, by hearing and accepting the faithful 
saying, *' that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sin- 
ners, even the chief." 1 Tim. 1 : 15. Surely, ''there is 
salvation in no other, nor any other name under heaven 
given among men, whereby we must be saved." Acts 
4:12. Reader, whether thou art rich or poor, learned or 
unlearned, thou art by nature a depraved, and by practice 
a sinful and guilty creature. In the language of Scripture, 
"thou hast destroyed thyself;" but Jesus is the hope set 
before thee in the Gospel. In him alone thy help is found ; 
therefore, " Believe in him, and thou shalt be saved." Acts 
16 : 31. 

4. The evidence which Jonathan Brown gave of the 
reality of his conversion to God, in his life and conduct, is 
very pleasing and satisfactory. " His conversation was se- 
rious, his behavior exemplary, his attendance on the public 
worship of God constant ; and a part of his little bag of 
money was devoted to the poor, in order that God might 
be glorified thereby." Reader, there is but one "common 
salvation " for every class of mankind, and every description 
of persons in each class. All " believers are justified in the 
name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God," 1 



12 HISTORY OF JONATHAN BROWN. 

Cor. 6:11; their souls are "purified in obeying the truth, 
through the Spirit," 1 Pet. 1:22; and they produce " the 
fruit of the Spirit, which is in all goodness, righteousness, 
and truth." Eph. 5 : 9. Try yourself, therefore, by these 
marks and evidences of real, scriptural Christianity; and 
remember, "if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he 
is none of his," Rom. 8:9; and that " without holiness, no 
man shall see the Lord." Heb. 12. 14. 

Finally, the account of Jonathan's death is very inter- 
esting and affecting. "If," said he with his dying breath, 
"if I ever did any thing heartily all the days of my life, I 
gave myself, my Avhole self, to Christ " — and he departed, 
not only "peacefully, but triumphantly." Godly simplicity 
marked the language and the conduct of this poor, but good 
man ; and that gracious Redeemer in whom he believed, and 
to whom he had given himself, his whole self, owned, sup- 
ported, and comforted his expiring servant, and, without 
doubt, took him to the happiness and glory of the heavenly 
state. May every poor and uninstructed man be encouraged 
by this narrative to attend the preaching of the Gospel, the 
substance of which is " Christ crucified, for the redemption 
and salvation of sinners." " To know God, and Jesus Christ 
whom he hath sent, is life eternal." John 17 : 3. It is a 
blessed, holy, and saving knowledge ; and, as in the case of 
Jonathan Brown, it makes the poor "rich in faith, and heirs 
of the promises." 



!Vo. 311. 



TO PARENTS. 



Allow me, reader, to hold converse with you, for a 
httle while, on the subject of educating the rising genera- 
tion. If you are a parent, it is a subject in which you have 
a deeper interest than any other, the question of your own 
personal salvation excepted ; and even this may be much 
more affected by it than you are aware. If you are with- 
out *'son or nephew," and never expect to have a child of 
Adam under your care, yet you are a man, and may not 
make yourself an alien to your fellow-men, nor withhold 
your efforts for the welfare of the generations who are to 
succeed you, without committing an outrage on the best 
feelings of human nature. 

Two points relative to religious education I beg to 
press upon your deepest attention — its importance, and the 
best method of conducting it. 

Its importance. It is the opinion of some, who wish 
to be accounted philosophers rather than Christians, that 
human nature, in infancy, is a material which may, by edu- 
cation, be manufactured into almost any thing ; that it is 
like a sheet of white paper, on which you may ^vlite good 
or evil ; and of consequence, every corrupt bias of the man 
is the fruit of some impure taint, communicated during the 
process of his education. As to your own opinion, reader, 
I shall not here dispute with you about its correctness : if 
it is that above expressed, I perfectly agree with you in 
two hiferences which no doubt you deduce from it. They 
are inferences of very great importance. 

1. That great care ought to be taken of the human off- 
spring, in their progress from infancy to adult years, to 
protect them from that corrupt influence to which they are 
astonishingly susceptible; and, 

VOL. VI. 31* 



2 TO PARENTS. 

2. That there is great necessity for an improved system 
of education ; since the moral condition of man, in every 
age and country, demonstrates a lamentable deficiency in 
every system hitherto pursued. 

But allow me to remark, that the great objection to the 
opinion above expressed, as a practical doctrine, is, that it 
falls utterly short of offering that excitement to arduous 
diligence, which is essential to success in the great business 
of education. The Christian doctrine is, that human nature 
is "shapen in iniquity;" inclined to evil; predisposed to 
what is wrong. Now, from this doctrine the very same 
inferences follow as those just mentioned; only with this 
addition, that the power of corruption being to be combated 
in every stage of education, an increased solicitude and dili- 
gence of effort are required accordingly. But it also fol- 
lows, further, from this Christian doctrine, that the assist- 
ance of almighty power is requisite, cooperating with 
human means, to render education successful to the full 
extent that is needed. And this cooperating grace the 
Christian is abundantly warranted to expect from that 
almighty Being Avho has revealed himself as the hearer of 
prayer, and has promised, " I will pour my Spirit on thy 
seed, and my blessing on thine offspring, and they shall 
grow up as among the grass, and as willows by the water- 
com^ses." 

You percei\ e, then, that there is no difference between 
the Christian and the philosophic unbeliever, on the subject 
of the im])ortance of education, to make man what he ought 
to be. But, on the side of Christianity, there is this im- 
mense advantage, that the Christian is compelled by his 
creed to a far higher exertion in the case, and has besides 
the animating encouragement of divine assistance, to render 
his labor not in vain, which the other rejects. 

It may be well, before we proceed farther, to inquire, 
what degree of success may reasonably be expected, when 
early training is conducted with the wisdom, diligence, and 
perseverance, which is within the reach of human ability. 



TO PARENTS. 3 

under the influence of divine grace. On this subject I will 
not assert that education, so conducted, will never fail of 
the desired success. Yet ordinarily, I believe, when young 
people of common faculties grow up to mature age, remark- 
ably ignorant of their duty, or remarkably deficient in the 
outward performance of it, a radical defect will be found 
to have existed in their early education ; for which those 
who were charo-ed with it are answerable. 

o 

There are a great variety of causes, all involving crimi- 
nal short-coming, which operate to defeat even good people 
in the successful training of their children ; as, 

1. Want of knowledo-e how the business should be con- 

O 

ducted. Few undertakings require a greater amount of 
skill than that of properly training a young family ; and no 
man ought to put himself in the highly responsible station 
of the head of a family, who is not well instructed how to 
fill it. The first question which a person proposing to enter 
the social state should ask himself, is, not w^hether he is able 
to support a family, but whether he is duly qualified to 
educate one. 

2. Want of the firmness, self-denial, self-control, and 
of the vigorous diligence which the arduous nature of the 
duty calls for. 

3. Grievous obstacles to success are often multiplied to 
parents by their ow^n imprudence ; as the injudicious choice 
of a partner, who proves a hinderance, rather than a help- 
meet ; too much society Avith the graceless ; conformity to 
the world ; over-ardent pursuit of business or study, which 
interferes with faithfulness to the family ; and the deceitful- 
ness of riches. 

It is no arofument ao^ainst the ordinary success of correct 
training, that two children of the same parent, who have 
received the same management, turn out very diflferently ; 
since diflferent dispositions call for very different treatment. 
Giving in substance the same treatment, may have been the 
capital mistake. 

If training children in the way in which they should go, 



TO PARENTS. 



is a duty of God's appointment, and if he lias warranted 
us to look to him both for assistance and success, we ought 
certainly to ascribe our failure of success to ourselves, 
rather than to him. When is God wanting to his people, 
if they are not wanting to themselves ? In truth, the suc- 
cess that is found ordinarily to attend education, even in the 
very defective manner in which it is usually conducted, is 
itself a sufficient evidence that, if it were what, through 
grace, it might be, there would very seldom be a failure. 

A careful attention cannot fail to discover, that the 
whole process of education, as it is at present too generally 
conducted, is exceedingly defective ; and nothing is more 
wanted, for the welfare of society, and especially for the 
success of the Gospel, than a thorough reformation in this 
respect. Can we hope, that the millennial state of the 
church, so long expected and prayed for, will ever come, 
until this reformation takes place? Shall "the earth be 
full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the 
seas," and improved education not have an essential instru- 
mentality in producing it ? Make education what, through 
grace, it may be made — make it universal, and, through 
the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, which will not be with- 
held when duly sought, the millennium will have commenced 
as soon as the rebel race of full-grown sinners, who are 
doomed, for their unbelief, to perish, shall have passed 
away. 

There is another idea worthy of attentive consideration. 
It is, the degree of im2)rovement to which human nature, in 
body and soul, is capable of being brought, in the course 
of a number of generations, by education. There is no 
doubt that the human body, in point of health and vigor, 
might be raised to a degree that would fit it for continuing 
in life much longer than is at present the ordinary lot of 
man ; Avhile the human soul might undergo an enlargement 
of all its faculties in the same measure. Every body knows 
how much debility and disease, both of body and mind, are 
inherited. Every species of vice has its direct effect in 



TO PARENTS. 5 

wasting the energies of the human system. And this is one 
■way especially, in which the law of the divine government, 
"visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children," 
takes effect. Not only the vices of the parents are trans- 
mitted to their offspring, but the debility and disease gener- 
ated by these vices are imparted ; so that the children live 
on suffering, and die prematurely, in consequence of that 
state of bodily constitution under which they have been 
born. 

Let mankind be trained up generally to a high degree 
of wisdom, to a full command of their appetites and pas- 
sions, to sobriety, to temperance, to chastity, and discreet 
and correct living in all respects ; and, in the course of a 
few generations, human nature would necessarily undergo 
a vast improvement : we are unable to say to how great an 
extent. A general diffusion through society of the wisdom 
and morality of the Gospel ; banishing intemperance, dis- 
honesty, blasphemy, war, and every other baleful, corrupt- 
ing, and deteriorating influence, and binding mankind 
together in the bonds of love to God and love to one an- 
other, would increase the comfort of living in society a 
hundred fold ; and if so, would doubtless greatly add to 
the health and the duration of human life. 

And if the corporeal energies are thus capable of being 
invigorated in such a high degree, obviously the mental 
faculties are susceptible of an enlargement in proportion. 
And what may be expected to be the inventions and im- 
provements, to bene£t and beautify the world, which will 
thence result ! Thus, laying futurity out of the question — 
escape from hell with all its horrors ; meetness for, and ad- 
mission to heaven, with all its eternal weight of glory — there 
are considerations belonging to the life that noAV is, abun- 
dantly sufficient to rouse us to every effort in training up the 
young to wisdom and goodness. 

When to these considerations we add those which belonof 
to our eternal destinies ; when we recollect that this life 
constitutes the preparative to the life to come — that on what 



6 TO PARENTS. 

we are, and how we act our part here, depend what we shall 
be hereafter ; when we consider that we came into the world 
in a lost state, outcasts from God, and exposed to everlast- 
ing perdition, unless recovered from the ruin which sin has 
brought upon us : in a word, when we reflect that, without 
a reconciliation to God, through the mediation of his Son 
Jesus Christ, restoration to his image, and a conscientious 
submission to his authority, which enjoins supreme love to 
himself, and love to our neighbor as ourselves, exclusion 
from the holiness and happiness of heaven, and consignment 
to the misery of hell for ever and ever, must be the inev- 
itable consequence ; I say, when we consider these things, 
and recollect that education is the all-essential means of 
bringing the young to know and make these attainments, 
then it follows, that words cannot express half the impor- 
tance that ought to be attached to good education ; words 
cannot express half the guilt they incur, who fail to train 
up those committed to their care in a way that will qualify 
them to act well their part here, and meet with acceptance, 
at last, from Him who will judge the world in righteousness, 
and render to every one according to the deeds done in the 
body, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. 

Let us now turn our thoughts to the best method of 
CONDUCTING educatiou. But allow me first to remark, 

That the whole process of education, to be rightly con- 
ducted, must have its origin in a deep sense of responsibil- 
ity to God, and dependence upon him, in the mind of him 
who conducts it. Every parent, every person who has a 
child under his care, ought to feel that such child is God's, 
committed to him for the express purpose of being trained 
up for God — for the service and enjoyment of God, in time 
and eternity ; and at his hands will that child be required, 
if, through his neglect or mismanagement, it should perish 
eternally. This ought to be an every-day feeling ; and, 
imder its deep impression, ought he to address himself to 
his every-day task, in humble but firm dependence, both for 
assistance and success, on that God who hath promised, " I 



TO PARENTS. 7 

will be your God, and tlie God of your seed." Thus will 
he be cheered with the animating hope, that he shall be the 
happy instrument of can-ying forward his little charge to 
comfort and usefulness here, and happiness hereafter. Be 
assured, where the powerful excitement of such considera- 
tions is wanting, the performance of duty will infallibly be 
deficient. 

To the first part of education belongs the proper man- 
agement of the body in infancy, so as to give it the best 
advantages for health and vigor. This is important, not 
merely for the sake of the well-being of the body, but also 
on account of the soul, which is so much under the influ- 
ence of the body. If the body be disordered, the mind is 
sure in some way to be affected by it. If you expect a 
sound mind, you must take care to have a sound body ; and 
this will require, from early infancy, a proper management 
of aliment, of exercise, clothing, sleep, and every thing on 
which the well-being of the body depends. Essential mis- 
management in these particulars often brings death, or en- 
tails debility through life ; and what is still worse, not un- 
frequently subjects the soul to the demoralizing and darken- 
ing influence of deranged feelings and depraved appetites, 
which subsequent education will be scarcely able to over- 
come. It is thus that a foundation is often laid for a total 
miscarriage of education before any error is suspected. The 
proper rearing and management of infants, so as in the best 
possible manner to promote their bodily vigor, and influence 
the happy development of their intellectual and moral 
facilities, is a part of female education of vast consequence, 
which is yet in its infancy ; and until it is properly cultiva- 
ted, many of the human race must be the victims of much 
disaster, both temporal and eternal. 

The first efforts with children, in their moral training, 
should go to the establishment of complete parental authority 
over their minds. This is a measure of such vital importance, 
that without it much success can scarce!}' be expected ; and 
very much depends on the early establishment of this au- 



8 TO PARENTS. 

thority : unless it is established earl}^ it is hardly ever com- 
plete. By the time a child is two years of age, he ought to 
be in the habit of cheerful submission to whatever he knows 
to be the w^ill of his parent. Be assured, if your child says 
to any of your requirements, "I wont," or sets up resist- 
ance in the way of crying and pouting, there is a radical 
error in your management, that threatens shipwreck to the 
whole business of education. Besides, a ready, cheerful 
obedience from the early dawn of reason, while it greatly 
facilitates every part of after-education, is of essential use 
to counteract the self-will, the obstinacy, and bad temper of 
a child, before they are confirmed and strengthened by in- 
dulgence. Every parent ought to be fully aware, that it is 
in the early imrt of childhood, more especially, that a cor- 
rective can be applied to those evil passions, whose domin- 
ion in manhood will be certain ruin. To obtain and maintain 
this subjection of the child, much severity is, ordinarily, not 
at all necessary. It requires, on the part of the parent or 
master, only reasonableness united with firmness, and at 
first a judicious use of the rod. Never require any thing of 
your child but what is reasonable ; and be firm in requiring 
it ; and let your government be, and appear to be, uniform- 
ly, the government of love. Any other government will 
assuredly defeat the purpose for which it ought to be exer- 
cised. He who tyrannizes in a passion, will be apt to de- 
stroy himself, with the victim of his misrule. 

After the establishment of authority over the infant 
mind, must commence the arduous effort of storing it ivith 
knowledge. " Wisdom," says Solomon, " is the principal 
thing; therefore, get wisdom." It is, indeed, the principal 
thing ; as, without it, nothing really valuable can be acquired. 
It is wisdom that elevates man above the beasts of the field. 
It is wisdom that constitutes a leadinof item of the Divine 
resemblance. Let the impression dwell upon your heart, 
and stimulate your every-day's effort, that, in proportion as 
you make your child wise — wise in the possession of every 
kind of useful knowledge, but especially the knowledge of 



TO PARENTS. 9 

" the living and true God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath 
sent " — you bring within his reach the means of every kind 
of usefulness and comfort, here and hereafter ; while, with- 
out it, there can be nothing but degradation and wretched- 
ness in time, and, through eternity, everlasting perdition, 
from that God who hath pronounced on the people of " no 
understanding," "that the God who made them will not 
have mercy on them ; he that formed them will show them 
no favor." 

And remember, that the most unwearied diligence is to 
be used in communicating this instruction, especially as it 
reofards reliijious knowledsre. As God himself has com- 
manded, " Ye shall teach them your children, speaking 
OF them when thou sittest in thine house, and when 
thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and 
when thou risest up ; and thou shalt write them upon 
the door-posts of thine house, and upon thy gates." Let 
those who have failed in training up their children to wis- 
dom and piety, inquire, whether their diligence has been, 
from the early dawn of reason, any thing like what is here 
enjoined. 

In communicating religious knowledge, the chief means 
ought to he the sacred Scriptures. The plan of Eunice, 
which was so successful with her son Timothy, ought to be 
the plan of every mother and father. It is said that " from 
a child he knew the holy Scriptures ;" which must have 
been the fruit of much reading of them. But take notice, 
that it is said, not simply that he read the holy Scriptures, 
but he kneio them ; which implies that he was instructed in 
their meaning. And this is best effected, by mingling much 
explanation, in the way of question and answer, with much 
reading. Those who find themselves ill qualified for this 
duty, will find good assistance in some of the excellent cat- 
echisms which are readily to be obtained. If a qualified 
minister of the Gospel, within your reach, conducts a Bible 
class, I beseech you, let your young people receive the ben- 
efit of it, 

VOL. VI. 32 



10 TO PARENTS. 

In storing the minds of the young, correct school edu- 
cation has a most important instrumentahty. But, alas, 
the great deficiency that exists in this department, through 
our country generally, is one of the heavy calamities of 
society. You will agree with me, that the teacher to 
whom is confided the rising generation, ought to be a man 
of the best standing in society, for wisdom and piety ; a 
man who, both by precept and example, will train the young 
"to fear God and keep his commandments," as well as 
instruct them in useful literature. It ouo'ht to be continu- 
ally on the minds, both of the master and the scholars, that 
the whole process of literary education is a matter second- 
ary to the formation of correct principles and moral habits. 
To the pollution of bad instruction, bad example, and bad 
society at school, many pious parents have to impute their 
failure in the religious education of their children. A fear- 
ful responsibility rests upon society generally, and on every 
individual in it, for the correction of this evil. It is hardly 
possible that education can be what it ought to be, until 
common schools are greatly reformed ; and the proper cor- 
rective consists in giving adequate compensation and coun- 
tenance to teachers duly qualified, and employing no other. 

On the subject of hoarding-schools, allow me to offer a 
word of advice. If you are really a praying, practical 
Christian parent, qualified in some good degree to watch 
over your offspring, and impart to them religious instruc- 
tion, unless circumstances of absolute necessity require it, 
do not think of a boarding-school for common education. 
There is no human being who feels parental tenderness, 
prompting to ceaseless watchfulness over your child, equal 
to yourself. You cannot, therefore, find a substitute for 
the performance of those duties which the God of nature 
and the God of grace has made strongly your own. Be- 
sides, the very multitude usually at a common boarding- 
school must put it out of the power of its conductors to 
give to each the watchful attention which each requires. 
But, if you are not a praying, practical Christian, living in 



TO PARENTS. 11 

communion with God, then, whether you profess religion 
or not, if there is a boarding-school within the reach of your 
means, under good reputation for its instruction, its disci- 
pline, its morality, but, above all, its religion, by all means 
send your children to it. Give it the preference to any 
plan of home education. 

In training the young, much use is to be made of the 
ordinances of ^^^/SZ/c loorshiio and the 'preaclunfj of the Gos- 
pel on the Sabbath. If you are destitute of these privileges, 
then you are without one main help for rightly educating 
your rising offspring ; and for their sakes, as well as your 
own, every effort within your means ought to be made, to 
obtain the ministrations of a wise, practical, well-gifted 
minister of the Gospel. Possessing this privilege, make 
the due use of it, by habituating your young people to a 
regular, practical attention to it. Strictly and habitually 
inquire of them, what they have heard, and hoiv they have 
heard ; whether they have received the instruction of the 
Gospel into their understanding, and into their hearts. Let 
it be inculcated upon them, that one sermon, well heard, is 
much better than a hundred of which the sound only has 
passed through their ears. The practice of requiring young 
persons to put down upon paper, in the best order they 
can, the whole they are able to recollect of the sermon 
they have heard, has been found to be greatly beneficial. 

Reading is another important means for storing the 
mind with knowledge. It is so important that, without 
much reading, any great amount of general knowledge is 
rarely acquired. Great care is therefore requisite, as early 
as possible, to form in the young mind a taste for reading ; 
and happily, at this day, suitable books for early reading 
are within almost every person's reach, who Avill inquire 
after them. Every head of a family ought to make it a 
point, as much as possible, to furnish the young of his 
charge with a collection of good books ; and at the same 
time to guard them from wasting their time and vitiating 
their minds, by reading books which inculcate any thing 



]9 TO PARENTS, 

hostile to truth and godhness. Rehgious periodical publi- 
cations may be of vast benefit, in various respects ; and no 
family should be without them. Great care, however, 
should be taken to select those which are distinguished for 
sound sense and sound evangelical doctrine. 

Further, the whole business of education should be 
conducted with a view to amend the heart, and direct the 
iwactice in what is right. Mere knowledge, without this, 
constitutes a character allied to a demon. Make your chil- 
dren wise, simply that you may make them good. Teach 
them the knowledge of God, that they may love him, fear 
him, trust him, and obey him. Teach them to understand 
the principles of society, that they may love their neighbor 
as themselves, and live in the discharge of all those duties 
that grow out of love. This is the education that will 
qualify them for being useful here, and happy hereafter; 
and be assured, the education which does not result in this, 
will result in fearful disappointment. And if you Avould 
escape this disappointment, two things will be indispen- 
sably necessary on your part — your ijvayers, and your 
examiiile. 

Your prayers. Every good gift cometh down from the 
** Father of lights," who hath said, "Ask, and ye shall 
receive ; seek, and ye shall find." And if this is so, to 
expect that God will give our children knowledge, and 
faith, and love, and fear, with an obedient heart, while we 
ask them not at his hand with an earnestness and importu- 
nity corresponding with their value, is certainly the height 
of presumption. But besides, the habit of praying is itself 
an all-important part of Christian education. The child 
who is not taught to pray — who is not trained up in the 
daily practice of prayer — wants that part of education, 
without whicli, there is the most imminent danger that all 
he has learned will be worse than useless. 

To prayer, daily prayer in your house, " with and for 
your children," must be added your example. Children, in 
the first instance, learn almost every thing by imitation. 



TO PARENTS. 13 

It seems to be a law of tlieir nature to do what they see 
others do. Hence the fact so universally observed, that 
children grow up to be like those with whom they are 
reared. Regard it, then, as essential to your success, that 
you should be, before your children, what you would have 
them to be. Teach them to be wise, by acting wisely in 
their presence. Teach them love, and faith, and humility, 
and godly fear, and other Christian graces, by habitually 
acting those graces before their eyes. Keeping your chil- 
dren much with yourself, carrying them daily to a throne of 
grace, and exemplifying, in simplicity and godly sincerity, 
the true Christian character before them, it Avill be marvel- 
lous indeed, if, in due time, you have not the unspeakable 
happiness of seeing "some good thing towards the Lord" 
found in them. 

There is another point of vital importance in the educa- 
cation of the young, which is very far from being attended 
to as it ought. It is, training them to habits of useful indus- 
tvy ; such useful industry as exercises the body, while it 
interests the mind. Active exertion is essential to health 
and comfort. Every physician will tell you so. Indolence 
begets disease, while it destroys enjoyment. The oil of 
gladness, says one, "glistens on the face of labor only." 
But not only so, idleness is positive vice, and of a very 
heinous kind. God has created every thing to be useful ; 
and every faculty of body and mind is a talent conferred 
under the injunction, " Occupy till I come." He who 
arrives at manhood, without having acquired a habit of 
industry, lacks a most essential part of education. 

If you are rich, and feel no necessity for training up 
your children to daily industry, you have a most difficult 
task to perform ; namely, to counteract their natural pro- 
pensity to indolence, which belongs to the worst vices of 
human nature. Indolence leads to amusement, amusement 
to dissipation, and dissipation to ruin. One chief reason 
why it is so hard for the rich to enter into the kingdom of 
heaven,, is, that being pressed by no necessity,, it is so diffi- 
voL. VI. 32* 



14 TO PARENTS. 

cult a thing to compel themselves to the daily efforts of 
useful industry, which, next to grace, is the very best pre- 
servative against every kind of vice. "Pride, fulness of 
bread, and abundance of idleness in her, and in her daugh- 
ters," were the chief means of sinking Sodom to the depths 
of her abominations, and ripening her for her terrible over- 
throw. 

I have only one measure further to press upon your 
attention, as of vast importance to the success of Christian 
education. It is, extending your watchful care to every 
youthful memh€7' of your household. If you have appren- 
tices, or servants, neglected and left to ignorance and vice, 
the sin is as great as if they were your own children. All 
souls are of equal value in God's sight; and they who 
are charged with their care, are under the same command 
to bring them up for God. And as every sin brings its 
proper punishment, so does the neglect of this duty. Very 
often even religious masters who, from indolence, or thought- 
lessness of duty, or lust of gain, surrender their young do- 
mestics to irreligion, pay the forfeit of their crime in the 
perdition of their own children — ruined by the pollution 
contracted from the influence of these very domestics. If 
you harbor ignorance and immorality in your kitchen, or in 
your out-house, it is a plague of leprosy, that will certainly 
spread, and carry death in its progress. 

Nay, farther ; it is certainly hardly possible that educa- 
tion can be conducted with entire success, unless the whole 
community are the objects of it. Your children must 
mingle with your neighbors' children, and will certainly be 
influenced by them. Lot, in Sodom, lost his wife and all 
his children, from the filthy communication of the inhabit- 
ants of the place, and was himself scarcely saved. Just in 
proportion to the depravity of the society among whom 
they dwell, is the difficulty and danger in training up a 
family for God. And even where a man succeeds with the 
whole of his children, there is reason to fear there will be, 
of his grandchildren, some who will fall a prey to the cor- 



TO PARENTS. 15 

mption around them ; and the total apostasy of his whole 
posterity may be the result, in a few generations. The 
consequence is, that there is no certainty of success, per- 
manent success, but in the religious training of the whole 
community ; and, Herculean as the task is, there is no alter- 
native but to set about it. It is the task of duty, under the 
mandate of Him who hath bound society together, and 
given them an inseparable interest in each other's welfare, 
under one common law of their being — "Thou shalt love 
thy neighbor as thyself." 

Yes, if there is but one family in your vicinity untaught, 
whose rising progeny are growing up in sin, this family is a 
source of contaoion that endano-ers the health of the whole 

O a 

community. The salvation of yourself, and of yours, for 
generations to come, calls upon you to do your utmost to 
stay the plague, by extending religious cultivation to the 
young of that family. You see, then, that to promote 
Sabbath-schools, and carry them to all the perfection of 
which they are capable, and to add to them every other 
means that goes to the same end, is not merely a measure 
of mercy to the poor children and youth who immediately 
receive the benefit ; it is a measure of safety to the children 
and grandchildren of the whole Christian community. It 
is adding to the facilities of every head of a family, to train 
up his posterity in the way in which they should go ; while 
it is adding to his hopes that, in generations to come, they 
will not apostatize from the good way in which they have 
been taught. 

And now, beloved reader, before we part, let us look 
back and gather up the substance of what has been stated, 
and see what important results follow. It appears that 
every child, possessing the ordinary powers of body and 
mind, is capable, with the assistance of that grace which 
God has promised to bestow on the due use of means, of 
being trained to knowledge and the habits of religion and 
virtue. It appears that such training would have the hap- 
piest effect on the subject of it, in every respect; on his 



IQ TO PARENTS. 

health, his comfort, his usefulness, his life here, and his 
everlasting happiness. And if the whole community were 
so trained, then a new order of things would commence ; 
society would be regenerated ; "all would know God, from 
the least unto the greatest," and ''the earth be full of the 
knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the seas." 

If these things are so, does it not follow that society has 
the deepest interest in the proper training of the young ; 
and ought not every individual in the community to con- 
tribute, not his mite, but his vigorous efforts, towards an 
object so momentous ? But what is the responsibility 
under which every father, every master of a household, 
acts ? It is not merely the temporal and eternal welfare 
of the young committed to his care, in their successive 
generations, that is affected by his fidelity, but the whole 
of society. The introduction of the millennial glory is 
hastened or retarded, by his diligence or his negligence. 
Farewell ; and may it be given to you and me to know our 
duty, and be faithful in its performance, '' even unto death," 
that we ''may receive the crown of life." 



]¥o. SIS. 

A SEEIOUS INQUIRY. 



Dear Friend — We are all travelling to another country. 
Whatever direction we take in this world, our bodies must 
soon return to dust, and our spirits appear before God, 
who gave them. The time of our sojourning here is short. 
Eternity is at hand. Death will in a little while execute 
his commission. And the Judge already standeth at the 
door, before whom we must give account. 

Are you then ready to die and appear before God ? This 
question is of infinite importance. To know whether you 
are ready to die, you must ascertain Avhether you are a 
Christian, or righteous before God ; for God hath said, 
"The wicked shall be driven away in his wickedness." The 
righteous only "have hope in their death." Prov. 14 : 32. 
The question, then, which concerns you is. What constitutes a 
man righteous? Or what are the evidences of a man's being 
a true Christian ? To this we reply, the true Christian 
believes the record which God has given concerning his 
Son. He is justified by the righteousness of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. He is renewed and converted to God by the power 
of the Holy Spirit. He is taught to love God and his breth- 
ren. He desires himself and promotes the glory of God. 
He observes all things whatsoever Christ hath commanded 
him. He mortifies sin, and cultivates a life of holiness. 
He maintains fellowship with God. He takes all his comfort 
from the Gospel, and advances towards perfection and glory. 
These are some of the most distinguishing features in the 
Christian character. Suflfer us seriously to inquire whether 
they be yours. 

1. Do you believe in the Son of God ? John 9 : 35. Do 
you believe God's account of his Son, or the notions which 



2 A SERIOUS mauiRY. 

the men of the world hold concerning him ? You may be 
holding some corruption of the true Gospel, Gal. 1 : 6, some 
lie instead of the truth, 2 Thess. 2 : 11, or some error in con- 
nection with the truth, that renders it unprofitable. Gal. 
5 : 2. How did you obtain your knowledge of the Gospel? 
It is written concerning them that believe, that they shall 
all be taught of God ; and they who have heard and learned 
of the Father come to Christ. John 6 : 45. Have you then 
been taught of God ? Has the Gospel come to you, not in 
word only, but also in power, and with the Holy Spirit, and 
with much assurance ? 1 Thess. 1:5. Has your under- 
standing been opened to perceive the glory of the truth ? 
Luke 24 : 45. Or are you satisfied with holding the ideas 
of others, or with your own natural apprehensions of the 
Gospel ? Be not deceived. The natural man receiveth not 
the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them, 
because they are spiritually discerned, 1 Cor. 2 : 14; and 
if he does not know them, he cannot believe them, for no 
man can confess that Jesus is the Christ, but by the Holy 
Spirit. 

Does the truth work in you effectually, producing every 
gracious principle, and all holy obedience ? Or do you re- 
main cold and formal, and dead to the exercises of godliness ? 
We beseech you, see whether you have that faith which is 
of the operation of God's Spirit, for all men have not faith, 
2 Thess. 3:2; and without faith it is impossible to please 
God, Heb. 11 : 6, or obtain salvation. *' He that believeth, 
shall be saved ; but he that believeth not, shall be damned." 
Mark 16 : 16. 

2. Have you obtained the pardon of your sins by faith 
in the Loi'd Jesus Christ ? Did you ever see your need of 
pardon ? " The whole need not a physician, but they that 
are sick." Matt. 9 : 12. If you have not seen your sin and 
felt your disease, you are yet unpardoned. Did you ever 
despair of help from every other quarter but Christ ? A 
pardoned sinner sees he is justified through him from all 
things, from which he could not be justified by the law of 



A SERIOUS mauiRY. 3 

Moses. Have you known the gracious effect of pardon ? 
"Being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through 
our Lord Jesus Christ." Rom. 5:1. Christ's perfect right- 
eousness will never fail to " make perfect, as to the con- 
science," the most guilty who receive it as the only ground 
of hope before God. Heb. 10:1,2, 14. Look well, then, 
to the nature of your peace. There is a false peace, which 
deceives men who are not pardoned. Your peace may con- 
sist in stupidity and ignorance of your danger, or in the 
security of your hardened heart. It may be founded on 
your covenant with death and your agreement with hell, 
Isa. 28 : 18 ; and maintained by the strong man armed, who 
keeps the palace, and the goods are in peace. Luke 11 : 21. 
Your hope may arise from that partiality which inclines you 
to judge favorably of yourself. Because you have maintain- 
ed your credit in the world, you may think you stand on the 
same terms with God ; or that you are in no great danger, 
because you imagine there are many worse around you. 
You may think you are safe, because you have not fallen 
into gross sins ; or that your virtues will atone for your 
vices, and that your deficiencies will find an apology in the 
mercy of God. These are slippery places, sandy founda- 
tions. If you have indeed obtained the peace of the Gos- 
pel, your false peace, your carnal security, so natural and 
common to every unconverted sinner, must have been dis- 
turbed and destroyed, Isa. 28:19, and Christ's finished 
righteousness become all your salvation and glory. 

3. Is yoMY heart right in the sight of God? The heart of 
every sinner, by nature, is deceitful and wicked, and the 
fruitful source of all thinofs which defile mankind and dis- 
honor God. Have you been made sensible of this ? With- 
out full conviction of natural depravity, there can be no 
conversion to God. Have you then seen, that all your 
former actions, having come from an evil heart of unbelief, 
are only sin, Rom, 3 : 9-19 ; and that your heart is so vile 
and wicked as not to admit of being mended ; and have 
you, on account of this, abhorred, and bewailed, and con- 



4 A SERIOUS INaUIRY 

fessed your wickedness before God, beseeching him to take 
away your stony heart, and to create a new heart and a 
right spirit within you ? Has the gracious change taken 
place in you ? You may have changed your opinions, your 
professions, your forms, your religious connections ; you 
may have corrected your natural temper, and reformed your 
external conduct, while, after all, you remain unchanged in 
heart, and without the life and love of God in you ? Do 
not suppose that you can be a Christian without this radical 
change ; for, '' if any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new 
creature." 2 Cor. 5 : 17. " Whosoever believeth that Je- 
sus is the Christ, is born of God." 1 John, 5 : 1. ''Except 
a man be born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of 
God." John 3 : 3. 

4. Do you love God and his j^^ople ? The religion of 
Jesus is a religion of love. Do you then love God? Is it 
the God revealed in the Bible that you love, or the idol of 
your own imagination ? Do you love him on account of 
the holiness of his character, or on account of his common 
benefits conferred on you ? Do you love him supremely, 
and constantly, and fervently ; or do you prefer the world, 
and love the creatures and the pleasures of time more than 
God? 

Do you love the people of God ? Is your love to them 
pure and holy, 1 Pet. 1 : 22, or some carnal affection? Is 
your love to them for Christ's sake, for the truth's sake 
which dwelleth in them ; or does it regard some natural ac- 
complishment wiiich suits your temper or humor ? Is your 
love disinterested ? Does it arise from perceiving Avorth 
and excellency in the disciples of Jesus, or from your hoping 
for their love in return? Matt. 5 : 46. And is it substan- 
tial and operative, " not in word or in tongue, but in deed 
and in truth?" The apostle John considers the love of the 
brethren in Christ as the touchstone of the Christian char- 
acter. 1 John, 3 : 14-19. 

5. Have you learned to deny yourself, and seek the glory 
of God ? The men of the world are emphatically called 



A SERIOUS mauiRY. 5 

lovers of their own selves. 2 Tim. 3:2. The Christian's 
object, in all he does, is to please God. Do you then deny 
yourself, that you may honor God ? Are you ready to part 
with all for Christ, to make every sacrifice for a pure con- 
science? Do you willingly bear the reproach of the cross, 
and glory in being counted worthy to suffer shame for the 
name of Jesus ? In your transactions in life, do you study 
to please men, or Christ, Gal. 1:10; your own self, or 
God ? The temporizing spirit of many professors proves 
them to be hypocrites. They follow the truth for a season ; 
but when they meet with reproach, persecution, or any 
thing which requires self-denial, they become offended. 
Such a spirit manifests, that men love themselves and the 
world more than God, and prefer their own pleasure to his 
glory. If such be your principles, you are not a Christian ; 
for Christ hath said, " If any man will come after me, let 
him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow 
me." Luke 9 : 23. 

6. Are you obedient to the commandments of the Lord 
Jesus ? " Ye are my friends," says Christ, " if ye do whatso- 
ever I command you : he that hath my commandments and 
keepeth them, he it is that loveth me." " To whom ye yield 
yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are whom ye 
obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto right- 
eousness." Rom. 6:16. "He that committeth sin is the 
servant of sin." John 8 : 34. "Every one that is of the 
truth heareth Christ's voice." John 18 : 37. Do you then 
serve God, or mammon ? Is your obedience according to 
the word of God ? If you serve Christ, the Scriptures 
must be the rule, and his authority the reason of your con- 
duct in every thing you do. It is only in so far as you con- 
form to this rule, that your obedience can be acceptable 
with God ; for if you neglect any thing that he requires, he 
will count you negligent ; and if you observe what he has 
not commanded, he will reprove you as a liar, and say, 
" Who hath required this at your hands ?" 

7. Do you mortify sin, and cultivate a life of holiness? 
VOL. vi. 33 



(3 A SERIOUS INaUIRY. 

The Christian experiences in his soul a constant conflict be- 
tween grace and sin. "The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, 
and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the 
one to the other." Gal. 5:17. If this conflict be not in 
you, it is because there is no gracious principle in you. 
But you may mistake the resistance of a natural conscience 
against sin, for this spiritual Avarfare. In the Christian, sin 
is opposed by that principle Avhich makes him delight in 
the law of the Lord, after the inward man. He desires to 
do good, though evil be present with him ; he abhors his 
natural sinfulness, and earnestly desires to be fully free, 
and looks for deliverance from the Lord Jesus Christ. 
Rom. 7 : 1-5. The hypocrite seeks only to restrain the 
operations of sin : the believer labors to destroy its exist- 
ence. The former, if he lays aside his sins, does it but at 
intervals, returning to them again : the latter renounces 
them entirely, saying, " What have I to do any more with 
idols ?" The former forsakes some sins, but indulges in 
others : the latter forsakes all sin, that he may be holy as 
God is holy. The former is only afraid of the consequences 
of sin : the latter hates sin itself, and seeks its destruction. 
The former does all in his own strengfth : the latter does all 
by the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Say, then, reader, 
how is it with you ? Perhaps you never engaged in the 
destruction of one sin. Be not deceived. If you Uve after 
the flesh, you shall die, Rom. 8:13; either you must get 
sin destroyed, or it will eternally destroy you. If you are 
not daily mortifying sin, you are not Christ's ; you are not 
a Christian ; " for they that are Christ's have crucified the 
flesh, with its affections and lusts." Gal. 5 : 24. 

8. Do you vawxi^m felloiv ship iv'ith God? Perhaps you 
live without prayer. If so, you must have the heart of an 
atheist; for if you acknowledge a God, why do you not 
worship him? Psal. 14 : 1. Perhaps you observe a form 
of prayer ; but this is not enough — do you pray with the 
understanding? 1 Cor. 14 : 15. Why do you pray? Is 
it to support your profession, to quiet conscience ; or to 



A SERIOUS INQUIRY. 7 

profit your soul and glorify God? How do you pray? Do 
you feel your wants, believe God's promises, and enter into 
the holiest by the blood of Jesus, and by the Spirit of God ? 
Do you plead with humble boldness? Heb. 10 : 19. Do 
you wrestle and get power to prevail? Do you reckon 
prayer a privilege, or a burden ? Do you say. It is good 
for me that I draw near to God, Psal. 'ZS : 28 ; or are you 
satisfied with the lifeless task of lifting your lips and hands 
to God, while your heart goeth after its covetousness ? 
Matt. 15:8. What do you get by prayer ; are you eased 
of your burdens, Phil. 4:6, 7 ; spiritually enriched and 
comforted ? We beseech you, attend to this. Without the 
life and spirit of prayer you cannot be a Christian ; for it 
is a mark of the wicked, that " through the pride of their 
countenance, they will not seek after God ;" and the experi- 
ence of every true believer is, " Truly our fellowship is with 
the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ." 1 John, 1 : 3. 
9. Do jowfind your happiness in the Gospel, and steadily 
advance towards perfection and glory ? The nature of your 
enjoyments will help you to determine what spirit you are 
of ; for where a man's treasure is, there will his heart be 
also. The men of the world are always saying. Who will 
show us any good? Psal. 4 : 6, and find their enjoyments 
in prosperous circumstances, cheerful friends, a healthy 
constitution, or a lively natural temper ; but the Christian 
finds his chief good in God. Are your comforts scriptural 
and substantial, or enthusiastic and transitory ? Many are 
satisfied with lively feelings, without attending to their na- 
ture, origin, and effects ; and hence the danger of mistaking 
the operations of our own spirit for those of the Spirit of 
God ; and the light of the sparks which we ourselves have 
kindled, for the light of God's countenance. Does your 
comfort then flow from God, and does it arise from what 
you know of him, from what he has done, £nd promised to 
do for you ? Does it flow from the death, resurrection, 
intercession, and reign of Christ Jesus, as all your salvation 
and joy ? 



8 A SERIOUS INQUIRY. 

Again, the Christian advances towards perfection and 
glory. Is your soul prospering, then, in the things of God ? 
It is not enough that you have begun well ; you must hold 
on well, and end well. You must hold fast the faith, Heb. 
10 ; 23, and abound in fruitfulness, if you be indeed a Chris- 
tian ; for he that endureth to the end shall be saved ; but 
if any man draw back, God's soul shall have no pleasure 
in him. 

Thus you have a few important questions, by which you 
may determine whether you be a Christian. 

There is a class of men who neither profess Christianity, 
nor avow infidelity, but pretend to be neutral and indiffer- 
ent. Do you well, friends, to be indifferent in so important 
a matter ? What, is the soul of no value ? Is eternity of 
no importance ? Is salvation of no consequence ? You may 
bless yourselves in your retreat from controversy, but are 
you therefore safe ? Verily, no. The Scriptures every 
where declare, that indifference, stupidity, and ignorance of 
danger, are the striking symptoms of ungodliness ; and while 
persons remain so, their case is the most hopeless and dan- 
gerous. We would, therefore, avail ourselves of the awful 
symptoms of your dreadful situation, to arouse and alarm 
you, and would beseech you, by all the mercies and terrors 
of the Lord, to attend to the precious Gospel. Think not 
that, because you are no hypocrite, you are therefore in no 
danger. The unprofitable servant shall be cast into hell, as 
well as the profane. Neither suppose that, because you 
are not an avowed infidel, you are no enemy to God. Christ 
says, " He that is not for me, is against me." It is impos- 
sible to be neutral. You must either awake and live to God, 
or sleep the sleep of death. 

Reader, apply these questions to yourself. Be faithful 
to your own soul, for you must soon give up your account. 



PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 



]\o. ai:t. 

THE 



SINNER FOEEWARNED. 



HEAR FOR ETERNITY! 



Impenitent Reader ! "I would address you as a friend, 
in the name of the God who made you. This glorious 
and holy Being has said, " He that, being often reproved, 
hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that 
without remedy.''^ 

Hardened sinner ! I come to you with heavy tidings ; 
and I abjure you, as you love your own immortal soul, hear 
the word of God. Are not you the very individual pointed 
out in this awful passage ? it describes a character, and is 
not that character precisely yours? Pause — examine — 
and then answer. The sinner here described has been often 
reproved ; he has hardened his neck. Could any language 
have given, more concisely and perfectly, the history of your 
own wretched life ? 

1. Have YOU NOT been OFTEN reproved ? God, your 
Maker, Preserver, and Judge, has not left you to perish 
without instruction. He has declared to you your guilt 
and danger ; forewarned you of the judgment and the wrath 
to come ; and entreated you to flee for your life to an al- 
mighty Savior. This he has done, not once or twice, 
but in instances and by means more than you can enu- 
merate. 

He has reproved you by his word; *' All Scripture is given 
by inspiration of God.'* By that holy Book he has been 
continually setting life and death before ^/'ou, and calling 
upon you, in the most earnest and affecting language, to turn 
from your wicked ways and live. Read Isa. 1:18, and 
55:6,7. Ezek. 18:30, 31, 32, and 33:11. Prov. 1:20- 
31. If you sufl^er it to lie, unopened, upon your shelf, do 
VOL. VI. 33'»^ 



2 THE INCORRIGIBLE SINNER 

not its silent leaves seem to condemn you for the indiffer- 
ence and neglect with which you can treat so precious a 
gift of God to man? You have never heard a laithful ser- 
mon from any minister of Christ, that did not contain truth 
which might well have alarmed you, and which ought to 
have led you, as a humble suppliant, to the foot of the cross. 
How many such sermons have you heard 1 How has God 
spoken to you, as from Sinai, and from Calvary? How 
has he declared his love in sending his Son for your redemp- 
tion? How has he, in his Word, uncovered the bottom- 
less pit before you ; set before you his holy law, that, as in 
a glass, you might see the vileness of your character ; and 
entreated you, as by the blood of Jesus Christ, to throw 
down the weapons of your rebellion and submit to Him ? 
2 Cor. 5 : 20. " Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, 
as though God did beseech you by us ; we pray you m 
CPirist's stead, be ye reconciled to God." 

Has God never reproved you by the instrumentality of 
your neighbors and friends, as well as by his ministers? 
Perhaps you are the child of pious parents. Patiently they 
have instructed you ; they have prayed to God for you and 
with you ; they have admonished you with many tears. 
Are you young? Some of your brothers and sisters have 
perhaps been taught the fear of the Lord; and surely they 
cannot have suffered you to go on in sin, without warning 
you of your guilt, and the necessity of true conversion. 
Are you at the head of a family? Your wife — your hus- 
band — is, peradventure, a Christian indeed, and, by exam- 
ple and affectionate expostulation, has reproved you. But 
if you have not been favored with pious relatives, you have 
yet found friends and reprovers among your godly acquaint- 
ance, or among strangers. Have you not been personally 
and plainly addressed on the subject of your immortal in- 
terests, and urged to escape the "damnation of hell?" 

God has reproved you by the works of creation. In every 
object his presence is visible ; and every thing that he has 
made has a voice addressed to your very soul. Every 
forest, every tree, every plant, proclaims the power and 
skill of the divine Author of all, and calls upon you to 
adore the goodness of Him who has clothed the earth with 
beauty and magnificence. The irrational tribes, which 
fully accomplish the end of their existence, and even in 



FOREWARNED OF HIS DOOM. 3 

animate nature, that obeys the laws impressed upon it at 
the beginning, condemn your guihy disregard of the au- 
thority of your Creator. Day and night, the changes of 
the seasons, and the revolutions of the heavenly bodies, 
all reprove your disobedience and ingratitude. 

God has often reproved you by his Providence. Have 
not his mercies proclaimed the unreasonableness and guilt 
of forgetting your divine Benefactor ? Have not your food 
and raiment, house, granaries, and fields, merchandise and 
treasures, all testified against you ? Can you think of his 
signal interposition to save you, in the hour of trouble and 
of peril, without shame for your ingratitude 1 Upon every 
benefit that you have received at his hand, you might have 
read this inscription, 

THE GIFT OF GOD: 
HONOR THE GIVER. 

He has reproved you by his judgments. Do you not re 
member the hour of sickness, when fever raged in your 
veins, Avhen eternity seemed near ? Was there no voice 
of God in that awful admonition ? How often have you 
been warned by the death, perhaps by the sudden death, 
of your acquaintance and associates ! One has fallen at your 
right hand, and another at your left : multitudes, whom you 
once knew, are now in the grave. By these reproofs Jeho- 
vah has been speaking to you from year to year, and from 
month to month ; and the language of them all has been, 
"Be ready; for in such an hour as you think not, the Son 
of man cometh." 

God has reproved you by conscience. He has placed in 
your breast that faithful monitor ; and how often has it 
pointed you to the coming retribution ? How often has it 
set your sins in order before your eyes ? In whatever degree 
you may have stifled its dictates, has it not sometimes charged 
upon you the guilt of your profane and careless life? 
Has it not sometimes made you tremble like Felix? Has 
not its dreadful voice terrifieyd you in the midst of your 
crimes, and sent you away, deeply agitated, from the thea- 
tre of your wickedness ? Have not its accents of terror 
sometimes burst upon you in the place of social worship, 
in the retired Avalk, or at the midnight hour? Has not cnn- 



4 THE INCOIIRIGIBLE SINNER 

science sometimes caused you to start at the shaking of a 
leaf, and to flee from a shadow, as though the ghosts of all 
your sins were pursuing you do^vn to the infernal dungeon? 

God has reproved you by his Spirit. Do you remember 
no solemn seasons, in which you saw yourself to be deeply 
depraved, standing on the brink of a miserable eternity '? 
Do you not recollect the promises you then made ; the 
prayers you then offered to God? Then it was that he ad- 
dressed you by his Holy Spirit, and in infinite kindness 
called upon you to repent, believe, and be saved. 

You see, then, that you have been ofteuy yea, continually 
reproved. But one more inquiry remains, to determine 
what doom you have reason to expect. 

2. Have you not hardened your neck? Yes, sin- 
ner, this is likewise true. Instead of being made wise by 
correction, you have continued obstinate in impenitence? 
you are, to this moment, unconverted, and, of course, an 
enemy of God. You have rejected his counsel, and des- 
pised his reproof. Your way has been hedged up by his 
threatenings ; but through these briers and thorns you have 
forced your passage toward the pit of eternal despair. 

Think of your wasted Sabbaths. When you have read, 
or heard the word of God, it has been without any serious 
design of learning his righteous will, and yielding to his 
authority. You have stopped your ears against the thun- 
ders of Sinai and the groans of a dying Savior. You have 
refused to listen to the warnings of justice and the mild 
melting entreaties of mercy. With what carelessness have 
you sat under the sound of the Gospel ! How unmoved 
have you been by those accents of grace that melt the hearts 
of angels ? If you have been for an instant afl^ected by the 
truth, how soon have you employed yourself in endeavoring 
to regain your tranquillity ! How many and frivolous have 
been your excuses ! By these you have quieted yourself in 
sin. When a plain declaration of the Bible has been ad- 
dressed to you, how ready have you been to cavil and to 
doubt ! When reminded of the brevity of life, instead of 
being excited to prepare foi; your last account, you have 
flattered yourself with the hope of years to come. When 
urged to immediate repentance, you have talked of your 
own good deeds, or of the multiplicity of your worldly con- 
cerns, or of the difficulty of knowing what the truth is ; and 



FOREWARNED OF HIS DOOM. 

have perhaps had the impiety to charge God with injustice 
in his dealings with you. Heaven has been opened to you, 
but you have turned from it in disgust ; the terrors of hell 
have been exhibited, but you have treated them as the phan- 
toms of superstition. Thus you have hardened your neck 
against the reproofs of the Bible ; and far less guilty would 
you have been, had you never heard of Jesus and his sal- 
vation. O, you have been a practical atheist, on the very 
ground where God has displayed the wonders of his redeem- 
ing love. 

The counsels of pious friends you have also slighted. 
Have you never been even displeased by their faithfulness 
in laboring for your salvation ? How have you avoided the 
company of those who, you have believed, would admonish 
you ; and with what unkindness have you repaid their en- 
deavors to promote your best good ! 

When God has reproved you by his works, how insensi- 
ble have you been to his admonition! "The brutes obey 
their God, and^ bow their necks to men ;" but you reject 
the easy reign of the Redeemer. The birds of the air raise 
their artless songs to his honor, but you are silent in his 
praise. Summer and winter, seed-time and harvest fulfill 
his word ; yet you continue to rebel. You have abused his 
very mercies to purposes of sin ; and " because sentence 
against an evil work is not executed speedily," your heart 
"has been fully set in you to do evil." 

You have hardened your neck against his judgments ; 
and, instead of submitting to his rebukes, you have been 
stubborn, like a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke. What 
spiritual advantage have you derived from sickness, from 
disappointments, from worldly losses, from the death of 
friends ? Where are the impressions you felt at the bedside 
of a dying relative ; at the house of mourning ; and at the 
solemn funeral? The resolutions you made in affliction, you 
have broken ; you have waxed worse and worse under the 
rebukes of the Almighty. 

You have hardened your neck against the warnings of 
conscience. Dreading its rebukes, you have endeavored to 
avoid them. You have sought a retreat from its fearful ac- 
cusations, in the hurry of business, in trifling conversation, 
in unprofitable reading, or in the haunts of amusement. 

You have hardened your neck against the kindly motions 



6 THE INCORRIGIBLE SINNER 

of the Holy Spirit, calling* your sins to your remembrance, 
and urging you to secure, by repentance and faith, your 
eternal salvation. Instead of yielding- to his suggestions, 
you have been striving to counteract them ; you have vir- 
tually said to this glorious Agent, " Depart from me ; for I 
desire not the knowledge of thy ways." 

Thus have you resisted all the reproofs of the great and 
dreadful Jehov^ah. You have resisted them to this day. 
And are you not resisting them now, even while your eye 
is passing over these pages ? The eternal God is now ad- 
dressing you; he is giving you one more call; and will 
you not hear ? Why will you not hear ? Why will you 
not acknowledge your sinfulness and ruin? Impenitent 
reader ! God means this message for you. Why do you not 
repent ? Why do you not believe in the Son of God ? If 
you refuse obedience, you have at this moment the charac- 
ter of one who, "being often reproved, hardeneth his neck" 
against God. Itememher it — realize it — -fix your mind 
upon the aivful thought ! You are the very person to whom 
God in this affecting language refers. You " have been 
often reproved;" you "harden your neck." 

3. Can you then hope to escape the threatened 
DOOM ? " He that, being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, 
shall suddenly be destroyed, and that tuithout remedy.'''' 

These words, sinner, may well make you tremble, for 
they are the words of " Him who cannot lie." Having con- 
tinued so long the enemy of God, is there not reason to fear 
that you will continue incorrigible till death ? No stronger 
motives will ever be used, than those that have already been 
employed, to awaken and save you. No new atonement 
will be made for your sins ; no new Gospel will ever be 
proclaimed from heaven ; no other Savior than He whom 
the Bible reveals will ever interpose to deliver you from 
perdition. Why should it be imagined that the very means 
you have so long slighted will ever prove effectual to your 
salvation ? If they have had no influence in overcoming 
3''our obstinacy hitherto, why should you suppose that they 
will ever prove sufficient for this purpose 1 Are you any 
nearer to the kingdom of heaven now, than you were six 
months, or six years ago ? Has your heart begun to soften ? 
Is it not increasing in obduracy. You were never so guilty 
as you now a"e ; and, left to yourself, you are less likely 



FOREWARNED OF HIS DOOM. 7 

than you have been at any former period, to yield to the 
persuasions of the Gospel. You have probably never been 
more hardened than you are at the present time; and while 
you have been reading, or hearing this Tract, especially 
designed for your conviction, you have set yourself against 
conviction, and have been secretly sayjng, ''Peaces peaces 
What reason, then, have you to conclude that you shall re- 
pent? "Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which 
leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it ;" and Avhy 
should you be confident that, obdurate as you are, you will 
be of that happy number ? If the Lord do not appear for 
you in mere mercy, you will certainly perish ; and may he 
not justly leave you, as well as others, to eat the fruit of 
your own w^ay, and be filled with your own devices ? 

When I think of these things, sinner, I cannot but con- 
clude (I tremble while I say it) that it is far more probable 
you will live and die in your sins, than that you will turn to 
God and be saved. And, without repentance, your destruc- 
tion is certain ; for God has declared it. You will know 
\vhat it is to lose the soul ; to be an associate of fallen spi- 
rits; to be banished from God and all happiness. You will 
not be annihilated. This is not the destruction threatened 
in the volume of inspired truth. " Their worm dieth not, 
and their fire is not quenched. There shall be weeping 
and gnashing of teeth." How would you welcome anni- 
hilation! But you will exist, to be '^tormented" "day and 
night," "in the presence of the holy angels, and in the 
presence of the Lamb." 

Your destruction will be sudden ; it will overtake you 
by surprise. You now put far off the evil day ; thus you 
will continue to do, till death shall come upon you in all its 
terrors. Wholly unprepared, you will hear the dreadful 
summons. As it was with the inhabitants of Sodom and 
Gomorrah, so it will be with you ; they were eating and 
drinking, marrying and giving in marriage; and knew 
not, till the Lord rained upon them brimstone and fire out 
of heaven, and destroyed them all. In a moment, all your 
unconcern, all your gayety, all your contempt of his warn- 
ings, will be succeeded by the most bitter compunction, in- 
tolerable anguish, and the wailings of despair. 

But the most tremendous ingredient in your misery is yet 
to be mentioned. It Avill be without remedy. The smoke 



8 THE INCORRIGIBLE SINNER, &c. 

of your torment shall rise up for ever and ever. "These 
shall go away into everlasting punishment." You will 
have sinned away your day of grace; you will have thrust 
the Savior for ever from you ; " there remaineth no more 
sacrifice for sin, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment, 
and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries." 
The eviJs you will have brought upon yourself, in all their 
extent and aggravations, will be irreparable. Where will 
you look for help ? If you raise your eyes to heaven, you 
will behold, on the throne of God, and even on the brow of 
Jesus, the awful inscription, "without remedy." On the 
walls of your dungeon, on its bolts and bars, on the chains 
which bind you, you will read, in letters of fire, " with- 
out remedy;" "without remedy" will echo, in groans, 
through all the caverns of hell. 

Sinner, if you continue impenitent, this is your certain 
doom. But one hope remains : " God so loved the world 
that he gave his only begotten Son, that w^hosoever believeth 
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Re- 
pent, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out. 
Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." Do you 
doubt? "It is impossible for God to lie." "Heaven and 
earth shall pass away; but his words shall not pass away." 
Harden your neck against his warnings a little longer, and 
you will be beyond the reach of mercy. 

Will you still refuse to obey the Gospel of the Lord Je- 
sus Christ ? Shall this warning serve but to aggravate your 
condemnation? Shall it rise up against you in the judg- 
ment ? Shall it burst upon your thought, like fire in the 
glooms of hell ? Shall it ring its peal of terror through 
your soul to all eternity ? 

If any thing is to be done for your salvation, remember, 
it must be done quickly. For this reason, I have written 
what you now read. Whoever you may be, the writer ex- 
pects soon to meet you at the bar of God. O may/-it then 
appear that this feeble effort has been followed by thy bless 
ing, Almighty Spirit of God! and may some now lost sin- 
ner adore thy grace for ever, that he was warned, in these 
pages, of his guilt and danger! Grant it, good Lord; and 
thine shall be all the praise. 

PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY. 



l¥o. a 14. 

. MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED 

SCRIPTURAL AND INCONTROVERTIBLE ARGUMENTS 

FOR BELIEVING IN 

THE SUPREME DIVINITY 

OF 

OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST. 



"I COUNT ALL THINGS BUT LOSS FOR THE EXCELLENCY OF THE 
KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST JESUS MY LORD.— Phil. 3 : 8. 

Do you say I cannot comprehend God as existing in 
three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit ? But can 
you comprehend his existence in one person ? In what con- 
sists the unity of that Being Avho is personally present in 
millions of worlds at the same instant of time ? Grant that 
he exists in perfect unity — what then ? Can you compre- 
hend one of the attributes of this infinite Being ? Can you 
conceive of his eternity, that existence which had no begin- 
ning ? Can you comprehend his omnipresence ; or how he 
could create a world out of 7wthing ? 

You reply, though I cannot explain these things, yet to 
represent God as existing in three persons, is to represent 
him as being wholly unlike any other being. True, he is 
unlike any other being, and this, too, in his eternity, self- 
existence, and omniiwesence, as well as in his triune nature : 
" Who can by searching find out God ? To whom will ye 

liken him?" You sav there is so much more simplicity in 
VOL. VI. 34 



2 SUPREME DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 

the belief that he is one without any distinctions in the God- 
head — but is there therefore more truth ? Is simplicity in 
such a case evidence of truth ? How various and incom- 
prehensible the attributes of Deity ! How complex and 
mysterious his works of creation and providence ! You 
say the terms trinity and trinitarianism are not found in 
the Bible. Where in the Bible are the words unity and 
U7iitarianism to be found ? 

But you say it is impossible that Christ should be both 
God and man. Why so ? Do we not say of man that he 
is mortal and immortal ? But he cannot be mortal and im- 
mortal in the same sense. No more is Christ God and 
man in the same sense. As to his divine nature he is God, 
as to his human nature he is man. Still you say there is a 
great mystery, that God and man should be united in one 
person, and I cannot comprehend it. Your good sense, 
however, will not permit you to urge this as a reason why 
you should reject the truth. Are you not a mystery to 
yourself? Can you comprehend how a thought moves 
your arm ; or how the spires of grass under your feet grow ; 
or what are the properties of a single pebble you may take 
in your hand ? 

There is no more confusion or inconsistency in speaking 
of Christ sometimes as God, and at others as man, than in 
speaking of man sometimes as mortal, and at others, as im- 
mortal. The humble Christian, in his seasons of near and 
holy communion with the Son of God, feels no difficulty on 
this point. Because we hear it said of man, "Dust tliou 
art, and unto dust shalt thou return," Ave do not disbelieve 
those passages that speak of the soul which at death goeth 
upward. Could a thousand texts be arrayed in an argu- 
ment, asserting expressly man's earthly origin and mortal- 
ity — what then ? Are not those likewise true, which speak 
of the immortality of his spiritual existence ? How then 
does proving the humanity of Christ disprove his divinity'^ 



SUPRExME DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 3 

While in the humble form of a servant, assumed that he 
might make an atonement for our sins, what more natural, 
than that he should be generally spoken of according to that 
humble form ? Was not his humiliation real ? 

That he is truly man, we entertain not one doubt, and 
equally certain are we, that he is the Word made flesh, God 
manifest in the flesh, and in his divine nature, God. For 
this belief, we urge, among others, the following reasons. 

1. Because there is no evidence to the contrary : a him- 
dred arguments to prove that Jesus Christ is a man, and as 
a man inferior to the Father, do not prove that a superior 
and divine nature does not exist in alliance with the human. 

"My Father is greater than I." What does this text 
prove but that which Trinitarians readily admit ? that in his 
human nature and mediatorial office he is inferior to the 
Father. It surely was never intended to contradict another 
text, which declares, that in his original divine nature, "he 
thought it not robbery to be equal with God." 

" But of that day knoweth no man, no, not the angels 
which are in heaven, neither the Son, but my Father 
only." Mark 13 : 32. This is a matter of course, if he be 
truly man. But does this disprove his Deity ? " Man 
fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not." Does this 
disprove man's immortality ? Is it not expressly said of 
Christ, that he knoweth all things ; and that he is to pre- 
side over all the decisions of the general judgment ? He 
says, John 8 : 15, " I judge no many Shall we thence 
infer that he is not to be our final Juds^e ? 

" If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God 
came, say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified, and 
sent into the world, Thou blasphemest ; because I said, I 
am the Son of God?" John 10: 35, 36. Some have al- 
leged that the Saviour here denies his divinity. But how 
do his words bear such a construction ? The Jews accused 
him of making himself God. He does not deny that he 



4 SUPREME DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 

made himself God, but denies that he blasphemed, and this 
on a ground that might fully justify him even in claiming 
the honors of Deity, namely, that he was the Messiah, the 
Son of God, Immanuel. That the Jews did not consider 
him as in the least receding from his lofty claims, is evident 
from the continued enmity they manifested : see verse 39, 
"Therefore they sought again to take him." 

" Why callest thou me good ? there is none good but 
one, that is God." Matt. 19 : IV. The Saviour's object 
seems to be simply to test the young man's views of his 
character, whether he applied this significant epithet as a 
mere compliment, or in the exercise of faith in him as 
Immanuel. Why callest thou me good ? Do you intend, 
indeed, to acknowledge my divinity ? 

''All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." 
As Mediator, he acts in a subordinate capacity ; the Father 
is the bestower, and he is the recipient : but then, could he 
be the recipient of all power in heaven and earth, unless he 
possess the attributes of Deity to sustain and exercise it ? 
A finite being the recipient of all power is a far greater 
mystery than the doctrine of the Trinity ; it is a contradic- 
tion in terms. 

*' Jesus was made a little lower than the angels for the 
sufFerinof of death." He was made lower for the accom- 
plishment of a specific object — what was he originally? 
This is perfectly consistent with his being God, and "all 
the angels being commanded to worship) him." Ungrateful 
mortals, because you behold your Lord in the form of a 
servant, and suffering death for your redemption, will you 
take occasion from this very expression of his condescend- 
ing love, to rob him of his divine glories ? 

" To sit on my right hand and on my left, is not mine to 
give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared 
of my Father.^'' Matt. 20 : 23. It is a sufficient explana- 
tion of this text to observe, that our blessed Saviour has 



SUPREME DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 5 

elsewhere promised to bestow this very reward in his own 
right. "To him that overcometh, will I grant to sit with 
me in my throne.'' Rev. 3 : 21. "Be thou faithful unto 
death, and / ivill give thee a crown of life.'' Rev. 2 : 10. 

We have been surprised to see those texts which repre- 
sent Christ as sent and instructed by the Father, and as 
offering prayer to him, alleged, over and over again, as proof 
incontrovertible that he does not possess a divine nature, 
whereas they are wholly irrelevant. If the Son of God 
actually assumed our nature, it w^as befitting him in that 
condition, like a perfectly holy man, to pray and exhibit 
an example of obedience and submission, to seek not his 
own glory, but the glory of his Father. Nor were his 
prayers offered to himself: there is not only a real distinc- 
tion between the Father and the Son, as all allow, but it was 
the Son in human nature, that prayed to the Father. 

" This is life eternal, to know thee, the only true God, 
and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." In this and simi- 
lar passages the Father is called the only true God in op- 
position to idols, and not to Christ or the Holy Spirit. 
Nothing is said which intimates that there are no personal 
distinctions in the Supreme Divinity. And such passages 
were never intended to exclude the divine nature of Christ, 
because the Scriptures expressly call him God, the true 
God, God, beside ichom there is none else, as we shall here- 
after see. 

All these expressions of inferiority, therefore, relate to 
him in his humanity, and in his official character as Saviour. 
The kingdom which he is to resign is a mediatorial and in- 
ferior kingdom ; his subjection to the Father, then to take 
place, is an official subjection. The tears which he shed 
were human.* In short, was Christ's humiliation only in 
pretence, or was it real ? If real, why should he not man- 
ifest it in words and actions ? The question is not whether 

* Collier's Lectures on the Divinity of Christ, p. 158. 
VOL, VI. 84* 



6 SUPREME DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 

the Son of God appeared in human nature, this is admitted ; 
but whether he possessed a divine nature with which the 
human was taken into intimate alHance ; a question in which 
the whole plan of salvation is essentially involved. Texts 
to prove the existence of his human nature we have seen 
adduced, but not one that even intimates that he did not 
possess a divine nature, or that, in that divine nature, he is 
inferior to the Father. 

2. Because the voice of inspiration declares, ''Without 
controversy, great is the mystery of godliness : God was 
manifest in the flesh — believed on in the world, received up 
into glory." 1 Tim. 3:16. If Christ were but an inspired 
teacher, as one of the prophets, how is he God manifest in 
the flesh ? What is there peculiar in his character ? How 
does it diff'er from that of the prophets ? 

3. Because Isaiah, in so many words, announces him as 
" The mighty God, the everlasting Father'' — as this phrase 
imports, the Author and Possessor of eternity. Isa. 9:6. 

4. Because John, in the most explicit manner, testifies 
to his Deity. " The Word was GodT John 1 : 1 What 
more decisive could the disciple have said ? That this is 
Christ, is learned beyond a doubt from verse 14: "The 
Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and w^e beheld 
his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father." 

5. Because he is styled the Lord of glory. " Had they 
known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. '' 
1 Cor. 2:8. 

6. Because Paul denominates him God, in his charge to 
the Ephesian elders : " Take heed to all the flock over the 
which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed 
the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own 
Hood:' Acts 20 : 28. Compare 1 Pet. 5:2," Feed the 
flock of God.'' Also, chapter 1 : 18, 19, "Redeemed with 
the precious hlood of Christ." 

Note. Much has been said and written of late to preju- 



SUPREiME DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 7 

dice the public mind against our most excellent translation 
of the Holy Scriptures, as though it were unwarrantably 
partial to Trinitarian views. That it is perfect, would be to 
say that the translators were more than human. That they 
were firm Trinitarians, is granted, as the great body of holy 
and learned men have always been ; but that, on the Avhole, 
a more fair and just representation of the original was never 
produced, has been acknowledged by all denominations of 
Christians speaking the English tongue, for more than two 
centuries. The force of a very few texts often alleged in 
support of the Divinity of the Son of God, might be weak- 
ened by a different rendering. But are there not a number 
on the other hand, which, by a rendering the highest au- 
thorities sanction, might be added to the support of this 
great doctrine ? For example : 2 Pet. 1:1," Through the 
righteousness of God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ." A 
slight improvement in the version would give the title God 
to our Saviour. " Throuo-h the righteousness of our God 
and Saviour Jesus Christ." A similar additional proof 
may be seen in Titus 2 : 13. "Looking for that blessed 
hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our 
Saviour Jesus Christ." The following improvement, sanc- 
tioned by the highest authority, makes our Saviour the great 
God : " And glorious appearing of our great God and Sav- 
iour Jesus Christ." But, thanks to the divine Spirit, we 
are not driven, by a deficiency of proof texts, to call in 
question so sacred a vehicle of inspired truth as our present 
version, and so incur the responsibihty of unsettling the 
public confidence in a momentous concern. And that re- 
ligious system which excites among its defenders a per- 
petual outcry about mistranslations and various readings, 
ought to be more than suspected. The testimony against 
them is so full, it would seem the witnesses must be im- 
peached, or their cause is lost. 

7. Because he is pronounced in so many words to be 



8 SUPREME DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 

God over all. "Of whom," the Jewish nation, "as con- 
cerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed 
for ever." Rom. 9:5. Is any thing above him who is 
God over all ? Note, also, the antithesis between his two 
natures : of the seed of Abraham according to the Jiesh. 
What was he according to his divine noAure ? " God over 
ally Compare Rom. 1 : 3, 4. 

8. Because Christ claims, in unqualified terms, an equal- 
ity with the Father. Christ " being in the form of God, 
thought it not robbery to be equal with GodT Philip. 2 : 6. 

9. Because it cannot be said that "in him dwelleth all 
the fulness of the Godhead bodily," unless he be essentially 
God. Col. 2 : 9. 

10. Because he is the Jehovah whom Isaiah saw in 
vision. " I saw, also, the Lord sitting upon a throne, 
high and lifted up. Above it stood the seraphim. And 
one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy is the 
Lord* of hosts. And he said, Go, make the heart of this 
people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes." 
Isa. 6 : 1, 2, 3, 9, 10. 

That the Being seen in this vision is the supreme God, 
none will doubt. Now, the evangelist John informs us this 
was Christ and his glory-. "Therefore, they could not be- 
lieve, because Esaias said again. He hath blinded their eyes, 
and hardened their hearts, that they should not see with 
their eyes, etc. These things said Esaias, ivhen he saw his," 
Christ's, "glory, and spake of him.'' John 12 : 39, 40, 41. 
Therefore, the Holy Spirit has decided that Jesus Christ is 
Jehovah of hosts. 

11. Because he proclaims himself to be God, and invites 
the ends of the earth to look to him for salvation. "Look 
unto me, and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth ; for / 

* It may not be amiss to remind the reader that where Lord 
is printed in capitals in our common translation of the Bible, it is 
uniformly Jehovah in the original. 



SUPREME DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 9 

am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by myself — 
that unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall 
swear." Isa. 45 : 22, 23. The apostle has decided that 
the person who here speaks is Christ, and quotes the last 
verse as an argument that all must appear before his judg- 
ment-seat. " We shall all stand before the judgment-seat 
of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every 
knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to 
God." Rom. 14 : 10, 11. Here you will observe the 
titles, Christ, Lord, and Ood, are used interchangeably, as 
of equal import. 

12. Because the Father addresses the Son as God, in 
express terms. " Unto the Son he saith. Thy throne, O 
God, is for ever and ever." Heb. 1 : 8. Compare Psalm 
45 : 6, from which this is quoted, and where it is an address 
to the God of the Old Testament. But here we have the 
authority of an inspired apostle that it was addressed to 
Christ. Then, without controversy, Christ is God. 

13. Because the Lord God of the holy prophets, and 
Christ, are represented as the same Being by the inspired 
John. Rev. 22:6. " The Lord God of the holy prophets 
sent his anorel to show unto his servants the thins^s which 
must shortly be done." Observe, the Lord God sent his 
angel; then read the 16th verse: "I Jesus have sent my 
angel to testify unto you these things in the churches." Do 
you not perceive that here, "the Lord God," and "Jesus," 
are the same ? They assume the same style, and the same 
prerogative. 

14. Because Isaiah again announces him in prophecy as 
Jehovah of hosts. " Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself ; 
and let him be your fear — and he shall be for a sanctuary ; 
but for a stone of stumbling," etc. Isa. 8 : 13, 14. Is the 
Father anywhere represented as a stone of stumbling to the 
Jews ? This language applies only to Christ. Compare 
1 Pet. 2 : 8, where the apostle settles the question by in- 



10 SUPREME DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 

terpreting the prophecy of Christ, "Unto you, therefore, 
which beheve, he," Christ, *'is precious; but unto them 
which be disobedient, a stone of stumbhng, and a rock of 
offence." 

15. Because he is the God whom the Israehtes tempted 
in the wilderness. " Neither let us tempt Christ, as some 
of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents." 
1 Cor. 10 : 9. Compare Exod. 17:7, and Numb. 21 : 5, 6. 
*' The people spake against God, and the Lord sent fiery 
serpents among the people." The Psalmist says, ''They 
tempted the most high God." Psalm 78 : 56. 

16. Because an apostle has decided that the following 
sublime description of the Lord God by the Psalmist, was 
a description of Christ. " The chariots of God are twenty 
thousand, even thousands of angels. The Lord is among 
them, as in Sinai, the holy place. Thou hast ascended on 
high, thou hast led captivity captive, thou hast received 
gifts for men." Now observe the application as quoted by 
Paul : "Wherefore he saith, when he ascended up on high, 
he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. He that 
descended is the same, also, that ascended up far above all 
heavens, that he might fill all things : And he gave some 
apostles, and some prophets," etc. Psalm 68 : 17, 18 ; 
Eph. 4 : .8, 10, 11. Here the Psalmist informs us that the 
Being who ascended up on high and led captivity captive, is 
God the Lord. The apostle informs us that this Being, who 
ascended up on high and led captivity captive, is Christ. 
Then, on apostolic authority, Christ is God. 

17. Because Thomas, in so many words, pronounced 
him to be his Lord and his God. " And Thomas answered 
and said unto him, My Lord, and my God." John 20 : 28. 
For this act of faith Christ commended the adoring disciple. 
This is not a profane exclamation, but an address to Christ ; 
Thomas answered and said unto Christ, My Lord, and my 
God. Now, had not the lowly Saviour been worthy of such 



SUPREME DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. H 

divine honor, would he not have administered a reproof in- 
stead of a blessino: ? 

18. Because he is called, " The Lord from heaven'^ and 
" Lord both of the dead and living.''^ 1 Cor. 15 : 47 ; Rom. 
14: 9. 

19. Because he is denominated, Lord of all. " Preach- 
ing peace by Jesus Christ : he is Lord of all." Acts 10 : 36. 

20. Because he is also solemnly announced by Paul to 
Jews and Gentiles as Lord over all. " The same Lord 
over all is rich unto all that call upon him." Rom. 10 : 12. 
Compare verse 11 with 1 Pet. 2:6. Is not he the supreme 
Lord, who is Lord of all, and God over all? 

21. Because it is said he has a name, that is above every 
name. Phil. 2 : 9. 

22. Because he is addressed as Lord, Creator of heaven 
and earth. *' Unto the Son he saith. Thou, Lord, in the 
beginning, didst lay the foundation of the earth, and the 
heavens are the works of thine hands." Heb. 1 : 8-10. 
The 10th verse is connected with the two preceding verses 
by the conjunction and, and is a continuation of the address 
to the Son. Compare Psalm 102 : 25-27. 

23. Because he is repeatedly proclaimed, ''Lord of 
lords, and King of kings. ^^ Rev. 17 : 14, and 19 : 16. 
Precisely as God is styled, 1 Tim. 6:15, and Deut. 10 : 17. 
He is also above all. " He that cometh from above is above 
all.'' John 3:31. Now who can be his superior, who is 
Lord of lords, and above all ? 

24. Because he is called, in so many words, the true God. 
" We are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ : 
this is the true God, and eternal life." 1 John, 5 : 20. 
What more explicit declaration of his Deity can even the 
most incredulous demand ?* 

* Said a Unitarian to a venerable clergyman, if the doctrine 
of Christ's Deity were true, I am sure so important a doctrine must 
have been revealed with a clearness no one could have mistaken. 



12 SUPREME DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 

25. Because the following passages demonstrably show 
there was formed a union of a divine nature with a human 
at the birth of Christ. " God was manifest in the fesh.''^ 
When a child he is denominated the mighty God : " Unto 
us a child is born, and his name shall be called the mighty 
Godr " Of whom, as concerning the fiesh, Christ came, 
who is God over all." *' He thought it not robbery to be 
equal with God — but was made in the likeness of men^ 
"He came down from heaven." "The Word, which was 
God, was made flesh r He repeatedly alluded to his orig- 
inal glory. These passages, and others like them, allude 
distinctly to his two natures, and are utterly unmeaning 
unless there was a union of a divine and human nature at 
the birth of our Saviour. 

26. Because we are expressly informed, to Icnow him is 
the same as to know the Father. John 14 : 7, 9. 

27. Because to see him is the same as to see the Father. 
John 14: 9. 

28. Because Paul offers prayer to him jointly with the 
Father, in the same manner, and for the same blessings. 
" Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our 
Father, comfort your hearts, and establish you in every good 
word and work." 2 Thess. 2: 16, lY. . Is it not idolatry 
to address prayer to Christ if he be not really God ? What 
propriety in praying to a being who is not omniscient to 
know our desires, and omnipotent to satisfy them ? To show 
that the usual mode adopted in Scripture, of placing the 
name of Christ after the Father, implies no inferiority, it is 
in this instance placed first. 

29. Because Stephen, when full of the Holy Ghost, and 
in most solemn circumstances, prayed to Christ, and com- 

And what language would you have chosen ? said the clergyman. 
I would have had him called the trv£ God, replied the man. Right, 
said the venerable clergyman — the very language of the apostle, 
1 John, 5 : 20. 



SUPREME DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 13 

mended to him his departing spirit. ''And they stoned 
Stephen, caUing upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive 
my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud 
voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." Acts V : 59, 60. 

30. Because Paul besought the Lord — Christ, as is seen 
in the subsequent verse — thrice, that the thorn in his flesh 
might depart from him. 2 Cor, 12:8. He also received from 
him an answer. " And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient 
for thee." Ver. 9. Christ, then, is both the hearer and an- 
swerer of prayer. Is not this the prerogative of God alone ? 

31. Because it is written, " Whosoever shall call upon the 
name of the Lord,'^ Christ, " shall be saved." Rom. 10 : 13. 

32. Because Paul speaks of his dependence on Christ, 
and of Christ dwelling in him, in a manner in which it 
would be impious to speak of any one but God. " I can 
do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me. I 
live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." Phil. 4 : 13. Gal. 
2 : 20. How could this be said of a beinor who was not 
omnipotent to aid, and omnipresent to sustain? ''I will go 
in the strength of the Lord God." Psalm 71 : 16. 

33. Because we find him joined with the Father in a 
solemn petition for divine guidance. '' Now God himself, 
and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way 
unto you." 1 Thess. 3: 11. 

- 34. Because Paul prays for his never-failing presence 
with the soul of Timothy, just as we find the accompanying 
presence of the Father is everywhere prayed for. " The 
Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit." 2 Tim. 4 : 22. Does 
not this prayer imply omnipresence ? 

35. Because the same apostle speaks of him as the Being 
to whom he habitually looked for success in all his concerns. 
" But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly 
unto you." Philip. 2:19. Was the apostle's habitual re- 
liance then upon a creature ? " Cursed is he that trusteth 
in man, and maketh flesh his arm." 
VOL. VI. 35 



14 SUPREME DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 

36. Because those Christians whom Paul persecuted 
before his conversion habitually offered their i^rayers to 
Christ. " Here he hath authority to bind all that call on 
this nameT Acts 9:14. Also verse 21. "Is not this he that 
destroyed them which called on this," Christ's, *'name?" 

37. Because the custom of addressing their petitions to 
Christ was so prevalent in the apostolic churches, that 
Christians of that day were designated by that feature of 
their worship. ''With all that in every place call on the 
name of Jesus Christ our LordT 1 Cor. 1 : 2. Would in- 
spired apostles have offered worship and prayer habitually 
to one who was not God ?* 

38. Because we find Christ solemnly addressed alone in 
prayer eight times in this particular form. " The grace of 
our Lord Jesus Christ be with you." Rom. 16: 20, 24; 
iCor. 16: 23; Phil. 4: 23, etc. 

39. Because we find the name of Christ associated with 
the Father, and equally the object of a most solemn and 
comprehensive i^rayer, sixteen times in the Epistles, and 
once in the Revelation. Rom. 1 : 7 ; 1 Cor. 1 : 3 ; 2 Cor. 
1:2; Gal. 1 : 3, etc. And in more than forty different 
passages through the New Testament do we find, either 
examples of grayer offered to Christ, or the duty of pray- 
ing to him expressly implied. 

40. Because we find it written, every knee shall bow to 
him : an homage due to God alone. " That at the name of 
Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and 

* So prominent and so constant was the worship paid Christ 
by the primitive Christians, that it did not escape the observation 
even of the heathen. Says Pliny, in writing to Trajan, " They," 
Christians, " sing in social worship a hymn to Christ as God." 
Lib. 10. Ep. 97. Eusebius, too, Ecc. Hist. V. 28, in writing 
against the Artemonites, appeals to the ancient songs of Christians 
thus : " Whatever psalms and hymns were composed by faithful 
brethren, from the beginning, praise Chiist^ the Word of God?'' 



SUPREME DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 15 

things in earth, and things under the earth." Philip. 2:10. 
Compare this language with Rom. 14:11:'' As I live, saith 
the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue 
shall confess to God." 

41. Because the apostle Peter ascribes endless glory 
to him. *' Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our 
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both 
now and for ever. Amen." 2 Peter, 3:18. 

42. Because we hear all the angels of God expressly 
commanded to loorship the Son. " And when he bringeth 
in his first-begotten into the world, he saith, And let all 
the angels of God worship him." Heb. 1 : 6. Does the 
Father command the angels to be guilty of idolatry ? 

43. Because, after the miracle of stilling the tempest, 
he permitted his disciples and others to worship him. 
*' Then they that were in the ship came and loor shipped 
him, saying. Of a truth, thou art the Son of God.'''' Matt. 
14 : 33. " It is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy 
God, and him only shalt thou serve." 

44. Because, just before his ascension, those of his dis- 
ciples whose faith was strongest, paid him divine honors. 
" And when they saw him, they worshipped him ; but some 
doubted." Matt. 28 : IV." Immediately after his ascen- 
sion, we find them all united in paying him this divine 
homage. " He was parted from them, and carried up into 
heaven, and they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusa- 
lem." Luke 24 : 51, 52. 

45. Because there are fifteen instances recorded of wor- 
ship'^ being actually paid to our Lord while on earth, with- 

* The word translated to worship occurs sixty times in the New 
Testament : of these, two denote civil homage, fifteen refer to 
idolatrous rites, three are used of disapproved homage to creatures, 
twenty-five respect the worship due to the Fatlier, and the remain- 
ing fifteen relate to acts of homage paid to Jesus Christ. So that 
in fifty-eight instances out of the sixty, including those where it 



10 SUPREME DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 

out so much as a hint of disapprobation on his part. The 
reader will remember that Paul and Barnabas at Lystra, 
and the angel in Revelation, instantly repelled the Avorship 
which was about to be offered them. Would not the meek 
and lowly Saviour have been equally jealous of his Father's 
honor, and so indignantly repelled such idolatry, had he not 
been God, equal with the Father, and the proper object of 
religious w^orship ? Would he otherwise have endured for 
a moment even the appearance of divine homage ? 

46. Because all the redeemed in heaven surround his 
throne wdth shouts of adoration. *' Unto him that loved 
lis, and washed us from our sins in his own blood : to him 
be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." Rev. 
1 : 5, 6. Is the whole host of the redeemed in heaven con- 
tinually employed in acts of idolatry ? 

47. Because John again testifies, that ''the four living- 
creatures, and the four and tw^enty elders /eZ^ doivn before 
the Lamb, having every one of them harps and golden 
vials full of odors y But what are these odors, which the 
leaders of this celestial band, with such profound adoration, 
present to the Lamb ? The apostle has told us, " they are 
the prayers of the saints.^^ Here, then, are we certain that 
the Lamb is the object of worship, and of prayer, by the 
church on earth, and her highest orders in heaven. Rev. 5 : 8. 

48. Because this apostle further informs us that " he 
heard every creature, which is in heaven, and on the earth, 
and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and 'all that 
are in them, saying. Blessing, and honor, and glory, and 
power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto 
the Lamb, for ever and ever." Rev. 5:13. 

49. Because John again opens heaven to us, and the 

is applied to Christ, the term is used to express supreme homage, 
or that which was intended as such. See Smith's Scripture Tes- 
timonies to the Messiah, vol. 2, p. 271. 



SUPREME DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 17 

same lofty adorations are paid to the Lamb. " After this I 
beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could num- 
ber, of all nations, stood before the throne, and before the 
Lamb, and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our 
God, which sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb.'* 
Rev. Y : 9, 10. 

50. Because John says again, " I heard the voice of 
many angels round about the throne, and the living crea- 
tures, and the elders ; and the number of them was ten 
thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands ; 
saying with a loud voice. Worthy is the Lamb that was 
slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, 
and honor, and glory, and blessing." Rev. 5:11, 12. What 
more can be ascribed to God ? And if this be not supreme 
worship, what is ?* 

51. Because, in short, it is not in the power of language 
to express acts of confidence and homage of a higher char- 
acter than those which the Scriptures frequently represent 
as rendered to Christ. 

52. Because, **By him were all things created, that are 
in heaven, and that are in the earth, visible or invisible, 
whether they be thrones, dominions, principalities, or pow- 
ers." Col. 1 : 16. Creation is everywhere appealed to 
as the peculiar prerogative of Jehovah. " Thus saith the 
Lord, thy Redeemer, and he that formed thee : I am the 
Lord that maketh all things ; that stretcheth forth the 
heavens alone ; that spreadeth abroad the earth hy myself.^* 
Isa. 44 : 24. The evasion, that it was hy Christ, as an in- 
strument, is, besides being an absurd supposition, absolutely 
forbidden by God himself. Mark his language : " I am the 

* Let me live and die with a prayer to the Son of God on my 
lips ; and if I err, it will be with Stephen when full of the Holy 
Ghost, and with the whole apostolic church. Let me now, and 
for ever, be a worshipper of the Son of God ; and if I err, it will 
be with all the angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect. 
VOL. VI. 35* 



13 SUPREME DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 

Lord, that stretcheth forth the heavens alone ; that spread- 
eth abroad the earth hij 77iyself.''^* 

53. Because the inspired John bears a similar testi- 
mony : " The world was made by him." John 1:10. Now 
the eternal poioer and Godhead of the Father are clearly 
understood by the things that are made. Rom. 1 : 20. 
Then do not these same works, which are repeatedly and 
in the most express terms ascribed to our Lord Jesus Christ, 
clearly show his eternal poiver and Godhead ? 

54. Because this apostle confirms the same truth in an- 
other passage, with still more emphasis. " All things Avere 
made by him, and without him was not any thing made that 
was made." John 1:3. The Holy Ghost then has settled 
the question of his Deity. " He that made all things is 
Godr Heb. 3 : 4. 

55. Because in the following passage the Son is ad- 
dressed, not only as the Creator of all things, but also as 
the unchangeable God. "Thou, Lord, in the beginning 
didst lay the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are 
the works of thine hands ; they shall perish, but thou re- 
mainest : as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they 
shall be changed ; but thou art the same.'' Heb. 1 : 10, 12 ; 
Psa. 102 : 26. What language could more sublimely de- 
scribe the Avorks and the immutable perfections of Omnip- 
otence ? 

56. Because it is written, " All things were created by 
him and for him." Col. 1:16. Not only, then, is Jesus 
Christ the Creator of all things, but likewise the ultimate 
end for which all things were made. But the Scripture 

* The preposition by designates principal, as well as subordi- 
nate agency : see the passage last quoted ; also Heb. 2 : 10. " For 
it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all 
things," etc. 1 Cor. 1:9. " God is faithful, by whom ye are 
called into the fellowship of his Son." Hos. 1:7. "I will save 
them by Jehovah.''^ And numerous other passages. 



SUPREME DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 19 

saitb, "The Lord liatli made all things /or himself. ^^ Prov, 
16:4. Then is Jesus Christ this Lord, or Jehovah. If 
being the Creator and the end of all creation does not 
designate the Supreme God, what does ? 

5Y. Because it is written, ** We must all appear before 
the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one may receive 
the things done in his body, according to that he hath 
done, whether it be good or bad." 2 Cor. 5:10. He who 
is Avorthy to preside over the scenes of the final judgment, 
and distribute the rewards of eternity, must be God. 

58. Because Christ himself declares, "The Son of man 
shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him ; 
then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory. Before him 
shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them 
one from another," etc. Matt. 25 : 31, 33. Now, the Bible 
and reason conspire to forbid the belief, that any being can 
weigh all the motives of all the actions, secret and open, of 
all the myriads of the human race, but the omniscient God. 

59. Because Paul again bears testimony to the same 
solemn truth. " We shall all stand before the judgment- 
seat of Christ." Rom. 14:10. 

60. Because he confirms this testimony in 2 Tim. 4:1. 
" The Lord Jesus shall judge the quick and the dead at his 
appearing and kingdom." 

61. Because we again hear Christ himself declare, " The 
Son of man shall come, and then he shall reward every man 
accordino- to his works." Matt. 16 : 27. But is not the 
Judge of all the earth God? See Gen. 18 : 25. Then is 
our Lord Jesus Christ God, for in more than thirty different 
passages is he represented as the final Judge of the world. 
Are there two final Judges ? It is very evident we must 
stand before the throne of God and the throne of Christ ; 
and render an account to God and to Christ ; and receive our 
reward and punishment of God and of Christ. The Judge is 
God alone ; but Jesus is the Judge. Therefore Jesus is God. 



20 SUPREME DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 

62. Because he is that Being, whose almighty voice will 
raise the dead. " The hour is coming in which all that are 
in their graves shall hear his," Christ's, " voice, and shall 
come forth : they that have done good, unto the resurrection 
of life ; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection 
of damnation." John 5: 28, 29. 

63. Because he assumes the disposal of the rewards of 
heaven, the peculiar prerogative of God. ** Be thou faith- 
ful unto death, and / will give thee a crown of life." Rev. 
2: 10. 

64. Because the Scriptures declare Jesus hiew the 
thoughts of men. "And Jesus, knowing their thoughts," etc., 
Matt. 9 : 4, the prerogative of God alone. " Thou, Lord, 
even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of 
men." 1 Kings, 8 : 39. 

65. Because it is positively declared, " He knew all 
men — he knew what was in manr John 2 : 24, 25. 

66. Because he is solemnly appealed to in prayer, as 
knowing the hearts of all men. ** Thou, Lord, which know- 
est the hearts of all men." Acts 1 : 24. 

67. Because he proclaims himself to all the thousands 
of his worshippers to be the great Searcher of hearts. 
*' And all the churches shall know that I am He which 
searcheth the reins and hearts.'^ Rev. 2 : 23. That the 
Son here speaks, see verse 18. Is not this the appropriate 
language of Deity alone ? "I the Lord search the heart, I 
try the reins," etc. Jer. 17:10. " Thou, Lord, even thou 
only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men." 1 
Kings, 8: 39. What can be more manifest? If Jehovah 
alone search the heart, and yet the Scriptures expressly 
affirm that Christ possesses that prerogative, then Christ 
must be Jehovah. 

68. Because his disciples bear testimony to his omnis- 
cience in so many words, just before his crucifixion. " Now 
are we sure that thou knowest all things^ John 16 : 30. 



SUPREME DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 21 

Would tlie meekness of Jesus have suffered the divine attri- 
bute of omniscience to be thus ascribed to him had he not 
possessed it ? 

69. Because the same solemn testimony to his omnis- 
cience is repeated by Peter, after his resurrection, and the 
faith of the disciples had been wonderfully strengthened. 
" Lord, thou hioivest all things : thou knowest that I love 
thee." John 21 : 17. Can language be more express? 

YO. Because " In him are hid all the treasures of wis- 
dom and hiowleclgey Col. 2:3. li all the treasures of 
wisdom and knowledge are hid in him, must he not be 
infinite in wisdom and knowledge ? 

71. Because he says, "I have power to lay down my 
life, and to take it again." John 10 : 18. What creature 
ever possessed this power ? • Are not the issues of life and 
death with God alone ? 

72. Because he is "fa7' above all principality, and power, 
and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, 
not only in this world, but also in that which is to come." 
Eph, 1:21. What more could be said of God? 

73. Because he is absolutely declared to be " the head 
of all power r Col. 2 : 10. The head of all power must 
be he who originates and wields all power ; and who is this 
but the Almighty God ? 

74. Because he is not only represented as the Creator of 
all things, but as also the upholder of all things — and this 
not by effort, as creatures sustain a burden, but by his ivord. 
" Upholding all things by the ivord of his power.^'' Heb. 
1:3. What more sublime description of Jehovah? He is 
called also, "The mighty God." Isa. 9: 6. Who is this 
being, that upholds millions of worlds with all their inhab- 
itants by his powerful word ? Is it a dependent creature, 
or is it the only true God ? 

75. Because of the divine authority which he assumed 
in healing the leper. "I will; be thou clean;" and the 



22 SUPREME DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 

leprous man was cleansed. Matt. 8:3. Is not this the 
language of Him '' who worketh all things after the coun- 
sel of his own will ?''^ 

76. Because of the, divine majesty mi^ power with which 
he spoke to the paralytic. " Arise, take up thy bed, and 
go to thy house ;" and he went away healed. Matt. 9 : 6. 
Here is the air and manner of Jehovah alone. " Let there 
be light." ''Let there be a firmament," etc. 

77. Because he assumes the authority of God over the 
elements. When the winds and the waves were raffinof, 
"He rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea. Peace, be 
still ; and the wind ceased, and there was a great calm." 
Mark 4:39. Does not this remind us of the Psalmist's 
description of the Almighty? "0 Lord God of hosts, 
who is a strong Lord like unto thee ? Thou rulest the 
raging of the sea ; when the waves thereof arise, thou still- 
est them." Ps. 89 : 8, 9. 

78. Because he assumes divine authority over death. 
He said to the widow's son, " Young man, / say unto thee, 
arise. And he that was dead sat up." To Lazarus, " Come 
forth." And he that had been dead four days came forth. 
Luke 7 : 14, 15 ; John 11: 43, 44. The prophets had to 
wait for special commissions from heaven, but " the Son 
quickeneth whom he wiliy John 5:21. 

79. Because he assumes divine authority over devils. 
*'He cast out the spirits with his loordT Matt. 8 : 16. In 
these instances it was not horrowed power, be it remembered. 
Jesus manifested his own glory by his miracles. *' This 
beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and 
manifested forth his own glory ^ John 2:11. So when he 
raised Lazarus, he said, " I am the resurrection and the life" 

80. Because the disciples wrought miracles in the name 
of Christ, thereby acknowledging that their authority and 
power to suspend the laws of nature, were derived from 
him, as the God of nature. *' His name, through faith in 



SUPREME DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 23 

his name, hath made this man strong." "Peter said unto 
him, Eneas, e7esw5 Christ maketh thee whole." Acts 3 : 16, 
and 9 : 34. 

81. Because then, in a word, he wrought miracles — by 
his own poiver — according to his oivn will — for his oivn glory 
— with a divine authority, and likewise commissioned his 
disciples to work them in his name. 

82. Because he says, *'I hold the keys of death and of 
hell." Also declares himself to be that Almighty Being, 
** who openeth, and no man shutteth ; and shutteth, and 
no man openeth." Rev. 1:18, and 3 : Y. Is not this the 
prerogative of God alone ? " Unto God the Lord belong 
the issues from death." Psalm 68 : 20. 

83. Because he asserts his omnipotence when he says 
there is no work which the Father performs but he performs 
likewise. " Whatsoever things the Father doeth, these also 
doeth the Son likewise." John 5 : 19. Observe these 
expressions : do not the luorks of the Father prove him 
omnipotent ? But the Son performs the very same works 
likewise : then, without controversy, do they prove the 
Son omnipotent.* 

84. Because he is represented as the gre^i fountain from 
which Christians of all ages and countries receive their 
supplies. " Of his fulness have all we received, and grace 
for grace." John 1 : 16. Just as God is represented: 
'' With thee, God, is the fountain of hfe." Psalm 36:9. 

85. Because he says to Paul in a season of severe con- 
flict, ''My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is 
made perfect in thy weakness," etc. 2 Cor. 12 : 9. Who 
but the all-sufficient God would presume to use such lan- 

* It has been said, this was delegated power. Delegated om- 
nipotence ! Most absurd evasion to rob the Saviour of divine 
attributes. If omnipotence be not one of \iie incommunicable attri- 
butes of the Deity, what is ? If omnipotent, he must be God. 
Are there two omnipotent beings ? 



24 SUPREME DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 

guage ? Says the Psalmist, "God is the strength of my 
heart." Psalm 73 : 26. 

When, therefore, the Saviour says, "I can of my oAvn 
self do nothing," he does not intend to deny these claims to 
omnipotence, but to deny all separate interest from the 
Father, and to declare his essential oneness with him; or, 
we may consider him as speaking of himself in the humble 
form of a servant which he assumed : in both respects the 
assertion is obviously true, and in perfect harmony with his 
claims, as God, to omnipotence. 

86. Because he in so many words assumes to himself the 
attribute of omnipotence. " I am Alpha and Omega — the 
Almighty.''^ Rev. 1 : 8. See verse 7. The same who was 
pierced. 

87. Because he not only healed all manner of diseases 
and raised the dead in his own name, but, with the same 
air of divine authority, said to the paralytic, "Son, thy 
sins he forgiven thee." Mark 2:5. Would not this be 
blasphemy, were he not himself the great Lawgiver, the 
supreme Judge, even God ? " Who can forgive sins but 
God only?" The language of Jehovah is, " I, even I, am 
he that blotteth out thy transgressions." Isaiah 43 : 25. 
Jesus Christ authoritatively pronounced the forgiveness of 
sins, he is therefore God. 

88. Because he declared himself to be in heaven at the 
same time he was on earth, thereby showing that he is 
omnipresent. In conversation with Nicodemus he says, 
" No man hath ascended up to heaven but he that came 
down from heaven, even the Son of man loliich is in 
heaven''' John 3 : 13. Paul to the Ephesians, chapter 
1 : 23, speaks of "the fulness of him," Christ, "that filleth 
all in all." This accords with the lanofuaofe of Jehovah: 
"Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord." Jer. 
23 : 24. 

89. Because he says, "Where two or three are gath- 



SUPREME DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 25 

ered together in my name," for ray worship, " there am I in 
the midst of them." Matt. 18 : 20. Who could make this 
promise but the omnipi-esent God? Compare this with the 
language of God, Exod. 20 : 24. *' In all places where I 
record my name, I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee." 

90. Because he promises his disciples, and through 
them, all Christians, to be present with them as an unfail- 
ing source of consolation. " I will not leave you comfort- 
less, I will come to you." John 14 : 18. Is not this the 
common consolation which the omnipresent God gives his 
people ? " Fear not, for I am with thee." Isa. 43 : 5. 

91. Because he again promises he will manifest himself 
to the man that loves him, and in the same manner as God 
visits every pious soul. '' I will love him, and manifest 
myself to him. My Father will love him, and we will 
come to him." John 14 : 21, 23. 

92. Because there is a holy, familiar communion main- 
tained between Christ and every believer, just as between 
God and every believer, over the whole earth. " Truly 
our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus 
Christ." 1 John, 1:3. 

93. Because he proclaims himself to be that omniscient 
and omnipresent Being, who, though on his throne in heaven, 
yet, at the same time, " walks in the midst of the seven 
golden candlesticks," the churches. Rev. 2: 1. 

94. Because he expressly asserts his presence at the door 
of every heart. " Behold, I stand at the door, and knock ; 
if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come 
in and sup with him, and he with me." Rev. 3:20. 

95. Because he declares, in so many words, " Lo, / am 

with you always, even unto the end of the world." Matt. 

28 : 20. Not merely by good wishes, but by an efficient 

presence, so that Paul could say, " I can do all things 

through Christ, which strengtheneth me." Does not our 

Saviour here assume the omnipresence of God, and claim 
VOL. VI. 36 



26 SUPREME DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 

that confidence whicli belongs to God alone ? " God is the 
strength of my life. In God I have put my trust." Psa. 

27 : 1, and 56 : 4. 

96. Because in prophecy he is represented as existing 
from eternity. " But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though 
thou be little among the thousands of dudah, yet out of 
thee shall He come forth unto me that is to be Ruler in 
Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from 
everlasting!'' Micah 5 : 2. Compare Matt. 2 : 6, where the 
evangelist applies it to Christ. 

9*7. Because he says, ''Before Abraham was, I amT 
John 8:58. God, in his message to Pharaoh, styled him- 
self ''I AM." 

98. Because Christ prays, '' Glorify me with the glory 
which I had ^vith thee before the world was,^^ or from eter- 
nity, to which the phrase is equivalent. John lY : 5. 

99. Because it is again written, '* He is before all things.^^ 
Col. 1 : IV. 

100. Because we hear him expressly and repeatedly say 
of himself, " I am the first and the last ;" " And he laid his 
right hand upon me, saying unto me. Fear not ; I am the^^rs^ 
and the last : I am he that liveth and was dead ; and behold, 

1 am alive for evermore. Amen." Rev. 1 : 17, 18, and 

2 : 8. Who but the eternal God would dare to assume the 
prerogative of being the first and the last? Can any being 
but God be the first and the last ? 

101. Because the following language unequivocally des- 
ignates eternal and immutable existence. " Jesus Christ, 
the same yesterday, and to- day, and for everT Heb. 13 : 8. 
Who is unchangeable, and/or ever the same, but the eternal 
God ? Jesus Christ is here pronounced unchangeable, he 
is therefore God. 

102. Because he is expressly declared to be " the ever- 
lasting Father,^'' the Father or possessor of eternity. 
Isaiah 9:6. 



SUPREME DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 27 

103. Because it is not only declared, that all things 
were created hy him, and for him, but also that '' by him 
all things consist.^^ Col. 1 : 17. Is not that being, who 
supports all things, God? Then is Christ truly God, for he 
is the Creator and Supporter of all things. 

104. Because Paul ascribes glory to him in precisely 
the same manner as to the Father. ** And the Lord," Christ, 
" shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve 
me unto his heavenly kingdom ; to whom be glory for ever 
and ever. Amen." 2 Tim. 4 : 18. Compare verse 17 
with Acts 23: 11. 

105. Because we cannot for a moment believe that any 
finite, dependent being would be joined with the Almighty, 
and denominated the temple, and the light of heaven. " The 
Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of the 
city. The glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the 
light thereof." Rev. 21 : 22, 23. 

106. Because we are commanded to be baptized in his 
name. '■' Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and 
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Matt. 28 : 19. A 
most solemn form of entire consecration to each of the three 
persons in the Divine Nature, consequently to the service 
of the Son, as well as of the Father, and the Holy Ghost. 
In the most solemn act this side the eternal world are we 
devoted, soul and body, to a finite, dependent creature ? 
Or is the Son, as well as the Holy Ghost, truly divine ?* 

107. Because we find it required, in so many words, 
*' That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor 
the Father." John 5 : 23. Would the Father thus speak, 
were not the Son truly divine ? His language is, "I am 

* It is matter of astonishment to the writer, how Unitarians can 
use this divinely-prescribed formula of baptism. Tliey first bap- 
tize into the Father, and then into a creature, and thirdly, into a 
nonentity, or into an attnhute or influence of the Father, which 
seems to be unmeaning jargon. 



28 SUPREME DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 

the Lord, that is my name ; and my glory I will not give 
to another." Isa. 42 : 8. InTow, to ascribe to the Son any 
thino- short of real Deity, is to degrade him infinitely below 
the Father ; for between God and the most exalted creature 
there must be an infinite distance. This requirement is 
absolutely and necessarily broken by all men who do not 
believe in the real Deity of Jesus Christ. They rob God 
our Saviour. Weigh the solemn thought ! 

108. Because no person was ever censured by Christ, 
when on earth, for entertaining too exalted views of his 
character ; but for admitting low conceptions of him multi- 
tudes Avere condemned. Thomas' exalted views of him, as 
his " Lord and his God," were approved, and a blessing 
promised all others who should exercise a similar faith. 
Whereas, "he that believeth not is condemned already." 

109. Because the inspired apostles, so far from intimat- 
ing a fear, or even a possibility of exalting Christ too highly, 
exhaust language to set forth his glories, and the consequent 
efficacy of his atoning blood. " I am not only ready to be 
bound, but to die also for the name of the Lord Jesus." 
" God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our 
Lord Jesus Christ." " I have a desire to depart, and to be 
with Christ." ''That ye, being rooted and grounded in 
love, may be able to comprehend Avith all saints what is the 
breadth, and length, and depth, and height ; and to know 
the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge." " Who shall 
separate us from the love of Christ?" " Ye are redeemed 
with the precious blood of Christ." " Considering the end 
of their conversation : Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to- 
day, and for ever." ''At the name of Jesus every knee 
shall bow." " When he, who is the believer s life, shall ap- 
pear, we shall see him as he is." "Worthy is the Lamb 
that was slain." "In him dwelleth all the fulness of the 
Godhead bodily." "To him be glory for ever and ever." 
Does Unitarianism produce such adoring views of Christ ? 



SUPREME DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 29 

110. Because most of those who have rejected the Deity 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, have gone on progressively in a 
course of error, letting slip one great doctrine after another, 
till they have denied the inspiration of most or all of the 
holy Scriptures. *' Therefore we ought to give the more 
earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest at any time 
we should let them slip." Heb. 2:1. " Beware, lest any 
man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the 
rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." Col. 2 : 8. 
See, on this head, Prof. Stuart's Letters, particularly 
Lett. 5. 

111. Because there is no instance recorded in the Bible, 
nor on the page of ecclesiastical history, nor have we ever 
heard of the case, where a person lamented, on a dying bed, 
that he had reposed too much confidence in Christ, served 
him with too unreserved devotion, or ascribed to him more 
glory than was his due ; whilst lamentations of the opposite 
character come with a mournful frequency. *' If ye believe 
not that I am He, yd shall die in your sins ; and whither I 
go ye cannot come." John 8 : 24. " He that believeth 
not on the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God 
abideth on him." John 3 : 36.^ 

112. Because John closes the canon of holy Scripture 
with a solemn prayer to Christ. '' Come, Lord Jesus, come 
quickly. Amen. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be 
with you all. Amen." Rev. 22 : 20, 21. 

May the reader close his life with such triumphant and 
adoring views of the Son of God. Amen. 

Subjoined are a few of the very numerous testimonies 
to the Deity of our Lord, which might be selected from the 

* Would the reader wish to die, like Stephen, with the prayer 
on his lips, " Lord Jesus, receive my spirit," or, like Priestley, 
taking shelter in Universalism, the refuge of the wicked and im- 
penitent ? See John Pye Smith's Letters, p. 48. 
VOL. w. 36* 



30 SUPREME DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 

writings of the early Fathers. These men must have known 
what were the opinions of the apostles on so important and 
prominent a point. 

Ignatius, a disciple of John, bishop of the church at 
Antioch, and honored Avith martyrdom in the year of our 
Lord 107, says, "We have also a physician, the Lord our 
God, Jesus the Christ, before ages the only-begotten Son 
and Word, but afterwards man, also, of the virgin Mary ; 
for the Word luas made fleshy " Permit me to imitate the 
passion of Christ my GodT 

The venerable Polycarp, a disciple of John, born A. D. 
82, and called to a martyr's crown at the advanced age of 
100, finished his prayer at the stake with this doxology : " I 
bless thee, I glorify thee, by the eternal and heavenly High- 
Priest, Jesus Christ, thy beloved Son ; ivith whom to thee 
and the Holy Ghost, be glory, both now and to all succeed- 
ing ages. Amen." 

Justin Martyr, born A. D. 103, and beheaded at Rome, 
A. D. 167, has the following sentence: "That ye might 
also know God, who came forth from above, and became 
man among men, and Avho is again to return, when they 
who pierced him shall see and bewail him." 

Theophilus was ordained bishop of the church at Antioch 
about the middle of the second century, and says, " The 
Word tvas God, and sprung from God." ' 

Irenseus suffered martyrdom under Severus, A. D. 202, 
was a disciple of Polycarp, a disciple of John, and says, 
" The Ebionites are vain, not receiving the union of God and 
man, by faith, into their souls." 

Clemens Alexandrinus, the friend of Irenaeus, says, 
" Believe, man, in him Avho is both man and God; be- 
lieve, O man, in him who suffered death, and yet is adored 
as the living GodT This father flourished about the close 
of the second century. 



SUPREME DIVmiTY OF JESUS CHRIST. 31 

We have now seen that all those texts which speak of 
Christ as in a subordinate condition, have not the least 
weight in disproving his essential Deity, being all easily 
and naturally explained by the fact that, though he thought 
it not robbery to be equal with God, he took on him the 
form of a servant, and became obedient unto death, for the 
redemption of sinful men. We have seen of Jesus, that his 
narrde is God, Jehovah, Jehovah of hosts, the Lord God, 
the Lord of Glorv, the Lord of all ; He is the true God, 
the mighty God, Lord of lords, and God over all ; the 
first and the last, the self-existent I am. We have seen 
that all the attributes and incommunicable perfections of 
Jehovah belong to Christ. He is eternal, immutable, 
omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent. We have seen 
that the loorks which can be done by none but Jehovah 
himself, are done by Christ. He created all worlds, and 
upholdeth all things by the word of his power ; governs the 
whole universe, and is the light of heaven. By his omnip- 
otent voice he will raise the dead at the last day, and decide 
the eternal destinies of all flesh. Although the company 
before his awful tribunal will be as innumerable as the sand 
upon the sea-shore, yet will he perfectly recollect all their 
actions, words, and thoughts, from the birth of creation to 
the end of time : impossible for any creature, but easy for 
Christ. He is also to his church what none but God can 
be : he is the source of all grace and eternal salvation to his 
people — and we are to act towards Christ exactly in the 
same manner as we are to act towards God the Father ; to 
be baptized in his name, to believe in him, to pray unto 
him, and to serve and worship him, even as we serve and 
worship the Father ; and not thus to honor the Son is the 
same, and equally sinful, as not to honor the Father. These 
are some of the things which irresistibly prove the God- 
head of the Saviour. What stronger proof can the 
power of language convey? What stronger proofs than 



32 SUPREME DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 

these have we of the existence and perfections of the 
Father ? 

Now, reader, what thinkest thou of Christ ? A question 
of greater moment, more vital to your eternal well-being, 
cannot be asked you. Answer it with his own solemn warn- 
ing before you. " If ye believe not that I am He, ye shall 
die in your sins." Will you incur the guilt, and run the 
hazard of robbing your Saviour of his divine glories ? Will 
you not this moment imitate the angels and all the redeemed, 
and cast yourself at his feet, and with adoring gratitude 
ascribe all glory to his name ? As his personal dignity is 
exalted or debased in your estimation, so will be your confi- 
dence in him, and expectations from him. A creature as your 
Saviour, however exalted, cannot satisfy your soul, cannot 
pardon your sins. Rise, then, to loftier views ; let a heaven- 
born faith present him before you as that Being in whom 
dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. Then, great 
indeed will be your expectations ; and they will for ever 
rise and swell, as you gaze on the glories of his person, and 
the unsearchable riches of his grace. And I beseech you, 
remember, whatever be your views of Christ, in a few days 
you must stand before his judgment-seat. He that came 
in swaddling-bands shall come in clouds, and every eye 
shall see him, even they who have pierced and dishonored 
him. 



No. 215. 

THE 



IMPORTANCE OF SALYATION. 



BY REV. ARCHIBALD ALEXANDER, D.D. 



In comparison with salvation, all other subjects are 
trivial. To waste time in the pursuit of wealth, or in the 
chase of sensual pleasure, while our salvation is not secure, 
is more than folly — it is madness. What, would you agree 
to dwell in the dark dungeon of despair for ever and ever, 
for the sake of living a few years upon earth in a sumptu- 
ous house ? Would you consent to endure the sting of the 
never-dying worm, and the torment of unquenchable fire, to 
all eternity, for the sake of gratifying your appetites and 
senses for a moment ? No man would deliberately make 
such a determination ; yet such is the language which many 
speak by their conduct. The world is pursued daily, at the 
risk of salvation. 

The resolution of attending to the concerns of the soul 
hereafter, answers no other purpose than to lull the con- 
science asleep. Where have we known a person, by virtue 
of these flattering resolutions, change his conduct ? The 
next day is like the one that preceded it. Every succeeding 
year passes by, like those that went before. No convenient 
time for repentance and reformation ever comes. Youth 
soon runs out in the giddy circle of pleasure and amuse- 
ment. Middle age is completely occupied with cares and 
business ; and old age, if it ever arrives, finds the heart 
hardened, the habits fixed, and the conscience seared. 
Death overtakes the unfortunate wretch. He dies as he 
lived, either goaded by guilt, or benumbed with stupidity. 
He dies, and sinks to hell, where there are no amusements 



2 THE IMPORTANCE OF SALVATION. 

to entertain, no business to engage, no error to becloud the 
mind. To fall into the hands of the living God, as an 
avenging Judge, is dreadful beyond conception : to be eter- 
nally miserable, overwhelms the thoughts ; and we turn 
away from it with instinctive horror. 

Now, reader, if hell be intolerably dreadful, salvation is 
important. Can you reconcile yourself to such sufferings ? 
Can you dwell with everlasting burnings ? Only try the 
torment of fire for a moment, for longer you cannot volun- 
tarily endure it, and you will soon be convinced that the 
pains of hell are not to be supported with patience, if they 
are comparable to fire ; but they are worse. Remorse and 
despair are worse than Nebuchadnezzar's furnace, heated 
seven times. No flames are equal to the raging of unre- 
pented sin ; no strokes of any enemy like the taunts of in- 
fernal spirits. If you had to endure this punishment only 
for a limited time, the hope of deliverance might help you 
to bear up under the dreadful Aveight of sorrow ; but although 
many support themselves by such a hope here, the misera- 
ble in hell have no such alleviation ! The darkness which 
surrounds them is thick and horrible. No ray of light ever 
penetrates it. No gleam of hope ever mitigates the raging 
anguish of the lost soul. Consider also, that although your 
sins may not be openly flagrant ; yet, as you have heard 
the Gospel and enjoyed many calls and warnings, and also 
many strivings of the Spirit, these will exceedingly aggra- 
vate your misery, and make your hell hotter than that of 
the miserable inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah. The 
more comfortable you are in your worldly circumstances, 
the more miserable will your condition be. To be cast out 
from among aff'ectionate friends, to keep company with mon- 
sters of depravity : from fine houses, pleasant gardens, fer- 
tile farms, and downy beds, to be cast into a lake of fire ! 
from well-furnished tables, and generous wines and cordials, 
to be eternally famished with burning thirst, and no gratifi- 
cation ever obtained ; no, not so much as a drop of water to 
cool the tongue. This is hell indeed ! Suppose you were 



THE IMPORTANCE OF SALVATION. 3 

doomed to suffer the torment which a simier in hell must 
eternally endure, for one hour, in this world, would not the 
prospect of this doleful hour mar all your pleasures ? In the 
midst of mirth, would it not make your heart sad ; and Avould 
it not be ever present in your thoughts ? You would be 
unable to compose yourself to sleep, or to betake yourself to 
your necessary business. You would consider yourself as an 
unfortunate wretch ; and would perhaps regret that you had 
ever been born. Your friends would sympathize with you, 
and all around would look upon you with compassion. 

But if, from an hour, the term of your punishment should 
be enlarged to a year, what would you do ; how would 
you feel ? Suppose you could endure the pain of a fiery 
furnace for a year without dying or losing your sensibility, 
and you knew that this was your certain doom, could you 
be at ease ; could you contain yourself ? Would you not 
disregard all pursuits and enjoyments which the world could 
propose ; and would you not take up a continual lamenta- 
tion over your unhappy case ? Would you not call upon 
all to pity you, as the most miserable wretch that ever was 
born ? And would you consider the wealth of a prince, the 
honor of a conqueror, or the pleasure of an epicure, any 
compensation for such dreadful sufferings ? Would you not 
despise all these things, and say, "The more I enjoy these 
earthly delights, and the more I forget the misery which is 
coming upon me, the more intolerable will be my anguish 
when it arrives ?" Should we be thus aiTected with an hour's, 
or year's continuation of such sufferings as must be endured 
in hell, and shall we be indifferent to these same torments 
when their duration will be without end ? O God, what 
kind of infatuated beings are we ? Surely, man, of all crea- 
tures, is the most stupid in those things which relate to his 
salvation. Eternal punishment ! Eternal fire ! Ever- 
lasting DESTRUCTION ! What awful sounds are these ! Who 
can fully understand their import ? 

I extend my views forward to the day of judgment ; but 
this great day, instead of bringing these sufferings to an end, 



4 THE IMPORTANCE OF SALVATION. 

is the date of tlieir beginning in all their terror. What shall 
be endured before, is nothing to Avhat comes after. The fire 
will then be kindled around both soul and body, which will 
never cease to burn. The sufterings of the soul in a sepa- 
rate state, will be like the anticipations of a criminal, who is 
conscious of guilt, whilst confined in a prison, before the day 
of trial. They shall then go away into everlasting 'punish- 
ment. Only put yourself, for a moment, in the place of one 
of those who are commanded by the Judge to depart, under 
the veno-eance of an everlastinof curse. The feelino- mind 
recoils from such suppositions, with such repulsive violence, 
that it is almost impossible to induce men to fix their thoughts 
steadily on such subjects. Bvit try, for once, the experi- 
ment. Overcome your natural reluctance, and imagine 
yourself to be in the company that Avill be driven off, by 
the command of the Judge, from the awful tribunal, into 
outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. 
May I venture to suggest a few reflections which would 
probably arise in your mind, in such a situation ? 

"Well, the scene is ended — I now know, I feel the mis- 
ery of my situation ! Hope, my last comforter, is eternally 
fled. Despair has full possession ; all is lost, eternally lost ! 
All that I now have is a miserable, accursed existence ! 
that I could sink into nothing, and thus escape the wrath of 
my avenging enemy ! But I wish in vain ; exist I must. 
Hell is my portion ! I already feel its overwhelming hor- 
rors ! I am tortured with agonies, and rent with pangs 
which no words can describe. All passions assist in increas- 
ing my misery. I see others glorious and happy, but the 
sight greatly enhances my woe. I feel my envy and malice 
raging against them, and against their God and Saviour; 
but my wrath is impotent ; it recoils upon myself, and in- 
flicts new wounds on my tormented soul. Was this the 
price at which I purchased the world and its pleasures ? O 
wretch and fool that I was ! We are commanded to go 
away. Ah, whither can we go ? Is there any secure, or 
even obscure retreat for us ? No, no. We sink in flames. 



THE liMPORTANCE OF SALVATION 5 

We go into everlasting 7iiisery I We go to be companions 
of devils ! We plunge into the dark abyss, never to rise 
again ! And these bodies, our old companions in sin, must 
be also tormented. They are made strong and incorrupti- 
ble, to bear their part in the unquenchable fire !" 

But we cannot describe the anguish and despair of a lost 
sinner. The mere possibility of falling into such a state of 
indescribable anguish ought to fill us with trembling ; and 
so it w^ould, were not our minds blinded by the god of this 
w^orld. KoAv, reader, do you feel no concern about your 
salvation ; or have you some method of easing your mind 
under these thoughts ? I beseech you to consider well what 
the nature of that resource is. 

The first thought which occurs, by way of relief to your 
mind, is, perhaps, that these things cannot he so ; that such 
torments will never be inflicted by a good and merciful 
God. This ground appears to many very plausible, and 
they rest upon it with the greater confidence, because it has 
the appearance of honoring the character of God, at the 
same time that it promises safety to themselves. But before 
you lean on this prop, look well, I beseech you, to its foun- 
dation. Consider, that before you can derive any rational 
comfort from this consideration, you must be able to de- 
monstrate that the tremendous denunciations of God's word 
against sinners are false ; or that he will forfeit his veracity, 
and never execute his own threatenings. Wretched, indeed, 
is that subterfuge, the safety of which depends on proving 
the God of truth a liar. No, sinnei- ! God will not deny 
himself for the sake of your ease ; he will not suffer his w^ord 
to fall to the ground, to enable you to realize your vain and 
impious hopes. "He will by no means clear the guilty. 
Surely, God, thou wilt slay the wicked. The wicked 
shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget 
God. Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brim- 
stone, this shall be the portion of their cup." 

If you have imbibed the pernicious heresy of those false 
teachers who tell vou that there is no future punishment for 

VOL. VI. S7 



Q THE IMPORTANCE OF SALVATION 

transgressors, even if they should die in the commission of 
the most atrocious crimes ; if you beheve these men who 
dare contradict the plain declarations of God's word, your 
delusion will afford you only a temporary relief. It will be 
like shutting your eyes, when borne by an irresistible torrent 
towards a frightful cataract. Your own conscience, if it has 
not lost all sensibility, will intimate to you, too plainly to 
be misunderstood, that there is punishment reserved for the 
wicked in the world to come. Lean not, then, I beseech 
you, on this broken reed, which will not only fail to support 
you, but will pierce you to the heart. 

But it is more probable that you seek relief from the 
apprehension of the wrath to come, in a vague hope of the 
mercy of God, of which so much is said in Scripture. The 
mercy of God is, indeed, a sure refuge for sinners ; but it 
is never extended to the impenitent, who refuse to forsake 
their evil ways. If you w^ill repent and believe the Gospel, 
then will the Lord most graciously and freely forgive all 
j^our sins ; but if you depend on the mercy of God to save 
you from hell, without being saved from sin, you trust to 
that which has no existence. God will not show mercy to 
obstinate rebels. The whole tenor of his word assures us 
of the certainty of this truth. 

But perhaps you expect and intend to turn from your 
sinful ways hereafter, and thus bring yourself within the 
influence of God's pardoning mercy. Well, if you should 
become a true penitent, and humble believer in Jesus, you 
will be saved : but before you cry peace to yourself from 
this expectation, I beg you to consider that your continu- 
ance on earth is uncertain. What is your life ? It is a 
vapor. We have ocular demonstration that death comes 
upon many very unexpectedly ; and although they had en- 
tertained the same hope of future repentance, we have 
awful reason to fear that it was never realized. They died 
as they lived, and went to meet their Judge with the guilt 
of all their heinous sins upon their heads. And very often 
men are taken suddenlv awav, and have not a moment 



THE IxMroilTANCE OF SALVATION. 7 

allowed for that last hope of the sinner, a death-bed repent- 
ance. And in other cases, reason is bewildered, and the 
feelings are stupefied ; so that the person who lived care- 
lessly, has no bands in his death. And when it is other- 
Avise, and alarm seizes the guilty person, no help or comfort 
can be obtained, and he dies in fearful horror and despair. 

But if you should live for scores of years, you will never 
see the day when there will not be as many obstructions 
to your turning to God as there are now ; and as many 
inducements to cleave to the present world. Do you see 
men, commonly, forsaking the courses to which they have 
long been habituated ? Or do you observe that disinclina- 
tion to piety becomes less, by increase of years ? You may 
live to be old and gray-headed, and yet remain unconverted, 
and go down to hell with a double curse on your head. 
There is no greater, nor more dangerous delusion among 
men, than the procrastination of their conversion. While 
thousands lose their souls in consequence of it, not one 
ever puts his resolution into practice, unless some other 
influence than his own former purposes operates on him. 
Reader, awake ! Eternity is just before you ; heaven or 
hell will soon be your abode. For the first, you know, you 
are not prepared. If you were admitted to that holy place, 
the exercises and employments of the inhabitants would be 
no way in accordance with the state of your heart. You 
love not the service and worship of God here, and death 
will make no reformation in the sinner's heart. Then, you 
must be excluded from heaven, by the necessity of the case, 
unless you acquire new principles and a new taste. " Ex- 
cept a man he horn again, he cannot see the kingdom of GodT 
" Without holiness no man shall see the LordT 

What you intend to do, do quickly, for the time is short. 
While you are halting between two opinions, the door of 
mercy may be shut for ever. Seize the present moment ; 
break off your sins by repentance ; renounce all confidence 
in your own good deeds or righteousness, and trust alone in 
the atoninjT sacrifice of Christ. " Whosoever belie veth in 



8 THE IMPORTANCE OB' SALVATION. 

him shall not be ashamed." Cry mightily to him for mercy, 
and for the Holy Spirit to sanctify you and aid you in every 
duty. 

Search the Scriptures daily. Attend on the preaching 
of the word. Make one among the company Avho surround 
the throne of grace in social prayer. Avoid ensnaring com- 
pany and dissipating amusements. Forsake all known sin ; 
and see that you perform those external duties Avhich have 
hitherto been neglected. If you have wronged or injured 
any, make restitution, or give satisfaction, as far as is in your 
power. Abandon all quarrels and strife with your neigh- 
bors, and promote piety and good order in your OAvn house, 
by reading the Scriptures, and calling upon God ; and reqviir- 
ingall within j^our gates to observe with reverence the Lord's 
day. 

But never think that external duties, or attendance on 
means and ordinances, however exact, is an evidence that 
your soul is saved. Never rest satisfied with your spiritual 
state, until you have evidence in a heart-felt sense of the 
burden of your sins, that you have in truth ficd for refuge to 
the Iwpe set before you in the Gospel. The Lord Jesus Christ, 
apprehended and received by faith, is the only safe sanctu- 
ary for a soul pursued by the demands of a broken law. 

man, flee to this dear refuge, before the storm, which 
is black and lowerino-, overtake vou. " Lay hold on eter- 

NAL LIFE." " Now IS THE ACCEPTED TIME ; BEHOLD, NOW 

IS THE DAY OF SALVATION." Scc, the dooT of reconciliation 
is open. Jesus invites you to come to him for rest, and 
promises that he will not cast you out ; yea, complains that 
you will not come unto him, that you may have life. Others 
are entering in at the strait gate — why do you delay ? In- 
stead of losing by the change, even in this world, you will 
gain a hundred-fold. Godliness ivith contentment is great 
gain. 



PUBLISHKD BY THK AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY. 



Xo. 1^10. 



A WORD FOR THE BIBLE. 



It is true, this is a land of Bibles, and an age in which 
we are privileged to behold a revival of true religion ; day 
after day the heart is gladdened with intelligence that the 
w^ord of God has "free course," and is "glorified;" that 
the church at home is widening her cords and strengthening 
her stakes ; and that Christ is becoming " a light to lighten 
the Gentiles, and the glory of his people Israel." 

But it is likewise awfully true, that this is a day of re- 
buke and blasphemy, in which bold bad men have arisen, 
speaking perverse things, even " denying the Lord who 
bouo^ht them" — men who would rob the Christian of his 
charter, and strip him of his hope, his help, his heaven. 

Oh, my dear readers, should evil men and seducers 
seek to turn you away from the truth, pray for grace, that 
you may " stand fast in the Lord ;" that, " being grounded 
and settled in the faith, you may not be moved away from 
the hope of the Gospel." Nay, more — I would urge you 
to contend " earnestly for the faith once delivered to the 
saints," and " be ready always to give an answer to every 
one that asketli you a reason of the hope that is in you." 

Tell them you are resolved, by the help of God, to hold 
on in the good old way, which so many wise and holy men 
have trodden before you; patriarchs, prophets, apostles, 
saints ; they could find no other road that leadeth to life, 
save the "strait gate and the narrow way" of Scripture; 
and having counted the cost, they strove and agonized to 
enter in thereat. 

Tell them that you cannot part with your Bible ; that it 
is your food, your sword, and your solace ; that it contains 
" words whereby a man may be saved ;" that " it is a lamp 
unto your feet, and a light unto your path ;" nay, that they 
themselves confirm the truth of the Bible, which declares, 
that " there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after 
their own lusts." 
. VOL. VI. 37* 



2 A WORD FOR THE BIBLE. 

Tell them you can own no other than a covenant- God, 
who, while he ''is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity," 
hath sworn that he " hath no pleasure in the death of him 
that dieth ;" and hath found out a wondrous method of 
" reconciling the world unto himself," through the blood of 
the cross ; by which he "can be just, and yet the justifier of 
him that belie veth in Jesus." 

Tell them your absolute need of Jesus Christ, his Son ; 
that, as a sinner, you are utterly undone without such a 
Saviour ; one who is not less able than he is willing to save 
to the uttermost all who come to God by him ; in whose 
blood there is a " fountain opened for sin and for unclean- 
ness ;" yea, that so essential is this Saviour to you, that you 
are ready, in comparison, to " count all things but loss for 
the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord." 
" Tell them that you can do nothing effectual without the 
aid of God the Holy Ghost ; that he helpeth your infirmi- 
ties, and teacheth you what you should pray for as you 
ought ; that you need his daily grace as much as you need 
your daily bread ; that he " takes of the things of Jesus and 
shows them unto you ;" and that he intercedes in you and 
ivith you upon earth, w^hile the Son of God intercedes for 
you in heaven. 

Tell them that each person in the blessed Trinity sus- 
tains a part you cannot dispense with, in the great work of 
salvation ; the Son redeems, the Father forgives, the Spirit 
sanctifies ; and that when you can cry, with a feeling of 
adoption, "Abba, Father!" you "rejoice with joy un- 
speakable and full of glory." 

Tell them that this is the salvation which the goodly 
fellowship of the prophets foretold, Avhicli the glorious 
company of the apostles preached, and the noble army of 
martyrs sealed with their blood. 

Tell them of Stephen, calmly breathing out his soul 
under a shower of stones, and praying for his murderers, 
amidst their scoffs and insults, "Lord Jesus, receive my 
spirit! Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." 

Tell them of Ignatius, who met the wild beasts let loose 
to devour him without. dismay, joyfully crying, "Now, in- 
deed, I begin to be a disciple ; I weigh neither visible nor 
invisible things, in comparison of an interest in Jesus Christ." 

Tell them of good old Pohjcarj), who, when he was 



A WORD FOR THE BIBLE. 3 

solicited to reproach Christ and save his hfe, nobly replied, 
*' Eighty and six years have I served Christ, who has never 
deserted nor injured me ; how then can I blaspheme my 
King and Saviour?" 

Tell them, in later times, of Ridley , and Latimer, and 
Cranmer, who yielded their bodies to be burned for the 
truth as it is in Jesus, " rejoicing that they Avere counted 
worthy to suffer for his name." 

Tell them, with the great Lord Bacon, " There never 
was found, in any age of the world, either religion, or law, 
or discipline, that did so highly exalt the public good, as the 
Christian faith." 

Tell them, Avith the celebrated Boyle, " The Bible is a 
matchless volume. It is impossible we can study it too 
much, or esteem it too highly." 

Tell them, with the incomparable Newton, "We account 
the Scriptures of God the most sublime philosophy." 

Tell them, with Milton, we are of opinion, " There are no 
songs to be compared with the songs of Zion." 

Tell them, with Locke, that profound reasoner, "The 
Gospel has God for its author, salvation for its end, and 
truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter." 

Tell them, with the justly renowned Selden, " There is 
no book in the universe upon which we can rest our souls, 
in a dying moment, but the Bible." 

And tell them too, that the Bible, which these great men 
believed and loved, is equally the 2^oor mart s friend ; and 
hence the benevolent wish of a late venerable king, who 
loved the Scriptures : " I wish that every poor boy in my 
dominions might be able to read the Bible !" 

For, believe me, wherever the word of God is received 
in the love of it, in whatever station of life it be, whether a 
palace or a poor-house, there it will uniformly produce the 
same gracious fruits ; a " humble and contented mind — a 
kind and forgiving disposition — a tender conscience — a holy 
life — and, usually, a happy death." 

In proof of this, let me, in conclusion, adduce two strik- 
ing instances, from very opposite spheres of life, to show how 
suitable is the salvation of the gospel to every rank and every 
circumstance. 

Such, then, was the blessed influence of divine truth on 
one of the most forlorn of the human race, to whom Provi- 



4 A WORD FOR THE BLBLE. 

dence once guided my footsteps in a foreign country : an 
old, deserted, and dying negro. Having relieved the press- 
ing wants of the body, I was led to talk to him about his 
soul ; and I bade him, in his sufferings, look to Jesus, who 
had suffered so much to redeem us from everlasting woe. 
While I was speaking of the Saviour, the poor creature wept 
like a child ; but they were not tears of bitterness ; a ray of 
cheerfulness seemed to beam through them : they were tears 
such as flow when others speak kindly of those we love. 
Taking my hand tenderly, he pressed it to his lips, and said, 
in his broken dialect, " Tankee, my good massa ; tankeeraore 
for this : Jesus is my Saviour and my God ; him keep me in 
all my sickness ; and Jesus make me no fear death." 

Such, too, was its blessed influence upon the mind of a 
dear lamented youth, born to move in a high sphere of life, 
and heir to brilliant worldly prospects, who sojourned for a 
while amongst us, while it was my province to watch over 
his early education. Rare was his talent, and still rarer his 
integrity ; and long Avill the bosom throb, and the tear fall, 
at the recollection of the bright promise on Avliich the tomb 
so early closed. Short, however, as was his earthly career, 
he did not live in vain. He lived to realize religion ; to 
avow, before his departure, his entire reliance on the merits 
of Jesus Christ for salvation ; placing no dependence on the 
purity of his own life, but looking simply to Christ, and to 
him crucified. All his hopes were founded on this rock, 
and he found it a rock in his time of need, Supj)orted and 
cheered by this all-sufficient Saviour, he was enabled to 
resign all his bright hopes in life, give up the world without 
a sigh, and calmly and peacefully depart to be with Christ, 
In the hour of pining sickness, and in the near approach of 
death, he addressed these memorable words to one whose 
salvation he anxiously sought to promote — words which I 
pray may be engraven on the heart of ever}'- reader : *' Read 
THE Bible ; it is the Bible to which I would direct your 

ATTENTION j ALL MY SUPPORT IS DERIVED FROM THAT HOLY 
BOOK." 



PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY. 



No. 317. 



THE 



HISTORY OF AMELIA GALE. 




Amelia Gale was bom in 1755, and died in 1827, in 
Lincolnshire, England, aged 72 years. The early part of 
her history is not much known. She had been married, 
but had long lived a widow ; and at the time of her death 
did not know that she had a relative in the world. 

She used to gain her living by attending fairs and wakes 
with a gaming-board, by which she would sometimes win 
two or three pounds in a day ; but she was then generally 
poor, and never happy. In this state of ignorance, misery, 
and sin, did she live — careless about God and eternity, and 
scarcely knowing that she had a soul. About sixteen years 
before her death, she was induced to attend church ; when, 
hearing the minister speak of that place " where hope never, 
never comes," it pleased God to direct the words to her heart 
like an arrow, and for the first time she was concerned 
about her eternal welfare. She was deeply convinced of her 
sinfulness and guilt : for about four years she kept her feel- 



2 THE HISTORY OF AMELIA GALE. 

ings to herself, and suffered great darkness and distress of 
mind ; but at length it pleased God to reveal his Son in her 
as the hope of glory, and she obtained that peace and joy 
in believing, which are only to be found at the foot of the 
Saviour's cross. The burden of her guilt was thus removed, 
a sense of pardoning love was experienced in her soul, and 
from that time she went on her way rejoicing, proving that 
the ways of true religion are ways of pleasantness and peace. 

From this time a complete change took place in the 
habits and pursuits of her life, thus affording the most sat- 
isfactory proof that the change in her views and feelings 
was genuine and scriptural, and that it was no delusion, nor 
the effect of a heated imagination. The evidences of piety 
which she gave did not consist merely in words or strong 
feelings, or in vain ostentation, or loud talking on religious 
subjects ; for no one was less obtrusive than she was on 
these points. She knew when to be silent, and when to 
speak on those matters ; and though she could, as clearly 
as an}?^ one, when required, give a reason of the hope that 
was in her, yet hers was rather the eloquence of a humble, 
holy, devoted life — and that was language which every 
body could read and understand. And here it may be ob- 
served, by the way, how remarkably religion improves the 
faculties of the mind, and strengthens the understanding, 
while it benefits the heart. Seldom was this more strikingly 
shown than in the instance of this poor, ignorant woman. 
Before she was a partaker of true religion, she had scarcely 
two ideas on any subject ; but after divine grace had changed 
her heart, and her thinking faculties began to be employed, 
it is astonishing how her understanding became enlarged. 
The powers of her mind were so improved, that she could 
give an opinion on most subjects with prudence and judg- 
ment, and could converse in a sensible manner on some 
points concerning which persons of education could say 
little or nothing ; and it was no uncommon thing for her 
superiors to go and ask her opinion in difficult matters, that 
they might have the benefit of her better judgment. 

One very remarkable part of her character was her ar- 
dent zeal to promote the glory of God, the spread of the 
Redeemer's kingdom, and the eternal interests of her fellow- 
creatures. Having " had much forgiven her, she loved 
much," and the constant language of her heart and life 



THE HISTORY OF AMELIA GALE. 3 

was, ''What shall I render to the Lord for all his bene- 
fits ?" Her zeal in the cause of Bible and Missionary So- 
cieties was very o-reat. There was something rather re- 
markable in the manner in which she first entered on this 
good work. When a missionary association was established, 
about 1817, in the parish in which she resided, and she 
heard of the zeal of others in this good cause, and of the 
sacrifices they had made in order to contribute their mite 
towards the support of similar institutions, she began to 
ask herself, " What can I do to promote this blessed work ? 
Tea is my only beverage, and often my only meal. It is 
not whitened with milk, to be sure ; but it is sweetened with 
sugar. I will try to do without sugar." Accordingly she 
deprived herself of this little luxury, and was thereby ena- 
bled to give one penny per week to the Bible and Mission- 
ary Societies. From that time her worldly circumstances 
were improved ; the more she gave, the more she prospered ; 
and thus the scriptural maxim was verified to her : " There 
is that scattereth, and yet increaseth." In due time she 
was enabled to double her subscriptions, and gave regularly 
eightpence a month, to the day of her death. But this was 
not all : a hen that was given her by a neighbor for her own 
benefit, was immediately dedicated to the cause so near her 
heart ; and this hen was the means of producing, for several 
years, nearly twenty shillings a year towards that fund. 
But not content with giving to this cause herself, she used 
every possible means to stir up the zeal and liberality of 
others. In her basket, by means of which she gained her 
living, she always carried a missionary-box, and those Avho 
did not purchase her needles and cotton balls, were invited 
to drop their mite into the sacred box. By these, and by 
other means, she seldom brought less than six pounds a year 
towards the funds of the institutions alluded to. This was 
procured not only by great personal labor, but generally by 
a denial of many personal comforts. More frequently than 
otherwise would she give the last eightpence she had in the 
world, and nothing would pain her more than an intimation 
that she gave more than she could afford. Indeed, she felt 
it on honor to be permitted to do any thing whatever towards 
promoting the cause of God ; and, so far from boasting or 
indulging a vain feeling for having done so much, she was 
often o-rieved and huml)led that she did no nK)re. 



4 THE HISTORY OF AMELIA GALE. 

God was pleased to honor her humble endeavors in a 
remarkable manner. Many persons, in very distant places, 
Avere stirred up, by hearing of her self-denying zeal, to 
exert themselves in the cause of benevolence more than they 
had done before ; and even in Western Africa, a Missionary 
Society was formed in consequence of an account of her 
exertions being read to a body of Christians near Sierra 
Leone. The committee of the Boston Auxiliary Bible Society 
presented her with a large and handsome Bible, as a proof 
of their respect, and a testimony to the zeal she manifested 
in promoting the welfare of that institution. So truly did 
she find that scriptural promise literally fulfilled, " Them 
that honor me, I will honor." So far from being made 
poor by her remarkable liberality, she actually died rich, in 
one sense of the word ; for she was not only enabled to pay 
all her debts, and leave enough to defray her funeral expens- 
es, but when her goods were sold, there were several pounds 
over, which were given, according to her own desire, to the 
cause in which she took so warm and lively an interest. 

Another remarkable part of her character ivas her simple 
dependence on God, and faith in his promises. She felt as- 
sured that, when God promised that "if we seek first the 
kingdom of God and his righteousness, all other things shall 
be added to us," he meant what he said, and she took him 
at his word. She used to say that, sooner than God would 
sufl:er her to want, he would send ravens to feed her ; and 
that he who took care of the sparrows Avould not forget 
her. As a proof that her confidence was well founded, her 
wants were frequently supplied by persons at a distance, 
some of whom she had never seen, and who lived upwards 
of one hundred miles north, south, and west of the place 
where she resided. Her landlord never once applied for 
her rent when it was not ready, and often it was sent her, 
by persons who were ignorant of the circumstances, within 
a few days of its becoming due. Though so aged and in- 
firm, she never, at any time, applied for parish relief, but 
thought it her duty to use every means, that she might not 
have recourse to that expedient. And a few days before 
slie died, slie set her seal to the truth of God's promise. 
She said, " She had found religion to be perfectly true : she 
had tried it sixteen years, and it would not have supported 
her if it had been fnlse : slie had alwavs found God true to 



THE HISTORY OF AMELIA GALE. 5 

his promises." God had said, " Bread shall be given, water 
shall be sure ;" and he had made that promise good. His 
promises were not like man's promises, yea and nay; "but 
they were all yea in Christ Jesus." And yet, with all this 
simple faith and confidence, she was no enthusiast : she did 
not expect God to svipply her wants while she sat still, 
doing nothing. She did not thus "tempt God" to come 
out of his way and work a miracle for her. No ; she dili- 
gently used all the means in her power to procure a liveli- 
hood, and sometimes went beyond her power ; leaving the 
event with God. Indeed, her death was, humanly speaking, 
hastened by undertaking an employment which was decid- 
edly beyond her strength, and her conscience smote her for 
having been somewhat too anxious on this point. She was 
afraid she had not trusted God enough, and that therefore 
he had sent her this affliction because she had taken upon 
herself to provide, and he was now teaching her how insuffi- 
cient she was to support herself, and that she might well 
leave him to take care of her, as he had always done. One 
eflfect of her trust in God was her remarkable spirit of con- 
tentment. She was never heard to murmur or complain, 
though sometimes placed in very distressing circumstances. 
Another part of her character worthy of observation 
was, her diligent attendance on the means of grace, and her 
remarkable delight in prayer. Seldom or never was her 
place empty in the house of God, when she was able to 
attend. The weather was no hinderance to her. Whoever 
else was absent, morning or evening, her seat was always 
occupied ; and it was delightful to see the seriousness and 
attention with which she used to drink in every word of 
God' that was read and preached in his house. Equally 
great was her attachment to the written word : as a proof 
of this, she actually learnt to read after she was sixty-six 
years old, that she might read the Scriptures for herself ; 
and poor as she was, she used to give a little girl one penny 
a week to come to her cottao-e to teach her, till she beg-an 
to attend an adult school that was established in the place 
Avhere she lived. Her delight in prayer, too, was very re- 
markable : not only were her days begun and ended with 
prayer, but she was continually lifting up her heart to God 
as she walked through the fields, and went with her basket 
from house to house. She never dared go out with her 
VOL. VI. 38 



6 THE HISTORY OF AMELIA GALE. 

basket without first kneeling down and imploring a blessing 
upon "her basket and her store." She always bent the 
knee before she left her cottage for the house of God, and 
asked for a blessing upon her minister, and prayed that the 
word about to be preached might come with power to her 
own soul, and the souls of those who were about to hear 
it ; and immediately after the service she would generally, 
if possible, walk home alone, meditating upon the truths she 
had heard, and then retire .again to her closet to ask for the 
dews of the Holy Spirit to descend upon the seed that had 
just been sown. When any of her friends Avere in peculiar 
distress, or laboring under bodily affliction, they were sure 
to have the benefit of her prayers at the throne of grace ; 
and there have been instances where she has spent the whole 
night wrestling in prayer to God on behalf of her afflicted 
friends. She had also learnt that difficult lesson, to pray for 
her enemies ; and if there were any in the parish that were 
more ignorant, more profane, more wicked, or that ridiculed 
and opposed true religion more than others, those persons 
were sure to have an especial interest in her prayers. 

Another very remarkable part of her character was her 
benevolence to others in supplying their tuoitts to the utmost 
of her poiuer, and beyond her ptower : she had indeed a large 
heart, in the best sense of the word. She not only sym- 
pathized with others in their affliction, but if she saw any 
poor neighbors in distress, she would frequently divide her 
last sixpence between herself and them, giving them gener- 
ally the largest share ; and whatever charitable object was 
advocated in the house of God, or elsewhere, she never 
thought of putting less than silver into the plate. All her 
neio-hbors bear witness that there was nothina^ she would 
not do for them to the utmost of her power : they consider 
her death a public loss to the parish and the neighborhood, 
and several respectable people have expressed a wish to 
have some article belonging to her, to keep as a token of 
respect and affection for her memory. 

Another remarkable part of her character, and what in- 
deed will account for all the rest, was her love to the Sav- 
iour; this was the mainspring of all her zeal, and benevo- 
lence, and activity in the cause of God ; and, indeed, without 
this all her religious profession would have been no better 
than " sounding- brass or a tinklinjr cymbal." 1 Cor. 13:1, 



THE HISTORY OF AMELIA GALE. 7 

2. This was the subject upon which she most dehghted to 
dwell : her eye quite brightened, and her countenance was 
quite lighted up with holy gratitude and heavenly joy, when 
the sutfering, dying, bleeding love of the Saviour was men- 
tioned to her : she would clasp her hands, and lift up her 
eyes, and exclaim with all her soul, " Oh, what were the 
sufferings of that dear, spotless Lamb, for a sinful worm 
like me !" 

Though a holy life is a much more satisfactory evidence 
of the safety of our state than a joyful death, still we are 
not surprised to find that the end of this good woman was 
not only peaceful, but triumphant. For some time death 
had no terrors for her ; she had long looked upon it as a 
friend to set her at liberty from a world of sin and misery, 
and so she found it to be when she came to grapple with 
it : she found the sting was gone ; her Saviour, to whom 
she had applied in the time of health and strength, had 
drawn its sting, and he gave her victory over the last ene- 
my. Often was she heard to say, " I am not afraid to die ; 
I long to be with Jesus in heaven. Oh, if I had nothing 
but an arm of flesh to rest upon, what would become of me 
noAY?" Holding out her arm, " See," said she, " it is but 
flesh, and the arm of my minister is but flesh ; it is well 
that I have something better to lean upon, for that would 
be a poor prop in a dying hour." When she was first con- 
fined to her bed, she said she hoped that the Lord would 
hear her prayer, and that she should not have to grovel 
here any longer ; but that her sick bed would be the bed to 
take her to her happy home. And notwithstanding all her 
benevolence, her activity, her zeal, and her good works, so 
far was she from placing the least trust in them for accept- 
ance with God, that she exclaimed, " Oh, it would be but 
a dark passage if I had trusted to my own merits." The 
day before she died, she said, " This is the grand point ; 
this is the last conflict ; but I am happy — I am very ill to- 
night, but I am going higher : it will soon be over. Come, 
Lord Jesus, come quickly." She now found that he whom 
she had served, and loved, and trusted in life, did not for- 
sake her in her dying moments. The dark valley was en- 
lightened by his gracious presence, and, to use her own 
expression, she felt, at that time, such a iveigJit of he}' Sav- 
iour^ s love in her soul, as almost overpowered her poor. 



8 THE HISTORY OF AMELIA (:!ALE. 

sinking frame. She frequently called out before she died, 
" Welcome, death — death, where is thy sting ? boasting 
grave, where is thy victory? Glory to God." " 0," said 
she, ''this is a victorious death, through Christ:" and her 
last words were, " In heaven the top-most stone will be 
brought forth with shoutings of ' Grace, grace unto it ;' my 
notes in heaven will be, ' Grace, grace.' " Her soul, we con- 
fidently hope, is now unspeakably happy in the presence of 
her Saviour, tuning her golden harp to the praise of redeem- 
ing love and sovereign grace. Her heavenly Master saw 
that, at last, her work was done, and he came and called 
her to her everlasting mansion above, to hear the welcome 
sound, " Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou 
into the joy of thy Lord !" 

Reader, whoever you are, whether you are blest with a 
moderate share of this world's goods, or whether you move 
in a more humble station in life, you see, from this short 
account of this poor woman, ivhere alone you can expect to 
find true happiness. So long as you have a load of guilt 
and of unpardoned sin weighing on your conscience, it is 
impossible you can be happy. Oh, seek for true peace and 
solid comfort where she found it — at the foot of the Sav- 
iour's cross — and be assured that you will not there seek it 
in vain. It is only by seeking to be " justified by faith " in 
a crucified Redeemer, that you can " have peace with God 
througrh our Lord Jesus Christ." 

We may also learn from this short history, that there 
are none, however poor or however obscure may be their 
situation in life, but may be the means of doing some good, 
in benefiting their fellow-creatures, and in • promoting the 
cause of God. This poor woman was very poor as to this 
world, and yet see how extensively useful she was ; let no 
one therefore say, " I am too poor to do any good." En- 
deavor, through God's grace, to imitate the example here 
placed before you ; and if you have no other means of doing 
good, " let your light so shine before men," in a humble, 
holy, and devoted life, " that they, seeing your good works, 
may glorify your Father which is in heaven." 

Note. On December 31, 1830, a plain, solid stone was erected 
at the grave of Amelia Gale, procured by the contributions of 
more than two hundred persons ; the subscriptions being limited 
to sixpence each. 



No. 318. 

THE LIFE 

OF 

REV. JOHN BUNYAN, 

AUTHOR OF THE PILGRIU'S PROGRESS. 




the ceiebiated author of The Pil- 
grim' & Progre-x<, and many other 
useful ^\ ork?, was born at Elstow, 
near Bedford, Eng.,m the year 1628. 
His parents \^ ere very poor, but 
gave him the best education in their 
power. Such, however, was his extreme depravity, that he 
addicted himself, even in childhood, to the basest practices, 
particularly to cursing and swearing, in which he exceeded 
the worst of his wicked companions, and arrived at such a 
sad preeminence in sin, that he became the ringleader of 

the })roiane. 

VOL. VI. 3y* 



2^ LIFE OF JOHN BUNYAX. 

Yet, amidst all these enormities, God left not himself 
without a witness in his bosom. He had many severe 
checks of conscience, and terrifying thoughts of hell. After 
days spent in sin, his dreams were sometimes peculiarly 
frightful. The fears of death and judgment intruded into 
his gayest hours. A copious narrative of these early con- 
flicts and crimes, is to be found in his treatise, entitled, 
Grace abounding to the Chief of Sinners. The Lord was 
also pleased to grant him several remarkable deliverances 
from death. Once he fell into the river Ouse ; at another 
time he fell into the sea, and narrowly escaped being 
drowned. When he was seventeen years of age he be- 
came a soldier ; and, at the siege of Leicester, being called 
out to stand sentinel, another desired to take his place ; he 
consented, and his comrade, who took his place, was shot 
through the head with a musket-ball. 

But neither mercies nor judgments made any durable 
impression on his hardened heart. He was not only in- 
sensible of the evil and danger of sin, but an enemy to 
ever}^ thing serious. The thought of religion, or the very 
appearance of it in others, was an intolerable burden to him. 

The first step towards his reformation was his marriage 
with a woman whose parents were accounted religious. 
Being extremely poor, she had brought him, as her Avhole 
portion, two books. The Practice of Piety, and The Plain 
Man^s Pathway to Heaven. In these they sometimes read 
together ; and his wife often talked to him of the godly life 
of her father. By these means, and especially in conse- 
quence of hearing a sermon against Sabbath breaking, he 
formed some resolutions of reformation, and of performing 
a few religious duties, which he then thought would be 
enough to carry him to heaven. His convictions were not, 
however, sufficient to keep him from his beloved sports, 
even in the afternoon of that Sabbath on which he had 



LIFE OF JOHN BUNVA.V. 3 

received them, when, beino- enofao-ed in a o-ame, a sentence 
was impressed on his mind so forcibly, that he thought it 
hke a voice from heaven, Wilt thou leave thy sins and go to 
Heaven, or have thy sins and go to Hell? This excited 
dreadful consternation in his mind, which was instantly 
followed by suggestions that he was an enormous, unpar- 
alleled sinner — that it was now too late to seek after heav- 
en — and that his transgressions were beyond the reach of 
mercy. Despair reached his mind, and he formed this 
desperate conclusion — that he must be miserable if he left 
his sins, and miserable if he continued in his sins ; and 
therefore he determined to take his fill of them, as the only 
pleasure he was likely to have. It may justly be feared 
that multitudes perish by such temptations as these. Their 
language is, " There is no hope — but we will walk after our 
own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of 
his evil heart." 

Contriving how to gratify himself with sin, yet deriving 
no satisfaction from it, he continued about a month longer ; 
when it pleased God to give him another severe check by 
means of a woman, who, though a notorious sinner herself, 
was so shocked at the oaths he uttered, that she told him, 
** he was the most ungodly fellow for swearing that she had 
ever seen in her life, and that he was enough to spoil all the 
youth in the town, if they came into his company." By this 
reproof, from such a person, he was entirely confounded ; 
and from that moment he refrained, in general, from swear- 
ing, though, before, he scarcely ever spoke a sentence without 
an oath. 

About this time, he had several remarkable dreams, in 
which he thought that the earth shook and opened her 
mouth to receive him — that the end of the world and the 
day of judgment were arrived. Once he dreamed that he 
was just dropping into the flames among the damned, and 



I 



4 LIFE OF JOHN BUNYAN. 

that a person in white shining raiment suddenly plucked 
him as a brand out of the fire. These dreams made im- 
pressions on his mind which were never forgotten, and 
perhaps inclined him, many years after, to publish the 
masterpiece of all his works. The Pilgrim's Progress, 
imder the similitude of a dream. 

Soon after, he fell into the company of a poor, serious 
man, whose discourses of religion and of the Scriptures so 
affected him, that he applied himself to reading the Bible, 
especially the historical parts of it. 

By degrees a reformation of manners took place, which 
became so remarkable, that his neighbors were greatly 
surprised at it, and often complimented him upon it. By 
these commendations he was greatly puffed up Avith pride, 
and began to think himself a very good Christian, and, to 
use his own words, " that no man in England could please 
God better than he." But all this was only lopping off the 
branches of sin, while the root of an unregenerate nature 
still remained. With much difficult)^, and by slow degrees, 
he refrained from his accustomed diversions of dancinof and 
ringing ; he relinquished the latter, from the apprehension 
that one of the bells, or even the steeple, might fall and 
crush him to death. But hitherto he remained iofnorant of 
Christ, and was "going about to establish his own right- 
eousness." He was still of that generation " who are pure 
in their own eyes, and yet not washed from their filthiness." 

Not long after, the providence of God so ordered it, that 
he went to work at Bedford, and happening to hear some 
women, who were sitting at a door, talk about the things of 
God, his curiosity induced him to listen to them, but he 
soon found their conversation above his reach. They were 
speaking of the new birth, and the work of God on their 
hearts — how they were convinced of their miserable state 
by nature — how God had visited their souls with his love in 



LIFE OF JOHN BUNYAN. 5 

Christ Jesus ; with wliat promises they had been refreshed, 
comforted, and supported under affliction and temptations. 
They also talked of the wretchedness of their own hearts, 
and of their unbelief — of renouncino- their own works and 
righteousness, as insufficient to justify them before God. 
All this appeared to be spoken in such spiritual language, 
m such a serious manner, and with such an air of Christian 
joy and cheerfulness, that he seemed like one who had found 
a Aew world. This conversation was of great service to him. 
He now saw that his case was not so good as he had fondly 
imagined ; that, among all his thoughts of religion, the grand 
essential of it — the new birth — had never entered his mind 
— that he had never derived comfort from the promises of 
God — that he had never known the plague of his own heart, 
having^ never taken notice of his secret thouMits — and that 
he was entirely unacquainted with Satan's temptations, and 
the way to resist them. He therefore frequented the com- 
pany of those persons to obtain information ; his mind became 
constantly intent upon gaining spiritual knowledge, and his 
v/hole soul was so fixed on eternal things, that it was diffi- 
cult to draw his mind from heaven to earth. He now beg-an 
to read his Bible, as it were with new eyes ; it became 
inexpressibly sweet and pleasant to him, because it held 
forth a Saviour whom he now felt the want of. Readinof, 
meditation, and prayer to understand the Scriptures, were 
the employments in which he delighted. 

Now the enemy of souls assaulted him with his temp- 
tations. One of the principal was, whether he was elected 
or not ? But it pleased God to relieve him, by the appli- 
cation of that Scripture, " Look at the generations of old, 
and see, did ever any trust in God and were confounded ?" 
This gave him much encouragement, as if it had been said, 
" Begin at Genesis, and read to the end of the Revelation, 
and try if you can find any that ever trusted in God and 



6 LIFE OF JOHN BUNYAN. 

were confounded ; and if none that trusted in God ever 
miscarried, then your duty is to trust in God, and not to 
concern yourself about election, which is a secret thing." 

Another temptation that violently assaulted him, was, 
" How if the day of grace should be past and gone ?" But 
after many days spent in bitterness of spirit, he was relieved 
by that blessed word, " Compel them to come in, that my 
house may be filled ;" and ''yet there is room." 

Many more were his temptations, of which the reader 
may find a large account in the treatise before referred to. 
But the Lord, who knows how to deliver the godly out of 
temptation, was pleased to deliver him out of all his spirit- 
ual distresses, and to fill his soul with joy and peace in 
believing. To this happy event, under the blessing of the 
Holy Spirit, the conversation he had with experienced 
Christians, and the valuable labors of Mr. Gififord, then 
minister of the Gospel at Bedford, were chiefly conducive. 
When twenty-seven years of age, Mr. Bunyan joined a 
congregation of pious Christians at Bedford. His natural 
abilities, eminent grace, and the remarkable temptations 
he had experienced, soon pointed him out as a proper per- 
son for the ministry. Curiosity naturally excited multi- 
tudes to attend his preaching, and he soon found that his 
labors were not in vain in the Lord. Such were his diffi- 
dence and modesty, that at first he thought it incredible 
that God should speak to the hearts of sinners by his 
means. But he was encouraged by many seals of his min- 
istry. His views of the work, and his method in it, de- 
serve notice and imitation. The Lord gave him much 
compassion for perishing sinners. He studied with great 
dilitrence to find out such words as miofht awaken the con- 
science, exhibit Christ in all his infinite fulness, and show 
the sinner that, except in his precious atonement, there is 
no salvation. 



LIFE OF JOHN BUNYAN. 7 

** In my preaching," says he, " the Lord did lead me to 
begin where his word begins, with sinners ; to condemn all 
flesh, and to open and allege that the curse of God doth lay 
hold on all men, as they come into the world, because of 
sin. This part of my work I fulfilled with the terrors of 
the law, and guilt for my own transgressions, lying heavy 
on my conscience. I went myself in chains, to preach to 
them in chains ; and carried that fire in my own conscience, 
of which I persuaded them to beware. I have gone full of 
a sense of guilt and terror, even to the pulpit door, and 
there it hath been taken off, and I have been at liberty in 
my mind until I have done my work, and then immediately 
it has returned as heavily as before ; yet God carried me 
on, and surely with a strong hand, for neither guilt nor hell 
could take me ofi" my work. 

'' Thus I went on for the space of two years ; after 
which, the Lord came in upon my soul with some sure 
peace and comfort through Christ, giving me many sweet 
discoveries of his blessed grace. And I did much labor to 
hold forth Jesus Christ in all his offices, relations, and ben- 
efits, unto the world ; and did strive also to discover, to 
condemn, and to remove those false supports on which the 
world lean, and, by depending on them, fall and perish. 

" When I have been preaching, my heart hath often, 
all the time of this and the other exercises, with great ear- 
nestness cried to God that he would make the word effect- 
ual to salvation ; wherefore I did labor so to speak as that 
thereby, if possible, the sin, and the person guilty, might 
be particularized. And when I have done the exercise, it 
hath gone to my heart to think the word should now fall as 
rain on stony places : still wishing, ' O that they who have 
heard me did but see, as I do, what sin, and death, and 
hell, and the curse of God are ; and what the grace, and 
love, and mercy of God are, through Christ, to men who 



8 LIFE OF JOHN BUNYAN. 

are yet estranged from him. And indeed I did often say- 
in my heart before the Lord, that if to be hanged up pres- 
ently before their eyes would be a means of awakening them 
and confirming them in the truth, I could gladly consent 
to it. 

" I never cared to meddle with unimportant points which 
were in dispute among the saints, yet it pleased me much 
to contend with great earnestness for the word of faith, 
and the remission of sins bv the sufferings and death of 
Jesus. I saw my work before me did run in another chan- 
nel, even to carry the awakening word; to that, therefore, 
I did adhere. 

"If any of those who -were awakened by my ministry 
fell back, I can truly say, that their loss hath been more to 
me than if my own child had been going to its grave. My 
heart hath been so wrapped up in the glory of this excellent 
work, that I counted myself more blessed and honored by 
it, than if God had made me emperor of the Christian world, 
or the lord of all the glory of the earth, without it. Oh, 
these words, ' He that converteth a sinner from the error of 
his way doth save a soul from death.' '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.' 
James 5 : 20 ; Dan. 12:3. These, with many others of a 
like nature, have been great refreshments to me." 

" My great desire, in fulfilling my ministry, was to get 
into the darkest places of the country, because I found my 
spirit leaned most after awakening and converting work ; 
and the word that I carried did lean itself most that way 
also : ' Yea, so have I strived to preach the Gospel, not 
where Christ was named, lest I should build on another 
man's foundation.' " Rom. 15 : 20. 

This fidelity excited many enemies ; and the time in 
which he lived being a time of persecution for conscience' 



IJFE OF JOHN BUNYAN. 9 

sake, lie was thrown into prison, and there continued, in 
the whole, for twelve years. 

He was enabled to bear this tedious imprisonment pa- 
tiently. The Lord was very gracious to him. " I never 
had," he said, while in prison, "in all my life, so great an 
insight into the word of God as now. Those Scriptures 
which I saw nothing in before, are made, in this place and 
state, to shine upon me. I have had sweet sights of the 
forgiveness of my sins, and of my being with Jesus in 
another world. ' 0, the mount Sion, the heavenly Jerusa- 
lem, the innumerable company of angels, and God the Judge 
of all, and the spirits of just men made perfect,' and Jesus, 
have been sweet unto me in this place ! I have seen that 
here, which I am persuaded I shall never, while in this 
world, be able to express. I have seen a truth in the 
words, * Whom having not seen, ye love ; in whom, though 
now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy un- 
speakable and full of glory.' " 

The thoughts of his afflicted family would sometimes 
press upon his mind, especially the case of one of his four 
children, who was blind. Mr. Bunyan was a man of strong 
affections, a tender husband, and a very indulgent parent. 
But he was supported under this affliction by these two 
Scriptures : '' Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve 
tl^em alive ; and let thy widows trust in me." The Lord said, 
" Verily it shall be well with thy remnant ; verily I will 
cause the enemy to entreat thee well in the time of evil." 

He was not idle during his long and severe confinement, 

but dihgently studied his Bible, which, with the book of 

Martyrs, composed his whole library. His own hands also 

ministered to the necessity of his indigent family ; but he 

was still more usefully employed in preaching to all who 

could gain access to the jail, and with a spirit and a power 

that surprised his hearers. 
VOL, vr. 39 



10 LIFE OF JOHN BUN Y AN. 

It was here, also, that he composed several useful trea- 
tises, especially The Pilgrim's Progress, a book which 
has done as much good, perhaps, as any other, except the 
Bible ; and by writing which, he has probably been more 
useful than if he had enjoyed the unrestrained exercise of 
his public ministry. In composing it, he was evidently 
favored with a peculiar measure of the divine assistance. 
Within the confines of a jail, he was able so to delineate 
the Christian's course, with its various difficulties, perils, 
and conflicts, that scarcely any thing seems to have escaped 
his notice. The most accurate observer will hardly find 
one character, either good or bad, or one fatal delusion, or 
injurious mistake, which is not essentially pointed out in 
the Pilgrhn^s Progress. The book suits all the various 
descriptions of persons who profess godliness, and relates 
the experience, temptations, conflicts, supports, and conso- 
lations of Christians in our own times, as exactly as if it 
had been penned for their own immediate benefit. Cow- 
per has spoken of this book and its author in the following 
manner : 

" O thou, whom, borne on fancy's eager wing 
Back to tlie season of life's happy spring, 
I pleased remember, and while mem'ry yet 
Holds fast her office here, can ne'er forget. 
Ingenious dreamer, in whose well-told tale. 
Sweet fiction and sweet truth alike prevail ; 
Whose hum'rous vein, strong sense, and simple style, 
May teach the gayest, make the gravest smile ; 
Witty, and well employed, and like thy Lord, 
Speaking in parables his slighted word. 
I name thee not, lest so despised a name 
Should move a sneer at thy deserved fame ; 
Yet even in transitory life's late day. 
That mingles all my brown with sober gray, 
Revere the man whose Pilgrim marks the road, 
And guides the Progress of the soul to God. 



LIFE OF JOHN BUNYAN. H 

Tlie narrative is so entertaining^, that the heart becomes 
interested in the event of every transaction ; ministers may 
draw from it the most valuable instruction, as a text-book 
to be used in their private meetings ; and parents may 
with great advantage select portions of it to be read and 
explained to their children. 

After the Lord had accomplished what he had designed 
in the works written by this man of God in his dreary soli- 
tude, he at length disposed Dr. Barlow, then Bishop of 
Lincoln, and others, to pity his imdeserved suflferings, and 
to interest themselves in procuring his enlargement. 

His active spirit soon im.proved the liberty afforded him ; 
he visited the people of God in several places, especially 
the afflicted, tempted, persecuted, to whom he was now 
well qualified to speak a word in season. He took this 
opportunity of pa3nng his grateful acknowledgments to his 
friends, whose kind assistance he had experienced in prison ; 
and as occasion offered, he preached the Gospel with great 
boldness and acceptance, particularly to the congregation 
at Bedford, of whom he was now chosen minister. 

Amidst all his popularity and success, he was kept hum- 
ble, and was seldom or never known to speak of himself. His 
whole behavior was exemplary, so that malice herself has 
not been able to find, even on the closest inspection, a single 
stain on his reputation and moral character. 

His valuable life, worn out with sufferings, age, and 
ministerial labors, was closed wuth a memorable act of 
Christian charity. He was well known under the blessed 
character of a peace-maker. He was therefore desired, by 
a young gentleman in the neighborhood of Bedford, to 
interpose as a mediator between him and his offended father, 
who lived at Reading, in Berkshire : this friendly business 
he cheerfully undertook, and happily effected. But, in his 
return to London, being overtaken with excessive rain, he 



12 LIFE OF JOHN BUNYAN. 

came to a friend's, on Snow Hill, very wet, and was seized 
Tvdtli a violent fever, the pains of w^hich he bore wdth great 
patience, resigning himself to the will of God, desiring to 
be called aw^ay, that he might be with Christ, looking upon 
life as a delay of that blessedness to which his soul was 
aspiring, and after which it was thirsting. In this holy, 
longing frame of spirit, after a sickness of ten days, he 
breathed out his soul into the hands of his blessed Redeemer 
on the 31st of August, 1668. 

His natural abilities were remarkably great ; his fancy 
and invention uncommonly fertile. His wdt was sharp and 
quick, his memory very good, it being customary with him 
to commit his sermons to writing after he had preached 
them. His works are collected in two volumes folio, and 
contain as many treatises as he lived years. His judgment 
was sound and deep in the essential principles of the Gos- 
pel, as his writings sufficiently evince. His piety and sin- 
cerity towards God were apparent to all who conversed with 
him. He constantly maintained the Godlike principle of 
love, often bewailing that there should be so much division 
amono- Christians. He was a man of heroic couraafe, reso- 
lute for Christ and the Gospel, and bold in reproving sin, 
both in public and private ; yet mild, condescending, and 
affable to all. Thus lived and died a man, in whose char- 
acter, conduct, and usefulness, that Scripture was remark- 
ably verified : " Ye see your calling, brethren, how that not 
many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many 
noble are called ; but God hath chosen the foolish things of 
the world to confound the wise, that no flesh should glory 
in his presence," 



No. SI 9. 



JOHN liOBINS, 

THE SAILOR. 




As I was walking, one summer evening, through the 
streets of Portsmouth, I noticed an English sailor hobbling 
over the pavement with a wooden leg and crutch. He 
soon approached me, and bowed respectfully. As he stood 
leaning on his crutch, with his hat in his hand, his mind 
seemed to be overcome, and I saw tears roll down his hardy, 
weather-beaten face. 

Grasping my hand, he soon said, " Mr. T , have you 

forgot Jack Robins, one of your old Sunday-school boys, 
twenty years ago ? I have thought of you and your kind in- 
structions ten thousand times since I saw you last. Though 
oceans have rolled between us, and it is many years since I 
saw your face, I shall never forget my dear Sunday-school 
teacher, till this heart," striking his bosom with the top of 
his crutch, " shall cease to beat." 

" I am very glad indeed to see you, Robins," said I ; 
' I am just now going to my lodgings to take tea, and you 

VOL. VI. :39^' 



2 JOHN ROBINS THE SAILOR. 

must come along with me for old acquaintance' sake, and we 
will then talk over some of our old matters toofether : I am 
very anxious to hear something about you, since I last saw 
you." No sooner said than done, Robins and I marched off 
together, mutually delighted with an opportunity of seeing 
and conversing with each other. 

When tea was finished, I inquired how long it was since 
he first went to sea. " Nineteen years," said he ; " well do I 
recollect the time, for you called on me the evening before I 
left home, and would not be satisfied till you had prayed 
with me, and committed me to the gracious care of Almighty 
God. You then gave me a pocket-Bible, and insisted upon 
its being carefully packed up with my sea-stores ; and bless- 
ed be God, I have still got that Bible, and I hope I shall 
keep it till my latest day." 

Saying this, he put his hand in his pocket, and pulling 
out the Bible, he showed me the following words, which I 

had written about twenty years ago. " J. T iwesents 

this book to John Robins, hoping that he ivill read it with 
attention and inayer, when he is far aivay from his native 
land, and that he ivill treasure up its truths in his heart, and 
live in obedience to its directions ^ 

" Were not you in my Sunday-school for several years ?" 

" Yes, sir, between five and six years ; but what I 
learned at school was very often opposed at home, by the 
example of my parents and those who surrounded me, so 
that good impressions soon wore off, and bad habits were 
quickly formed. When I was about fifteen years old, and 
became rather more my own master, I began to dislike the 
strict rules of the school ; and by keeping bad company with 
idle lads in the street, I soon became as bad as they were, 
and at leno-th resolved to q;o to sea with them. 

'* When I was on board ship, I found myself surrounded 
with temptations and evil company, without a way of escape ; 
no Sunday-school, no pious teacher, no faithful minister, to 
counteract the depraved inclinations of my heart ; so that I 
became more hardened in iniquity, and increasingly bold in 
mv enmitv to God and his wavs. The delio-hts which my 



JOHN ROBINS THE SAILOR. 3 

youthful mind had fondly imagined as attending a seafar- 
ing life, all vanished in the reality ; and I found hard work 
and severe discipline, instead of constant happiness and 
unmingled pleasure, which I had hoped for. Notwithstand- 
ing the progress which I was making in wickedness, and the 
hardening nature of sin, sometimes 1 felt myself most truly 
wretched. Conscience upbraided me, in the moments of 
reflection, with the severest reproaches ; I had enjoyed 
superior privileges to most of my companions ; I had re- 
ceived pious instructions in a Sunday-school ; I was able to 
read the Bible, and had a Bible to read, therefore my 
depravity was most inexcusable. Sometimes a verse from 
the Scriptures, or a hymn, would recur to my memory with 
such force as to make me, for the time, completely miserable. 
Sometimes the recollection of my teacher and his instruc- 
tions would affect my mind, especially on the Sabbath, and 
then all my boasted pleasures appeared but madness and 
misery. How just is that passage of the Bible : ' The wick- 
ed are like the troubled sea Avhen it cannot rest, whose 
waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my 
God, to the wicked.' But these serious thoughts and re- 
bukes of conscience soon wore off, when I returned to my 
shipmates, and was persuaded to join in their sports, their 
profane swearing, and habits of intemperance. 

"I continued in his Majesty's service, in various stations, 
for seven years, before I returned home. All this time was 
spent in the service of sin, and I was hastening on in the 
course of wickedness and departure from God. I had been, 
during this time, exposed to innumerable perils, and had 
many hairbreadth escapes from death ; yet the unseen 
hand of the Almighty kept me safe, and preserved the hfe 
of one so undeserving of any mercy. 

" Being allowed to go home for a few weeks, I found that 
my father had died about six months before, and that my 
mother was very ill, and in reduced circumstances. I re- 
joiced that it was in my power to supply her wants with the 
pay I had received. At this time I felt a longing desire to 
go and see my old Sunday-school ; but the thoughts of my 



4 JOHJS ROBINS THE SAILOR. 

disgraceful conduct, and the dread of seeing your face and 
receiving your reproofs, deterred me from making the 
attempt. However, William Adams, one of my old school- 
fellows, who had then become an active, pious teacher, 
happened to meet me in the street a few days before I re- 
turned to the ship, and he mentioned the circumstance to 
you. The next day you called upon me ; the sight of my 
old teacher was like a dagger to my heart. You endeavored 
to enter upon serious subjects with me ; but I recollect that 
I purposely steered away from these topics, and tried to put 
you off, by giving an account of some of my adventures, and 
the battles in which I had been concerned. You engaged 
in prayer with me ; but I recollect that I stopped my ears 
at the time, that I might not be disturbed in my guilty 
pleasures, and rendered uncomfortable. You then gave me 
some Tracts and books, and as you took leave, I could not 
help observing in your eyes the tears of regret at the hard- 
ness of heart which I had displayed. Perhaps, sir, you 
recollect this visit ?" 

" Yes, John, and I remember the next Sabbath talk- 
ing to the Sabbath-school children of the deceitfulness of 
sin, the danger of neglecting the instructions they then 
received, and the evils of bad company: these subjects I 
enforced by referring to you, and saying that I had once 
thought you a promising lad ; but that you had now be- 
come a bold and presumptuous sinner. When I had closed 
these remarks, I said, * Let us all pray for poor John Robins, 
the wicked sailor ; may God keep all the children here 
present from imitating his bad example.' We joined in 
our prayers at the throne of grace ; and I now begin to 
indulge some hope that our petitions were not in vain." 

"I feel much obliged to you," said John Robins, "for 
your kind and earnest prayers ; it is often a long time before 
God answers his people's prayers, but he never entirely 
forgets them, and his time is always the best ; he has not 
only a bottle for their tears, but a register for their prayers. 
However, to continue my story, when I returned to the ship 
to which I was appointed, I felt ashamed of my ingratitude. 



JOHN ROBINS THE SAILOR. 5 

I also, for want of some other amusement, often looked into 
some of the books and Tracts you had given me ; though I 
too frequently did this that I might raise a joke, and excite 
laughter among my wicked shipmates. Yet while I did this, 
the noisy laugh often concealed an agonized spirit, and an 
accusing conscience. I could not be happy, and sometimes 
I almost cursed those kind instructors who taught me to read 
the Bible when young, because I could not sin without a 
restraint, and enjoy my guilty pleasures without remorse. 

*' Among the new comrades with whom I was sailing, 
there was one whose name was Isaac North, who always 
refused to join in our sinful amusements, and who frequently 
rebuked our ungodly mirth. We all of us joined to ridicule 
his piety, and he commonly went by the name of ' the 
Methodist,' or ' the parson,' because he was fond of reading 
his Bible, and delighted in prayer. I have often heard our 
captain say, with an oath, that he wished all his men were 
Methodists, if they would be as orderly and attentive to their 
duties as Isaac North. This man happened to see my Bible, 
and the inscription you had written on it, and he also fre- 
quently borrowed my books to read, so that we were led 
into conversation ; and he took the opportunity of alluding 
to the privileges I had possessed when young, and the 
awful manner in which I had abused them. One of his 
observations I could not easily forget, it recurred to my 
mind continually : 'Jack,' said he, 'if a Sunday-school boy 
becomes a wicked man, he is ten thousand times more guilty 
than an ignorant, untaught sinner ; for ' unto whomsoever 
much is given, of him shall be much required.' ' Some- 
times I listened to Isaac's instructions, when I could do it 
unobserved ; and I very often wished I was like him, for he 
always seemed cheerful and happy, though he refused to 
partake of our boisterous mirth and sinful pleasures. 

" You may, perhaps, sir, recollect Henry Brown, the 
coal-heaver's son, who was turned out of your Sunday- 
school, and who went to sea with me ; he was our ringleader 
in every sin, and was the most notorious character on board 
the ship. In an engagement with one of the enemy's vessels 



Q JOHN ROBINS THE SAILOR. 

he received a severe Avound near tlie shoulder, and one of 
his legs was carried away with a grape-shot, and shattered 
in a most dreadful manner. After we had taken the vessel, 
I went to see my old companion, and found that his life was 
in imminent danger. Oh, how was he altered ! anguish was 
strongly marked on his countenance, and despair glared in 
his dying eyes. When he saw me, he exclaimed, ' Oh, John, 
take warning by my fate, I am Avretched and undone for 
ever; I have no hope, no joy, no peace; my sins stand in 
array against me more terrible than the roaring cannon ; 
there is no refuge for me to fly to ; I am undone ! I perish ! 
I perish, for ever and ever !' Alas, I could afford my 
companion no consolation, for I had been a partner in his 
sins ; but I sent for Isaac, who rejoiced to obey the Sav- 
iour's command, ' Bless them that curse you, do good to 
them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully 
use you and persecute you.' When Isaac came, he endeav- 
ored to direct his mind to serious subjects, and exhorted 
him to seek for mercy through Jesus Christ ; but he ex- 
claimed, ' There is no mercy for me ; I have slighted all the 
invitations of mercy, and nothing but darkness, and despair, 
and misery lie before me. Isaac attempted to pray with him, 
but he stopped him, and said, ' I have cursed and blas- 
phemed my Maker through life, he will not hear me now ; 
'tis too late ; I feel my punishment begun already, and I 
have deserved all the righteous anger of Almighty God.' 
He soon became v,"orse, his feelings were insupportable, he 
sunk into a delirium ; and, as I stood by his bedside, I wit- 
nessed his last convulsive struggle, and saw him expire. If 
I had died instead of my comrade, said I, how aAvful would 
my end have been ; I could have no hope of mercy, and 
should now be lifting up my eyes in misery. This solemn 
thought deeply affected my mind, especially as I found, on 
retiring to my hammock, that my jacket had been shot 
through, and that a ball had scarred the top of my hat. 

*'The impression produced by this alarming event was 
deep and lasting. I was led to review my past life, and to 
reflect on the sinfulness of my conduct, in abusing every 



JOHN ROBINS THE SAILOR. 7 

privilege, in opposing the dictates of conscience, and in 
persisting so long to walk in the way of transgressors, 
though I found it to be hard. I saw that my sins were, as 
the sand on the seashore, innumerable ; and I thought that 
there was no mercy for such a sinner as I had been. These 
reflections agitated my mind day after day, my former 
pleasures became insipid and disgusting, and I felt that I 
was like a shattered bark at sea, without sails, or compass, 
and exposed to winds and waves on every side. 

" Isaac noticed the difference in my conduct, and he 
took an opportunity of conversing privately with me. I 
unbosomed myself to him, and related all my feelings and 
sorrows. He directed me to pray ; he pointed out to me 
the gracious promises of the Gospel ; and kneeling down in 
a private part of the ship, prayed fervently and afl:ection- 
ately for my immortal spirit. We had frequent opportuni- 
ties of conversing together on religious subjects, and I trust 
that the divine blessinof attended our conversations. When 
my heart became truly awakened to a sense of my situation 
as a sinner before God, the truths I had learned in the 
Sunday-school came afresh into my mind with prevailing 
power. I was enabled to fly to Jesus Christ for pardon 
and grace, as a poor sinner, trusting alone in his mercy, 
and committing my soul to his care. I at length was ena- 
bled to hope in the divine promise, * Thou wilt cast all their 
sins into the depth of the sea.' Oh, may I hope that all my 
sins are buried in the ocean of my Saviour's love, so that 
they will be found no more for ever. 

" I trust that from this time my mind became gradually 
more enlightened. The Bible you had given me became 
my chosen companion, and the good books were of great 
use to me. I shall have to bless God for them through 
eternity. I must say that I never found any true happiness 
till I had fled for refuge from the wrath to come, to ' the 
Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world.' O 
that, as I have sinned much, I may love him much, and 
serve him wholly. 

" Just at this time, in boarding a French vessel, I re- 



g JOHN ROBINS THE SAILOR. 

ceived these scars in my face, lost one of my eyes, and had 
two or three wounds in my body ; yet God preserved my hfe. 
While I was confined from active service by these wounds, 
I had much time for serious reflection, reading, and prayer ; 
and I trust that the seed sown in my heart, by divine grace, 
was watered by this afl[liction, and rendered fruitful. 

" I have been in every quarter of the globe ; I have 
fought in eleven different engagements ; I have been twice 
shipwrecked ; and notwithstanding all these perils, I have 
been preserved by the goodness of Almighty God. Oh that 
I loved him more, and served him better ! 

" My friend Isaac, who joined me in the battle of Tra- 
falgar, there received a mortal wound ; he lingered for a 
few days, and then expired. His mind was tranquil ; he 
looked to heaven, his desired haven, with as much delight 
as the mariner beholds the first headland of his native 
country, after a long and tiresome voyage. With a firm 
reliance upon his Saviour, he launched into the ocean of 
eternity ; and, wafted by the gales of faith, hope, and joy, 
entered the port of everlasting bliss. 

" About eighteen months ago I lost my leg by a cannon 
shot, in an action with an enemy's vessel of superior force, 
which struck her flag to us just after I had fallen on the 
deck from my wound. Happily, we were approaching near 
to old England, and the amputation of my leg turned out 
favorably. God supported me under this severe trial, and 
when I landed at Portsmouth, I gradually recovered strength, 
and now I enjoy as good health as ever I had," 

Thus employed, John Robins the Sailor and I spent the 
evening most pleasantly, and closed it with prayer and 
praise. As I retired to rest, I felt exceedingly thankful to 
God that he had brought back one of my wandering lambs 
to his fold ; and I felt increasingly convinced of the inesti- 
mable benefits arising from early religious instruction, even 
when no immediate good is apparent. 



PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY. 



No. 930. 

THE BIBLE, THE BE8T OF ALL BOOKS. 



You have lonor crloried in the name of Christian. The 
Bible, the Bible has been your religion. Your learned men 
have defended it ; your martyrs have bled for it. It has 
been the support of the aged, the guide of the young, the 
consolation of the sick, and the hope of the dying. Yet 
some men, more cruel than the wretch that robs you of your 
daily bread, would deprive you of this heavenly treasure. 
But will you, can you part with it ? A guilty and dying 
creature as you are, can you part with that word which 
tells you, " God so loved the world that he gave his only- 
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him might not 
perish, but have everlasting life ?" Can you renounce that 
Saviour who says, " I am come that you might have life — I 
am come to seek and to save that which was lost ?" 

They tell you the Bible is not true. But is there any 
thing in the Gospel that appears like a cunningly-devised 
fable ? Can you suppose that the apostles invented the 
story of Jesus? Can you believe them liars, when they 
declare, " That which we have seen, which we have looked 
upon, and our hands have handled, of the word of life, de- 
clare we unto you ?" Had not the story been true, Avould 
Peter have ventured to declare, in the presence of all the 
Jews, " This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof Ave all are 
witnesses ?" And they not only published the truth, but 
wrought miracles to prove it ; and those miracles Avere not 
done in a corner, but in the face of the world, in the face of 
enemies. Would they have suffered and laid down their liA'es 
in defence of what they knew to be false ? Had it been a 
forgery, Avould not they and their story have perished to- 
gether ? Can you read their writings, so full of piety, sim- 
plicity, and benevolence, and think them false witnesses of 
God? 

Read the life of Jesus. Trace him from his cradle in 
the manger, to his cross and resurrection, and then say, " Is 
not this the Christ ?" At his birth ano-els were his witnesses : 
they brought the glad news from heaven, and sung, " Good- 
will to men." While the Son of God lay an infant below, 
liis record Avas on high ; for there appeared a strange neAV 

VOL. vr. 40 



2 THE BIBLE, THE BEST OF ALL BOOKS. 

star, wliicb was his witness in heaven. The wise men of the 
East were his witnesses, when they came from afar and paid 
gold, frankincense, and myrrh to him as King of the Jews. 
Simeon and Anna in the temple, by spirit of prophecy, ivit- 
nessed to the Holy Child Jesus ; and the doctors, with whom 
he disputed at twelve years old, were his ivitnesses that there 
was something in him more than man. At his baptism the 
Father and the Spirit witnessed to the Son of God ; they told 
the world that this was the Messiah — the Father, by a voice 
from heaven, saying, " This is my beloved Son, in whom I 
am well pleased " — and the Spirit, by descending upon him 
like a dove. His life was a life of wonders, and each of 
them ivitnessed to the truth of his commission, and to the 
divinity of his doctrine. Every blind eye that he opened, 
saw and witnessed Jesus. Every one of the dead that he 
raised was his witness. Miracles attended him to the cross, 
and the grave opened and made a passage for him to his 
Father's right hand. That salvation w^hich began to be 
spoken by Jesus the Lord, was afterwards published by 
those that heard him, God himself bearing them witness 
with sio-ns and wonders. 

O 

View the character of Jesus. Is there any thing in 
him that looks like an impostor ? " Never man spake like 
this man." Read those gracious words : " The Spirit of the 
Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the 
Gospel to the poor, he hath sent me to heal the broken- 
hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recover- 
ing of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are 
bound, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord," Well 
might he say, " This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your 
ears." What was his language to the weary and heavy 
laden sinner ? " Come unto me, and I will give you rest. 
Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out. Peace 
I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. Let not your 
heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." 

To the poor he said, "Blessed are ye poor, for yours is 
the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye that hunger now, 
for ye shall be filled ; he that cometh unto me shall never 
hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. In 
the world ye shall have tribulation ; but be of good cheer, 
1 have overcome the world." 

When the lame, the blind, and the deaf crowded round 



THE BIBLE, THE BEST OF ALL BOOKS. 3 

him, did he turn away from them ? No ; he was the good 
physician — he had compassion on them, and healed them 
alL He wept with those that wept. When he met the 
poor widow following her only son to the grave, he had 
compassion on her, and said unto her, " Weep not ;" and 
he raised the young man to life, and delivered him to his 
mother. He " went about doiner crood." 

What Avas the temper he showed? He was meek and 
lowly of heart. When he was reviled, he reviled not again. 
His language was, " Father, forgive them, for they know 
not what they do." He washed his disciples' feet, and then 
said, " I have given you an example, that ye should do as I 
have done to you." 

In what beautiful parables does he teach you the com- 
passion of your heavenly Father ! Read the parables of the 
lost sheep, and of the prodigal son, and you will surely 
say, " I will arise and go to my Father." Read the para- 
ble of the Pharisee and the publican, and learn to be ashamed 
of every spark of pride in your heart. 

Thus Jesus lived, and thus he taught. Attend him to 
the cross, and see how he died. 

Read his last farewell discourse to his disciples ; the 
heart must be hard indeed that is not melted by its tender- 
ness and love. " Let not your hearts be troubled. Ye 
believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house 
are many mansions ; if it were not so, I would have told you. 
I go to prepare a place for you — and I will come again and 
receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be 
also." " Father, I will that they whom thou hast given me 
be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory." 
See him eating the last passover Avith his disciples. " With 
desire I have desired to eat this passover Avith you before I 
suffer." See him giving the kind memorials of his death: 
** Do this in remembrance of me." Thus he parted Avith his 
beloved friends, and Avent to drink his bitter cup of suffer- 
ing. In these Avords read the agony of his soul, and his 
entire resignation to his heavenly Father's Avill : " Father, 
if thou be Avilling, remove this cup from me ; nevertheless, 
not my will, but thine be done." 

See him brought as a lamb to the slaughter, or as a good 
shepherd giving up his life for his sheep ; Avounded for our 
transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, that by his stripes 



4 THE BIBLE, THE BEST OF ALL BOOKS. 

we might be healed. See him mourning over sinners, pray- 
ing for his murderers, granting pardon to the dying penitent, 
and then crying out, ''It is finished ! Father, into thy hands 
I commend my Spirit." While you thus behold the Lamb 
of God that taketh away the sins of the world, are you not 
ready to cry, " Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to re- 
ceive honor, and glory, and blessing ?" Follow him to the 
tomb, "and see the place where the Lord lay." 

See iini rising from the grave, " the first fruits of 
them that slept," and rejoice in that promise which says, 
" Because I live, ye shall live also. I ascend to my Father 
and your Father, to my God and your God." After he had 
tarried some time on earth, conversing with his disciples, 
instructing them, opening their understanding that they 
might understand the Scriptures, and promising the Holy 
Spirit to endue them with power from on high, he led them 
out to Bethany, and lifted up his hands and blessed them, 
and while he blessed them he was parted from them, and 
carried up into heaven. 

And now, friends, what think you of Jesus ? Are you 
tempted to leave him ? He says to you, as he did to his 
disciples, " Will ye also go away ?" Do not your hearts reply, 
"Lord, to whom should we go? Thou hast the words of 
eternal life " No — we will not leave thee, nor the blessed 
volume thou hast given. Though the doctrine of the cross 
may be to some a stumbling-block, and to others foolish- 
ness, we will esteem it " the power of God and the wisdom 
of God." Blessed Jesus ! thou art the Sun of righteous- 
ness ; we will not leave light for darkness ; we feel our guilt, 
and we need such an Hio^h Priest to make atonement for 
us. Our corrupt natures need the sanctifying influence of 
thy grace ; our weak natures want the assistance of thy 
good Spirit ; our dying natures want all the hopes thou hast 
given us of life and immortality. No, we cannot leave thee : 
amidst all the sorrows and temptations of the world, we will 
look to thee, Avho hast endured the cross and overcome the 
world. Thou art the Captain of our salvation, and by thy 
grace we will follow thee till we " overcome, and sit down 
with thee on thy throne, even as thou also hast overcome, 
and art set down with thy Father on his throne." 

PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY. 



]\o. ant. 

ADDRESS 

ON 

THE EFFECTS OF ARDENT SPIRITS. 

BT JONATHAN KITTREDGE, ESQ. 



.IfUITIirr- 




Fellow-Citizens — That intemperance, in our country, is 
a great and growing evil, all are ready to admit. When we 
look abroad, and examine into the state of society, we find the 
number of those who are in the constant and habitual prac- 
tice of an excessive use of ardent spirits to be alarming. We 
see the efiects that they produce among our friends and our 
neighbors, but the evil is so common, and it is so fashionable 
to drink, and I had almost said, to drink to excess, that the 
sight of it has lost half its terror, and we look upon an intem- 
perate man without those feelings of disgust and abhorrence 
which his real situation and character are calculated to pro- 
duce. This is the natural result of things. The mind be- 
comes familiar with the contemplation, the eye accustomed 
VOL. VI. 40* 



2 EFFECTS OF ARDENT SPIRITS. 

to the sight ; we pay but little attention to the object — he 
passes on — we laugh at the exhibition, and grow callous 
and indifferent to the guilt. Our pity is not excited, our 
hearts do not ache at the scenes of intoxication that are 
almost daily exhibited around us. But if for a moment we 
seriously reflect upon the real situation of the habitually 
intemperate ; if we call to mind what they have been — 
what they now are ; if we cast our eye to the future, and 
realize what, in a few years, they will be ; if we go further, 
and examine into the state of their families, of their wives 
and their children, we shall discover a scene of misery and 
wretchedness that will not long suffer us to remain cold, 
and indifferent, and unfeeling. 

This examination we can all make for ourselves. We 
can all call to mind the case of some individual, whom we 
have known for years, perhaps fi'om his infancy, who is now 
a poor, miserable drunkard. In early life his hopes and 
prospects were as fair as ours. His family was respectable, 
and he received all those advantages which are necessary, 
and which were calculated to make him a useful and res- 
pectable member of society. Perhaps he was our school- 
fellow, and our boyhood may have been passed in his com- 
pany. We witnessed the first buddings of his mental powers, 
and know that he possessed an active, enterprising mind. 
He grew up into life with every prospect of usefulness. 
He entered into business, and, for a while, did well. His 
parents looked to him for support in old age, and he was 
capable of affording it. He accumulated property, and, in 
a few years, with ordinary prudence and industry, would 
have been independent. He married, and became the head 
of a family, and the father of children, and all was pros- 
perous and happy around him. Had he continued as he 
began, he would now have been a comfort to his friends, and 
an honor to the community. But the scene quickly changed. 



EFFECTS OF ARDEiNT SPIRITS. 



He grew fond of ardent spirits. He was seen at the store 
and the tavern. By degrees he became intemperate. He 
neglected his business, and his affairs went to gradual decay. 
He is now a drunkard, his property is wasted, his parents 
have died of broken hearts, his wife is pale and emaciated, 
his children ragged, and squalid, and ignorant. He is the 
tenant of some little cabin that poverty has erected to house 
him from the storm and the tempest. He is useless, and 
worse than useless : he is a pest to all around him. All the 
feelings of his nature are blunted ; he has lost all shame ; 
he procures his accustomed supply of the poison that con- 
sumes him ; he staggers through mud and through filth to 
his hut ; he meets a weeping wife and starving children ; 
he abuses them, he tumbles into his straw, and he rolls and 
foams like a mad brute, till he is able to go again. He calls 
for more rum — he repeats the scene from time to time, and 
from day to day, till soon his nature faints, and he becomes 
sober in death. 

Let us reflect, that this guilty, wretched creature had 
an immortal mind — he was like us, of the same flesh and 
blood — he was our brother, destined to the same eternity, 
created by, and accountable to, the same God ; and will, at 
last, stand at the same judgment- bar ; and who, amid such 
reflections, will not weep at his fate — whose eye can remain 
dry, and whose heart unmoved ? 

This is no picture of the imagination. It is a common 
and sober reality. It is what we see almost every day of 
our lives ; and we live in the midst of such scenes and such 
events. With the addition or subtraction of a few circum- 
stances, it is the case of every one of the common drunkards 
around us. They have not completed the drama — they are 
alive — but they are going to death with rapid strides, as 
their predecessors have already gone. Another company 
of immortal minds are coming on to till their places, as they 



4 EFFECTS OF ARDENT SPIRITS. 

have filled others. The number is kept good, and increas- 
ing. Shops, as nurseries, are established in every town and 
neighborhood, and drunkards are raised up by the score. 
They are made — they are formed — for no man was ever 
born a drunkard — and, I may say, no man was ever born 
with a taste for ardent spirits. They are not the food which 
nature has provided. The infant may cry for its mother's 
milk, and for nourishing food, but none was ever heard to 
cry for ardent spirits. The taste is created, and in some 
instances may be created so young, that, perhaps, many 
cannot remember the time when they were not fond of 
them. 

And here permit me to make a few remarks upon the 
formation, or creation of this taste. I will begin with the 
infant, and I may say that he is born into rum. At his 
birth, according to custom, a quantity of ardent spirits is 
provided ; they are thought to be as necessary as any thing 
else. They are considered as indispensable as if the child 
could not be born without them. The father treats his 
friends and his household, and the mother partakes with the 
rest. The infant is fed with them, as if he could not know 
the good things he is heir to without a taste of ardent spirits. 
They are kept on hand, and often given to him as medicine, 
especially where the parents are fond of them themselves. 
By this practice, even in the cradle, his disrelish for ardent 
spirits is done away. He grows up, and during the first 
months or years of his existence, his taste and his appetite 
are formed. As he runs about, and begins to take notice 
of passing events, he sees his father and friends drink ; 
he partakes, and grows fond of them. In most families, 
ardent spirits are introduced and used on every extraordi- 
nary occasion. Without mentioning many, that the know- 
ledge and experience of every man can supply, I will in- 
stance only the case of visitors. 



EFFECTS OF ARDENT SPIRITS. 5 

A gentleman's friends and acquaintance call on him. He 
is glad to see them, and fashion and custom make it neces- 
sary for him to invite them to the sideboard. This is all 
done in his best style, in his most easy and affable manner. 
The best set of drinking-vessels are brought forward, and 
make quite a display. The children of the famil}^ notice 
this ; they are delighted with the sight and the exhibition ; 
they are pleased with the manners, and gratified with the 
conversation of the visitors on the occasion. As soon as 
they go abroad, they associate the idea of drinking with all 
that is manly and genteel. They fall into the custom, and 
imitate the example that is set them. Circumstances and 
situations expose one to more temptations than the rest. 
Perhaps his resolution, or his moral principle, is not so 
strong; and in this way, one out of twenty-five of those 
who live to thirty years of age becomes intemperate. He 
becomes so, perhaps not from any uncommon predisposition 
to the vice, but is at first led on by fashion, and custom, 
and favorable circumstances, till at last he plunges headlong 
into the vortex of dissipation^ and ruin. Our natural dis- 
relish for ardent spirits is first done away — a relish for them 
is then created. They next become occasional, next habitual 
drinks. The habit gains strength, till, at last, the daily 
drinker is swept away by the first adverse gale. 

It is on this principle, and let the fact operate as a cau- 
tion to those who need it, that many men of fair unblemish- 
ed characters, who have made a temperate, but habitual use 
of ardent spirits in days of prosperity, have, on a change 
of fortune, become notorious drunkards ; while those who 
have refrained in prosperity, have encountered all the storms 
of adversity unhurt. We frequently hear a man's intem- 
perance attributed to a particular cause, as loss of friends, 
loss of property, disappointed love, or ambition ; when, if 
the truth were known, it would be seen that such men had 



6 EFFECTS OF ARDENT SPIRITS. 

previously been addicted to the use of ardent spirits, per- 
haps not immoderately, and fly to them on such events as 
their solace and support. Intemperance requires an ap- 
prenticeship, as much as law or physic ; and a man can no 
more become intemperate in a month, than he can become 
a lawyer or a phj^sician in a month. Many wonder that 
certain intemperate men, of fine talents, noble hearts, and 
manly feelings, do not reform ; but it is a greater wonder 
that any ever do. The evil genius of intemperance gradu- 
ally preys upon the strength of both body and mind, till 
the victim, when he is caught, finds, that although he was 
a giant once, he is now a child. Its influence is seductive 
and insinuating, and men are often irretrievably lost before 
they are aware of it. Let them beware how they take the 
first step. It is by degrees that men become intemperate. 
No man ever became so all at once — it is an impossibility 
in the nature of things. It requires time to harden the 
heart, to do away shame, to blunt the moral principle, to 
deaden the intellectual faculties, and temper the body. The 
intemperance of the day is the natural and legitimate con- 
sequence of the customs of society — of genteel and respect- 
able society. It is the common and ordinary use of ardent 
spirits, as practised in our towns and villages, that has 
already peopled them with drunkards, and which, unless 
checked, will fill them with drunkards. The degree of in- 
temperance that prevails, and the quantity of ardent spirits 
used, in our most respectable towns, is almost incredible. 
Perhaps some facts on this subject will be interesting. 

As it regards the degree of intemperance that prevails, 
it may be safely said, that one out of a hundred of the in- 
habitants of this part of the country is a common drunkard. 
By a common drunkard is meant one who is habitually in- 
temperate, who is often intoxicated, and who is restrained 
from intoxication neither by principle nor shame. Of such 



EFFECTS OF ARDENT SPIRITS. 7 

there are from ten to twenty, and upward, in every inhabited 
township. There is another dass who are intemperate, and 
many of them are occasional drunkards. This class is more 
numerous than the former, and one out of about forty of 
the inhabitants belongs to one or the other class. Is not 
this a horrid state of society ? But any one can satisfy 
himself of the truth of the statement, by making the ex- 
amination himself. 

The quantity of ardent spirits yearly consumed in our 
towns, varies from six to ten thousand gallons. It will an- 
SAver the argument I intend to draw from it, to state the 
annual quantity in this town to be six thousand gallons, al- 
thouofh short of the truth. This would be three (gallons to 
every inhabitant, or twenty-one gallons to every legal voter. 
The cost of this liquid, at the low price of fifty cents per 
gallon, will be three thousand dollars, which will pay all 
your town, count}^ and state taxes three years, and is as 
much as it costs you to support and maintain all your priv- 
ileges, civil, religious, and literary. In one hundred j^ears 
you would drink up all the town in ardent spirits ; or it would 
cost just such a town as this, with all your farms, stock, and 
personal property, to furnish the inhabitants with ardent 
spirits, at the present rate of drinking, only one hundred 
years. But should the town continue to drink as they now 
do for fifty years, and in the mean time suffer the cost of 
the spirits to accumulate by simple interest only, the whole 
town, at the end of the term, could not pay their rum bills. 
It can be no consolation that all other towns would be alike 
insolvent. 

But this is not all. Add to this sum the loss of time 
and the waste of property occasioned by it, independent 
of its cost, and it swells the amount to a monstrous size. 
Here you have an account of the cost of ardent spirits, cal- 
culated within bounds. At present there is a great com- 



3 EFFECTS OF ARDENT SPIRITS. 

plaint about the pressure of the times, and the complaint 
is doubtless well-founded. "Hard times" is in ev^ery body's 
mouth ; but if you had for the last year only abstained 
from the use of ardent spirits, you would now have been 
independent and easy in your circumstances. Three thou- 
sand dollars, Avhich you have paid for them, divided among 
you, would pay all the debts you are called upon to pay. 
I do not mean that no one wants more than his proportion 
of this sum, but there are some who want none of it, and 
who would circulate it, by loan or otherwise, among those 
who do want it, and it would relieve the whole town from 
the distress they are now in. 

If this town had an income that would pay all its taxes, 
you would consider it a matter of great jo}^ and congratu- 
lation. But if it had an income that would discharge all its 
taxes, and each man, instead of paying, should receive the 
amount he now pays, you would consider your situation 
highly prosperous and enviable. Discontinue the use of 
ardent spirits, and you have it. Use none, and your situ- 
ation, as a town, will be as good, yea, far better than if you 
had an income of three thousand dollars yearly, to be di- 
vided among its inhabitants. 

If we carry this calculation farther, we shall find, on 
the principle adopted, that there are in the state of New 
Hampshire 2,441 common drunkards, and 3,663 intemperate, 
or occasional drunkards — in the whole, 6,104; and that the 
state consumes 732,483 gallons of ardent spirits annually, 
which cost, at 50 cents a gallon, $366,241. In the United 
States, there would be 96,319 common, and 240,949 com- 
mon and occasional drunkards ; and the country would con- 
sume annually 28,913,887 gallons of ardent spirits, which 
cost, at 50 cents per gallon, $14,456,943 — as much as it 
costs to support the whole system of our national govern- 
ment, with all that is laid out in improvements, roads, 



EFFECTS OF ARDENT SPIRITS. 9 

canals, pensions, etc., etc., and is more than one-half of the 
"whole revenue of the Union for the last year. It must be 
remembered that this calculation embraces only the quantity 
and cost of the spirits, and is on the supposition that this 
town consumes only G,000 gallons, at 50 cents per gallon, 
and is a fair criterion for the state and nation. As it reo-ards 
this state, it would be safe nearly to double the quantity, 
and to treble the cost of the spirits ; and as it regards the 
nation, it would be safe to double all my calculations. In 
the United States, the quantity of ardent spirits yearly con- 
sumed, may be fairly estimated at 60,000,000 gallons, the 
cost at $30,000,000, and the number of drunkards, of both 
kinds, at 480,000. 

But we all know, and it is common to remark, that the 
cost of the article is comparatively nothing ; that it hardly 
makes an item in the calculation of pernicious consequences 
resulting from the consumption of ardent spirits. Were we 
to embrace the usual concomitants, and estimate the value 
of time lost, 'the amount of property wasted, of disease pro- 
duced, and of crime committed, where ardent spirits are the 
only cause, it would transcend our conceptions, and the 
imagination would be lost in the contemplation. The num-\ 
ber of drunkards in the United States would make an army I 
as large as that with which Bonaparte marched into Russia ; 
and would be sufficient to defend the United States from 
the combined force of all Europe. Convert our drunkards 
into good soldiers, and one-tenth of them would redeem 
Greece from the Turks. Convert them into apostles, and 
they would Christianize the world. And what are they 
now ? Strike them from existence, and who would feel the 
loss ? Yes, strike them from existence, and the United 
States would be benefited by the blow. 

But this is not half. I cannot tell you half the effects 

of ardent spirits. And yet ardent spirits are said to be 
vol.. vj. 41 



10 EFFECTS OF ARDENT SPIRITS. 

useful and necessary. It is false ! It is nothing but the 
apology that love of them renders for their use. There are 
only two cases in which. Dr. Rush says, they can be admin- 
istered without injury, and those are cases of persons like 
to perish, and where substitutes may be applied of equal 
effect. What rational man would use them, for the sake of 
these two possible cases ? As well might he introduce rat- 
tlesnakes among his children, because their oil is good in 
diseases with which they may possibly be afflicted. 

The number of persons in the United States who are 
mentally deranged, I do not know ; probably there are 
several thousands ; and it is ascertained, that one-third of 
those confined in the insane hospitals of Philadelphia and 
New York, are rendered insane by the use of ardent spirits. 
Yes, one-third of the poor, miserable maniacs of our land, 
are made such by the use of that which, in the opinion of 
some, is a very useful and necessary article, and Avhich they 
cannot do without. This article has deprived one-third of 
the crazy wretclies of our land of their reason — of that 
which makes them men — of the very image of their God. 

Out of the number of the intemperate in the United 
States, ten thousand die annually from the effects of ardent 
spirits. And what a death ! To live a drunkard is enough ; 
but to die so, and to be ushered into the presence of your 
angry Judge, only to hear the sentence, ''Depart, thou 
drunkard !" Ah ! language fails, and I leave it to your 
imagination to fill up the horrid picture. 

This death happens in various ways. Some are killed 
instantly ; some die a lingering, gradual death ; some com- 
mit suicide in fits of intoxication ; and some are actually 
burnt up. 

I read of an intemperate man, a few years since, whose 
breath caught fire by coming in contact Avith a lighted can- 
dle, and he was consumed. At the time, I disbelieved the 



EFFECTS OF ARDENT SPIRITS. H 

story, but my reading lias since furnished me with well au- 
thenticated cases of a combustion of the human body from 
the use of ardent sjoirits. Trotter mentions ten such cases, 
and relates them at length. They are attended with all the 
proof we require to believe any event. They are attested 
by living witnesses, examined by learned men, and published 
in the journals of the day without contradiction. It would 
be unnecessary to relate the whole, but I will state one of 
them, and from this an idea can be formed of the rest. It 
is the case *' of a woman eighty years of age, exceedingly 
meagre, who had drunk nothing but ardent spirits for sev- 
eral years. She was sitting in her elbow-chair, while her 
waiting-maid went out of the room for a few moments. On 
her return, seeing her mistress on fire, she immediately gave 
an alarm ; and some people coming to her assistance, one of 
them endeavored to extinguish the flames with his hands, 
hut they adhered to them as if they had been dipped in bran- 
dy or oil on fire. Water was brought and thrown on the 
body in abundance, yet the fire appeared more violent, and 
ivas not extinguished till the whole body had been consumed. 
The lady was in the same place in which she sat every day, 
there was no extraordinary fire, and she had not fallen."* 

This, with nine other cases, related by the same author, 
was a consumption of the body produced by the use of 
ardent spirits. The horror of a drunkard's death beggars 
description. Need I point to yonder grave, just closed 
over the remains of one who went from the cup of excess 
to almost instant death ? You all know it. 

But this is not all. One half the poor you support by 
taxes and individual charity, are made poor by the use of 
ardent spirits. This has been demonstrated by actual in- 
quiry and examination. In the city of New York, where 
there are more poor, and where more is done for them than 
' * Trotter on Drunkenness, pp. 78, 79. 



12 EFFECTS OF ARDENT SPIRITS. 

in any other city of the United States, a committee appoint- 
ed for the purpose, ascertained by facts, that more than one 
half of the city poor were reduced to poverty by intemper- 
ance. This is also the case throughout the Union. And 
here permit me to state a case, with which I am acquainted. 
I do it Avith a double object. I do it to shoAv that the use 
of ardent spirits produces poverty and distress, and the 
disuse of them restores to wealth and comfort. 

A gentleman in the city of New York, who carried on 
ship-building on an extensive scale, and employed a great 
number of hands daily, and paid them all in the same man- 
ner, and nearly to the same amount, was struck with the 
difference in their situations. A few, and only a few, were 
able, from their wages, to support their families ; but these 
were out of debt, and independent in their circumstances. 
They always had money on hand, and frequently suffered 
their wages to lie in the hands of their employer. The 
rest were poor and harassed, the former easy and comfort- 
able in their circumstances, and he resolved, if possible, to 
ascertain the cause of the difference. On inquiry and ex- 
amination, he found that those of them who were above- 
board used no ardent spirits, while the others were in the 
constant and daily use of them. He satisfied himself that 
this use of ardent spirits was the only cause of the differ- 
ence in their condition. He determined, if he could, to 
prevail upon them all to abstain altogether from their use. 
On a thorough and parental representation of the case to 
them, he succeeded, and they all agreed to make use of 
none for a year. At the end of the year they Avere all, to 
a man, out of debt, had supported their families in better 
condition, had done more work, destroyed fewer tools, and 
were hearty and robust, and enjoyed better health. 

This fact speaks volumes, and needs no comment. Adopt 
the same practice in this town, and the result will be the 



EFFECTS OF ARDENT SPIRITS. 13 

same. ''What, drink none?" Yes, I say, drink none — 
one gallon for this toAvn is just four quarts too much. In 
addition to the miseries of debt and poverty which they 
entail upon a community, they are the parent of one half 
the diseases that prevail, and one half the crimes that are 
committed. It is ardent spirits that fill our poor-houses 
and our jails ; it is ardent spirits that fill our penitentiaries, 
our mad-houses, and our state prisons ; and it is ardent 
spirits that furnish victims for the gallows. They are the 
greatest curse that God ever inflicted on the world, and 
may well be called the seven vials of his wrath. They are 
more destructive in their consequences than war, plague, 
pestilence, or famine ; yea, than all combined. They are 
slow in their march, but sure in their grasp. They seize 
not only the natural, but the moral man. They consign 
the body to the tomb, and the soul to hell. 

While on earth, the victim of intemperance is as stupid 
as an ass, as ferocious as a tiger, as savage as a bear, as 
poisonous as the asp, as filthy as the swine, as fetid as a 
goat, and as malignant as a fiend. No matter what may 
be the original materials of the man ; his figure may pos- 
sess every grace of the sculptor ; his mind may be imbued 
with every art and science ; he may be fit to command at 
the head of armies, to sway a Roman senate, to wield the 
destinies of nations; his heart may be the seat of every 
virtue ; but ardent spirits will strip him of the whole, and 
convert him into a demon. Need I tell how ? Need I 
point out the change that ebriety produces in the moral and 
social affections? Need I present the sword red with a 
brother's blood ? It was in a drunken revel that the infu- 
riate Alexander slew his best friend and most beloved 
companion Clytus. And it was in a drunken revel that he 
proclaimed himself a god, and died. 

" But have not ardent spirits one good quality, one re- 
voL. vr. 11* 



14 EFFECTS OF ARDENT SPIRITS. 

deeming virtue ?" None. I say, none. There is nothing, 
not even the shadow of a virtue, to rescue them from uni- 
versal and everlasting execration. 

''But they are good as a medicine." No, not as a 
medicine. There is no physician, that does not love them, 
that needs them in his practice. There is no disease that 
they cure or relieve, that cannot be cured or relieved with- 
out them. They add to no man's health ; they save no 
man's life.* 

It is impossible to name a single good thing that they 
do. Give them to the divine ; do they add to his piety, to 
his zeal, to his faithfulness, to his love of God or man ? 
JSTo ; they destroy them all. Give them to the physician ; 
do they increase his skill, his power to disciiminate amid 
the symptoms of disease, his judgment to apply the appro- 
priate remedies, his kind and affectionate solicitude ? Nay, 
verily, they destroy them all. Give them to the legal ad- 
vocate ; do they increase his knowledge, his perception to 
discover the points of his case, his readiness to apply the 
evidence, his ability to persuade a court and jury? No; 
they destroy them all. Give them to the mechanic ; do 
they assist his ingenuity, his judgment, or his taste ? No ; 

* The writer is aware that spirits or alcohol are necessary in 
some preparations of the chemist and apothecary. But it is the 
use of them as drinks which he is combating, and which, he is 
assured by respectable physicians, are not only unnecessary, but 
hurtful, in sickness and in health. Were they to exist only in 
the apothecary's shop in the state of alcohol, it would be all that 
the world needs of them. Some physicians, nevertheless, may 
think them useful in two or three cases or conditions of the body ; 
but it is apprehended, that if they should discontinue the use of 
them altogether, except in certain tinctures, etc., they would be 
as successful as they now are. They are often used Avhere they 
would not be, if they were not the most common thing that could 
be found. 



EFFECTS OF ARDENT SPIRITS. 15 

they destroy tliem all. Give them to the laborer; do they 
add to liis strength ? Do they enable him to bear fatigue, 
to endure heat and cold ? Can he do more work, or do it 
better ? No ; they are the ruin of the whole. They reduce 
his strength, weaken his frame, make him more susceptible 
to heat and cold, disorganize his whole system, and unfit 
him for labor. 

"But there are some men," say you, "who use ardent 
spirits, and who get along very well." Admitted. They 
endure it. So there are some men who get along very well 
with poor health and feeble constitutions. Are poor health 
and feeble constitutions, therefore, no evils ? Is the pros- 
perity of such to be attributed to them ? As much as is that 
of the former to the use of ardent spirits. Was ever a man 
made rich by the use of ardent spirits ? Never ; but mill- 
ions have been made beggars by it. 

Yet some say, they feel better by drinking ardent spirits. 
Let us examine this excuse. It is nothing but an excuse, 
and he who loves rum and is ashamed to own it, says he 
feels better to drink it. Let us inquire how. Are they 
conducive to health ? On this subject let the physician 
decide. One, as great as this country has produced, Dr. 
Rush, says that the habitual use of ardent spirits usually 
produces the following diseases : A loss of appetite, sickness 
at the stomach, obstruction of the liver, jaundice and dropsy, 
hoarseness and a husky cough, which often ends in con- 
sumption, diabetes, redness and eruptions of the skin, a 
fetid breath, frequent and disgusting belchings, epilepsy, 
gout, and madness. This is the train of diseases produced 
by the use of ardent spirits, and the usual, natural, and 
legitimate consequences of their use. And now, I ask, can 
that which, of its own nature, produces these diseases, 
make a man feel better ? Reason might answer ; and were 
she on her throne, uninfluenced and unbiassed by the love of 



1(3 EFFECTS OF ARDENT SPIRITS, 

ardent spirits, she would unequivocally answer, ISTo. And we 
find that those who say they feel better to drink ardent spirits, 
are those who are in health, but love rum, and it gratifies 
their appetite, and this is what they mean by feeling better. 
I will examine for a moment the effect, the immediate 
effect of ardent spirits upon the man. I will take a man in 
health, and give him a glass of ardent spirits. The effect 
is, to produce mental derangement and false notions and 
conceptions. But one glass will not have much effect. I 
will give him another, and, if he loves rum, he feels better ; 
another, and he feels better ; another, better yet. By this 
time he has got to feel pretty well ; quite happy. He has 
no fear or shame. He can curse, and swear, and break 
things, " He is fit for treason, stratagems, and spoils." 
He fears no consequences, and can accomplish impossibili- 
ties. If he is a cripple, he fancies he can dance like a satyr ; 
if he is slow and unwieldy, he can run like a hart ; if he is 
weak and feeble in strength, he can lift like Samson, and 
fight like Hercules ; if he is poor and penn3dess, he is rich 
as Croesus on his throne, and has money to lend. This is 
all a correct representation. It is what happens universally 
with the drunkard. I know one man who is intemperate, 
who is poor, and never known to have five dollars at a time, 
who, when he is intoxicated, has often, and does usually, 
offer to lend me a thousand dollars. Poor, miserable, and 
deluded man ! But he feels well ; he is one of those who 
feel better to drink. He is mentally deranged ; his imagi- 
nation is disordered. He fancies bliss, and felicity, and 
plenty, and abundance, which do not exist ; and he awakes 
to misery, and poverty, and shame, and contempt. Yet 
this is the exact feeling of all those who feel better to drink 
spirits. He who drinks but a glass, has not the same de- 
gree, but precisely the same kind of feeling with the one I 
have described. 



EFFECTS OF ARDENT SPIRITS. 17 

And this is all — this is all that rum does to make a man 
feel better. If his wife and children are starving, he feels 
it not. He feels better. If his affairs are going to ruin, or 
are already plunged into ruin, he is not sensible to his con- 
dition. If his house is on fire, he sings the maniac's song, 
and regards it not. He feels better. 

Let him who likes this better feeling enjoy it. Enjoy 
it, did I say ? JSTo. Reclaim him, if possible. Convince 
him that he labors under a delusion. Restore him to truth, 
and to reason ; banish the cup from his mouth, and change 
the brute into the man. 

And now, need any more be said to persuade mankind 
to abandon the use of ardent spirits ? the appalling facts, 
in relation to them, are known to all. Experience and ob- 
servation teach us that they are the source of ruin, and 
misery, and squalid wretchedness, in a thousand shapes. 
They are the three-headed monster ; they are the Gorgons 
with their thousand snakes ; their name is Legion. And 
shall I yet find advocates for their use ? Will this enlight- 
ened community yet say, they are useful and necessary ? 
All those wiio have used them, and discontinued the use of 
them, say they are totally unnecessary and useless. We 
see that those w^ho live without them enjoy more happiness 
and better health than those who use them — that they live 
longer lives. But oh, the folly, the stupidity, and the de- 
lusion of rum-drinkers ! 

But perhaps it may be said, that the effects and conse- 
quences that I have mentioned, result from the abuse, and 
not from the proper and moderate use of ardent spirits ; 
and that on many occasions, in small quantities, they are 
useful. Let us examine the circumstances and occasions 
when they are said to be necessary ; and perhaps I cannot 
do it better than in the words of another. 

" They are said to be necessary in very cold weather. 



13 EFFECTS OF ARDENT SPIRITS. 

This is far from being true ; for the temporary heat they 
produce is always succeeded by a greater disposition in the 
body to be affected by cold. Warm dresses, a plentiful 
meal just before exposure to the cold, and eating occasion- 
ally a cracker or any other food, is a much more durable 
method of preserving the heat of the body in cold weather." 
In confirmation of this, the case of the vessel wrecked off 
the harbor of Newburyport, a few years since, may be ad- 
duced. On an intensely cold night, when all the men of 
that vessel were in danger of freezing to death, the master 
advised them to drink no ardent spirits. He told them, if 
they did, they must surely freeze. Some took his advice, 
"while others, notwithstanding his most earnest entreaties, 
disregarded it. The result was, that of those who used the 
spirits, some lost their hands, some their feet, and some 
perished ; while the rest survived unhurt. 

" They are said to be necessary in very ivarm weather. 
Experience proves that they increase, instead of lessening 
the effects of heat upon the body, and thereby expose it to 
diseases of all kinds. Even in the warm climate of the 
West Indies, Dr. Bell asserts this to be true. Rum, says 
this author, whether used habitually, moderately, or in 
excessive quantities, always diminishes the strength of the 
body, and renders man more susceptible to disease, and unfit 
for any service in which vigor or activity is required. As 
well might we throw oil into a house, the roof of which was 
on fire, in order to prevent the flames from extending to its 
inside, as pour ardent spirits into the stomach, to lessen the 
effects of a hot sun upon the skin." And here permit me 
to add, that they are said to be necessary in cold Aveather 
to warm, and in warm weather to cool. The bare state- 
ment of the argument on these two points confounds itself. 

" Nor do ardent spirits lessen the efltects of hard labor 
upon the body. Look at the horse, with every muscle of 



EFFECTS OF ARDENT SPIRITS. 19 

his body swelled from morning till night, in a plough or a 
team. Does he make signs for a glass of spirits, to enable 
him to cleave the ground or climb a hill ? No ; he requires 
nothing but cold water and substantial food. There is no 
nourishment in ardent spirits. The strength they produce 
in labor is of a transient nature, and is always followed by 
a sense of weakness and fatio-ue.'"* 

Some people, nevertheless, pretend that ardent spirits 
add to their strength, and increase their muscular powers ; 
but this is all a delusion. They think they are strong when 
they are weak. Rum makes them boast, and that is all. 
The truth is, it weakens them in body, but strengthens 
them in imagination. Was not one reason why Samson was 
forbidden by the angel of God to drink either wine or strong 
drink, that he might thus increase and preserve his strength ? 
AVhen you hear a man telling how strong rum makes him, 
you may be sure he is weak, both in body and mind. 

There is one other occasion for using ardent sjDirits, 
which it will be proper to examine. They are said to be 
necessary to keep off the contagion of disease, and are 
recommended to attendants upon the sick. But the united 
testimony of all physicians proves, that the intemperate are 
first attacked by epidemic disorders. This is almost uni- 
versally the case in the southern states, and in the West 
Indies. Experience also proves that those attendants upon 
the sick, who refrain from the use of ardent spirits, escape, 
wliile those who use them are swept away. If facts could 
convince, the use of ardent spirits would be abolished. But 
the love of rum is strono-er on the human mind than the 
truth of Heaven. 

If, then, ardent spirits are not necessary in sickness ; if 
they do not prevent the effects of heat and cold ; if they 
do not add to our strength, and enable us to perform more 

* Dr. Rush. 



20 EFFECTS OF ARDENT SPIRITS. 

labor ; when are they necessary ? Why, people in health 
say, they want to drink them now and then — they do them 
good. What good ? If they are well, why do they need 
them ? For nothing but to gratify the taste, and to pro- 
duce a feelino* of intoxication and derano-ement, sligfht in its 
degree Avhen moderately used, as they are by such people, 
but the character of the feelino^ is no less certain. It is the 
same feeling that induces the drunkard to drink. One man 
takes a glass to do him good, to make him feel better ; an- 
other wants two ; another three ; another six ; and by this 
time he is intoxicated, and he never feels well till he is so. 
He has the same feelino- Avith the man who drinks a sino-le 
glass, but more of it ; and that man Avho, in health, drinks 
one glass to make him feel better, is just so much of a 
drunkard ; one-sixth, if it takes six glasses to intoxicate 
him. He has one-sixth of the materials of a drunkard in 
his constitution. 

But it is this moderate use of ardent spirits that produces 
all the excess. It is this which paves the way to downright 
and brutal intoxication. Abolish the ordinary and temper- 
ate use of ardent spirits, and there would not be a drmikard 
in the country. He who advises men not to drink to excess, 
may lop off the branches ; he who advises them to drink 
only on certain occasions, may fell the trunk; but he who 
tells them not to drink at all, strikes and digs deep for the 
root of the hideous vice of intemperance ; and this is the 
only course to pursue. It is this temperate use of ardent 
spirits that must be discontinued. They must be no longer 
necessary when friends call, when we go to the store to 
trade, to the tavern to transact business, when Ave travel 
the road on public days — in fact, they must cease to be 
fashionable and customary drinks. Do away the fashion 
and custom that attend their use, and change the tone of 
public feeling, so that it will be thought disgraceful to use 



EFFECTS OF ARDENT SPIRITS. 21 

tliem as they are now used by the most temperate and re- 
spectable men, and an end is for ever put to the prevalence 
of the beastly disease of intoxication. Let those who can- 
not be reclaimed from intemperance go to ruin, and the 
quicker the better, if you regard only the public good ; but 
save the rest of our population ; save yourselves ; save 
your children ! Raise not up an army of drunkards to sup- 
ply their places. Purify your houses. They contain the 
plague of death ; the poison that, in a few years, Avill ren- 
der some of your little ones what the miserable wretches 
that you see staggering the streets are now. And who, I 
ask, would not do it ? What father, who knew that one 
of his sons that he loves was, in a few years, to be what 
hundreds you can name are now, would hesitate, that 
he might save him, to banish intoxicating drinks from his 
premises for ever ? 

But if all will do it, he is saved ; and he who contrib- 
utes but a mite in this work of God, deserves the everlast- 
ing gratitude of the republic. If the names of a Brainerd, 
of a Swartz, of a Buchanan, have been rendered immortal 
by their efforts to convert the heathen to Christianity, the 
names of those men who shall succeed in convertino- Chris- 

O 

tians to temperance and sobriety, should be Avritten in letters 
of ever-during gold, and appended by angels in the temple 
of the living God. The sum of their benevolence would 
be exceeded only by His, who came down from heaven for 
man's redemption. Then banish it ; this is the only way to 
save your children. As long as you keep ardent spirits in 
your houses, as long as you drink it yourselves, as long as 
it is polite and genteel to sip the intoxicating bowl, so long 
society will remain just what it is now, and so long drunk- 
ards will spring from your loins, and so long drunkards 
will wear your names to future generations. And there 

is no other way given under heaven, whereby man can 
VOL. VI. 42 



22 EFFECTS OF ARDENT SPIRITS. 

be saved from the vice of intemperance, but that of total 
ahstinence. 

And, if ardent spirits are the parent of all the poverty, 
and disease, and crime, and madness, that I have named, 
and if they produce no good, what rational man will use 
them ? If he loves himself, he will not ; if he loves his 
children, he will not ; and as Hamilcar brought Hannibal to 
the altar, at eight years of age, and made him swear eternal 
hatred to the Romans, so every parent should bring his 
cbildren to the altar, and make them swear, if I may so 
speak, eternal hatred to ardent spirits. He should teach 
them by precept and example. He should instil into his 
children a hatred of ardent spirits, as much as he does of 
falsehood and of theft. He should no more suffer his chil- 
dren to drink a little, than he does to lie a little, and to steal 
a little. 

And what other security have you for your children, 
or for yourselves ? Yes, for yourselves, I knew a man 
who, a few years ago, was as temperate as any, of 3'ou ; 
was as respectable as any of you, as learned as any of you, 
and as useful in life as any of you ; I have heard him from 
the sacred desk again and again ; but by the same use of 
ardent spirits that most men justify and advocate, under 
the mistaken notion that they were beneficial to him, he has 
at last fallen the victim of intemperance. And this is not 
a solitary example. I had almost said, it is a common ex- 
ample. I could easily add to the number. 

And now, what security have you for yourselves ? You 
have none but in the course I have recommended. If it is 
necessary for the intemperate man to write on every vessel 
containing ardent spirits, " Taste not, touch not, handle 
not," and to brand them as full of the very wrath of God, 
it is also necessary for the temperate man to do so, to save 
himself from intemperance. 



EFFECTS OF ARDENT SPIRITS. 23 

But the difficulty on this subject is to convince men of 
their individual danger ; that intemperance stands at their 
own doors, and is knockino- for an entrance into tlieir own 
houses ; that they and their children are the victims that he 
seeks. 

But if the places of the present generation of drunkards 
are to be supplied, whence will the victims come but from 
your own children ? And who knows but that the infant 
the mother is now dandling upon her knee, and pressing to 
her bosom, however lovely he may appear, however re- 
spectable and elevated she is, will be selected to be one of 
that degraded, and squalid, and filthy class that, in her old 
age, will walk the streets as houseless, hopeless, and aban- 
doned drunkards ? You have no security, no assurance. 

But we are apt to think that the wretches whom we see 
and have described wTre always so ; that they were out of 
miserable and degraded families ; and that they are Avalking 
in the road in which they were born. But this is not so. 
Among the number may be found a large proportion who 
■were as lovely in their infancy, as promising in their youth, 
and as useful in early life, as your own children, and have 
become drunkards — I repeat it, and never let it be forgot- 
ten — have become drunkards by the temi:)erate, moderate, and 
habitual use of ardent spirits, just as you use them now. 
Were it not for this use of ardent spirits, we should not 
now hear of drunken senators and drunken mao-istrates ; of 
drunken lawyers and drunken doctors ; churches would not 
now be mournino' over drunken ministers and drunken 
members ; parents would not be weeping over drunken 
children, wives over drunken husbands, husbands over 
drunken wives, and angels over a drunken world. 

Then cease. No lono-er use that which is the source of 
infinite mischief, without one redeeming benefit ; Avhich has 
entailed upon you, upon your children, and upon society, 



24 EFFECTS OF ARDENT SPIRITS. 

woes unnumbered and unutterable. Banish it from your 
houses : it can be done. You have only to will, and it is 
effected. Use it not at home. Let it never be found to 
pollute your dwellings. Give it not to your friends or to 
your workmen. Touch it not yourselves, and suffer not 
your children to touch it ; and let it be a part of your 
morning- and evening prayer, that you and your children 
may be saved from intemperance, as much as from famine, 
from sickness, and from death. 



Reader, have you perused this pamphlet ; and are you 
still willing to drink, use, or sell this soul- destroying poison ? 
If so — if you are willing to risk 3'our own soul, disgrace 
your friends, and ruin your children by this fell destroyer, 
then go on ; but remember, that to the drunkard is allotted 
the " blackness of darkness and despair for ever." But if 
not — if you feel the magnitude of the evil ; if you are will- 
ing to do something to correct it, sit not down in hopeless 
silence, but arouse to action ; " resist the devil, and he will 
flee from you ;" not only banish it from your houses, but 
from your stores, your shops, your farms ; give it not to 
your workmen ; refuse to employ those who use it ; invite, 
entreat, conjure your friends and neighbors to refrain wholly 
from the use of it; never forgetting that the day of final 
account is at hand ; that what we do for Christ, and for the 
good of our fellow-men, must be done soon ; and that those 
Avho sacrifice interest for the sake of conscience, and who 
are instrumental in turning men from their errors, shall not 
lose their rcAvard. 



]Vo. 333, 



OUR LORD'S 

SERMOiT 01 THE MOUIT. 



And Jesus went about all Galilee, teachins: in their 
synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and 
healing all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease 
among the people. And his fame went throughout all 
Syria : and they brought unto him all sick people that 
were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those 
which were possessed with devils, and those which were 
lunatic, and those that had the palsy ; and he healed them. 
And there followed him great multitudes of people from 
Galilee, and/?'o;?i Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from 
Judea, and fro7n beyond Jordan. And seeing the multi- 
tudes, he went up into a mountain : and when he was set, 
his disciples came unto him. And he opened his mouth, 
and taught them, saying. 

Blessed ewe the poor in spirit : for theirs is the kingdom 

of heaven. Blessed a?'e they that mourn : for they shall 

be comforted. Blessed are the meek : for they shall inherit 

the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst 

after righteousness : for they shall be filled. Blessed are 

the merciful : for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the 

pure in heart : for they shall see God. Blessed are the 

peace-makers : for they shall be called the children of 

God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteous- 
voL. VI. 42* 



2 SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 

ness' sake : for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed 
are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and 
shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 
Rejoice, and be exceeding glad : for great is your reward 
in heaven : for so persecuted they the prophets which were 
before you. 

Ye are the salt of the earth : but if the salt have lost 
his savor, wherewith shall it be salted ? it is thenceforth 
good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden un- 
der foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city 
that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a 
candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick : 
and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let 
your light so shine before men, that they may see your 
good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. 

Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the 
prophets : I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For 
verily, I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot 
or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be 
fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these 
least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be 
called the least in the kino-dom of heaven : but Avhosoever 

o 

shall do, and teach them, the same shall be called great in 
the kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you, that except 
your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the 
scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the 
kino'dom of heaven. 

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, 
Thou shalt not kill ; and whosoever shall kill, shall be in 
danger of the judgment ; but I say unto you, that who- 
soever is angry with his brother without a cause, shall be 
in danger of the judgment : and whosoever shall say to his 
brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council ; but who- 
soever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell-fire. 



SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 3 

Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there 
rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee, 
leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way ; first 
be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy 
gift. Agree with thine adversary quickly, while thou art 
in the way with him ; lest at any time the adversary de- 
liver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the 
officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily, I say unto 
thee, thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou 
hast paid the uttermost farthing. 

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time. 
Thou shalt not commit adultery : but I say unto you, that 
whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath com- 
mitted adultery with her already in his heart. And if thy 
right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee : 
for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should 
perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into 
hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off", and 
cast it from thee : for it is profitable for thee that one of 
thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body 
should be cast into hell. It hath been said. Whosoever 
shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of di- 
vorcement : but I say unto you, that whosoever shall put 
away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth 
her to commit adultery : and whosoever shall marry her 
that is divorced, committeth adultery. 

Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of 
old time. Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt p-erform 
unto the Lord thine oaths : but I say unto you. Swear not 
at all : neither by heaven ; for it is God's throne : nor by 
the earth ; for it is his footstool : neither by Jerusalem ; 
for it is the city of the great king : neither shalt thou 
swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair 
•white or black. But let your communication be. Yea, yea ; 



4 SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 

Nay, nay : for whatsoever is more than these, cometh of 
evil. 

Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, 
and a tooth for a tooth. But I say unto you, that ye re- 
sist not evil : but Avhosoever shall smite thee on thy right 
cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will 
sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have 
tk?/ cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a 
mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, 
and from him that would borrow of thee, turn not thou 
away. 

Ye have heard that it hath been said. Thou shalt love 
thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy : but I say unto you, 
Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to 
them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully 
use you, and persecute you ; that ye may be the children 
of your Father which is in heaven : for he maketh his sun 
to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on 
the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them Avhich 
love you, what reward have ye ? do not even the publicans 
the same ? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do 
ye more than others ? do not even the publicans so ? Be 
ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in 
heaven is perfect. 

Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be 
seen of them : otherwise ye have no reward of your Father 
which is in heaven. Therefore, when thou doest thine 
alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites 
do, in the synagogues, and in the streets, that they may 
have glory of men. Verily, I say unto you, they have their 
reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand 
know what thy right hand doeth ; that thine alms may be 
in secret : and thy Father which seeth in secret, himself 
shall reward thee openly. 



SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 5 

And when tliou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypo- 
crites ca-e : for they love to pray standing in the synagogues, 
and in tlie corners of the streets, that they may be seen of 
men. Verily, I say unto you, they have their reward. But 
thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when 
thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in 
secret ; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward 
thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, 
as the heathen do : for they think that they shall be heard 
for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto 
them : for your Father knoweth what things ye have need 
of before ye ask him. After this manner, therefore, pray 
ye: 

Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy 
name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as 
it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And 
forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead 
us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine 
is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. 
Amen. 

For, if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly 
Father will also forgive you : but, if ye forgive not men 
their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your tres- 
passes. 

Moreover, when ye fast, be not as the hypocrites, of a 
sad countenance : for they disfigure their faces, that they 
may appear unto men to fast. Yerily, I say unto you, they 
have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint 
thy head, and wash thy face ; that thou appear not unto 
men to fast, but unto thy Father, which is in secret : and thy 
Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. 

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where 
moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through 
and steal : but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, 



6 SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 

where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves 
do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure 
is, there will your heart be also. The light of the body is 
the eye : if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body 
shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole 
body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that 
is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness ! 

No man can serve two masters : for either he will hate 
the one, and love the other ; or else he Avill hold to the one, 
and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. 
Therefore I say unto you. Take no thought for your life, 
Avhat ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your 
body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, 
and the body than raiment ? Behold the fowls of the air : 
for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into 
barns ; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye 
not much better than the}"? Which of you by taking 
thought can add one cubit unto his stature ? And why 
take ye thought for raiment ? Consider the lilies of the 
field how they grow ; they toil not, neither do they spin ; 
and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory 
was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so 
clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-mor- 
row is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, 
ye of little faith ? Therefore take no thought, saying, 
what shall we eat? or, what shall we drink? or, where- 
withal shall we be clothed ? (for after all these things do 
the Gentiles seek :) for your heavenly Father knoweth that 
ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the 
kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things 
shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for 
the morrow ; for the morrow shall take thought for the 
things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. 

Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judg- 



SERMON OX THE MOUNT. 7 

ment ye judge, ye shall be judged : and with what measure 
ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why be- 
holdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but con- 
siderest not the beam that is in thine own eye ? Or how 
wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out 
of thine eye ; and behold, a beam is in thine own eye ? 
Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own 
eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote 
out of thy brother's eye. 

Give not that w^hich is holy unto the dogs, neither cast 
ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under 
their feet, and turn again and rend you. 

Ask, and it shall be given you ; seek, and ye shall find ; 
knock, and it shall be opened unto you : for every one that 
asketh, receiveth ; and he that seeketh, findeth ; and to him 
that knocketh, it shall be opened. Or what man is there 
of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone ? 
Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent ? If ye then, 
being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, 
how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give" 
good things to them that ask him ? Therefore all things 
whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even 
so to them : for this is the law and the prophets. 

Enter ye in at the strait gate ; for wide is the gate, and 
broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many 
there be Avhich go in thereat : because strait is the gate, 
and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few 
there be that find it. 

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's 
clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall 
know them by their fruits : do men gather grapes of thorns, 
or figs of thistles ? Even so every good tree bringeth forth 
good fruit ; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A 
good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt 



Q SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 

tree bring forth good friiit. Every tree that bringeth not 
forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 
Wherefore, by their fruits ye shall know them. 

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall 
enter into the kingdom of heaven ; but he that doeth the 
will of my Father Avhich is in heaven. Many Avill say to 
me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy 
name ? and in thy name have cast out devils ? and in thy 
name done many wonderful works ? And then will I pro- 
fess unto them, I never knew you : depart from me, ye that 
work iniquity. 

Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, 
and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which 
built his house upon a rock : and the rain descended, and 
the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that 
house ; and it fell not : for it was founded upon a rock. 
And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and 
doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which 
built his house upon the sand : and the rain descended, and 
the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that 
house ; and it fell : and great was the fall of it. 

And it came to pass when Jesus had ended these say- 
ings, the people were astonished at his doctrine. For he 
taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. 
Matt. 4 : 23 to 7 : 29. 



PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY. 



