of promulgation and intrinsic excellence, the first and the holiest regards of men. We exhort you ever to show that you glory in it. Exhibit no wavering, take no dubious positions, let no false notions of modesty keep you from a frank avowal of your claim as nobler and better than others. Humility is, indeed, a cardinal grace of Christianity. "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory," is the language of genuine piety. But then, grace is better than nature, and, as having "put off the old man corrupt according to the deceitful lusts and put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness," you may not, you should not shrink from acknowledging and supporting your claim, as seeking the holiest and happiest life possible with man. Frequently, however, we witness conduct widely different from this ;-conduct that goes to depreciate the power and excellence of the Christian faith to present it before men as a matter to occupy only the fragment of time and means. For one thing, this is the case when men are honored not according to Christian character. We cannot help respecting talent, liberal thinking, large intelligence, irreproachable morals, amiable deportment ; but these things are not religion: though reaching up among the finer feelings and nobler qualities of our nature, they lie far down from the serene and holy heights of Christian faith, and hope, and practice, and we must not allow them to loom up like the deceitful mirage, and shut out those heights as objects of constant vision. Great statesmen, scholars, artists, merchants, and the like, are much smaller in God's esteem than the real Christian, though born in a hovel, reared without cultivation, and living in obscurest poverty. For another thing, christians fail to magnify their calling in not carrying out the principles of the Gospel, in the social, political and business relations of life. Many seem to be very good christians on the Sabbath, and in the immediate duties of their profession, while, in the relations just named, they act as if there were no such thing as religion. Diligence in business, with fervor of spirit, is something quite impossible in their esteem. They must be in sympathy with the occasion and the circle about them ;- do after the manner of those with whom they happen to be associated. But remember, brethren, that you not only do not thus exalt and honor your profession, but rob it of its glory and worth, degrade it to a second-rate affair, make it the business and enjoyment of only the leisure hours of life. For another thing, the conduct in question is seen in the manner in which expenditures for religious purposes are conducted. The interests of the church are often suffered to languish, the ministry to drag out a feeble and embarrassed life, the meeting-house to go to decay, while railroads and banks and measures of worldly improvement and profit, are liberally, if not lavishly supported. Christian men will invest hundreds of dollars in non-paying railroad stock for the sake of increased facilities of communication, value of real estate, and to see the iron horse course through their lands, or pass their doors, who are too poor to aid in restoring the paint on the old weather-beaten church, and in putting the services of religion in an attractive and commanding position. Does such conduct magnify the Christian profession? Does it hold forth the Gospel of Christ as of unearthly splendor and worth? Once more; the Christian calling is depreciated and greatly shorn of influence by the regard paid to public and occasional religious gatherings, -church conferences, prayer-meetings, anniversaries, and the like. The Jews could go up to Jerusalem several times every year and spend a whole week in religious services; but the church as a body cannot now take a single day for a similar purpose. It is often difficult to obtain a delegation of two brethren, from a church of a hundred or more members, to a yearly Conference of two days. How seldom does the great body of Christians within the County assemble in a solemn, devout, earnest religious meeting! And yet a moment's reflection will show that scarcely any human acting is better suited to impress the minds of men and exalt religion before them, than such gatherings. O, could we see the men and women of our churches going up in one earnest, believing body to our holy convocations on their annual return, how it would animate and encourage our hearts! Now, we earnestly exhort you, brethren, to remember the high calling of your profession, and to present it before your fellow men in all its true grandeur and excellence. Aim to be just those noble, manly, benevolent, rejoicing men and women, which the Divine character of Christianity contemplates. As all things are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's, let nothing, neither life nor death, neither things present nor things to come, separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, For one What we You are engaged to this by such considerations as these. thing, your own religious growth and enjoyment demand it. are ashamed of before men, we cannot long or largely enjoy by ourselves. He who shrinks from an open, decided avowal of his faith before others, will be likely to make but a feeble and indifferent surrender of himself to Christ. What is dear to us we naturally love to exhibit to others. We cannot see how a person, who is ready to put his religion aside when the profit and pleasure of the world come in conflict therewith, can find very satisfactory enjoyment in the profession of it, or advance very rapidly in its attainments. For another thing, your usefulness is largely concerned in the conduct we are urging. What you are ashamed of before men, you cannot do much to extend over the world. It is only when we think most highly of religion; when its many and great excellencies pour into our minds their excitements without abatement, that we are ready to do most for its spread. It was this that lead the first, and many, if not all, of our later missionaries, to leave the endearments of kindred and home and go forth to wear themselves out on heathen shores. And it is only when practically held up before men as "the chief concern of mortals here below," that it arrests their attention and wins them to its embrace. The honor of God, also, requires Christians to magnify their calling. We honor our fellow men when we place a due estimate on the gifts they bestow and exhibit them in their true character. And how can we properly honor God while we lightly esteem the Rock of Ages so mutilate the person of Christ, so disfigure his excellencies that his true character cannot be seen? Once more; proper encouragement of us, your ministers, requires that you magnify your calling. It is through and in connection with you that we are to advance the cause of Christ among men. How disheartening, then, when by making this holy religion a trifling, a secondary affair, you pour contempt on the very object we are endeavoring to present as "the chief concern of mortals here below" ! True, duty is ours and results God's. But then, constituted as we are, while we walk by faith, it helps us much when we can gather full sheaves from the grain of our own sowing, when we see rising up on either hand, living testimony to the glory and divinity of the system we advocate. Thus, brethren, you are urged by considerations of the most weighty character to magnify your calling. And we press them upon your attention. Keep the dignity of your profession ever present in your thoughts. To be a follower of Jesus, a child of God, an heir of glory; to have Christ living within us, to be temples of the Holy Ghost - how glorious, how divine! May you not magnify such a calling; may you not joyfully receive the spoiling of your goods" in the pursuit of such a profession! May you not, with an air of triumph, hold it forth as the greatest and best of gifts! Remember that your whole conduct comes under the severe inspection of your fellow men, and that they are often deeply influenced by things which seem quite indifferent and trivial to you. Let it ever appear, therefore, that you set a high, a divine value on the Christian calling. Make it a great and glorious matter in all your religious conduct; take pains for express purpose of holding it up as worthy of greater sacrifices, severer toil, heavier expenditures of time and money than any other matter of pleasure or profit. So shall you honor and "glorify God in your bodies and spirits which are his." E. IRVIN CARPENTER, For the Com. TREASURER'S REPORT. General Association of New Hampshire, DR. In account with A. P. TENNEY, Treasurer. To paid Rev. David Kimball's bill for printing 600 copies of the Minutes for 1852-32 pages, Do. for postage and freight on the same, $36,00 4,16 $40,16 CP. By cash received of the following Associations- 2,00 Hopkinton, 7,00 Piscataqua, 6,00 6,50 Caledonia, 1,00 15,66 I hereby eertify that I have examined the foregoing account of the Treas. of the N. H. Gen. Asso. and find it correctly cast and well vouched. N. BOUTON, Auditor. WIDOWS' CHARITABLE FUND. 1853, June 2. At the Annual Meeting of the Trustees of the Widows' Charitable Fund, present, Rev. Mr. Bouton, Francis N. Fisk, and Samuel Morril. Voted, to adjourn to meet at the call of the President. SAMUEL MORRIL, Sec'y. The Executive Com. made the following appropriations, June 2, 1853To Mrs. Ruth B. Thompson $25; Mrs. Moses Dow $25; Mrs. Nancy Pillsbury $25; Mrs. Betsey Hull, $25; Mrs. Joanna S Cogswell $25; Mrs. Abby Lawton $25-$150. S. MORRIL, Sec. 1853, Aug. 6. The Executive Committee of the Widows' Charitable Fund voted to receive Mrs. Stearns, widow of Rev. J. M. Stearns, as a beneficiary of the Fund, on recommendation of Rev. D. Burt of Raymond. S. MORRIL, Sec. |