PERPETUAL ADORATION. THE turf shall be my fragrant shrine, My choir shall be the moonlight waves, Even more than music, breathes of thee. I'll seek, by day, some glade unknown, Thy heaven, on which 'tis bliss to look, I'll read thy anger in the rack That clouds a while the day-beam's track, Of sunny brightness, breaking through. There's nothing bright, above, below, There's nothing dark, below, above, MOORE WEALTH. The generation of the upright shall be blessed; wealth and riches shall be in his house. Ps. cxii. 2, 3. He that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at the end shall be a fool. Jer. xvii. 11. WHEN justly obtained, and rationally used, riches are called a gift of God, an evidence of his favor, and a great reward. When gathered unjustly, and corruptly used, wealth is pronounced a canker, a rust, a fire, a curse. There is no contradiction, then, when the Bible persuades to industry and integrity by a promise of riches, and then dissuades from wealth, as a terrible thing, destroying soul and body. Blessings are vindictive to abusers, and kind to rightful users; they serve us, or rule us. Fire warms our dwelling, or consumes it. Steam serves man, and also destroys him. Iron, in the the ship, is indispensable. The dirk, the assassin's knife, the cruel sword, and the spear, are iron also. plough, the sickle, the house, The constitution of man, and of society, alike evinces the design of God. Both are made to be happier by the possession of riches; their full development and perfection are dependent, to a large extent, upon wealth. Without it, there can be neither books nor implements, neither commerce nor arts, neither towns nor cities. It is a folly to denounce that, a love of which God has placed in man by a constitutional faculty; that, with which he has associated high grades of happiness; that, which has motives touching every faculty of the mind. Wealth is AN ARTIST; by its patronage men are encouraged to paint, to carve, to design, to build, and adorn; ▲ MASTER-MECHANIC; and inspires man to invent, to discover, to apply, to forge, and to fashion; A HUSBANDMAN; and under its influence men rear the flock, till the earth, plant y 160-164. $ 162 —A the vineyard, the field, the orchard, and the garden MANUFACTURER; and teaches men to card, to spin, to weave, to color, and dress, all useful fabrics; – A MERCHANT; and sends forth ships, and fills warehouses with their returning cargoes gathered from every zone. It is the scholar's PATRON; sustains his leisure, rewards his labor, builds the college, and gathers the library. Is a man weak? - he can buy the strong. Is he ignorant ? the learned will serve his wealth. Is he rude of speech? he may procure the advocacy of the eloquent. The rich cannot buy honor, but honorable places they can; they cannot purchase nobility, but they may its titles. Money cannot buy freshness of heart, but it can every luxury which tempts to enjoyment. Laws are its body-guard, and no earthly power may safely defy it; either while running in the swift channels of commerce, or reposing in the reservoirs of ancient families. Here is a wonderful thing, that an inert metal, which neither thinks, nor feels, nor stirs, can set the whole world to thinking, planning, running, digging, fashioning, and drives on the sweaty mass with never-ending labors! Avarice seeks gold,—not to build or buy therewith; not to clothe or feed itself; not to make it an instrument of wisdom, of skill, of friendship, or religion. Avarice seeks it, to heap it up; to walk around the pile, and gloat upon it; to fondle and court, to kiss and hug, the darling stuff to the end of life, with the homage of idolatry. Pride seeks it; for it gives power, and place, and titles, and exalts its possessor above his fellows. To be a thread in the fabric of life, just like any other thread, hoisted up and down by the treadle, played across by the shuttle, and woven tightly into the piece, this may suit humility, but not pride. THE SAME, CONCLUDED. VANITY seeks gold;-what else can give it costly and showy equipage, and attract admiring eyes to its gaudy colors and costly jewels? Taste seeks it; because by it may be had whatever is beautiful, or refining, or instructive. What leisure has poverty for study, and how can it collect books, manuscripts, pictures, statues, coins, or curiosities? Love seeks it; -to build a home full of delights for father, wife, or child; and, wisest of all, Religion seeks it; to make it the messenger and servant of benevolence to want, to suffering, and to ignorance. What a sight does the busy world present, as of a great workshop, where hope and fear, love and pride, and lust, and pleasure, and avarice, separate; or, in partnership, drive on the universal race for wealth; delving in the mine, dig ging in the earth, sweltering at the forge, plying the shuttle, ploughing the waters; in houses, in shops, in stores, on the mountain side, or in the valley; by skill, by labor, by thought, by craft, by force, by traffic; all men, in all places, by all labors, fair and unfair, the world around, busy, busy; ever searching for wealth, that wealth may supply their pleasures! As every taste and inclination may receive its gratification through riches, the universal and often fierce pursuit of it arises, not from the single impulse of avarice, but from the impulse of the whole mind; and, on this very account, its pursuit should be more exactly regulated. Let me set up a warning over against the special dangers which lie along the ROAD TO RICHES. I warn you against thinking that riches necessarily confer happiness, and poverty unhappiness. Do not begin life supposing that you shall be heart-rich when you are purserich. A man's happiness depends primarily upon his dis position. If that be good, riches will bring pleasure; but only vexation, if that be evil. To lavish money upon shining trifles; to make an idol of one's self for fools to gaze at; to rear mansions beyond our wants; to garnish them for display, and not for use; to chatter through the heartless rounds of pleasure; to lounge, to gape, to simper, and giggle; can wealth make VANITY happy by such folly? If wealth descends upon AVARICE, does it confer happiness? It blights the heart, as autumnal fires ravage the prairies! The eye glows with greedy cunning, conscience shrivels, the light of love goes out, and the wretch moves amidst his coin no better, no happier, than a loathsome reptile in a mine of gold. A dreary fire of self-love burns in the bosom of the avaricious rich, as a hermit's flame in a ruined temple of the desert. The fire is kindled for no deity, and is odorous with no incense, but only warms the shivering anchorite. Wealth will do little for LUST, but to hasten its corruption. There is no more happiness in a foul heart than there is health in a pestilent morass. Satisfaction is not made out of such stuff as fighting carousals, obscene revelry, and midnight orgies. An alligator, gorging or swollen with surfeit and basking in the sun, has the same happiness which riches bring to the man who eats to gluttony, drinks to drunkenness, and sleeps to stupidity. But riches indeed bless that heart whose almoner is BENEVOLENCE. If the taste is refined; if the affections are pure; if conscience is honest; if charity listens to the needy, and generosity relieves them; if the public-spirited hand fosters all that embellishes and all that ennobles society, then is the rich man happy. -- On the other hand, do not suppose that poverty is a waste and howling wilderness. There is a poverty of vice mean, loathsome, covered with all the sores of depravity. There is a poverty of indolence where virtues sleep, and passions There is a poverty which despondency fret and bicker. |