Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub

FOR THE CHURCHMAN'S MAGAZINE.

HEATHEN MORALITY.

[Continued from page 78.]

IN thy dress be neat, not splendid; for in neatness is magnificence; in splendour, luxury.

Affect not great wealth, but moderate enjoyment.

They are to be contemned who eagerly amass wealth beyond what they know how to enjoy; for it is with them as it would be with one, who should purchase a horse not knowing how to ride.

Do thy endeavour to make thy riches contribute to thy use and enjoyment; for to those who know how to enjoy them, they are of use; and to those who know how to use them, they are an enjoyment.

For two reasons value thy riches, that thou mayest be able to suffer a great loss, and to assist the friend whom thou lovest in his adversity. But for any other consideration in life, affect nothing beyond mediocrity. Be content with what thou hast; yet seek to improve thy circumstances.

Reproach no one for his calamities; for fortune is common to all; nor can they provide against futurity.

Do good to the virtuous; for a benefit conferred upon a good man is a treasure well laid up. If you deserve well of the wicked, it will happen to you as to him who feeds a stranger's dogs; for they will bark no less at him who feeds them than at others; and the wicked will as soon injure those who deserve well of them, as those who deserve ill.

Avoid no less a flatterer, than an impostor; for both will injure those who put confidence in them.

If you embrace those as friends who gratify you in your vices, you will never find any to encounter odium in your defence, even in the best cause.

Be civil and not supercilious to those who contribute to thy convenience; for even servants hardly endure the pride and arrogance of a master; while civility is grateful and pleasant to every one.

Among the properties of civility are, not to be contentious, nor apt to contradict on every occasion; not roughly to oppose the anger of familiars, although they may be unreasonably angry; but to give way to them when disturbed, and when their anger is cooled, chide them; not to interrupt sport with serious discourse, nor serious discourse with trifles, for whatever is ill-timed, is offensive; not to perform a good office in an ungracious manner, a fault of which many are guilty; who though ready to serve a friend, yet seem to do it grudgingly; not ready to accuse, for it is odious; not prone to reproach, for it engenders wrath.

Wisdom, first of all, requires that you avoid the house of revelry; but when circumstances draw you thither, rise before excess. For when the mind is perverted by wine, it happens to it as to chariots which have shaken off the driver: As these are hurried at random

without a guide, so the soul is driven upon many crimes, reason being subverted.

In that thou art immortal, exalt thy mind; in that thou art mortal, moderate thy desires.

MONTHLY OBITUARY.

DIED, of a consumption after a long illness, on the 7th inst. Miss ANNER NICHOLS, daughter of Mr. Ely Nichols, of Trumbull, in the 21st year of her age. This young lady in the course of her sickness, seemed to place her affections principally on things above; her greatest concern was, what she must do to be saved; what she must do in order that the merits of Christ might be sufficient for her. She gladly received the sacrament of the Lord's Supper sometime before her death; waited with patience for her Saviour's call, when her soul should quit this earthly tabernacle, in joyful hope of a better world, and a sweet remembrance at the resurrection of the just, through the merits of a Redeemer. In her the bereaved parents have lost a dutiful child; the surviving children, a kind sister; and the young circle of her acquaintance, an amiable christian friend.

In New-Haven, on the 17th ultimo, Mr. ISAAC WELTON, of Waterbury, aged 20. In the death of this young gentleman, the community at large, and his friends and connections in particular, have to lament à heavy loss.... Correct and engaging in his manners, diligent and persevering in his studies, benevolent and humane in his disposition, he had almost completed the usual term of residence at Yale-College, of which he was a member, and was beginning to think of entering soon into the active and useful scenes of life. He bid fair to have become an ornament to whatever profession he should have chosen, and a comfort and support to his surviving parent, who was lately called to lament the death of her husband and his father. In the midst of youth and health, after only four days sickness, he was summoned by the king of terrors from this transitory life; with resignation and coolness he saw his end approaching, and took leave of his sorrowing friends, expressing a lively hope of future glory, through the merits of a Redeemer.

Death the destroyer aim'd a fatal dart,

To realms unseen fled his immortal part.
But faith and hope would fain descry his way,
Triumphant wafted to eternal day:

In bliss supreme beyond the etherial skies,
Where songs and choral symphonies arise,

In ceaseless praise to him who reigns above,

The King of Kings and God of boundless love.

THE Editor is obliged to apologize again, for errors in the second number, on the same plea of distance from the press, and to request the reader to make the following corrections.

Page 41, line 4th from the bottom, between the words listless and languid insert and. P. 44, 1. 7th, from the bottom, for agreement read argument. P. 51, I. 2d, from the top, for Heb. xx, read Heb. x. P. 55, 1. 7th, from the top, for efforts, read effects; same page, 1. 16th, from the top, for proposed, read supposed. P. 74, 1. 14th, from the top, for reckless, read reckless; same page, 1.18th, from the top, for bosom, read bourn. P. 77, 1. 26th, from the bottom, for prolise, read prolix.

EVANGELION, on mature reflection, is judged inadmissible. The absurdity to which it has reference, it is believed, is local, and likely to disappear sooner without, than with opposition.

[blocks in formation]

FOR man's transgression the earth was cursed, and made to bring forth thorns, and briars, and noxious weeds; so that with. out continual labour and toil, it will yield no fruits for our comfortable subsistence; but man is doomed to eat his bread in the sweat of his face. The hardened soil must be turned, moulded, and softened, to drink in the dews and gentle showers of heaven, or it will produce nothing but its native barren trash. Just was the sentence, most righteous the decree, which compels us thus to till the ground from whence we are taken. Most wise were the councils of heaven to inflict this punishment, for it continually reminds us of an important truth, which should ever be kept in view; that our hearts are no less hardened and rendered barren of any thing good; that they equally, nay rather much more, need cultivation, or they will yield no fruit unto holiness. True it is, we are said to be God's husbandry; our hearts are the field in which he sows the seeds of divine grace: But at the same time we have something to do in cultivating this field: We must use our exertions in plucking up the thorns and briars, with which it is apt to be overrun, and in softening the barren sod. He who is the owner of the field hath assigned this for our task, while himself assists, and liberal scatters around the good seed.

Art thou, then, an husbandman? Is it thy daily business and occupation, at this passing season, to turn the soil, that it may receive the warming influences of the sun, and to throw into it the seed, in hopes of a plentiful crop, when the heat of summer shall have brought it to maturity? If so, from thy occupation learn a lesson of spiritual wisdom. Are thy pursuits of a different nature? Art thou confined to the workshop or counting-house; or to the higher walks of business or study? Be it so; yet still thou canst find time, in imagination at least, to walk abroad, and survey the innocent, the useful, and instructive labours of the field: Thou canst behold it, otherwise barren, streaked in furrows, receiving the falling showers, intermixed with bright sunshine, which soon shall cause the seed to shoot, and clothe in green the face of the earth. On this survey, look into thine own heart, and call to mind that he, whose husbandry we are, in like manner is sowing the seeds of his grace in our hearts; where, if they are duly cultivated, will grow up a crop of virtue and holiness. To this kind of instruction thou art invited by him who came into the

world to teach man divine knowledge. He ever delighted to clothe his precepts and doctrines, in a garb drawn from the scenery of nature around him, or from the simple occupations of life; particularly those of the husbandman were his favourite theme. And what could be more proper? For even in Paradise, when man was innocent, one species of husbandry was his employment; he was to dress and till the garden. And after he had been condemned to toil in the field, in order to overcome the barrenness of the earth, it was surely becoming the divine wisdom, to shew him how he might draw instruction from his punishment. Hear then the words of that divine teacher who spake nothing in vain. Behold a sower went forth to sow; and as he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side; and the fowls came and devoured them up: Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth; and forthwith they sprang up, because they had no deepness of earth; and when the sun was up, they were scorched ; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up and choked them: But others fell on good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundred fold, some sixty, and some thirty. How simple, and yet how animated and instructive this narrative! How worthy of him who spake as never man spake! Who taught as one having authority, and not as the scribes! Who needed not the pomp of diction, for his subjects were weighty, and proper to command attention from his hearers.

Listen then to the instruction, which God's word, united with the passing season, is presenting for your contemplation. Are you among those by the way-side, into whose hearts the seed cannot enter by reason of their hardness? Are your affections unsusceptible of good impressions, from a view of God's mercy and loving kindness? Is his word, when you hear it, snatched immediately away from your mind, and devoured by your evil propensities to sin and unholiness, those unclean birds which prey upon every thing good? Has your heart never been opened and mellowed, neither by misfortunes and sorrows, of which no doubt you have had your share; nor by the sunshine of prosperity, which God hath poured upon you from his bounty? If afflictions cannot break up the hardness of your heart; nor blessings descending from the hand of God, as the dew or rain of heaven, soften its obduracy; you will be unfruitful: In vain will you hear his word; in vain will you seek instruction from the operations of his hand. The influences of his grace will not enter there. The soil is uncultivated, unprepared, and it is idle to look for a crop. The husbandman does not expect his seed to grow in the common highway, where it must remain uncovered, if not carried away by the fowls of the air; or if it gets root, must be trodden down by every passenger. In things of this sort pertaining to the present life; men do not ordinarily want wisdom; yet they are apt absurdly to expect a quite contrary result in the husbandry of their hearts, and that they will bring forth fruit unto God, though never cultivated; though left open to the inroads of every sin, and exposed to every temptation that comes along; though trodden down and hardened by every evil lust incident to corrupt human nature. Rouse up, then, your slumbering attention, and learn wisdom from every cultivated field which

you behold. If your occupation be labouring upon the soil, let your mind as well as your body be employed in such manner, that a plentiful harvest may spring from your labours. If you are enjoying competence and ease, disdain not the wisdom so cheaply bought; the wisdom addressed to the heart from every furrow that the husbandman draws, and dropping into the understanding from every handful of grain he throws upon the earth.

But I will charitably hope you are not one of those by the wayside. What then? Are you not among those characterized by the stony ground, into which the seed cannot enter deep enough to produce any fruit? It becomes you seriously to consider, whether you are not a mere formal Christian, without the spirit and power of the gospel, dwelling in your heart, and bringing forth the fruits of holiness and peace: For many such there are who hear the word of God gladly, and for the time believe what they hear; but who have no deepness in themselves; no realizing sense of their own great demerits as fallen creatures; no proper faith in the all-atoning sacrifice of a Saviour; and no well grounded resolutions, that they will serve God with their whole heart. Such may now and then feebly resolve, that they will make a serious business of their religion; but such half formed intentions are blasted and withered, by the first temptation that assaults their hearts. The seed may spring and grow up for a little time; but soon the burning heat of anger, on some trifling provocation, will scorch its growth: The fervour of lust and desire after some trifling vanity of time, the gratification of some bodily sense, will drain away its nourishment, and leave it a withered, fruitless shoot. Are you then one of those who are thus heedlessly floating down the current of life, which will soon waft you into the boundless ocean of eternity, thinking it enough that you, in form, profess to know and believe the truth? Look and see yourself depicted in the disappointed labours of the husbandman. Cast your mind forward to the coming season of harvest; and behold yonder spot, in the midst of the luxuriant field: But half grown, black, and fruitless stand the withered straws. The stony soil beneath, with the sun's burning heat, has deprived them of moisture, and they have come to naught. Just such are you, in the field of the great husbandman; just so unfruitful will you be found, when the harvest of the great day shall come, except you receive instruction, remove the stony hardness from your heart, and cultivate it deep, that the love of God and man, and a sense of all divine things may take strong root, grow up, and influence the whole tenor of your life and actions.

Mark again the diligent husbandman; how he clears the ground before he puts in the seed; how he roots up the thorns and briars and every noxious plant; well knowing that otherwise he shall reap no harvest. You yourself perhaps are exercised in this very business, and yet neglect to learn any wisdom from your occupation. You do not consider that the cultivation of your heart needs the same care, or rather much greater, if you intend it shall produce any good fruit. You think not that it is a much ranker soil, than that which you till with your hands; much more apt to bring forth poisonous and destructive weeds. These you clear not away, but suffer them to grow

« VorigeDoorgaan »