DISCOURSE VII.

Delivered at the Consecration of the Meridian Sun Lodge in Brookfield, September 12, 1798.

MATTHEW v. 16.

"LET YOUR LIGHT SO SHINE BEFORE MEN THAT THEY

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SEE YOUR GOOD WORKS, AND GLORIFY YOUR FATHER WHO IS IN HEAVEN."

As the SUN, when he retires from the horizon, is succeeded by the planets and the stars, which irradiate the hemisphere he has quitted with a lustre, though more feeble, yet such as shews they partake of his brightness and supply his place: so when he, who is emphatically stiled the sun of rightEOUSNESS, was about to leave this earth, he' ordained that the faithful should rise in his stead to enlighten the world in the know

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ledge of his truth, and diffuse its salutary influence through every region and every age.

WHEN, at the first creation, God said, LET THERE BE LIGHT, AND THERE WAS LIGHT; it was to the end that the darkness might be dispersed, and his works became visible and his perfections manifest: and when, at the second creation our Lord Jesus Christ says, LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE BEFORE MEN; he intends that those whom he had just called "the light of the world" should endeavour to dissipate the moral darkness of mankind by instructing them in the doctrines of his gospel and by displaying the happy effects of his religion in the purity of their lives and the lustre of their virtues.

THERE is great propriety and beauty in the metaphor which he here used. Nothing is more apt to attract the eyes and enliven the countenance than light; especially that which shines in a dark place: So nothing can more excite the observation, engage the attention, or gladden the hearts of beholders, than a fair, bright, and excellent character, appearing in the midst of a dissolute, and corrupt generation. And, as all luminous bodies, in proportion to the degree of their

own brightness, diffuse, their light around them, and at a distance enlighten other bodies; so, in a moral and religious sense, a good example is a light shining in darkness, spreading its influence every way, diffusing instruction and knowledge, motives to reformation and encouragements to virtue. *

THERE is observable in human nature a peculiar proneness to imitation. Hence some of our earliest habits are formed. In infancy we catch the ideas and conform to the manners of our parents and acquaintance. As we progress forward in life, we learn to follow and to copy those whom we respect as superiors, venerate as instructors, or love as friends. We assimilate to our associates, imbibe their opinions, and imitate their conduct: We even take their mode of speech and tone of voice. Indeed, example has a kind of fascination or charm which it is almost impossible to resist. It carries with it both instruction and encouragement. Whilst advice or precepts make only a slight impression on the mind, and one which lasts for a very short time, example is a constant and

* Cicero observes that the reason why we are formed, pleased and able to admire the beauty and regularity in the heavenly bodies, was to admonish us to imitate their constancy and order in the nobler beauty of a worthy behaviour.

powerful call to imitation.* It works, though gradually and imperceptibly, yet more powerfully and successfully than we are aware of; like light, silent in its operation, but wonderful in its effects. It has an eloquence which reaches the heart. No language is more persuasive or instructive. It admonishes without exciting resentment, and corrects without giving offence, and thus possesses all the utility without the formality of reproof.

As a good picture strikes us more forcibly, and gives a more adequate, lively, and impressive idea of the object represented by it, than any description by words could do; so goodness or excellence of any kind represented by precepts does not so powerfully move the affections as when we see it delineated in the life. Nor is there any thing which can so effectually recommend any system, and render it worthy of all acceptation, exclusive of its own intrinsic worth, as its beneficial and happy effects made visible in the characters of its advocates. These carry with them undeniable evidence of the value of those principles from whence they flow, and whose tendency is thus conspicuously good.

*“ Validiora sunt exempla quam verba, et plenius opere docetur quam voce."