THE MONITOR.

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THE MONITOR.

VOL. II.

FEBRUARY, 1824.

NO. 2.

[For the Monitor.]

ON THE EXERCISE OF THE SOCIAL AFFECTIONS.

In a world like ours, the social affections have ample scope for exercise. There are many and infinitely diversified scenes that shed upon the features an illumination which bespeaks a heart, that can taste the happiness of another; and there are scenes too, of an opposite character, which must often fill the eye with the tear of sympathy, and carry home to the stricken bosom, with a force superior to that of demonstration, the pungency of another's woe. The man who does not feel for his fellow pilgrims in this vale of transient joys and reiterated ills, is justly deemed an outlaw from nature, and an exile from heaven; such a man is already branded with the curse of Cain. To rejoice with them that do rejoice is not less an impulse of nature, than a precept of revelation. Who, that has not violated and irreparably sundered every ligament which bound him. to his kindred race, and in whose bosom the last pulse of human sensibility has not already ceased to beat, but has felt the tide of his own happiness augmented by the happiness of others? The heart which has any just claims to the emotions of benevolence, will rejoice in the inconsiderable felicities of beasts, and birds, and insects; but where man is the object, those joys attain a proportionate degree of elevation and refinement. What eye that wanders over fields robed in verdure, and waving to the breeze the promises of the coming harvest, and that inspects the "cattle upon a thousand hills," but

glistens with new and peculiar lustre from the contemplation of that anticipated bounty which shall enrich and beatify the human race? Who rejoices not in the national peace, when widows and orphans are no more prematurely multiplied by war, the bloodiest scourge of heaven, when the bow of victory is broken, and the spear of death is cut asunder, and the chariot of conquest is burned in the fire? Who can preside at the paternal board, or sit in the little circle of domestic quietude, without feeling a social rapture, which gives him a deep and permanent interest in the felicities of all around him? Even the placid smile that plays upon the lips of the babe, which is caressed in the arms of maternal tenderness, possesses a facinating charm which wins its way to the heart, and augments the little pittance of earthly, bliss. Does the man of contemplative benevolence walk abroad, "While every gale is peace, and every grove is melody?" his social affections are awakened and his social purposes strengthened. In his solitary or attended ramble, when the firmament glows with living sapphires," and when the infinitude of stars which gem the heavens mutually irradiate each other, and in social and commingled splendour shine upon the earth, he is instinctively urged to a new degree of proximity to his fellow beings, and his bosom swells with the participated joys of a world.

To 66 weep with them that weep," too, is equally the attribute of man, and the injunction of heaven; and the world, in its present degraded and disjointed state, makes a large demand upon the more acute and pungent sensibility of the heart. Could the warm tide of commisseration wash away the guilt and sufferings of the earth, we might well adopt the pathetic exclamation of the prophet: "Oh! that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears!" Who deplores not the prospects of dearth and famine, not merely because he himself may feel their pressure, but because the visitation will fall with sevenfold severity upon the poor, the widow, the orphan, and the houseless stranger? What heart, that is high strung with human feelings, has not sometimes experienced the

alternation of grief and dread, when nations have been involved in long and furious contests; when the trumpet of promiscuous carnage has been blown; when the crimson flag has floated in the breeze; when the demon of vengeance, ever hungry for human flesh, has been unchained and commissioned to imprint his bloody footsteps upon the land which was once traversed only by the angel of peace, and when the sighing zephyr whispers the death groans of murdered victims? Who can visit, but in imagination, the ensanguined field of battle, and take a solitary range amidst the breathless bodies of the slain, or hover over the broad streams of blood, which plough the soil as they pursue their dark and deep and melancholy course, without feeling the mingled emotions of pity, tenderness, and regret, which language is too feeble to express! The more retired scenes of private affliction, likewise have a power to reach the heart; the abode of poverty, the couch of pain, the languid eye and palid cheek of disease, and the bed of death, demand the tribute of a tear.

A. T****.

ESSAY,.....NO. II.

PRAYER WITH PENITENCE:-THE PUBLICAN.

AND the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. JESUS CHRIST.

IN a former Essay on prayer, we attempted to define it, and adduce reasons why men every where ought to pray. We were then led to insist, that in prayer men must lift up holy hands in order to acceptance. We briefly remarked, that sincerity, repentance for sin, faith in Christ, and love to God, are indispensably necessary to acceptance in prayer. We have now selected the publican, as an instance of a penitent pouring out his soul to God in prayer.

This example is taken from a parable which Christ

spake to certain who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. The whole parable is highly instructive. "Two men went up into the temple to pray ;—the one a pharisee and the other a publican." Men, from very different motives, may enter the sanctuary professedly for prayer. Some repair there to honour God with their lips, while their hearts are far from him; others go to offer the sacrifices of penitence and praise. "The pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself; God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all I possess." The pharisee was very bold and fluent in prayer. From his own lips we are made acquainted, that he was free from gross immoralities and precise in supporting and observing externals in religion. These things he ought to have done. But these alone were not sufficient to render him accepted of God. His heart was inflated with pride and rotten to the very core with self-righteousness. His feelings toward the publican, proved him to belong to that generation, who are pure in their own eyes, and yet are not washed from their filthiness; which say, stand by thyself, come not near to me, for I am holier than thou. These, saith Jehovah, are a smoke in my nose. The sacrifices of such, are an abomination to the Lord. Leaving the pharisee to have his reward, the poor publican presents himself before us. Publicans were tax-gatherers under the Roman government. Their office rendered them peculiarly obnoxious to the national pride of the Jews; they were likewise commonly extortioners, exacting more of the people than was required of them, thus unjustly enriching themselves.

Whatever had been the external conduct of this publican, he belonged to the fallen race of Adam. He had within him a depraved, deceitful, and desperately wicked heart, and he now felt it to be such. "The publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift his eyes to heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

Let us consider the MANNER, the MATTER, and the acCEPTANCE of the publican's prayer.