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of obedience, the reward is not of debt, but of grace. And let it be remembered, that should we give all our goods to feed the poor, without being prompted to it by supreme love to God, the act would not gain his approbation. And when our charitable giving does proceed from holy motives, it is no work of supererogation; since we give to the Lord nothing but what we have first received from him. Such offer. ings do nothing to diminish the grace displayed in our justification. He who substitutes his alms-deeds for the Savior's righteousness, will find them to be a poor substitute. If the man who has spent his life in laying up treasure for himself, thinks to purchase a seat in paradise, by a liberal offering to the Lord's treasury at his death, he will experience sad disappointment when he shall awake in the world of spirits.

REMARKS.

1. This Article furnishes no inconsiderable test of Christian char. acter. Not that every one who gives money to feed the poor, or to build a sanctuary, or to maintain the preaching of the gospel, is a Christian. Some who are no Christians, nor so much as believers in the religion of Christ, have nevertheless a natural generosity; and this they not unfrequently display in relieving the indigent, and sometimes even in sending the news of a Savior's death to the heathen world. And others who have no inherent liberality, may, on extraordinary occasions, be excited to generous acts. But something more than a mere constitutional generosity, or a few splendid benefactions, is necessary to establish the character of Christian liberality. Such a character is established by an habitual consecration of property to the Lord's treasury -by giving freely, without needing to be pressed-by giving liberally, to the extent of one's power-by doing it with a single eye, not letting his left hand know what his right hand doeth-and with humility, acknowledging that what is devoted to the Lord, was first received from him. Such things as these indicate the principle of Christian benev. olence to be seated in the heart. As every display of a covetous spirit injures the Christian character, so every thing which evinces a heart to devise liberal things for the relief of the necessitous and the furtherance of the gospel, adds to its lustre. When the disciple of Christ labors as willingly to earn money for his Master's use, as for his own -as willingly curtails his expenses in order to do more for the evangelizing of the world, as for the purpose of buying a field or building a house; he exhibits some practical evidence, that he feels himself to be nothing more than the Lord's steward.

2. Before we leave this Article, suffer me to urge upon my readers a compliance with the duty it inculcates. Let us not look upon it as we would upon a stranger, who had obtruded himself upon us. Scarcely a single family would feel either able or willing to meet the additional expense of providing for one such stranger; and yet there are few families that can not provide, and that cheerfully, for all those children which Providence throws upon their care. If we view the Lord's treasury in the light of a stranger, that has been quartered upon us without our consent, to support it, will seem an intolerable burden.

But let us once give it the place of a dear child, and we can do, and continue to do for it: we can even multiply our appropriations for its sacred use, and bless the Lord that we have such a way of doing good with our property.

The duty before us is one of great magnitude; and yet it is one that we are in more danger of entirely neglecting or postponing, than almost any other. Our offerings for the Lord's treasury are needed, and they are needed now. The world is to be converted; and but little time remains (unless the scripture prophecies have been altogether misunderstood) for the accomplishment of this great work. Laborers have already entered the field; and these need to be encouraged both by our prayers and alms. But their number needs to be greatly aug. mented. There is no time to lose. If the Lord's treasury ever had a claim upon us, it certainly has never been more urgent than at the present crisis. Let us be up and doing; for while we are lingering, millions are dying without the knowledge of the only Savior of lost men. Let none of us pray to be excused: let us rather esteem it an unspeakable privilege, that we may become instrumental in extending the Redeemer's kingdom to the ends of the world. If we can not cast in our pounds, let us cast in our pence. But let us remember those words of the apostle; "He which soweth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully, shall reap also bountifully."

DUTIES WHICH WE OWE TO MEN.

Our benev.

MEN are not the only creatures whom we are to love. olent affections should rise high enough to embrace all the angels of light, and descend low enough to include every thing that has life and a susceptibility of enjoyment: but our external duties, pertaining to the second table of the law, are chiefly confined to our own race. The angels we are bound to love, and in their blessedness to rejoice; but while we are on the earth, there is no particular way in which we can reciprocate their kind offices. While we are bound to feel benevolently towards the entire brute creation, that portion of it that is subjected to our more immediate control and service, claims from us benevolent actions as well as feelings. It is a part of our duty to furnish them their necessary food, to use them tenderly, and to give them no unnecessary pain. Still it is true that almost all our external duties, which do not come under the class of godliness, are duties which we owe, not to angels or to brutes, but to men.

The class of duties now to be considered, includes those we owe to ourselves. When the Savior summed up the ten commandments in two, which comprehended all our duties to God and men, he divided the second of these into two parts, to distinguish between the duties which we owe to others, and those which we owe to ourselves. He

said, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Here are two ob. jects of love, thy neighbor and thyself: and both call for the performance of such duties as are the proper expressions of the love required. God as much forbids us to do ourselves harm, as to do it to our neighbors; and lays us under as real an obligation to seek our own good, as to seek the good of others. When Paul declares that the grace of God teaches us to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world; the duties of the first table are all comprised in living godly, and those of the second are divided into two classes, comprehended in living soberly and righteously; the first relating to a proper government of ourselves, and the last to a consistent behavior towards our fellow men. The apostle James makes the same division of second table duties, when he says, "Pure religion, and undefiled before God and the Father, is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." By this we are taught, that pure religion leads to the performance of the duties we owe to our fellow men, and also of the duties we owe to ourselves.

The duties which we owe to others, are either those of relative life, or they are more general, extending to mankind at large. The angels, being spirits unclothed with flesh, were all created at once, having no mutual relation between them other than that of fellow creatures. In this respect, our circumstances widely differ from theirs. We, as creatures, have all one Father, even God: but as men, we have differ. ent fathers, and sustain a variety of relations; and these relations bring with them their appropriate duties. The relations which subsist in a family are the most intimate, and the duties resulting from them are of unspeakable importance. But the duties we owe to our fellow men are not confined to our own family, our own neigh. borhood, or even our own country: they extend to the whole human race. "As we have therefore opportunity," said the apostle, "let us do good unto all men.”

That part of holy practice which belongs to the second table of the law, naturally divides itself into three principal branches, namely, general duties; or such as are due to mankind at large; relative duties; or such as grow out of the various relations that we sustain in life, especially those of the domestic circle; and personal duties; or such as every individual owes to himself. It is my purpose to treat of the duties pertaining to each of these three divisions; and that in the same order in which they have now been placed.

FIRST DIVISION.

GENERAL DUTIES.

THERE are special duties which we owe to our own households, and others which we owe to the household of faith. And besides these, there are duties which we owe to our fellow men at large, irrespective of any particular relation they bear to us, or even to Christ. These it seems proper to denominate general duties. In works of mercy, the

Savior taught us to view every man as our neighbor, even when of a different nation, and of a different religion. See Luke x. 29-37. He required us not only to love our enemies, but to do them good. These are his words: "But I say unto you, Love your enemies-do good to them that hate you." In accordance with the requisition of the Master, one of his servants, who was moved by the Holy Ghost, said, "See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men.”

All the duties which we owe to mankind, are comprised in doing them good according to our ability and opportunity; and in refraining from doing them any injury. Our fellow men may receive either benefit or injury from us, in relation to, I. Their persons; II. Their property; III. Their reputation; IV. Their souls.

I. Duty requires that we regard our neighbor's person.

We have animal, as well as intellectual natures; and consid. ered as animals merely, we can receive either benefit or injury from each other's hands. The command, Thou shalt not kill, forbids us to destroy the animal life of our neighbor; and indeed it forbids us to offer him the least violence. To be no striker, is repeatedly mentioned as an essential requisite in a minister of the word of God. But why must a minister of the word be no striker? Because the thing itself is totally wrong. They who strike, and bruise, and mutilate, and murder their fellow men, are the devil's servants: "but the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle to all men."

Parents, and others to whom God has committed authority, and who are his appointed instruments to execute wrath on evil doers, may inflict corporeal punishment; but in our individual capacity we have no such prerogative. The command of Christ is decisive, and is binding on all men, both within and without the pale of his church: “But I say unto you, that ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." Matt. v. 39. In the spirit of this command, Paul says to the saints at Rome, "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." Rom. xii. 19.

Although it is a plain dictate, not only of revealed but natural religion, that we should not destroy the lives of our fellow creatures, and that we should do violence to no man, it is nevertheless a melancholy fact, that a large portion of the human race go down to the dust by the hand of violence. Who can count the number that have been cut off by murders, assassinations, and wars? And whence come these wars and fightings among us? They come from our lusts-our selfishness, pride, covetousness, envy, anger, and revenge. As these lusts in the heart are all forbidden, so is their fruit. Let the religion of the Bible be fully adopted by all men as the rule of action, and there will not be another war declared, another battle fought, nor another man butchered by his fellow man. There is no one circumstance which gives such an aggravation to the sin of destroying men's lives, (considered merely in reference to them,) as this; that the destruction of their life is the termination of their only probationary state.

There are probably few things which will be more universally

acknowledged to be obligatory, than obedience to the sixth command. ment. But this, as well as all the other commands of God, is exceed. ingly broad. It not only forbids taking away life, or doing aught that tends thereunto, but it requires all lawful endeavors to preserve life. There are many ways in which murder is committed. In some of them, the murderer seems as if he were unconscious of guilt. This is apparently the case with those who deal out death to their neighbor, in the shape of intoxicating drinks. Multitudes of lives are sacrificed on the altar of intemperance; and he who encourages the thing, is accessory to these murders. Nor is it enough that we can say, We did not give our neighbor drink; we did not put our bottle to him to make him drunken. Have we made an effort to take it away from him? Are we heartily seconding those redeeming measures, which God has so mercifully stirred up his friends to adopt, and that at a crisis when they were so greatly needed? The benevolence exhibited in the char. acter of the good Samaritan, did not consist in his refraining from of. fering violence to the person of his fellow man. If this had been all, he would have differed in no respect from the priest and the Levite. His benevolence prompted him to pour oil and wine into wounds, which had been inflicted by other hands. Luke x. 30—37.

The custom that prevails, of inquiring after each other's health when we meet, seems to be a recognition of our obligation to regard the life and health of our fellow men. And were the law of love writ. ten deep in our hearts, this inquiry would be sincere; and we should be prepared to rejoice or be grieved, according to the favorable or unfavorable answer it should receive.

II. We owe duties to our fellow men in relation to their property. God is the owner of all things. His supreme title to the earth-yea, and to the entire universe, he will never transfer to another: and yet it is said, "The earth hath he given to the children of men." While he has given the whole earth to the whole human race, he has, in his provi. dence, ordained that there should be such a thing as individual property. It is his will that, by pre-occupancy or purchase, a certain piece of land should become yours, in distinction from its being your neighbor's; and that either by invention, fabrication, or some equivalent given, other commodities should be yours and not his.

The right of nations to their own territories, and of individuals to their own estates, is recognized by the law of the Supreme Ruler. To make our practice agree with the declarations of his will, we must respect every man's right to that which is his own. Very much of the consistency of our character, depends on a careful attention to this branch of Christian ethics. Two of the ten commandments are designed to bring into view our obligation to regard our neighbor's prop erty. The right which one man, in distinction from another, has to a certain portion of property, is recognized both in the prohibition to steal, and to covet. The same moral law which forbids us to rob another of his life, forbids us to rob him of his money. And if a sub jection to the will of God will prevent the one, it will prevent the other. Let us also remember, that the law of God as much forbids us to take away our neighbor's property by fraud, as by theft. Said our Savior," Defraud not:" and by his apostle, he gave this caution to

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