DISCOURSE LXIV. THE GOOD STEWARD. ACTs, xx. 35. It is more blessed to give than to receive. THE words are cited by St. Paul, as those | Permit me, therefore, to prosecute so enof our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. They gaging and promising a speculation; since, occur not in any of the Gospels, but descend-if duty and pleasure can be brought to coined, as we may suppose, by tradition, from the cide, all difficulties are solved, and the persons to whom they were originally ad- controversy is for ever at an end. dressed. The truth contained in them was deemed too important to be forgotten, and the apostle was therefore commissioned by Providence to gather up this precious fragment of the bread of life, that it might not be lost. The virtue which we are now assembled to contemplate, in order to practice it, is often by our Lord and his disciples enjoined as our duty. In the passage now read over, it is recommended, as our interest; our present, no less than our future interest. Happiness is man's aim, from his birth to his death. But, amongst the men of the world, the question still remains to be answered, "Where shall it be found, or where is the place thereof?" The earth and the sea have been ransacked for it; but they say, it is not in them. The high-born sons of ambition, the low-minded children of avarice, and the giddy votaries of dissipation, return from the chase, jaded and disappointed. A phantom appeared to delude It hath been justly observed concerning them, as they will all tell us, in their more those passages in the Gospel, which dictate serious moments, which fled as they purabstinence and self-denial, that their import sued, and vanished when they approached is only this, "Do thyself no harm." With to embrace it. Let us point out to them a equal truth and propriety may it be affirmed more excellent way; let us bring them in of the precepts relative to the subject before sight of something real and substantial; us, that they all terminate in the following let us prevail upon them to seek happimost wholesome piece of advice, "Do thy-ness by doing good. They have in vain atself good:" do good to thyself, by doing good tempted to become blessed by receiving; if to others. Felicity is the daughter of bene- they would become indeed so, it must be ficence: and he who makes his neighbor by giving. Strange as this position may, at first sight, happy, is always, himself, the happier man of the two. There is a more heartfelt satis-appear, it is evidently intimated to us, by faction, a more solid comfort, a more lively the operation of that principle implanted in and lasting joy in bestowing, than there can our nature, which we commonly style inbe in accepting relief. "It is more blessed stinct. Consider the toil and the solicitude to give than to receive." A nobler maxim, undergone, the anxious days and the wakesurely, was never propounded, to influence ful nights passed by the tender parent, in Were the the care of her infant offspring. Yet even the conduct of the human race. experiment universally made, it would uni- here, although so painfully employed, will she versally succeed; the unequal distribution not tell you she experienceth a joy, for which of Heaven's favors would no longer be com- the whole world, if offered in exchange, plained of, the days of Eden would return would be instantly rejected with disdain ? Her charge, feeble and helpless as it is, can upon earth, and the next life begin in this. Only she procures make her no returns. ease and comfort for her child, and its happiness constitutes her own. It is impossible to place our subject in a more advantageous light; a light, in which, perhaps, it hath been less frequently viewed. Such are the objects relieved and supported by us. They are, in some sort, our work, our production, our adopted children, the creatures we have, as it were, formed, and to whom, under God, we have restored life; life, which must, otherwise, have been dragged on, or lost, in misery and sorrow. In tude, and you will see, that all the supposed sources of felicity fail at once. vest him with power: there are none on whom it can be exercised. Fill his treasury with gold and silver: they have lost all their value. Let him possess the highest reputation there is no one to regard it. Thus, again, with regard to every con- Bestow upon him the abilities of an angel: nection friendship induces us to form in so- they will prey upon themselves, for want ciety; we seek not the satisfaction alone of other materials. Adorn him with every of being esteemed or beloved, but that of accomplishment: every accomplishment will exciting in another the sentiments which be useless. Nay, of piety itself, practiced delight ourselves. The end of the affection only in solitude, it has been remarked by is, to render its object happy, and so to be an elegant writer, that, "like the flower happy in reflection. blooming in the desert, it may give its fraWhence that general wish in every civil-grance to the winds of heaven, and delight ized person, to make himself agreeable to those unbodied spirits that survey the those around him, and recommend himself works of God and the actions of men; but to their good opinion? It is a tacit acknow-it bestows no assistance upon earthly beledgment that we must please others, if we ings, and however free from the taints of would be pleased ourselves. impurity, yet wants the sacred splendor of beneficence." The gifts of God, unless diffused to others, become unprofitable to the owner. To be enjoyed, they must be communicated, and taken upon the rebound. To what end serves that passion in the human breast, which causes us to sympathize with sorrow, and moves our bowels within us to yearn over distress? It affords us, in our own feelings, a demonstration of the proposition contained in the text. It forces us to seek for blessedness in liberality. It inflicts misery upon us, till we have alleviated that of our brother. The inequality of mankind, ordained by Providence for this end, among others, offers to us continually the opportunities of thus becoming happy. We are unhappy, because we neglect to seize and improve them; since it is an uncontrovertible truth, that as no man was ever happy while employed in making others miserable; so none was ever miserable while employed in making others happy and he was a wise as well as a good prince, who declared the day to be lost that was not marked in the calendar of beneficence. To his character the imperial diadem could add no dignity. With the advantages possessed by different persons it should be as with the commodities produced by different countries; the abundance of one should supply the necessities of another. God formed the human heart to be the dispenser of blessings, which are sure to return to it again, in the course of circulation. He made man for society, and designed not that he should be happy alone. We may be convinced, by a little reflection, that the gifts of Heaven, poured in ever such profusion around him, cannot make him so. Self is an idol, that can contribute no more to its own well-being, than the idols worshipped of old. Take a man out of the world, place him in soli Let us now, therefore, conduct our candidate for happiness back into society, with his possessions and talents, and let us show him how he must employ them for the attainment of his end. They may be employed to the prejudice, they should be employed for the benefit of his fellow-creatures, or he will live and die in a state of disappointment and vexation. Power, by the little satisfaction it otherwise affords, will quickly convince him to whom it has been committed, that it was not given to gratify himself at the expense of those under his command, but to be exercised for their advantage. Heroes were thought, of old, to be the sons of the Deity. But he did not send them from above, to seize and divide kingdoms, to ravage provinces, to sack towns, and destroy the unfortunate. They came to relieve misery, to succor distress, and to be a blessing to their fellow-citizens and countrymen. Sometimes, indeed, they could not become such but by resisting and vanquishing their common enemies. But the glory of conquest is always stained with blood. It can only be acquired by carnage and death. Many may rejoice and triumph; but many must mourn and be undone. Glory, pure and spotless, is that which results from felicity procured and bestowed. This is to conquer hearts; and to conquer them is to reign indeed. Government cannot stand on a firmer basis, than the love of the subject. It is at the same time the security and the comfort of the prince; his shield, | but steward to the Sovereign Proprietor of and his reward.* all things? It cannot be his duty to forWherein consisteth the happiness attend- sake those of the household over which he ant on wealth? In the toil with which it is placed; and it should be his delight to is acquired? As reasonably might we take care of them. God grudges him not search after it in the mines or in the galleys. the necessaries, the conveniences, the comIn contemplating it when acquired? The forts of life for himself; but only directs world itself, for once, passes a right judg- him, wisely and graciously directs him, to ment, and despiseth the wretch who seeks promote his Lord's glory, and his own hapit there. In hazarding it at the gaming- piness, by extending his concern to all table? The pleasures afforded by the around him. He who, in such circumstances, rack are as eligible: the discipline of east-will not be persuaded so to do, should reern hermits was mild and indulgent, com- collect that the hour is coming, and must pared with the pains and penances, the anx- soon come, when it shall be said unto him, ieties and horrors, with which those vigils by a messenger, who will admit no excuse, are kept. In procuring the means of riot and brook no delay, "Give an account of and excess? But they prey upon the thy stewardship, for thou mayst be no longer strength, and depress the spirits. If the steward." rich man would enjoy a sound mind in a healthy body (and who can be called happy that doth not?) he must live like the poor man; he must attain and preserve them by temperance and exercise, that is, by labor and abstinence, abstinence from food of such quality, and in such quantity, as his appetite would provoke him to take down. What advantage, then, you will say, have the rich? And are they not, after all, happier than the poor? Undoubtedly they are; and for this reason-because "it is more blessed to give than to receive." We are told of a philosopher who threw his money into the sea, lest it should corrupt its master. The action has been much applauded, but it may be questioned whether it afforded any proof of his proficiency. Rightly used, others might have been the better, himself the happier, and not the less virtuous, for it. On a like principle, for many centuries, numbers of Christians, in order to be perfect, left all, and retired into the wilderness. Indeed, in those dreadful days, when under the heathen emperors, the furnace of persecution was heated seven times more than it was wont to be heated, we can blame none who endeavored to get out of the reach of such tremendous flames. What began by necessity, was afterwards continued by choice. To avoid a defeat, the soldiers of Jesus betook themselves to flight. But, surely, the Christian hero should engage and conquer. He who is furnished with the ability to do good, should continue in the world, where good is to be done. The man of opulence, what is he See the admirable essays of the late good king Stanislaus, printed at Paris, under the title of Le Philosophe Bienfaisant, from whence many of the sentiments in this discourse are taken. The talents of the mind, whether natural, acquired, or infused from above, stand on the same foot with power and riches. They are given, as an apostle informs us, "to profit withal;" to profit others; to lead men into the paths of wisdom and virtue, of religion and piety. Genius and learning, employed for a long course of years, in seducing the minds of men to infidelity, and exciting their passions to vice, afford but a melancholy retrospect to declining age. The bitterest reflection we can have to make in our last hours, is this, that mankind are the worse for us; next to it is the reflection, that they are not the better. Wouldst thou, then, be blessed in thy mental endowments? Take care that thy brethren be blessed by them. Thus hath God ordained it to be, in every instance. Nor can it be otherwise, if the blessedness of man consisteth in the resem blance of his Maker. He is himself the most beneficent of beings, and he is the happiest. He giveth all, and he can receive nothing, but the humble acknowledgments, the grateful praises of his creatures. He openeth his hand, and filleth all things living with plenteousness. The eyes of all wait upon him, the whole family in heaven and earth looketh up to him for a supply of every want, and he giveth them their food in due season. He clothes the pastures with flocks, the hills with woods, the gardens with flowers, and the valleys with corn. By him, through him, in him, we live, and move, and have our being. Power, riches, and wisdom, are his, and they are all exerted for the good of man. He is mighty, but he is mighty to save; his riches are the riches of mercy and grace, and his wisdom plans our welfare. He would have all men to be saved, and to come to a knowledge of the truth. He is pleased to repre sent his own happiness as depending on that of his people; he is described as rejoicing when it is well with them, as grieving when it is otherwise. Can the book which so describes him be other than divine ? If the glory of the Godhead be too dazzling an object for the eyes of frail mortality steadfastly to behold, view that glory veiled in human nature. Consider the author and finisher of our salvation, Christ Jesus. He gave himself for us. He came down from heaven to give life to the world, from which he received only persecution, sorrow, pain, and death. Yet the delight afforded him by his employment was an overbalance for his sufferings. It was his refreshment, and his support, through the course of his pilgrimage. My meat," saith he, "is to do my Father's will, and to finish his work." He "went about, doing good." His life was ever active, and ever useful. Living, he preached, wherever he came, the doctrine of salvation; dying, he bore his last testimony to its truth. For the suffering of death, crowned with honor, invested with all power, and seated at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens, like his bright representative in the firmament, he diffuses light and life unto the ends of the earth; he reigns and shines for the benefit of the world: and, in so doing, he is pronounced and proclaimed, by every creature, "blessed for evermore.' causes the sun to arise and the rain to descend on the fields of those that acknowledge him not. It is secure; it may be called one's own. A stranger intermeddleth not with it, to disturb it: the thief cannot break through, and steal it away. It is durable. Mere earthly felicity of every kind, even the most innocent, like other terrestrial productions, involves in it the seeds of its own dissolution. There is a leaven in the lump, that will sour and corrupt it; there is a worm in the gourd, already at work to corrode and consume it. But the happiness now recommended to you never wastes, nor diminishes; it increases in the enjoyment; it renders other pleasures needless, and supplies their place, growing every day more and more satisfactory and delightful; but most of all will it be found so in that day (not far from every one of us) when a solemn leave will be taken of the world, and its most celebrated pleasures; when all we have received must be parted with, and that alone will remain with us, which we have given away. Happy then the man, whose faith has been to him a tree of life, yielding this, its proper fruit; whose love of God had been evidenced by the love of his neighbor, who has lived not for himself, but for all that needed his assistance. He shall welcome with cheerfulness the hour which appals the mightiest sinner, and strikes terror into the breast of The considerations which have been the unprofitable servant. At that hour, offered may, it is humbly hoped, suffice with holy hope and humble confidence, he to evince the truth of the proposition in will lift up his eyes toward heaven, and say the text, and to demonstrate, that felicity-Redeemed by thy blood, and separated is the offspring of beneficence. The properties of this felicity will deserve your notice. It is immediate. The husbandman, in this case, waits not, as in others, a long season, for his harvest. In sowing he reaps. Nay, the very desire of doing good, the very first thought of that kind, which springs up in the soul, brings with it its own abundant reward; it produces a pleasure unknown to those who erect their happiness on the miseries of others, or who make the happiness of others a source of misery to themselves. It is exquisite and unalloyed. It is the only pleasure attended and followed by no satiety and disgust, no trouble, no bitterness, no remorse, no repentance. Our bounty, you will say perhaps, may be ineffectual, or its objects may prove ungrateful. Ingratitude may diminish its value to the receiver, but not to the giver: he has done his best, and his work is with his God, who 42 VOL. II. from the pollutions of the world by thy Spirit, in thy name, and through thy grace, I have made it the business of my life to show kindness to others, even as thou hast shown kindness to me. Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and think upon me for good. Lord, pardon my transgressions, and receive me to glory! What is the felicity, the empty, fleeting shadow of felicity, furnished by the possession of crowns and sceptres, palaces and kingdoms, compared to that of him, who, with these sentiments, is passing from time into eternity! Let me therefore congratulate you on the opportunity this day offered of attaining what the world can neither give you, nor take from you. These candidates for your kindness, by the very circumstance of their being such, have it in their power to contribute more to your happiness, than it is possible for you to contribute to theirs. In passing through the streets of this spacious and magnificent metropolis, the care! truth, and honesty. Happy they who are thus qualified and disposed to serve; happy the family which hath such to serve it; in these days more precious than gold; yea, than much fine gold. Having been well taught themselves, they will be able to teach others also, and their fellow-servants may receive everlasting benefit from them; nay, let it not be forgotten, that the general of the Syrian armies was, by a servantmaid, directed to a prophet, and induced to worship the Lord God of Israel. Our institution, in a word, seems to have been formed after the model of that heavenly love displayed, by the Father of mercies They are such, as have, on all accounts, and the God of all consolation, to lost manan indubitable claim to our compassionate kind. He found them as fatherless children, regard. Deprived of every parental aid, the outcasts of Paradise, in a state of utter both father and mother had forsaken them, destitution. He opened for them a house of when the Lord Almighty, the father of the refuge, and fed them with celestial food, he fatherless, by your means took them up and gave them the water of life to drink, he supported them. Destitue of any abode clothed them with the garments of salvaupon the earth, wide and extensive as it is, tion, he instructed them in the way of your bounty provided for them a comfort-righteousness, he trained them to obedience, able habitation; hungry and thirsty, you and took them into his own service, which fed them, and gave them drink; naked, you is perfect freedom, and leads to perfect bliss. clothed them exposed continually to the wiles of those emissaries of the Destroyer, ever watchful, and ever busy, who sleep not, unless they have betrayed unwary innocence to prostitution, profligacy, shame, disease, and death; you snatched them, proper element. Councils and senates with an angel's hand, from ruin, and con- may bestow applause, but scenes like this ducted them to a little Zoar, where their administer comfort. Those may complisouls might live. In danger of every evil, ment the head, but these do honor to the into which idleness and ignorance could heart. In the heraldry of heaven, goodness render them liable to fall, you employed precedes greatness; and the patronage so and instructed them; instructed them in early and with such effect vouchsafed to the principles of that religion which alone the ASYLUM, affords an illustrious instance can make them faithful; that religion, upon earth, where the latter glories only in which not only teaches, but infuses into becoming instrumental to the former, esteemits true disciples the virtues of humility, ing it MORE BLESSED TO GIVE, THAN TO REmodesty, meekness, patience, temperance, CEIVE. How pleasant a thing it is to behold an assembly united as one person in the furtherance of so godlike a work! Wearied with the din of politics, and the noise of folly, here the soul rests and expatiates, as in her |