46 CAUTION AGAINST THE ENTICEMENTS OF YOUTH. FEBRUARY 7. My Son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.-Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness; but rather reprove them. YOUNG man; whatever be your situation in life, this admonition from the records of divine truth, is addressed to you. Hearken to it for your own sake; you cannot disregard or resist it without forfeiting your virtue and your peace. Sinners will entice you; the wicked seek to make others as guilty and wretched as themselves : but let them not triumph in your ruin. He has Perhaps you are elevated above the common rank in society; surrounded by the idle, thoughtless and gay-the votaries of pleasure; encircled by the means of luxury and sensual gratification, and solicited to join in their pursuit, by volatile or dissolute companions-yet pause awhile-and before you begin a course of dissipation, reflect on its probable, its inevitable consequences. Your Creator has placed you on earth to prepare for heaven. enjoined you to remember him in your youth; to love him with a perfect heart, and a willing mind. Can you obey this injunction, while engaged in pursuits which banish him from your thoughts, or cause you to think of him only with reluctance and terror? Can you prepare for heaven while engrossed by selfish desires and vicious amusements, which impair your intellectual vigour; waste your time, your property, your health, and render you useless to others, and burdensome to yourself? Resolve then, and pray to him who will graciously fortify your resolution, that "if sinners entice thee, thou wilt not consent."-Fly from temptation if you have not strength to resist it; and when a course of faithful practice has strengthened your virtuous habits, let your warning voice deter others from the dangers you have escaped, and your virtuous example encourage them to persevere in the paths of duty. Perhaps you are poor and neglected-yet you cannot be wholly so; since he who notes the falling sparrow, watches over you with parental love, and despises not the meanest of his creatures. Sinners also will entice you-temptations will assault you—but let them not subdue you. Beware of hasting to be rich, of striving to be great. If industry and strict integrity fail to procure wealthif losses and accidents keep you in a humble sphere, and only the common comforts of life reward your honest exertions, do not therefore despond or murmur-you may still acquire durable riches and righteousness. He who was rich, for our sakes became poor, that we might become rich in good works, and heirs of his heavenly kingdom. Labour then with cheerful industry for the comforts of this life-but labour still more earnestly, for the riches of God's grace, and the constant improvement of your own character. You tread upon enchanted ground, O teach thy servant how to wield, If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink.-Be not overcome of evil; but overcome evil with good. "THOU shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy," was a maxim amongst those who lived before the precepts and example of our Saviour had taught mankind a higher and holier system of morals, than had ever been clearly understood by the world. But this maxim should be wholly discarded by the christian, and in its stead he should substitute the injunction of our Lord-"I say unto you love your enemies, &c." It is an easy task to love those who love us; to be courteous to those who treat us with courtesy, but this will not satisfy the demands of that law which Christ has enjoined on his disciples. Do you then profess to be a Christian? Have you acknowledged Christ to be the Saviour of sinners-your Saviour? And do you desire and hope to obtain an interest in that affection which he has expressed and manifested towards unworthy and ungrateful sinners? Then let it be your care to acquire or cultivate the disposition here enjoined. If you have bitter envyings and strife in your heart; `if you are ready to resent every insult, to revenge every injury; if you even wish the unhappiness of those who have offended you, an essential attribute of christian character is wanting; you are deficient in the most important point of christian sentiment. Do not then deceive yourself or others, by enumerating the various other good qualities for which others may commend, or your own conscience may approve you. If you cannot forgive the greatest injury, you have not fully imbibed the spirit of the gospel. True you have human feelings, your indignation will naturally arise when you receive injurious treatment; but "be thou angry and sin not," return not evil for evil, or railing for railing. He who has injured you, is ignorant, or passionate, or malicious. If he is ignorant, you cannot expect from him that propriety of conduct which can only be acquired from instruction and discipline. If he is passionate, recrimination will but increase the fury which gentleness might allay, and you cannot expect him to regard your feelings who cannot controul his own. If he is malicious, surely he has sorrow enough, and torment enough within his own bosom, and you cannot wish to inflict on him an additional pang because you are one of the many whom he has offended. Indeed he whose heart has been softened and humbled by a consciousness of his own sins, and filled with gratitude, for the mercy displayed in the gospel, will not only freely forgive, but sincerely pity those whom ignorance, passion, or malice has incited to injure or offend him. It is impossible for such an one to cherish hostile feelings towards any human being and though great provocation may excite a temporary emotion of indignation or resentment, the agitation will soon subside, calm reflection will remove it entirely, and a generous compassion will arise in its stead towards those who are so wretched as to live under the dominion of selfish and malignant passion. To gentle offices of love, Let not your feet be slow; But view with mercy's melting eye A brother in your foe. 48 WHAT CONSTITUTES AN HONEST MAN. FEBRUARY 9. Till I die, I will not remove mine integrity from me. THE truly honest man does not violate the laws of his land, nor does he depart from any rule of right which the law does not recognize. He does not deceive or evade in his dealings, ascribing to his goods a quality they do not possess, or concealing faults he knows they have. He does not take advantage of the confidence which is had in his integrity; borrowing on false securities and in desperate circumstances. He does not shelter himself, in any violation of equity under the forms of law. He will follow what conscience demands, rather than what the statutes may permit. He will not keep his neighbour to the letter of a bargain when it clearly violates its original intention, nor alledge a defect in form as excuse for non performance. He will not put another needlessly to the hazards of law, nor occasion useless expenses or unfair delays. The honest man will avoid excessive rigour in trade the taking advantage of a buyer's or seller's ignorance.-Extravagance is a species of dishonesty which the Christian will avoid. He who spends on himself or family more than he can afford, squanders another's money. It is dishonesty when we take from a neighbour, a society, a community, or a nation, what is justly their due, whether it be money, time, influence or advantage. The honest man will be a man of principle. Right and wrong will not be loose and floating impressions, but fixed, well defined axioms; not warped by circumstance, but clear, universal, absolute. He will be consistent also; true to his principles. In order to this, his principles will be watchful against every counteracting propensity, and will chain down every discordant feeling, as with links of iron. He will be a man of religious integrity. He will be honest, because he loves honesty; and as much so in secret as before a world. He regards God's eye as always upon him, and a retribution as always before him. He will be a man of frankness. He has nothing to conceal. Since he acts as in God's sight, he fears not human scrutiny. He hates art, subterfuge and double dealing in every form, and shrinks instinctively from every thing like deception. He never talks to you in double sense, and his oath would add nothing to the sacredness of his word. He will be a man of moral courage. Obstacles will not impede or dangers terrify him; the path of rectitude he will tread, though there should be a lion in the way. He will maintain his integrity, and if it leads him to sacrifices, he will promptly make them; if it leads him to death, he will bravely meet it. Let us learn, then, to be faithful, unshaken, unseduced, unterrified. Let there be no break in the links of that golden chain by which all our virtues are bound together. Though pleasure may seduce with a syren's voice; honour present its glittering crown, and wealth pour at our feet its golden tides, let us nevertheless retain our integrity, and hear at last, Servant of God, well done !—well hast thou fought To stand approved in sight of God, though worlds PIETY AND VIRTUE OF JESUS CHRIST. FEBRUARY 10. 49 My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.-And he went away and prayed the third time. AMONG the qualities by which Jesus is so peculiarly distinguished, there is none which more attracts our observation and commands our applause than a vigorous and fervent spirit of piety; an entire resignation to the will of God; an implicit submission to his pleasure. Nor is there any principle which he inculcates more earnestly and more frequently upon his disciples than the necessity and propriety of having recourse to God in prayer, of absolute dependance upon him, of the most ardent love and filial awe toward him, of the most anxious and incessant endeavour to obey his will and to promote his glory. With respect to the superiority of moral worth, I would argue, upon the broad basis of historical truth, that there is no character upon record, particularly of those who have attempted or effected any great change in the opinions of mankind, which appears so virtuous as that of Jesus Christ. This has been repeatedly proved by the friends of christianity, and it has been allowed by its enemies, upon a comparison with the very best of the heathen philosophers, Socrates and if Socrates falls so short in an estimate of moral worth, even in the judgment of unbelievers, we should take it for granted. Our conviction in this case will be strengthened, if we consider that, notwithstanding the brevity of the evangelical histories, there never was exhibited a more minute delineation of character. He is placed before us in every possible variety of situation, in every emergency, on great as well as less important occasions; the very avenues of the heart are, as it were, laid open; the motives of action, as well as the course of conduct, are circumstantially related. If A close and frequent inspection of the human conduct serves like the power of an optical glass, to discover that which is latent, to enlarge that which is minute, to deform that which is beautiful. however we apply the observation, which is so generally true of human nature, to the narratives which contain the actions of Jesus, his character, even when subjected to this close inspection, shews a lustre equally unbroken and a beauty equally regular. Admitted to all the familiarity of social intercourse, partners of his retirement and witnesses of his most trying hours, the Apostles relate every incident without disguise; and from them we have a series of facts, clearly illustrating the habits, and completely developing the character, of their friend and master. Yet amidst all this variety of situation and accuracy of detail, the only impressions left upon the mind of an unprejudiced reader are those of affection and of veneration for the transcendent virtues of Jesus Christ. In teaching and in practising every form of virtue he lived; and in the cause of truth and benevolence he died. How bright a pattern and how pure, And guide our wandering steps to heaven. 50 SOLEMNITY OF A DEATH-BED SCENE. FEBRUARY 11. Prepare to meet thy God. LET all remember that the closing scene of death must, sooner or later, be realized. Your friends shall stand round your dying bed, in the heart-sinking stillness of anxious suspense, gazing through tears of affectionate anguish, on your changing countenance, and watching for that breath that shall part you from them for ever. 0 that, whether that breath shall be drawn by you with the softness that leaves attending relations uncertain whether it has passed your lips, or shall be heaved aloud with the strong convulsive gaspings of violent dissolution, you may possess, in your departure, the blessed hope of the gospel ;-that when you lie shrouded for the grave, and when you are laid in the mansions of silence, it may be said over you, with truth, by surviving friends, 'sorrowful, yet rejoicing,' "Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord; that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them." What lesson does a death-bed teach of the vanity and unsatisfactoriness of even the best, and highest, and most truly honourable of earthly distinctions -of every thing when depended on for happiness, that is not allied to eternity, and commensurate with its duration. In that solemn hour, the measure of value comes to be simply the capacity there is in whatever objects come before the thoughts, to impart peace and hope to the mind, in the prospects that are immediately before it, and are absorbing all its regards. The measure ceases to be taken from the world we are leaving it is taken from that on which we are entering. Every thing is then felt to be worthless, that does not tell, and tell satisfactorily, of good hope for eternity-that does not show to the trembling heart a forgiving God, and a safe and divinely authorized way to heaven. When the soul is lingering on the verge of an everlasting world, and wholly occupied about the views which are before it, it is not earthly science in the largest measure of it, that ever was embraced by any human mind, that can impart satisfaction and confidence. The mightiest mind, the mind of highest literary polish, and most scientific acquirements, may then, amidst all its multiplied resources, be at a loss for an answer to its anxious inquiries respecting acceptance with God-at a loss for a solid ground on which to fasten the hopes of the parting spirit. O leave not such questions on a subject so infinitely momentous, to be investigated and determined on a death-bed. You may then have neither time nor ability granted you for such a purpose. There is no folly, and there is no impiety, greater than that which is involved in such delay. It is leaving the concerns of a never ending existence to the mercies of an uncertain moment; and it is offering to Him who has an immediate claim, and a claim every successive moment of your whole lives, on all you are, and on all you have; and offering from a mere feeling of selfish fear, the dregs of your existence, the worthless remnant of your days. "Now is the accepted time." Seek'st thou, my soul, heaven's high abode ? This day prepare to meet thy God. Teach me to quit this transitory scene |