*i 
 
 
 
 <r/~/. lj>/r A.L3..Q 
 
 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
 
 
 
 
ST. PETER'S CHAIN 
 
 OF 
 
 Christian Wxxtntz. 
 
 REV. C. D. OLIVER, 
 
 OF THE ALABAMA CONFERENCE OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 
 80UTH. 
 
 EDITED BY THOMAS 0. SUMMERS, D.D. 
 
 n 
 
 Nasfjbt'IU, fSinn.: 
 PUBLISHED BY E. STEVENSON & F. A. OWEN, AGENTS, 
 
 FOR Tns METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, BOOTH. 
 
 1857. 
 
13 V^ fc3 
 
 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by 
 
 STEVENSON & OWEN, Agents, 
 
 In the Office of the Clerk of the District Court for the Middle District of 
 
 Tennessee. 
 
 STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY A. A. STITT, 
 SOUTHERN METHODIST PUBLISHING HOUSE, NASHVILLE, TENN. 
 
Situation. 
 
 THE REV. M'CARTT OLIVER AND SUSANNAH OUTER. 
 
 To you I dedicate this book, in testimony of my filial 
 affection ; for to you, above all others, I feel under God 
 indebted for the religious bias of my mind, and for what 
 usefulness may have attended my life. 
 
 God has graciously extended your probation to over 
 threescore years and ten, through far the greater part 
 of which you have been a blessing to your children and 
 to the world, having by your example in the sight of 
 both exemplified the excellency and power of the Chris- 
 tian religion. That example, with the accompanying 
 pious instruction, has been to me more precious than 
 .-liver or gold, for it has restrained my feet from going 
 into many a forbidden path, and stimulated my mind 
 to the pursuit of noble ends. I shall feel myself very 
 grateful to God should this book contribute in some 
 way to comfort you in your declining years, by encou- 
 raging your faith in Him, and by enabling you more 
 steadily to contemplate that better and brighter world 
 to which you are travelling. May it please our Hea- 
 venly Father through riches of grace in Christ to bring 
 you and your children safely there, is the prayer of 
 your obedient and affectionate son, * 
 
 C. D. OLIVER. 
 
 April 2d, 1856. 
 
 (iii) 
 
& a \x \ t n 1 5 . 
 
 PAQB 
 DEDICATION iti 
 
 duction vii 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 FAITH. 
 
 Christ crucified, the object of justifying faith — The change which 
 it works in one's life — The old atheist — Faith opens to the soul 
 enjoyments corresponding to its limitless desires — Faith's pos- 
 sessions — Practical effects of faith, as exhibited in the lives of 
 some of the ancient -worthies — What the gospel requires — The 
 faith of the Rev. John Wesley — Address to the reader — Poetry. 9 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 VIRTUE. 
 
 The meaning of the "word — The difficulty of entering upon a 
 Christian life — Our Saviour's encouragement to his disciples — 
 Examples of this courage in Elijah, Nathan, the Hebrew chil- 
 dren, John the Baptist, Peter, John, Paul, and Luther — The 
 young lady — True heroes 37 
 
 CfflAPTER III. 
 
 KNOWLEDGE. 
 
 The papal doctrine, " Ignorance is the mother of devotion" — What 
 this knowledgo is which we are to seek — Obtained by studying 
 the character of Christ, and the Holy Scriptures— Christ says, 
 •'Thy word it truth" — Nature of that truth — Remarks of Lord 
 Brougham on the plexsurea of science — Chalmers, Brewster, and 
 
 n 5$ 
 
 1* (V) 
 
VI CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 TEMPERANCE. 
 The subject considered in various lights — The remark of Lord By- 
 ron. "Habit is destiny" — Contrast of good and bad men 70 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 PATIENCE. 
 The great importance of patience to Christ's disciples in stem- 
 ming the opposition they have to meet — Causes of impatience — 
 Several encouragements to patience considered — The poor Chris- 
 tian with lockjaw 100 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 GODLINESS. 
 What it is not — Baptismal regeneration — What godliness is — Evi- 
 dences of increasing godliness — Evils of the theatre, novels, 
 ball-room — The profitableness of godliness — Living nearer to 
 God, etc 123 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 BROTHERLY KINDNESS. 
 The scriptural view of this subject — Brotherly love overflows 
 party boundaries — The primitive Christians — Paul's illustration 
 of Christian unity — A living Church 148 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 CHARITY. 
 
 The extent of this charity — Comment upon a part of 1 Corinthians 
 
 xiii. — Quesnel quoted — Sir Isaac Newton — The widow of Muckle 
 
 Harbor — What charity has done, and may accomplish — Bright 
 
 visions of the Church 172 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 The conditions of an abundant entrance into the kingdom of our 
 
 Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ — The character of this kingdom 
 
 dwelt upon at large — Concluding address to the reader — The 
 
 pilgrim 194 
 
Itttrohutiflit. 
 
 The author of the following treatise is an esti- 
 mable minister in the Alabama Conference of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church, South. He write3 
 in a plain, easy, unambitious style — the edifica- 
 tion of the reader being his great design. 
 
 The scriptural nucleus of his essay is well 
 chosen. St. Peter's chain of Christian virtues 
 has always been greatly admired; and much use 
 has been made of it in the teachings of the pulpit 
 and the religious press. The elements of Chris- 
 tian character are brought to view in a striking 
 light, as so many qualities in a compound, every 
 one being needed to give character and efficiency 
 to all the rest. Thus there can^be no faith — 
 saving in its influence — unless virtue, or courage, 
 be united with it; and neither faith nor courage 
 
 (Yii) 
 
V1U INTRODUCTION. 
 
 can be genuine or available, unless blended with 
 knowledge ; and so of all the rest. The language 
 of the apostle does not imply that these virtues 
 are brought into being at successive stages in the 
 Christian life. They are all implanted in the 
 heart in the moment of regeneration, and none 
 has precedence of the other, except faith, which 
 is the instrument as well as the effect of that 
 great change. But their existence as elementary 
 principles is one thing : their practical develop- 
 ment is another; and it is to this we are exhorted 
 by the apostle. 
 
 The manner in which this is to be done, and 
 the importance of doing it, constitute the material 
 of this edifying treatise. 
 
 ®t)£ ®bitor. 
 
 Nashville, Tenn., August 22, 1856. 
 
St. fdtr's ft || si it 
 
 CHRISTIAN VIRTUES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 FAITH. 
 
 Christ crucified, the object of justifying faith — The change which 
 it works in one's life — The old atheist — Faith opens to the soul 
 enjoyments corresponding to its limitless desires — Faith's pos- 
 sessions — Practical effects of faith, as exhibited in the lives of 
 some of the ancient worthies — What the gospel requires — The 
 faith of the Rev. John Wesley — Address to the reader — Poetry. 
 
 Reader, have you faith in our Lord and Sa- 
 viour Jesus Christ? Without this you cannot 
 be renewed in heart and justified in the sight of 
 God. Christ crucified is the object of faith: it 
 looks upon him and claims an interest in his 
 
 (0) 
 
10 ST. PET ER/S CHAIN. 
 
 blood. Its language is, "For rne the Saviour 
 died." Faith beholds a world "lying in wick- 
 edness/' helpless and ruined; but it sees the Son 
 of God clothed in humanity, descending into 
 this wicked world, looking with pity upon its lost 
 condition, and then giving himself to suffering 
 and death, to redeem it from the curse of a vio- 
 lated law, and to bring it back to God. It fixes 
 its gaze upon Christ, as he hangs suspended upon 
 the cross, bleeding under the hand of justice, 
 and yielding himself up as an atoning sacrifice 
 for the sins of mankind. It lays hold upon him 
 as the only refuge, and realizes that there is 
 "redemption through his blood, even the for- 
 giveness of sins." Christ crucified, then, is the 
 object of faith : " Whom God hath set forth to be 
 a propitiation through faith in his blood." He 
 who exercises this saving faith becomes a child 
 of God and receives the spirit of adoption, 
 whereby he can cry, "Abba, Father." The 
 kingdom of Christ is set up in his soul, and he 
 becomes an obedient subject of his government, 
 ready to know and to do his holy will. His Ian- 
 
FAITn. 11 
 
 ffoa^e i ; . " Lord, what wilt thou have me to 
 
 u Let me prove my love to thee by my 
 
 16 to thy holy commands." 
 
 rv truly converted person exemplifies the 
 
 truth of the apostle's words, " If any man be in 
 
 Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are 
 
 passed away : behold, all things are become new." 
 
 New and holy thoughts fill his mind, and new 
 
 peace, joy, and purposes occupy his heart, and a 
 
 new and better work engages his hands. The 
 
 life of faith, in contrast to a life of sight and 
 
 sense, is strikingly exhibited in " The Philosophy 
 
 of the Plan of Salvation," in the history of an 
 
 old man. The author remarks : 
 
 " I knew that there were those in the world 
 who professed to doubt the existence of a God ; 
 but I had met with no one, in all my intercourse 
 with mankind, who seemed so sincerely and so 
 entirely an atheist as the individual whose case is 
 now introduced. The first time that I saw him 
 was at the house of his son-in-law, a gentleman 
 of intelligence and piety. His appearance was 
 that of a decrepit, disconsolate old man. In the 
 
12 st. peter's chain. 
 
 course of conversation, he unhesitatingly ex- 
 pressed his unbelief of the existence of a God, 
 and his suspicion of the motives of most of those 
 who professed religion. I learned from others 
 that he had ceased in some measure to have 
 intercourse with men : had become misanthropic 
 in his feelings, regarding mankind in the light 
 of a family of sharks, preying upon each other; 
 and his own duty in such a state of things he 
 supposed to be, to make all honest endeavors to 
 wrest from the grasp of others as much as he 
 could. He used profane language, opposed the 
 temperance reformation, and looked with the 
 deepest hatred upon the ministers of religion. 
 His social affections seemed to be withered, and 
 his body, sympathizing, was distorted and dis- 
 eased by rheumatic pains. . . This old man 
 had been for many years the subject of special 
 prayer on the part of his pious daughter and 
 son-in-law; and was finally persuaded to attend 
 a season of religious worship in the church of 
 which they were members. Here, wonderful to 
 relate, this aged opposer was converted — passing ' 
 
FAITH. UJ 
 
 from the parched and desolate region of atheism 
 into the refreshing and verdant region of Chris- 
 tianity, lie became a most simple and implicit 
 believer, and was like one who had just waked 
 up in another world, the sensations of which 
 were all new to him; and although a man of 
 sound sense in business affairs, when he began to 
 express his religious ideas, his language seemed 
 strange and incongruous, from the fact that while 
 his soul was now filled with new thoughts and 
 feelings, he had no knowledge of the language 
 by which such thoughts are expressed. 
 One of the first things which he did was to love, 
 in a practical manner, his worst enemy. There 
 was a man in the village who he supposed had 
 dealt treacherously with him in some money 
 transactions which had occurred between them. 
 On this account, personal enmity had long existed 
 between the two individuals. When converted, 
 he sought his old enemy, asked his forgiveness, 
 and endeavored to benefit him by bringing him 
 under the influence of the gospel. 
 
 " His benevolent feelings were expanded. He 
 2 
 
14 st. peter's chain. 
 
 gives liberally to every cause which he thinks 
 will honor Christ. During the last year, he has 
 given more with the design of benefiting his 
 fellow-men than he had done in his whole life 
 before. His affections received new life. ( One 
 part of the Scriptures/ said he, c I feel to be 
 true : that which says, I will take away the hard 
 and stony heart, and give you a heart of flesh. 
 Once I seemed to have no feeling : now, thank 
 God, I can feel. I have buried two wives and 
 six children, but I never shed a tear. I felt 
 hard and unhappy. Now my tears flow at the 
 recollection of these things.' It is remarked of 
 him, that it is not probable, since his conversion, 
 that a single week has passed without his shed- 
 ding tears : before, he had not wept since the 
 age of manhood. 
 
 "The effect upon his life has been very great. 
 He has not ceased to do good as he has had op- 
 portunity. Several have been brought to Christ 
 through his instrumentality. He has been known 
 to go to several families on the same day, pray 
 with them, and invite them to attend religious 
 
FAITn. 15 
 
 worship on the Sabbath. lie has been known to 
 aid the poor in purchasing articles of dress, to 
 induce them to go to Divine service. Soon after 
 conversion, he made out a list of his old 
 iiates then living within reach of his influ- 
 ence. On this list were one hundred and sixteen 
 names, among whom were skeptics, drunkards, 
 and other individuals, as little likely to be 
 reached by Christian influence as any other men 
 in the region. Within two years from the period 
 of the old man's conversion, one hundred of 
 these persons had made a profession of religion. 
 This fact is one of the most remarkable that has 
 been developed in the progress of Christianity. 
 The effect of the old man's conversion upon his 
 happiness was indescribable. 'I have/ says he, 
 1 rejoiced but once since I trusted in Christ : 
 that has been all the time/ The moral change 
 he underwent extended a benign influence over 
 his body. His countenance assumed a milder 
 and more intelligent aspect: he .became more 
 tidy in his apparel; and his ' thousand pains/ 
 in a good measure, left him. In his case there 
 
16 st. peter's chain. 
 
 seemed to be a renovation both of soul and 
 body. 
 
 "This case/' continues the same authority, 
 "is not exaggerated. The old man is living, 
 and there are a thousand living witnesses to this 
 testimony, among whom is an intelligent physi- 
 cian, who heard the old man's history of his 
 feelings, and having known him personally for 
 years, the obvious effects which the faith in 
 Christ had produced in his case, combined 
 with other influences by which he was sur- 
 rounded, led him seriously to examine the sub- 
 ject of religion, as it concerned his own spiritual 
 interest. By this examination he was led to 
 relinquish the system of rational religion, (as the 
 Socinian system is called by its adherents,) and 
 profess his faith in the orthodox religion." 
 
 This narrative, though somewhat extended, so 
 clearly exhibits the influence of faith in Christ, 
 that we will doubtless be excused for introducing 
 it. Here all old things were done away, and all 
 things became new. Here are the practical evi- 
 dences of Christianity, from which the infidel 
 
 
FAITH. 17 
 
 may turn away, but which he cannot ridicule or 
 deny. Faith, which proves itself by its works, 
 in this case strikingly displayed. This is 
 the faith that all true Christians possess, and 
 it is upon this they are called to build their 
 spiritual hopes and graces. If there is no faith, 
 there is no piety: no " ceasing to do evil and 
 learning to do well:" no pleasing God, for "with- 
 out faith it is impossible to please him." Faith, 
 then, is very properly made to lead in the train 
 of Christian graces. The soul's renewal and 
 rejoicing begins with faith — faith in Christ. It 
 keeps Christ in view amidst all its trials and 
 sojournings here, as its " author and finisher." 
 Faith hears the voice of Christ speaking to the 
 soul in its trouble, and bidding it be still. Faith 
 is the eunuch searching for Christ in the prophe- 
 cies — the publican crying in the temple, " God 
 be merciful to me a sinner !" — the jailer listening 
 at midnight to the teachings of Paul and Silas — 
 Bartimeus crying by the wayside, " Jesus, thou 
 Son of David, have mercy on me !" Faith is the 
 Syrophenician woman pleading with the Saviour 
 2* 
 
18 st. peter's chain. 
 
 in behalf of her daughter — the prodigal come to 
 himself and returning to his father's house — the 
 dying thief upon the cross, crying, " Lord, re- 
 member me when thou comest into thy king- 
 dom I" Faith brings us to Christ and puts us at 
 peace with God. " Therefore, being justified by 
 faith, we have peace with God through our Lord 
 Jesus Christ/' ' It is not only by faith we are 
 united to Christ, but it is by faith we are enabled 
 to maintain our union with him. Faith draws 
 its life from Christ, and sings, with the poet, 
 
 " Of life thou art the tree, 
 My immortality: 
 Feed this tender branch of thine, 
 
 Ceaseless influence derive ; 
 Thou the true and heavenly vine, 
 
 Grafted into thee I live." 
 
 Christ is the vine through which the spiritual 
 Bap is diffused through the branches, causing 
 them to grow and flourish, and to bear fruit. 
 " We walk by faith, not by sight." Those who 
 walk by faith have their treasures in heaveu, 
 and of consequence their affections there. " For 
 
FAIT II. 19 
 
 where your treasure is, there will your heart be 
 also." All who live in reference to this world, 
 without a recognition of the future, are those 
 who walk by sight. Their plans and devices 
 >haped by terrestrial circumstances. Their 
 thoughts, if they should chance to stray beyond 
 the boundaries of time, are put under arrest 
 and brought back, to be confined by the chains 
 of sense. 
 
 The man of faith, on the contrary, sends his 
 thoughts heavenward, and fixes his affections 
 there, and calls it his home, and expects in that 
 home to abide for ever. His spiritual nature pre- 
 dominating over his sensuous or animal, he it- 
 raised above earthly objects, and delights to con- 
 template the scenes of a future and purer exist- 
 ence. We do not say that such have no commu- 
 nication with the world. For, as physical and 
 intellectual beings, we have certain relations to 
 objects surrounding us, and with these we com- 
 municate with our earthly senses. But, as moral 
 beings, our relations are entirely of a different 
 nature; and the facts and motives which are 
 
20 st. peter's chain. 
 
 calculated to act upon us in these relations are 
 chiefly the objects of faith; that is, they are not 
 cognizable by any of our senses, but are to be 
 received by a different part of our constitution. 
 This, accordingly, is the simple but important 
 distinction referred to by the sacred writer when, 
 in allusion to our condition as moral beings, he 
 says, "We walk by faith, not by sight. " Those 
 who walk thus live in reliance upon God, claim 
 him as their Father, and seek to conform their 
 lives to his holy word. They realize the truth 
 that " the things which are seen are temporal, 
 but the things which are not seen are eternal/' 
 All here they look upon as shadow, all beyond 
 as substance. 
 
 One of the great benefits of faith is, that it 
 opens up before the soul enjoyments correspond- 
 ing to its limitless desires. One of the chief 
 causes of our unhappiness grows out of the 
 unsubstantial and transitory nature of the ob- 
 jects by which we are surrounded. Every thing 
 earthly is changing and disappearing, so that we 
 and our earthly joys are "ever separating. But 
 
FAITH. II 
 
 even it* no separations should ever take place, the 
 
 materiality of their nature must of necessity 
 
 them to our spiritual constitution as enipti- 
 
 and nothing. They can never become a 
 
 of our inner being : they may gratify our 
 
 senses, but never our immortal nature. Nothing 
 
 but faith iu God, by which the Holy Ghost is 
 
 brought in purifying and tranquillizing power 
 
 into the soul, can constitute us truly happy. 
 
 That which is earthly can at best only gratify 
 earthly desires , but we have unearthly desires, 
 as desires for the favor of God, and for a blissful 
 immortality after death. Now, he who stops with 
 the gratification of earthly desires, must, from 
 the very structure of his intellectual and moral 
 nature, live unblest; since those higher and 
 holier longings of his soul are held down and 
 stifled. The man of faith has this advantage 
 over the man of sense : while the latter seeks 
 only good here, the former can enjoy whatever is 
 really worth enjoying in this world, rud still live 
 in anticipation of a ceaseless and unsullied bliss 
 in heaven : " For all things/' says the apostle to 
 
22 st. peter's chain. 
 
 the man of faith, " are yours ; whether Paul, or 
 Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, 
 or things present, or things to come : all are yours, 
 and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." The 
 Christian, by virtue of his spiritual connection 
 with Christ, has a claim upon every thing which 
 can yield his soul profit. He can claim the apos- 
 tles and ministers of Christ as his instructors in 
 righteousness. The world is his, with its seas 
 and rivers, and mountains and vales, and birds 
 and flowers : all are his but its sins. For God's 
 people the world was made, and for them it is 
 upheld. All nature, sun, moon, and stars, speak 
 to them of him whom they call Father. All 
 things, tempests, wars, famines, and pestilences, 
 work together for their good. All trials and 
 providential events serve to advance the glory of 
 the Church, and the purity and happiness of 
 Christians. Life is theirs : not in its emptiness 
 and unmeaning ceremony, but in its reality and 
 importance. Faith makes it priceless, as the 
 season of preparation for an eternal world. But 
 death is theirs ; and is not death a calamity and 
 
r a i t ii . 23 
 
 a curse? Yes, truly, to all but the Christian. 
 To the sinner, death is the end of his joy: the 
 point of departure from his heaven ; for earth is 
 his heaven. To the Christian, it is the gate to 
 endless peace. It is that which separates him 
 from all his woe, and unites him to all he loves 
 and desires. Faith euables the good man to say, 
 '• Though I walk through the valley of the shadow 
 of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me : 
 thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me." 
 
 Let us notice more particularly the practical 
 effects of faith ; and to do this, we have but to 
 consult the word of God, especially the lives of 
 the holy men therein recorded. Faith forms the 
 ground of all acceptable service rendered to God. 
 Without this faith, all religious service is but a 
 mockery of God ; but with this, every act of wor- 
 ship is pleasing in his sight. The offerings of 
 Cain and Abel are intended to impress upon us 
 the importance of faith in our approaches to God. 
 The Apostle Paul, in Hebrews xi. ; says, " By 
 faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sac- 
 rifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness 
 
24 st. peter's chain. 
 
 that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts ; 
 and by it he, being dead, yet speaketh." Here 
 both the brothers brought an offering to God; 
 yet the offering of the elder was rejected, and that 
 of the other accepted ; for it is said, "And the 
 Lord had respect to Abel, and to his offering ; but 
 unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect/' 
 And why? Because the offering of x\bel was 
 made in faith. It was the right sort of offering — 
 a lamb, which typified Him who is spoken of in 
 Scripture as a " Lamb slain from the foundation 
 of the world/' and as the "Lamb of God, which 
 taketh away the sin of the world." Abel, in his 
 offering, confessed that he was a sinner, and that 
 he looked for the remission of sins through the 
 shedding of blood : not the blood of the animal 
 which he laid upon the altar of sacrifice, but the 
 blood of Him who had been promised as the " seed 
 of the woman," which should "bruise the ser- 
 pent's head." In a word, he expressed his faith 
 and hope in the atonement which should be made 
 by Jesus Christ. Christ was in his offering, and 
 therefore it was acceptable to God. It is said of 
 
FAITH. 25 
 
 Abel, that u he obtained witness that he was 
 right d testifying of his gifts." God 
 
 doobilen gate him some visible evidence of his 
 approval. It may be that he sent down fire from 
 heaven to consume his sacrifice, and thereby as- 
 sure him of his Divine favor. But it is added, 
 * By it [the sacrifice] he, being dead, yet speak- 
 eth." He speaks to all mankind who live after 
 him, of the necessity of an atonement for sin, 
 and of the indispensableness of faith in that 
 atonement, in order to pardon and acceptance 
 with God. 
 
 This faith creates a delight in God, and a fond- 
 ness for communion with him. This character- 
 istic of faith finds a beautiful illustration in the 
 example of Enoch. Paul says, "By faith Enoch 
 was translated, that he should not see death ; and 
 was not found, because God had translated him ; 
 for before his translation he had this testimony, 
 that he pleased God." Moses says, " Enoch 
 walked with God; and he was not,- for God took 
 him." These four words, "Enoch walked with 
 God," give us a fuller insight into the character 
 3 
 
26 st. peter's chain. 
 
 of that antediluvian worthy than we get into the 
 characters of others whose biographies stretch 
 through hundreds of pages. " He walked with 
 God jV and how long ? a few months, or years ? 
 No : " he walked with God" three hundred years. 
 What a blessed companionship did faith secure 
 him ! It put him with God, and kept him there. 
 How much of holy joy and peace and love must 
 he have possessed with his God ! Faith enabled 
 him to keep a constant recollection of the Divine 
 presence, and to live untouched by the moral 
 contamination which surrounded him. Was this 
 walking with God a privilege peculiar to Enoch ? 
 Have not others since his day done the same? 
 And may not we do it? This privilege and hono/ 
 is ours. We cannot walk three centuries with 
 God, and then be translated, but we can walk 
 with him the remnant of our lives, and then, 
 when these shall close, die in peace, and enter into 
 heaven. To walk with God is to trust in him, 
 love him, honor him, and obey him. They who 
 walk thus will not fail to find at all times a pre- 
 sent God, shedding light upon their path, giving 
 
FAITH. 27 
 
 them victory over their enemies, bearing them 
 cles, and infusing peace and comfort 
 
 ^ils. 
 itfa leads to reverence and holy fear. 
 I is a God of purity, immutability, and power. 
 God of purity, he loves holiness and abhors 
 As a God of immutability, he can never 
 cease to possess the same moral attributes. As a 
 God of power, he will execute vengeance upon 
 all who obey not the truth. All who know God 
 as possessed of these attributes, will entertain for 
 him a holy fear, and will not delay to keep all his 
 commandments. This holy fear and ready obe- 
 dience find an illustration in the life of Noah. 
 The apostle says, " By faith, Noah, being warned 
 of God of things not seen as yet, moved with 
 /car, prepared an ark, to the saving of his house; 
 by the which he condemned the world, and be- 
 came heir of the righteousness which is by faith." 
 Without this faith, Noah would have had no fear 
 of God and the threatened deluge, and would 
 have been, with his family, overwhelmed with tho 
 wicked. But his faith in God — in the immuta- 
 
28 st. peter's chain. 
 
 bility of his character and word — moved him 
 with fear, and that fear led him to the building 
 of the ark, which saved himself and family from 
 ruin. How often have parents, by the exercise 
 of this same faith, been led to pursue that course 
 of conduct which has secured themselves and 
 children from the displeasure of God, and brought 
 around them his favor and protection ! 
 
 Every parent who has this faith, will live 
 u warned of things not seen as yet" — death, and 
 a coming judgment — and will endeavor to get all 
 his children shut up in the true ark, Christ Jesus. 
 Noah's faith, which was characterized by humble 
 obedience, condemned the wicked world about 
 him. That faith which fails to do this, is an un T 
 reliable and spurious faith. It has nothing of 
 God in it : it will not better mankind, for out 
 of it no light will shine, and no good can come. 
 It will not better its possessor, for it can give no 
 peace living or dying, and has no claim on Heaven. 
 The faith which God approves is that which con- 
 demns the world, both by precept and example. 
 And it has an heirship to "the righteousness 
 
I A I T II . 29 
 
 which is by faith." It instrumentally clcauses 
 the heart ; " tor with the heart man believeth 
 Viteousiiess." By this faith holiness is 
 . and, consequently, a meetness for hea- 
 for "the pure in heart shall see God/' 
 This faith leads to a renunciation of self, and 
 les those who possess it to abandon themselves 
 ■ od for safe -keeping and guidance. This 
 phase of faith is illustrated in the character of 
 Abraham. "By faith, Abraham, when he was 
 called to go out into a place which he should 
 afterward receive for an inheritance, obeyed, and 
 he went out, not knowing whither he went/' 
 " By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, 
 as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles 
 with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the 
 same promise ; for he looked for a city which 
 hath foundations. " The Scriptures present us 
 with no character who exhibii.3 such an unfal- 
 tering faith in God, and such a ready obedience 
 to his will, as Abraham ; and hence, ho is called 
 " the father of the faithful." A mighty desert 
 stretched between Chaldea, his native land, and 
 3* 
 
80 st. peter's chain. 
 
 that which God intended to bestow upon him and 
 his posterity. Yet, at his call, he forsook home 
 and kindred, and began his march across the 
 trackless desert, " not knowing whither he went." 
 " He walked by faith, and not by sight." The 
 way in which he travelled was a new and strange 
 way to him, yet he moved forward, sensible of the 
 Divine presence and guidance. The poet, gather- 
 ing encouragement from this example of faith, 
 sings : 
 
 u His call we obey, Like Abram of old, 
 We know not the way, But faith makes us bold ; 
 For though we are strangers, We have a sure guide, 
 And trust, in all dangers, The Lord will provide." 
 
 That faith which causes us to commit ourselves, 
 with all our interests, our hopes, and fears, into 
 the hands of God, is the faith which he delights 
 to own, by giving it special marks of his favor 
 in encouraging, supporting, and directing it. 
 Abraham's faith embraced Christ, and hence it 
 is said it " was counted to him for righteousness." 
 Our Saviour himself says, " Abraham rejoiced to 
 gee my day; and he saw it, and was glad." John 
 
FAITH. 31 
 
 viii. 56. Abraham's faith extended beyond the 
 boundaries of earth, even while traversing the 
 country which God had given him : his faith was 
 hiilg for a better portion, "for a city that 
 hath foundations, whose builder and maker is 
 What a blessed faith that is which re- 
 ceives all its blessings here as from God, and yet 
 looks for richer blessings and better habitations 
 in the skies ! 
 
 This faith creates in the heart a disposition to 
 forego every thing worldly, for the honor and 
 glory of God. Under its influence, the mind ac- 
 quires new views, and the heart new affections. 
 God becomes the object of its adoration, and his 
 service the field of its delight. The life of Moses 
 is illustrative of this truth. " By faith, Moses, 
 when he was come to years, refused to be called 
 the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather 
 to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to 
 enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season : esteeming 
 the reproach of Christ greater riches than the 
 treasures in Egypt ; for he had respect unto the 
 recompense of the reward. By faith he forsook 
 
32 st. peter's chain. 
 
 Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he 
 endured, as seeing Him who is invisible/' This 
 faith not only led him to renounce all earthly 
 glory, but it sustained him amid the wilderness 
 trials through which he passed. He would have 
 none but God for his guide. Following him, 
 he feared nothing, for he felt that no weapon 
 formed against him could prosper. Faith in God 
 gave him victory over his enemies, and comforted 
 him in his last hours upon the heights of Nebo, 
 where, with God and angels as attendants upon his 
 burial, his soul soared away to that Canaan which 
 was far brighter and lovelier than that upon 
 which he had gazed. 
 
 " Precious faith I" It hears God saying, in 
 its darkest hours, " My grace is sufficient for 
 thee." All earthly good may fail : friends, char- 
 acter, health, property, may forsake us ; yet with 
 an unshaken confidence in God, we can take it 
 all joyfully, and feel that even our losses shall 
 work together for our good. This faith is heroio 
 in its character. "By it," says the apostle, " the 
 walls of Jericho fell." He declares that "the 
 
i \ i r n . 33 
 
 time would fail him to tell" of its achievements. 
 It subdued kingdoms. This faith was not con- 
 fined to men, but women possessed it in an emi- 
 Wonien received their dead raised 
 to life again, and others were tortured, " not ac- 
 deliverance." We hear of the moral 
 sublime, but nowhere do we see it so gloriously 
 displayed as in the history of these heroes and 
 nes of # the Christian faith. 
 What the gospel requires of us is, to believe 
 in God, and to believe God — to believe what he 
 . and because he says it : to trust him for his 
 wisdom, goodness, and love; to trust him in 
 rd to his providence, and in regard to his 
 tl government. We are to confide in Christ 
 as his Son, our Teacher, Friend, Intercessor. 
 Having this confidence in him, we shall possess 
 tranquillity of soul, and hold unceasing commun- 
 ion with him. The future we shall calmly leave 
 with him, and go forward to duty. That extra- 
 ordinary man of God, John Wesley^ possessed in 
 an eminent degree that faith which improves the 
 present, and looks to the future without fear. 
 
34 st. peter's chain. 
 
 A lady once asked hini, " Mr. Wesley, supposing 
 that you knew you were to die at twelve o'clock 
 to-niorrow night: how would you spend the in- 
 tervening time ?" " How, madam ?" he replied : 
 "why, just as I intend to spend it now. I 
 should preach this evening at Gloucester; and 
 again at five to-morrow morning. After that, I 
 should ride to Tewkesbury, preach in the after- 
 noon, and meet the societies in the evening. I 
 should then repair to friend Martin's house, who 
 expects to entertain me, converse and pray with 
 the family as usual, retire to my room at ten 
 o'clock, commend myself to my Heavenly Father, 
 lie down to rest, and wake up in glory." Here 
 was faith "roore precious than gold." 
 
 Reader, have you this faith, which unites 
 the soul to Christ, deriving pardon and purity 
 through his blood ? Are you fighting the good 
 fight of faith, expecting to lay hold of eternal 
 life ? Will you be able to say, with Paul, when 
 you come to die, " I have fought a good fight, I 
 have finished my course, I have kept the faith : 
 henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of 
 
FA ITU. .-) 
 
 right i, which the Lord, the righteous 
 
 Judge, .-hall ui ye me at ^ iat ^Ji aii ^ 110 ^ to me 
 onlv. hut unto all them which love his appear- 
 rt Lord, increase our faith." 
 
 " Faith is the Christian's prop, 
 
 "Whereon his sorrows lean : 
 It i< the 'substance' of his hope, 
 
 His proof of things unseen : 
 It is the anchor of his soul, 
 When tempests rage and billows roll. 
 
 u Faith is the polar star, 
 
 That guides the Christian's bark ; 
 Directs his wandering when afar. 
 
 To reach the holy ark. 
 It points his course where'er he roam, 
 And safely bads the pilgrim home. 
 
 "Faith is the rainbow's form, 
 
 Hung on the brow of heaven; 
 The glory of the passing storm, 
 
 The pledge of mercy given : 
 It is the bright triumphal arch 
 Through which the saints to glory march. 
 
 " Faith is the mountain rock, 
 
 Whose summit towers on high. 
 Secure above the tempest's shock, 
 
 An inmate of the sky : 
 Fixed on a prize of greater worth, 
 It views with scorn the things of earth. 
 
86 
 
 ST. PETER S CHAIN. 
 
 4 That faith that works by love, 
 
 And purifies the heart, 
 A foretaste of the joys above 
 
 To mortals can impart. 
 The Christian's faith is simply this : 
 A passport to immortal bliss. 7 * 
 
VIRTUE. 37 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 VIRTUE. 
 
 The meaning of the word — The difficulty of entering upon a 
 Christian life — Our Saviour's encouragement to his disciples — 
 Examples of this courage in Elijah, Nathan, the Hebrew chil- 
 dren, John the Baptist, Peter, John, Paul, and Luther — The 
 young lad}- — True heroes. 
 
 "Add to your faith virtue. n The word trans- 
 lated virtue here means fortitude or courage. 
 He who would make sure the salvation of his 
 soul, must possess that spirit which will dare to 
 do right. It is not enough for us to say, "Lord, 
 Lord V* We must have firmness and consistency 
 of mind in doing the will of the Lord. It 
 requires no little courage to begin a Christian 
 life: to enter upon a course of self-denial and 
 cross -bearing : to renounce the friendship of 
 the world : to break up old companionships : to 
 conquer the tyranny of habit : to withdraw the 
 4 
 
38 st. peter's chain. 
 
 affections from those objects which have so long 
 engaged and captivated them : to set out upon 
 the path of faith : to part with the visible for 
 the invisible : to send the thoughts on a mission 
 heavenward, when they are naturally prone 
 earthward : to begin to sow to the Spirit, when 
 we have been, from childhood's early dawn, sow- 
 ing to the flesh. All this requires courage — a 
 sort of courage which no man by nature ever 
 had. God alone can inspire us with it. It is 
 not earthborn : it is infused into the soul by the 
 Spirit of all grace. When the apostle exhorts 
 us to add to our " faith virtue/' (or courage,) it 
 is not implied that we can do this independently 
 of Divine assistance. Peter never forgets man's 
 dependence upon God for grace to help him on in 
 his Christian pilgrimage. And when he tells us 
 to add, he means for us to do it by applying to 
 Him who is the source of all strength and spirit- 
 ual consolation. Let the Christian go forward to 
 suffering and to duty, but let him not forget to 
 " commit the keeping of his soul to Him in well- 
 doing as unto a faithful Creator." 
 
VIRTUE. 39 
 
 [fi is alone in reliance upon God that we can 
 begin and continue a life of piety. He must 
 impart the requisite courage, and this he will do 
 only in answer to earnest and faithful prayer. 
 Thus, what we are said in Scripture to do for 
 ourselves is but what we get God to do for us. 
 Paul to Timothy says, " For God hath not given 
 itt the spirit of fear," [cowardice.] That is, God 
 hath given us the spirit of courage. Our Lord 
 rebuked the weakness of his disciples on one 
 occasion, when he. said, " Why are ye so fearful 
 [cowardly] ? How is it that ye have no faith J" 
 Thus we see that the cause of their wavering 
 and unsettled state of mind was a want of faith : 
 which obviously sustains the fact that God alone 
 can inspire the heart with Christian courage. 
 
 On another occasion, while the disciples were 
 perplexed and drooping under the prospect of the 
 Saviour's departure from them, he, to cheer and 
 encourage them, said, "Let not^your heart be 
 troubled, neither let it be afraid." We observe, 
 from the Saviour's teaching, that the spirit of 
 cowardice is no part of the spirit of faith. How- 
 
40 st. peter's chain. 
 
 ever zealous our lives, and however confident our 
 professions, yet if we are afraid or ashamed to 
 own the Saviour, we cannot but expect that he 
 will be ashamed of us and disown us before his 
 Father and his holy angels. 
 
 The name Christian is almost synonymous with 
 the word courage. He has a spirit within him 
 which raises him above fear. God has implanted 
 it there, to make him superior to the world, and 
 to enable him to triumph over it. Does not the 
 Saviour recognize the invincibility of his follow- 
 ers ? " In the world," says he, " ye shall have 
 tribulation ; but be of good cheer : I have over- 
 come the world." They are united to one who 
 hath overpowered all enemies, and whose sov- 
 ereignty controls death, hell, and the grave. Hath 
 not this glorious conqueror of principalities and 
 powers promised his disciples his presence, even 
 unto the end of the world ? And may they not 
 confidently expect, through him, to come off, in 
 every conflict with their enemies, more than con- 
 querors ? 
 
 If you would gain heaven, you must have 
 
 
VIRTUE. 41 
 
 Christian courage: a fearless spirit in the dis- 
 eharge of duty ; a spirit which will not allow yov 
 to draw back from that path which the word of 
 
 . and conscience, and Providence have pointed 
 out to be pursued, though it be beset with hard- 
 
 . toil, and pain. A man lias no business call- 
 in e himself a Christian, who is content to live a 
 life of elegant ease. Such a disciple is above his 
 Master : such a servant above his Lord. The 
 Saviour has, by his example and teaching, left to 
 his followers an inheritance of labor and suffering. 
 "If any man will come after me, let him deny 
 himself, and take up his cross and follow me.'' 
 
 -, self-denial and cross-bearing form one of 
 the conditions of discipleship. We hear the 
 Lord saying to Ananias, when he sent him to 
 Saul, " For I will show him how great things he 
 must suffer for my name's sake." He who be- 
 comes a disciple of Christ, must be prepared to 
 " endure hardness as a good soldier/' lie enters 
 upon a warfare which will tax all his powers of 
 mind and soul. 
 
 The Scriptures abound with examples of moral 
 4* . 
 
42 st. peter's chain. 
 
 courage. We see it in Moses, in confronting the 
 hard-hearted Pharaoh, and demanding of him the 
 release of the Israelites. We see it in Elijah, 
 when he suddenly appears before the wicked 
 Ahab, and sternly rebukes him for his sins, and 
 for having brought trouble upon Israel. What a 
 sublime and lofty courage does he exhibit while 
 standing upon the summit of Carmel, and sur- 
 rounded by the enemies of his God ! There 
 stand, gazing upon him, the four hundred and 
 fifty prophets of Baal, with their multitude of de- 
 luded followers. These had the strength of the 
 throne on their side. They fed at the royal table, 
 and basked in the royal smile. Fearful, indeed, 
 was the opposition against the prophet of Jeho- 
 vah. But what cared he for men or devils, 
 while encircled by the arm of Omnipotence? 
 He who had by a word made Ahab quake and 
 tremble, feared not to rebuke his pitiful minions. 
 He had come to that mountain eminence to vin- 
 dicate the character of his God, and to put Baal 
 and his worshippers to rout and everlasting confu- 
 sion. What a burning expostulation rushes from 
 
VIRTUE. 43 
 
 his lips : " How long halt ye between two opin- 
 ions 1 If the Lord be God, follow him j but if 
 Baal, then follow him. And the people answered 
 him not a word." He then throws down a chal- 
 lenge in these words : " The God that answereth 
 by fire, let him be God." They accept the chal- 
 lenge. "All the people answered and said, It is 
 well spoken." How little did they anticipate the 
 result which followed ! They called for fire upon 
 their sacrifice long and loud, but their senseless 
 god gave them no heed. But at the call of Eli- 
 jah, fire fell from heaven in sight of all Israel, 
 and consumed his offering, and the very stones 
 of the altar. Then the extorted acknowledgment 
 of Elijah's God came forth in a shout from the 
 people : " The Lord, he is the God : the Lord, he 
 is the God. And Elijah said unto them, Take 
 the prophets of Baal : let not one of them escape. 
 And they took them; and Elijah brought them 
 down to the brook Kishon, and slew them 
 there." 
 
 We behold this courage in the prophet Nathan, 
 when he stood in the presence of King David, 
 
44 st. peter's chain. 
 
 and charged home his sin upon him, saying, 
 "Thou art the man.' 7 
 
 We behold it in the three Hebrew children, 
 who, when commanded by the King of Babylon 
 to fall down and worship his image, refused. And 
 when it was said to him, " These men, king, 
 have not regarded thee : they serve not thy gods, 
 nor worship the golden image which thou hast 
 set up ;" and when the king remonstrated with 
 them, and threatened, "If ye worship not, ye 
 shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a 
 burniDg fiery furnace;" they answered, "0 Neb- 
 uchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in 
 this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve 
 is able to deliver us from the burning fiery fur- 
 nace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, 
 king. But if not, be it .known unto thee, 
 king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor 
 worship the golden image which thou hast 
 set up." 
 
 But examples of pious heroism are not confined 
 to the Old Testament saints. We have many 
 such in the New Testament. John the Baptist 
 
VIRTUE. 45 
 
 I it when he reproved Herod for unlaw- 
 fully "taking his brother Philip's wife, and for 
 all the evils he had done." 
 
 Peter aud John showed it when commanded 
 by the rulers and elders and scribes " not to 
 speak at all, nor teach in the name of Jesus." 
 They exclaimed, (i ^Ye cannot but speak the things 
 which we have seen and heard." 
 
 The great apostle of the Gentiles possessed a 
 large share of this courage. From the hour of 
 receiving his commission to preach the gospel of 
 Christ, until the hour of his death, he shrank 
 from no duty imposed upon him by Divine author- 
 ity. That course which conscience pointed out 
 to be pursued, he unhesitatingly adopted. No 
 threatenings of danger could intimidate him. His 
 resolution was formed upon the basis of moral 
 obligation, and nothing could shake it; neither 
 the menaces of enemies, nor the persuasions of 
 weeping friends. Duty called him at ooe time to 
 Jerusalem. The prophet Agabus takes Paul's 
 girdle, and binds his own hands and feet, and 
 said, ''Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the 
 
46 st. peter's chain. 
 
 Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that weareth 
 this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands 
 of the Gentiles." When his friends heard this, 
 "they besought him not to go up to Jerusalem. " 
 " Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep 
 and to break my heart? for I am. ready not to be 
 bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the 
 name of the Lord Jesus." In preaching the 
 gospel, he was constantly exposed to death, "in 
 perils by land and sea." At Iconium, in com- 
 pany with Barnabas, he was near being stoned to 
 death by the enraged Jews. At Lystra, he was 
 stoned and dragged out of the city, and left for 
 dead. At Philippe with Silas, he was whipped 
 and imprisoned. He lay in prison at Caesarea 
 about two years : after his release, he hastened to 
 visit the Churches of Greece and Rome, and, we 
 are told, preached the gospel in France and 
 Spain. On his return to Rome, he was appre- 
 hended by the order of Nero, and martyred, by 
 having his head taken off. Such was the courage 
 of Paul : a courage which no power short of God's 
 could intimidate. This courage was not only dis- 
 
VIRTUE. 47 
 
 played in the enduring of hardships, but in re- 
 proving error wherever he discovered it. Hear 
 him confuting the Jews of Damascus, imme- 
 diately after his conversion. Hear him, as he 
 pours rebuke upon Elymas the sorcerer ! How 
 lie reproves the vacillating and inconsistent con- 
 duct of Peter ! And see how the iniquitous and 
 licentious Felix trembles beneath the searching 
 appeals to his conscience ! 
 
 Luther, like Paul, could risk all for Christ. 
 Perhaps, since the 'days of the apostle, the Church 
 has not produced a more staunch and fearless de- 
 fender of the doctrines of the gospel. When he 
 had openly renounced the errors of Rome, he 
 was called upon by a cardinal to recant; and 
 when he refused, he was asked, " What do you 
 mean ? Do you rely on the force of arms ? 
 When the just punishment and thunder of the 
 pope's indignation break in upon you, where do 
 you think to remain ?" His reply was, "Either 
 in heaven , or under heaven" He was not afraid 
 to call the pope the man of sin and Antichrist. 
 Sin, the Pope, and Satan, were the enemies 
 
48 st. peter's chain. 
 
 against which he threw the whole force of his 
 mighty mind. When summoned to attend the 
 Diet of Worms, some of his friends, apprehen- 
 sive of his safety, advised him not to go to a place 
 where, perhaps, like Huss, he would be burnt. 
 He replied, " I am lawfully called to that city, 
 and thither will I go and defend the truth in the 
 name of the Lord, though as many devils as there 
 are tiles upon the houses were there combined 
 against me. The same Lord is still living who 
 preserved the three men in the fiery furnace." 
 Latimer, Knox, Wesley, Whitefield and Clarke, 
 possessed much of this same fearlessness in the 
 discharge of duty. That cause above all others de- 
 mands it which the Christian has espoused. His 
 life becomes one of rebuke to the ungodly, and 
 no wonder if they hate him. Have courage. If 
 thou art a Christian, thou art in company with 
 the prophets, with Christ, and with his apostles. 
 We need courage to resist the seductive influ- 
 ence of those who often profess for us great 
 friendship. Many such are strangers to piety, 
 and therefore seek their enjoyments in earthly 
 
VIRTUE. 49 
 
 objects, and would have us to share with thcin in 
 these enjoyments, and invite us to do so; yea, 
 sometimes importune us. But the warning is, 
 u If sinners entice thee, consent thou not." 
 Where a compromise of religious principles is 
 asked of us, we should unhesitatingly refuse it. 
 The path of safety lies outside of the "very 
 appearance of evil." Courage is often needed on 
 the part of some who have to bear up against the 
 contempt which their religion has brought upon 
 them from those who are closely related to them. 
 Parents have been known to treat their children 
 with extreme severity when discovering them 
 striving to lead religious lives. Some such pa- 
 rents have threatened to disinherit their children 
 if they did not abandon their religion : others 
 have threatened them with physical punishment ; 
 while others, in order to divert their minds from 
 the subject, have forced them into gay society. 
 It requires a more than ordinary firmness of 
 mind, and cleaving unto God, to remain steadfast 
 in the faith under such circumstances. Yet God 
 has enabled many to do this, and, even by their 
 5 
 
50 st. peter's chain. 
 
 unyielding perseverance in well-doing, has en- 
 abled them to win their opposers to Christ. 
 One instance of this sort we will relate ; and we 
 do it the more readily, because it strikingly 
 illustrates the beauty and nature of moral cour- 
 age. 
 
 Lord was a man of the world. His 
 
 pleasures were drawn from his riches, his honors, 
 and his friends. His daughter was the idol of 
 his heart. Much had been expended for her 
 education ; and well did she repay, in her intel- 
 lectual endowments, the solicitude of her parents. 
 She was highly accomplished, amiable in her dis- 
 position, and winning in her manners. 
 
 At length Miss attended a Dissenters' 
 
 meeting in London : was deeply awakened, and 
 was soon happily converted. Now she was de- 
 lighted in the service of the sanctuary, and in 
 social meetings. To her the charms of Christi- 
 anity were overflowing. She frequented those 
 places where she met with congenial minds, ani- 
 mated with similar hopes. 
 
 The change was marked by the fond father 
 
VIRTUE. 51 
 
 with Jicitude* To see his lovely daugh- 
 
 ;;i';iiiuuoJ, was to him an occasion of deep 
 
 f, and he resolved to correct her erroneous 
 uotious on the subject of the real pleasure and 
 of life. He placed at her disposal large 
 money, hoping she would be induced to 
 go into the fashions and extravagances of others 
 of her birth, and leave the meetings. But she 
 maintained her integrity. He took her on long 
 journeys, and acted in the most engaging man- 
 ner, in order to divert her mind from religion ; 
 but she still delighted in the Saviour. 
 
 After failing in many projects which he 
 fondly anticipated would be effectual, he intro- 
 duced her into company, under circumstances 
 that she must either join in the recreation of the 
 party, or give offence. Hope lighted up in the 
 countenance of this affectionate but misguided 
 father, as he saw his snare about to entangle the 
 object of his solicitude. It had been arranged 
 among his friends, that several young ladies, on 
 the approaching festive occasion, should give a 
 
 .\ accompanied by the piano-forte. The hour 
 
52 st. peter's chain. 
 
 arrived : trie party assembled. Several had per- 
 formed their parts, to the great delight of the 
 
 party, which was in high spirits. Miss was 
 
 now called on for a song, and many hearts beat 
 high in hopes of victory. Should she decline, 
 she was disgraced : should she comply, their tri- 
 umph was complete. This was the moment to 
 seal her fate. With perfect self-possession she 
 took her seat at the piano-forte, ran her fingers 
 over its keys, and commenced playing and sing- 
 ing in a sweet air — 
 
 " No room for mirth or trifling here, 
 For worldly hope or worldly fear, 
 
 If life so soon is gone : 
 If now the Judge is at the door, 
 And all mankind must stand before 
 
 Th' inexorable throne. 
 
 "No matter which my thoughts employ, 
 A moment's misery or joy ; 
 
 But ! when both shall end, 
 Where shall I find my destined place ? 
 Shall I my everlasting days 
 
 With fiends or angels spend?" 
 
 She arose from her seat. The whole party was 
 subdued. Not a word was spoken. One by one 
 
VIRTUE. 53 
 
 they left the bouse. Her father wept aloud. 
 I never rested until he became a Chris- 
 tian. He lived an example of Christian benevo- 
 , having given to benevolent enterprises, 
 . • his death, nearly half a million of dollars. 
 Had she yielded up her Christian principles, 
 what ruin might have followed. But her firm- 
 ness triumphed, and she saved her father. 
 
 They who, under all circumstances, refuse to 
 disown God and duty are true heroes — more to 
 be honored than heated warriors, who storm and 
 lay waste hostile batteries. He who, for the 
 sake of truth, will not fly from the post of duty 
 when life is threatened, possesses that heroic faith 
 and courage which Heaven alone inspires. It is 
 this which makes the martyr, the confessor, the 
 missionary, the Christian. 
 
 Header, hast thou this courage amid the trials, 
 the toils, and the warfares through which thou 
 art wading? If thou hast, thou shalt find all 
 thine enemies yielding before thee, and thou 
 shalt, if faithful till death, lay " hold upon eter- 
 nal life." 
 
 5* 
 
54 ST. PETER'S CHAIN. 
 
 " 0, the day was dark ! 
 
 Gusts of wind with rain ; 
 Fiercely on our feeble bark 
 Beat the raging main. 
 
 " Evening came, and shed 
 Calm o'er earth and sea: 
 Verdant vale and mountain's head 
 Looked out smilingly. 
 
 " Saint, your day of life 
 Stormy thus may be : 
 For the durance and the strife 
 Brace ye lustily. 
 
 " Courage ! one short day : 
 Soon the storm shall cease : 
 Eve shall brighten with a ray 
 From the land of peace." 
 
KNOWLEDGE. 55 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 KNOWLEDGE. 
 
 The papal doctrine, " Ignorance is the mother of devotion " — What 
 thia knowledge is which we are to seek — Obtained by studying 
 the character of Christ, and the Holy Scriptures — Christ says, 
 "Thy word is truth" — Nature of that truth — Remarks of Lord 
 Brougham on the pleasures of science — Chalmers, Brewster, and 
 others. 
 
 To virtue add knowledge. Peter was no be- 
 liever in the papal doctrine that " Ignorance is 
 the mother of devotion •" else he would not have 
 exhorted the Christians to whom he addressed 
 this Epistle to add knowledge to their other attain- 
 ments. If you will make devotion to mean su- 
 perstition, then it may with truth be said that 
 " Ignorance is the mother of devotion;" for 
 where ignorance reigns, there superstition, in all 
 its most debasing, corrupting, and revolting forms, 
 
56 st. peter's chain. 
 
 abounds. Look into the regions of paganism, and 
 you will find that they have " changed the glory 
 of the incorruptible God into an image made like 
 to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed 
 beasts, and creeping things. " Look among the 
 uninstructed membership of the Church of Rome 
 — those from whom the Sacred Scriptures are 
 withheld, (and they constitute a large majority of 
 that Church,) and you will discover that they run 
 into all sorts of idolatries and superstitions. They 
 worship saints and images. Like the heathen, 
 they have their patron gods and goddesses. They 
 invest their priests and higher ecclesiastics with 
 Divine authority and powers : believe that they 
 can work miracles and forgive sins. And recently 
 Rome has sent forth a new dogma, to be swallowed 
 down by them — the a immaculate conception of 
 the Virgin Mary." And with greediness it is 
 everywhere received. Thus the many of the Ro- 
 mish Church, like the myriads of heathen lands, 
 are perishing "for lack of knowledge" — a know- 
 ledge of the word of God. This has been set 
 aside in the case of the former by designing 
 
KNOWLEDGE. 57 
 
 priests, to give place to absurd traditions, and to 
 the writings of the Fathers, many of whom were 
 full of pagan notions and doctrines. Instead of 
 bread they have given a stone, and for a fish they 
 have given a serpent. 
 
 The knowledge that the apostle would have all 
 Christians acquire is the knowledge of the truth. 
 Those to whom he wrote were supposed to have 
 had a knowledge of pardon through Christ. He 
 opens the Epistle, saying, " Simon Peter, a servant 
 and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have 
 obtained like precious faith with us, through the 
 righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." 
 They were, like Peter, in possession of the pre- 
 cious faith, yet they were to build upon this faith, 
 by adding to it virtue and knowledge. The Chris- 
 tian, then, is to seek to advance in Divine know- 
 ledge : to go on to know more of God — more of 
 the power of Christ's salvation ; yea, more of all 
 the mysteries of godliness. 
 
 If we would obtain the knowledge which saves, 
 and which beautifies and renders useful the life, 
 we must sit at the feet of Him in whom 
 
58 ST. PETER'S CHAIN. 
 
 are " hid all the treasures of wisdom and know- 
 ledge." 
 
 None ever taught lessons of so vital import- 
 ance with so much dignity and simplicity. His 
 object in teaching was not to make a display be- 
 fore his hearers ; not to regale their imaginations ; 
 but to inform their judgments and to improve 
 their hearts. This characteristic in the Saviour, 
 as a teacher, strikingly attests his claim to be the 
 Son of God. Had he been an impostor, as charged 
 by his enemies, he would have employed more 
 art, and operated more directly upon the passions 
 of his hearers. He would have promulgated doc- 
 trines more congenial to human nature ; but, in- 
 stead of this, his doctrines fall with withering re- 
 buke upon the passions, affections, and prejudices 
 of our nature. His object was to give to those who 
 heard him an insight into their hearts, that they 
 might see their corruption, come out of them- 
 selves, and seek their true end in him. 
 
 The Saviour unfolded the mystery of sin, show- 
 ing its poisoning, ruining, damning influence upon 
 the soul. He showed in himself a remedy for 
 
K N OWLEDOE. 59 
 
 ad proclaimed himself accessible to all who 
 > be healed of that awful malady. His 
 >0 upon the Mount has ever been justly ad- 
 mired for its inimitable simplicity of style, and 
 ure morality. His words distilled as honey 
 when he opened his mouth upon that occasion : 
 
 u Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the 
 kingdom of heaven. 
 
 " Blessed are they that mourn ; for they shall 
 be comforted. 
 
 " Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit 
 the earth. 
 
 " Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst 
 after righteousness; for they shall be filled. 
 
 ':' Blessed are the merciful; for they shall ob- 
 tain mercy. 
 
 '• Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall 
 see God. 
 
 " Blessed are the peacemakers; for they shall 
 be called the children of God. 
 
 Blessed are they which are persecuted for 
 righteousness' sake; for theirs is the kingdom of 
 heaven. 
 
60 st. peter's chain. 
 
 " Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and 
 persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil 
 against you falsely, for my sake. 
 
 u Kejoice, and be exceeding glad ; for great is 
 your reward in heaven ; for so persecuted they 
 the prophets which were before you." 
 
 0, what glorious encouragement do these words 
 of the Great Teacher afford to all who are seeking 
 to lead Christian lives ! They fill the heart with 
 heavenly joy and the mind with heavenly light. 
 Here in this chapter he declares the worth of 
 piety, by setting forth its possessors as the salt of 
 the earth, and as the light of the world. Here 
 he teaches how to forgive and how to love our 
 enemies : how to dispense our alms, and how to 
 pray to our Father which is in heaven : how to 
 trust him for our daily bread, and how to commit 
 our lives into the hands of Him who provides for 
 the fowls of the air, who paints the lilies, and 
 clothes the grass of the field. " He taught them 
 as one having authority, and not as the scribes." 
 He possessed none of the austerity and pomp of 
 the latter. u His authority was power, impression, 
 
K X OW LEDGE. 61 
 
 I : arising from the sublimity of the truths 
 which he preached, the wisdom with which he 
 unfolded them, and the clearness with which he 
 applied them." Truly may it be said of him, 
 that *f He spake as never man spake." Paul but 
 imitated the Saviour's manner when he preached 
 to the Corinthians, and to which he alludes when 
 he says, " My speech and my preaching was not 
 with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in de- 
 monstration of the Spirit and of power, that your 
 faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but 
 in the power of God." 
 
 He combined every excellence necessary to 
 qualify him to become the instructor of a world. 
 All the secrets of time and eternity were his. 
 He knew all things in heaven and in earth. All 
 the past, and all the present, and all the future 
 were before him. u It pleased the Father that 
 in Christ should all fulness dwell :" the fulness 
 of Divine light, life, wisdom, grace. Blessed 
 Teacher ! eternity alone shall develop the mighty 
 import of thy Divine utterances. Let us, like 
 the disciples, draw near and listen to his dis- 
 6 
 
02 ST. peter's chain. 
 
 courses; or, like Mary, sit at his feet and be 
 wise. 
 
 We may gain instruction by contemplating his 
 example. The blessed Saviour has alone in hu- 
 man form presented to the world a perfect model 
 of greatness and virtue. Truly he may say, in 
 view of his holy example, " Learn of me, for I 
 am meek and lowly in heart." He who would 
 perfect humanity, or carry it to the highest possi- 
 ble moral improvement, let him seek to assimilate 
 his life to that of the Saviour. 
 
 Consider his overflowing benevolence. He was 
 ever engaged in bestowing favors upon those who 
 could make him no return other than that of 
 gratitude. We find him pausing in his discourse 
 at Capernaum, to pardon and to heal a palsied 
 man, who had been let down through the roof of a 
 house before him. We see him stopping a burial 
 procession, to raise to life a poor widow's son. 
 We behold him pausing, while travelling with a 
 multitude, to give sight to a blind man, who cried 
 after him from the wayside. We see him crossing 
 the Sea of Galilee, in the midst of a storm, to 
 
KNOWLEDGE. 63 
 
 dispossess of devils a poor Gadarcne. We hear 
 him saying to his disciples concerning the multi- 
 tudes that followed hirn into the desert to listen 
 to his gracious words, "I have compassion on the 
 multitude, because they continue with me now 
 three days, and have nothing to eat ; and I will 
 not send them away fasting, lest they faint by 
 the way." Soon, by his miraculous power, the 
 few loaves and fishes are multiplied, and they 
 feast upon more than enough. It is true we can- 
 not, like the Saviour, work miracles ; but we can, 
 like him, do good. " We can give according to 
 that we have." 
 
 He teaches us disinterested benevolence, by 
 telling us, when we make a feast, not to call 
 our kinsmen, friends, and rich neighbors, but the 
 poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. "And 
 then," says Christ, " shalt thou be blessed, for 
 they cannot recompense thee, for thou shalt be 
 recompensed at the resurrection of the just." 
 
 Consider his humility. How great that conde- 
 scension which led him to withdraw himself from 
 the glories of heaven, and to sojourn on earth ! 
 
64 st. peter's chain. 
 
 Could the highest angel of the skies, by some 
 power of his own, assume the form and office of 
 the most insignificant insect, the change, though 
 astonishingly great, could not be compared with 
 that which took place when the Son of God hum- 
 bled himself to become man. This humility in- 
 volved a mystery over which the unfallen sons 
 of light hung in amazement. He reached a depth 
 of humiliation which to them was at once fathomless 
 alfa 1 incomprehensible. He who was enthroned 
 in glory, and dwelt in unapproachable brightness, 
 becomes a wayfarer, a houseless wanderer, the 
 associate of the despised and the indigent. Why 
 all this ? He came to reverse the order of things, 
 as they existed among the great. He came to 
 bring strength out of weakness, and, by compara- 
 tively feeble instrumentalities, to establish a king- 
 dom upon earth : one which should exist and go 
 on increasing when temporal principalities and 
 powers should be swept into oblivion. He came 
 to teach mankind a lesson of meekness and lowli- 
 ness, and thus to put to shame the self-importance 
 and imaginary greatness of Jewish rabbies and 
 
KNOWLEDGE. 65 
 
 pagan philosophers. He needs not the coopera- 
 tion of the mighty of earth to disseminate his 
 doctrines. He took as instructors of the world a 
 few fishermen, a tax-gatherer, and other obscure 
 personages. These he trained at his feet, and, 
 clothing them with heavenly armor, sent them 
 forth to invade the strongholds of pride, and to 
 lay waste the kingdom of darkness. Thus, every 
 movement of our blessed Saviour serves to impress 
 upon us a lesson of humility. His birth, his life, 
 his death, all say, u Learn of me; for I am meek 
 and lowly in heart ; and ye shall find rest to your 
 souls. " 
 
 It is from the word of God that we must seek 
 that knowledge to which the apostle alludes. We 
 have the Saviour's injunction upon the subject 
 of studying the inspired records : " Search the 
 Scriptures." These contain what we, as im- 
 mortal and sinful beings, need — truth. Let us 
 notice the nature of this truth. * 
 
 It is convicting truth. This word makes us 
 acquainted with the law of God, which is u holy, 
 just, and good :" universal in its application, and 
 6* 
 
66 st. peter's chain. 
 
 requiring entire obedience in thought, word, and 
 deed. The sinner, when brought to try himself 
 by this law, finds himself guilty of many moral 
 obliquities. It commands love to God and man \ 
 but he finds enmity towards both. It demands 
 humility ; but he finds in himself nothing but 
 pride. It denounces its maledictions against 
 idolatry; but in looking into his heart, he be- 
 holds it, like a heathen pagoda, filled with idols. 
 This law condemns him at every point. It 
 becomes a two-edged sword, cutting its way into 
 his soul, and exposing its hidden deformity. 
 Under this exposure of himself to himself he is 
 forced to cry, "0 wretched man that I am ! who 
 shall deliver me from this body of death V J 
 Convicted of disobedience against a righteous 
 law, and realizing his utter inability to fulfil its 
 requirements, he cries out, " God be merciful to 
 me a sinner I" Thus this word carries with it 
 convicting power. It was preached* by Paul in 
 " demonstration of the Spirit and of power." In 
 the mouth of Peter, on the day of Pentecost, it 
 cut multitudes to the heart, and forced them to 
 
KNOWLEDGE. 67 
 
 plead for deliverance from sin. And this is its 
 character wherever faithfully applied. 
 
 It rting truth. To the penitent it 
 
 9 a full and free salvation through the atone- 
 ment of Christ. It points to the " fountain 
 opened in the house of David for sin and un- 
 ;mess." It " proclaims liberty to the cap- 
 tives." Paul declares, "I am not ashamed of 
 the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God 
 unto salvation to every one that believeth." He 
 had himself experienced so much of its saving 
 efficacy, as well as witnessed it in others, that he 
 
 ready at all times to glory in it and to preach 
 it to the world. He had witnessed its power to 
 
 among the polished Grecians, the stern Rom- 
 ans, the unlearned barbarians, and the ceremo- 
 nious Jew. Through it goes forth the enlightening 
 and quickening power of the Spirit. Sometimes 
 it comes upon the heart in melting influences : at 
 other times it falls upon the soul h overwhelming 
 power. " Is not my word as a fire, saith the 
 Lord, and like a hammer which breaketh the 
 rock in pieces V } It matters not how it comes, 
 
68 ST. PETER'S CHAIN. 
 
 whether with the sound of the whirlwind, or 
 with a still small voice ; if it is attended with the 
 Holy Ghost, " it will accomplish that whereunto 
 it is sent." " It will prove the savor of life unto 
 life." It is the grand instrument through which 
 is displayed God's saving power. 
 
 It is sanctifying truth. The Christian who 
 sincerely believes this word, and brings his life 
 into conformity to its teachings, acquires holiness 
 of heart. The Saviour, in praying to the Father 
 in behalf of his disciples, says, " Sanctify them 
 through thy truth : thy word is truth." We are 
 taught by Peter that the heart is purified by 
 u obeying the truth." In the gospel the glory 
 of the Lord is seen. " We all, with open face, 
 beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, 
 are changed into the same image from glory to 
 glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 
 Blessed truth ! the sinner should love it, because 
 it exhibits the love of God towards him in the 
 gift of his Son, and invites him to a provided sal- 
 vation. The penitent should love it, because it 
 offers him comfort. The Christian should love 
 
KNOWLEDGE. 69 
 
 it, fcaofcuM it secures him the protectiou and 
 guidance of Almighty Goodness, and enables 
 him the Lord is my Shepherd: I shall 
 
 want." 
 1 lore is found the knowledge the world needs, 
 di\d without which it must perish. To be igno- 
 rant of the Bible is to be ignorant of God, for 
 here alone we learn his perfections and character. 
 By searching the Scriptures we become acquainted 
 with the offices of Christ; and without knowing 
 Christ in his offices, we cannot trust in him to 
 the saving of our souls. " This is life eternal, 
 to know thee, the only true God, and Jesus 
 
 isfc, whom thou hast sent." 
 
 Then u search the Scriptures." Search them 
 
 with humility. " The meek will he guide in 
 
 judgment; and the meek will he teach his way." 
 
 ••Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean 
 
 I o thine own understanding." Search with 
 prayer. Say with pious David, •' Open thou mine 
 
 . that I may behold wondrous things out of 
 thy law. Make me to understand the way of 
 thy precepts." 
 
70 st. peter's chain. 
 
 We are to increase our spiritual knowledge in 
 every possible way. By studying the Scriptures : 
 by waiting upon God in the sanctuary and in our 
 closets. But further, the Christian, as a steward 
 of God, is under obligation to seek useful know- 
 ledge wherever he can find it, in order that he 
 may the better meet the end of his being, and 
 fulfil his high and noble destiny. It is proper 
 for him to cultivate his mind and refine his taste 
 by studying the choicest and chastest literature. 
 The rough block of marble is less suggestive and 
 impressive than when the chisel of the accom- 
 plished artist has given it the beautiful propor- 
 tions of the " human form divine." In its form 
 less state it hardly arrested attention : now it 
 stands forth the representative of a living, mov- 
 ing, thinking being. So an ignorant, uncultivated 
 person excites in you no agreeable emotion ; but 
 often awakens in you disgust and pity, especially 
 if his ignorance is mixed up with low depravities. 
 On the other hand, one who has been dug out 
 of the great quarry of humanity by Divine power : 
 one who has been made anew in Christ, polished 
 
KNOWLEDGE. 71 
 
 and transformed by the Spirit : whose mind has 
 been adorned by the study of a pure and elegant 
 'heraturc, an^ by the contemplation of what is 
 itiful in nature, at once interests you, attracts 
 you, and makes you turn your thoughts upwards 
 to Him who is the source of all intelligence and 
 beauty. You think of man in his primitive 
 guilelessness, and you long to move onward to a 
 higher point of mental and moral improvement. 
 
 The vast book of nature lies open for the 
 study of the Christian student. Let him here 
 contemplate the wisdom, power, and goodness of 
 its Divine Author. Let him, like the Psalmist, 
 consider the heavens, with their sun and moon 
 and stars, which he has ordained, and be humble. 
 Let him, like Solomon, study the hyssop upon 
 the wall. If he would quicken his activities, let 
 him seek a lesson from the ways of the ant. 
 Look upon the little sparrow, and learn to trust 
 in God for your bread. Learn of every thing. 
 In the language of Job, "Ask now the beasts, 
 and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the 
 air, and they shall tell thee; or speak to the 
 
72 st. peter's chain. 
 
 earth, and it shall teach thee ; and the fishes of 
 the sea shall declare unto thee/' 
 
 Lord Brougham, on the pleasures of science, 
 observes, " We are raised by science to an under- 
 standing of the infinite wisdom and goodness 
 which the Creator has displayed in all his works. 
 Not a step can we take in any direction, without 
 perceiving the most extraordinary traces of de- 
 sign ; and the skill, everywhere conspicuous, is 
 calculated in so vast a proportion of instances 
 to promote the happiness of living creatures, and 
 especially of ourselves, that we can feel no hesita- 
 tion in concluding that, did we know the whole 
 scheme of Providence, every part would appear 
 to be in harmony with a plan of absolute benevo- 
 lence. Independently, however, of this most 
 consoling inference, the delight is inexpressible, 
 of being able to follow, as it were, with our eyes, 
 the marvellous works of the great Architect of 
 nature, and to trace the unbounded power and 
 exquisite skill which are exhibited in the most 
 minute as well as the mightiest parts of his 
 system." 
 
K N W LEDGE. 73 
 
 The Christian should lay all valuable know- 
 under contribution, and employ it in 
 the service of his Master. Paul found all his 
 knowledge of books and things useful to him in 
 ministry. His knowledge of the Jewish 
 enabled him to explain their proper relation 
 to the Christian system. His acquaintance with 
 the Grecian poets allowed him the more conve- 
 niently to adapt his discourse to his hearers on 
 •e Hill. And even his knowledge of tent- 
 making was far from being useless, for it afforded 
 him the means of subsistence while he preached 
 jspel to the poor. 
 The science of astronomy has been laid under 
 contribution by Chalmers and Brewster, to help 
 forward the cause of religion. Geology, once the 
 boasted instrument which infidelity hoped to em- 
 ploy against revelation, has been wrenched out 
 of its hands by such men as John Pye Smith, 
 Professor Hitchcock, and Hugh Miller, and made 
 to confirm its truths. A Layard and a Tiawlinson 
 have dug up the ruins of ancient cities, and made 
 them bear testimony to the Divine inspiration of 
 
74 st. peter's chain. 
 
 prophecy. The learning of modern times has in- 
 terpreted the hieroglyphics of Egypt, and we 
 find that they, too, speak in favor of holy writ. 
 
 Learning by no means is incompatible with a 
 high degree of spiritual cultivation. Sanctified 
 learning has been of immense service to the 
 Church. The first reformers were men of vast 
 erudition, and were therefore able to cope with 
 the most subtle and learned enemies of the truth. 
 How much does the world owe Luther for his 
 translation of the Bible into German ! and how 
 much does it owe those good men and scholars 
 who translated it into the most pure and beautiful 
 English ! We shall find in the general Church 
 men of the profoundest scholarship, whose labors 
 have been directed toward the elucidation of the 
 Scriptures, so as to make them intelligible and 
 profitable. Let us, then, increase in all useful 
 knowledge, and seek to have it baptized by the 
 Holy Spirit. 
 
 Reader, hast thou the knowledge of which the 
 apostle speaks? — the knowledge of that truth 
 which maketh free ? Art thou daily searching 
 
K N O W LI DOE. 
 
 75 
 
 the Scriptures, to know more fully the way of 
 life, the will of God, and thy duty? Let us ever 
 pray, 
 
 11 Bnraf rind ignorance remove, 
 
 Our blindness both of heart and mind : 
 Give us the wisdom from above, 
 
 Spotless, and peaceable, and kind : 
 In knowledge pure our hearts renew, 
 And store with thoughts divinely true. 
 
 11 Learning's redundant part and vain, 
 Be here cut off, and cast aside ; 
 But let us, Lord, the substance gain ; 
 
 In every solid truth abide ; 
 Swiftly acquire, and ne'er forego 
 The knowledge fit for man to know.'* 
 
 
 
76 ST. PETER'S CHAIN. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 TEMPERANCE. 
 
 The subject considered in various lights — The remark of Lord By- 
 ron, " Habit is destiny" — Contrast of good and bad men. 
 
 To knowledge add temperance. The Christian 
 may have faith, and courage, and knowledge, and 
 yet, for want of a strict self-control — a control 
 over his thoughts and affections — he may fail 
 "to go on to perfection/' or to reach the " full 
 stature " of a man in Christ. It is possible for 
 one, touching religious matters, to believe much, 
 to dare much, and to know much, and yet be in 
 bondage to many fleshly appetites and passions. 
 The apostle, in order that there might be no de- 
 fect in the experience of those to whom he wrote, 
 puts them upon a moral regimen, requiring absti- 
 nence from all those indulgences which are de- 
 
TEM I'KRANCE. 77 
 
 ■tractive of spiritual health and soundness. In- 
 in be no healthy progress in Chris- 
 tian it v, without a strict mastery over ourselves. 
 Paul, in writing to the Corinthians, says, " Every 
 man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in 
 all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible 
 crown ; but we an incorruptible." The apostle al- 
 ludes to the athletic exercises among the ancients, 
 which consisted of boxing, wrestling, and racing. 
 Those who engaged in them, in order to insure suc- 
 cess and to win the laurel crown, lived an abstemious 
 life, avoided wine and luxurious living, every thing 
 that would unduly excite or stimulate, since such 
 was sure to be followed by ultimate feebleness. He 
 takes occasion, by examples like these, to exhort 
 the Christian, who has a longer, a far more im- 
 portant race, and an incorruptible crown as the 
 prize, to practice a life of self-denial and chastity. 
 Dr. Campbell says, u Temperance, which has 
 been considered in the schools as denoting a supe- 
 riority over the concupiscible affections — like what 
 is implied in meekness over those called irascible, 
 pride, anger, and impatience — is as necessary for 
 7* 
 
78 st. peter's chain. 
 
 the government of the appetites, as the other is 
 for the passions. There is no virtue which has 
 been deemed more essential to the Christian char- 
 acter: there is none which has been generally 
 more misunderstood, or which false religion has 
 dressed out in more fantastic colors. It is ac- 
 knowledged on all sides that it would ill befit the 
 students of a doctrine so Divine as the Christian, 
 to be slaves of appetite. To be voluptuous, and 
 to be heavenly-minded, can scarcely, to any under- 
 standing, appear compatible." Temperance, in 
 a scriptural sense, is the opposite of excess in 
 every thing. It includes the idea of moderation 
 in the pursuit, and in the desire, and in the in- 
 dulgence of those things which are even lawful, 
 as well as of the avoiding of those things which 
 are in appearance evil. The word of God says, 
 " Let your moderation be known unto all men :" 
 " Live soberly." We may consider temperance 
 as, in part, the due regulation of those desires 
 which are natural to us. 
 
 1. The desire of property. It appears natural 
 for man to desire to make or to accumulate property. 
 
T I M PERANCE. 79 
 
 the word of God does not condemn this de- 
 sire, it' it be regulated by another desire — that 
 ling the means of doing good to others, 
 and of providing for ourselves food, clothing, and 
 shelter, and whatever other things which are im- 
 portant to our real comfort and happiness. But 
 tills desire for property is seldom properly regu- 
 lated. It is suffered almost universally to run 
 into the extremes of covetousness and avarice. 
 Many professing Christians need long and earnest 
 exhortations to temperance in their love of money ; 
 for that love is absorbing and fearfully endanger- 
 ing their love both for God and man. Many are 
 withdrawing their zeal and devotion from the ser- 
 vice of Christianity, to press them into the service 
 of mammon. Around the altars of the Church 
 they worship with cold and spiritless hearts ; but 
 around the altars of the golden god they bow 
 without lukcwarmness or weariness. Covetous- 
 ness, or the greed of gain, is not only associated 
 with the worst of vices by the Apostle Paul, but 
 it is pronounced by him to be idolatry. " Mortify, 
 therefore, your members which are upon the earth : 
 
80 st. peter's chain. 
 
 fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil- 
 concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry/' 
 We see, then, the companionship of covetousness : 
 the dark crew of vices it is associated with, and, 
 of consequence, how it must be abhorred in the 
 sight of God. How can he otherwise than abhor 
 it, when it steals away the heart from him ? when 
 it hardens and deafens it to the calls of duty ? 
 
 What says the Saviour ? " Ye cannot serve God 
 and mammon/' Their natures are so different, 
 that the same heart cannot simultaneously love 
 each. The love of one separates the heart from 
 the love of the other. It requires an earthliness 
 of mind to love mammon, which condition of 
 mind is incompatible with Christian devotion and 
 love. When covetousness takes possession of the 
 heart, it rules omnipotent. It becomes the 
 u strong man armed, which keepeth the palace/' 
 It sweeps from its domain all that is noble, good, 
 or generous. Hear what the Lord says by Isaiah : 
 " I am the Lord : that is my name ; and my glory 
 will I not give to another, neither my praise to 
 graven images." " It is not the form or the name 
 
T11MPE1UNCE. 81 
 
 of the idol that he regards, but the heart-homage 
 of the worshipper. It is not the height of the 
 r the preciousness of its material, or the 
 lowliness of the body's bowing down : it is the 
 immortal spirit that God has made, admitting an- 
 other than God to the inmost and uppermost place, 
 where he claims to be : it is the secret passion of 
 the soul, glutting itself on gold : it is this that 
 stirs up his jealousy, and makes his wrath burn 
 like fire." Covetousness is considered as the 
 prostitution of the soul — spiritual adultery — since 
 it draws off the affections of those who are es- 
 poused to Christ, after another : puts them into 
 the embrace of interdicted love. The people of 
 cannot be too faithfully urged to watchful- 
 ness a«rainst this insidious and growing passion. 
 He who knew what was in man, spake with no 
 unmeaning emphasis when he said, " Take heed, 
 and beware of covetousness; for a man's life con- 
 sisteth not in the abundance of the things which 
 he possesseth." The Saviour had before him one 
 whose heart was powerfully under its influence ; so 
 much so, that he even forgot the respect and reve- 
 
82 st. peter's chain. 
 
 rence due the Saviour; for we find him intruding 
 himself upon him, saying, " Master, speak to my 
 brother, that he divide the inheritance with me." 
 The Saviour, as if to rebuke his impertinence, 
 " said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or 
 a divider over you V* Having this example of 
 the depraving effects of covetousness at hand, he 
 employs it to give warning to his disciples against 
 that sin. He impresses upon them the fact that 
 life is too momentous in its connections with 
 time and eternity to spend in the pursuit of 
 worldly gain. That man jeopards the interests 
 of his soul who, having a supply for the wants 
 of life, begins to thirst for a surplus. He enters 
 upon the taxing of that portion of his time which 
 is sacred to the service of God, and to a prepara- 
 tion for death and heaven. It is the longing after 
 this surplus, and the managing of it, which has en- 
 tangled so many professors of religion and others in 
 the snares of the devil. " Beware of covetousness." 
 This " beware" of the Saviour should be to us 
 like the ringing of a fire-bell at midnight. It 
 should arouse us to our danger, and make us vigi- 
 
t l M p i u a n C E . 83 
 
 lantlv guard against a passion which consumes the 
 vitals of piety, and opens the way to endless 
 ruin. " "Rut they that will be rich, fall into 
 temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and 
 hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and 
 perdition. For the love of money is the root of 
 all evil j which, while some coveted after, they 
 have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves 
 through with many sorrows. But thou, man 
 of God, flee these things ; and follow after right- 
 ousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness." 
 1 Tim. vi. 7-11. 
 
 The retribution of insulted Heaven always 
 falls, either in this world or in the other, upon 
 those who give themselves to the worship of 
 mammon. Gov. C } a man of large expe- 
 rience in men and things, and a man who feared 
 God, remarked to the writer that in the neigh- 
 borhood where he resided some years ago, he had 
 observed for a long while the course of certain 
 men who were devoting their talents and time 
 to the accumulation of money, and that he 
 had lived to see, almost without exception, the 
 
84 st. peter's chain. 
 
 children of those men reduced to poverty. A 
 portion of that time which should have been 
 given to the religious training of their children, 
 was given to getting riches; and when these 
 were gotten and placed into their hands, they 
 passed through them like water through a sieve : 
 they knew nothing of their use but to " consume 
 them upon their lusts." 
 
 Secondly, the desire of knoivledge. It is na- 
 tural for man to wish to acquire knowledge. He 
 is a rational being : born to observe, to think, to 
 reason, and to reflect. He loves to look into the 
 causes and into the effects of things. And it is 
 in this manner he gets knowledge. He reads 
 books, studies men and nature, travels over seas 
 and continents, that he may learn. This desire 
 is a laudable one, if it is not suffered so to run 
 into extremes as to interfere with other duties. 
 There is the duty of doing as well as knowing. 
 A man may be so absorbed with the desire of 
 increasing his knowledge as to forget his obliga- 
 tions to God and man. He may make an idol 
 of knowledge, and may offer his undivided horn- 
 
TEMPERANCE. 
 
 Knowledge is to be sought, not so 
 much for itself as for its utility — the help it will 
 afford us to discharge the great duties of life. 
 When that eminent Christian, James Hervey, 
 who died in triumph, apprehended himself to be 
 near the close of life, with eternity full in view, 
 he wrote to a friend at a distance, to tell him 
 what were his sentiments in that awful situation. 
 u I have been too fond/' said he, "of reading 
 every thing valuable and elegant, and have been 
 peculiarly charmed with the historians, orators, 
 and poets of antiquity ; but were I to renew my 
 studies, I would take my leave of those accom- 
 plished trifles : I would resign the delights of 
 rn wits, amusements and eloquence, and 
 devote my attention to the Scriptures of truth. 
 I would sit with much greater assiduity at my 
 Divine Master's feet, and desire to know nothing 
 in comparison of Jesus Christ, and him cruci- 
 fied." 
 
 Here, then, we have a death -bed view of 
 worldly knowledge, and we see how utterly insuf- 
 ficient it is to sustain the soul in its departure to 
 
86 st. peter's chain. 
 
 meet God. We would not depreciate knowledge : 
 it is good if sought as a qualification to useful- 
 ness in the service of God. To allow our desire 
 for knowledge, however, to carry us in pursuit of 
 too many objects, or to lead us after those which 
 are frivolous and worthless, is equally condemned 
 by that spirit of soberness and moderation incul- 
 cated by the word of God. 
 
 Thirdly. The desire of esteem. The wish to 
 have the good opinion of mankind is one to 
 which no man who possesses the better feelings 
 of our nature is a stranger. Abercrombie says, 
 11 This is a principle of most extensive influ- 
 ence, and is, in many instances, the source of 
 worthy and useful displays of human charac- 
 ter. Though inferior to the high sense of moral 
 obligation, it may yet be considered a laudable 
 principle : as when a man seeks the approbation 
 of others by deeds of benevolence, public spirit, 
 or patriotism : by actions calculated to promote 
 the advantage or the comfort either of communi- 
 ties or individuals. In the healthy exercise of it, 
 a man desires the approbation of the good : in 
 
T I M P I It A N E . 87 
 
 the distorted use of it, he seeks merely the praise 
 of i party, or, perhaps, by deeds of frivolous or 
 even vicious character, aims at the applause of 
 ;hose praise is worthless." 
 The extreme iuto which this desire is apt to run 
 is to be guarded against. One who disregards the 
 esteem of others, as well as one who values it too 
 highly, is liable to be ensnared. The first will 
 cease to be controlled by those proprieties which 
 characterize good society. He will become reck- 
 less in the indulgence of all manner of immorali- 
 ties, The other, again, will, under the slavery 
 of this principle, be seduced from the walks of 
 integrity and Christian high-mindedness. "The 
 fear of man," says the Scripture, "bringeth a 
 snare." Xow this fear may spring out of the 
 too great desire to please. Men may even, for 
 fear of offending others, or of exciting their 
 contempt or ridicule, omit the observance of an 
 important religious obligation : they may allow 
 themselves to assume positions and to perform 
 acts contrary to the dictations both of conscience 
 and the Bible. The inordinate desire for the 
 
88 st. peter's chain. 
 
 esteem of others undermines, like every other 
 wrong principle, confidence in God. u How can 
 ye believe who receive honor one of another?" 
 They who seek this earthly honor soon get to 
 undervalue the honor which cometh from above, 
 and whatever withdraws the mind from God 
 diminishes the strength of faith. "What deceit 
 has been practiced, what false adulation indulged 
 in, and what noble virtues sacrificed, at the insti- 
 gation of this love of admiration ! 
 
 It was to please Herod that the daughter of 
 Herodias danced before him. And Herod, in 
 order to please her, threw John the Baptist 
 into prison, and cut off his head. The thirst for 
 esteem has been the prolific source of a vast 
 amount of the world's crime and misery. The 
 Church of God has suffered from it. Some, to 
 obtain it, have allowed themselves to be enticed 
 iuto sin : to throw off all moral restraint, and 
 even to turn the weapons of persecution against 
 the truth of God. Christians, for the safety of 
 themselves, and for the safety of the cause 
 they have espoused, should not unduly value 
 
 
TEMPERANCE. 89 
 
 the esteem of others. We should " seek to 
 
 se others for their good to edification. " 
 
 The desire foi God's approbation, and an abiding 
 
 i of his presence, will never fail properly to 
 
 regulate this principle. 
 
 The desire of pleasure. This desire is uni- 
 versal in the hearts of men. All are in search 
 of those objects which they imagine afford happi- 
 piness. It is under the influence of this desire 
 that we are the most liable to run into excesses. 
 To choose those objects with which rational and 
 innocent pleasures are associated, and to enjoy 
 them without abusing them — to make them con- 
 tribute to our physical, and mental, and moral 
 good — this is wisdom : this is temperance. Solo- 
 mon says, u Hast thou found honey ? Eat so 
 much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled 
 therewith, and vomit it." A sufficiency of a law- 
 ful thing is sweet and profitable. Beyond this, 
 it frequently becomes nauseating and dangerous. 
 The principle the wise man would teach is, a 
 thankful and temperate enjoyment of earthly 
 rings. The gifts of God, by a wise use of 
 8* 
 
90 ST. PETER'S CHAIN. 
 
 them, promote our happiness, and become to us 
 the means of glorifying God; but the most ele- 
 vated pleasures, in the excess, are soon found 
 distasteful and injurious; fraught with disap- 
 pointment when separated from the great end. 
 
 In earthly pleasure we should never cease to 
 remember how faint the boundary -line is be- 
 tween the lawful and the unlawful. Sin, danger, 
 ruin, begin on the extremity of virtue. " Our 
 affections can never safely flow out to any object, 
 unless they are primarily fixed on God. Then 
 we may be sure not to offend either in the object 
 or measure. No man can in God love whom he 
 should not; nor immoderately love whom he 
 should. This holy respect doth both direct and 
 limit him, and shuts up his delights in the con- 
 science of a lawful fruition/' 
 
 Christian temperance consists in the use and 
 not in the abuse of that which is lawful. It is 
 the opposite of excess. It forbids drunkenness 
 and gluttony, two evils which are not confined to 
 those outside of the Church. Many professing 
 the religion of Christ, the religion of self-denial, 
 
T ■ M VV. KA N OS. 91 
 
 are unfortunately under their dominion. They 
 br what the world is accustomed to com- 
 mend as " good eating and good drinking." They 
 /at her about those boards where are 
 1 savory viands and sparkling wines, and, 
 led on by an unbridled appetite, they too often 
 to surfeiting and drink to inebriety. He who 
 cats to dulness is a glutton, and he who drinks to 
 excitement is a drunkard. Both are incompatible 
 with the strict, the chaste, and holy discipline of 
 Christianity. u When thou sittest/' says Solo- 
 mon, "to eat with a ruler, consider diligently 
 what is before thee ; and put a knife to thy 
 it, if thou be a man given to appetite. Be 
 »us of his dainties, for they are deceitful 
 meat." 
 
 How forcible this caution against indulgence of 
 appetite ! u lf thou he a man of appetite" If 
 thou hast formerly offended in this regard : if 
 thou hast been intemperate in eating and drink- 
 ing, now begin to practice abstinence : act as if 
 a knife was at thy throat: mortify thy lust, and 
 let not the dainties — deceitful meat — betray thee 
 
92 ST. PETER S CHAIN. 
 
 into intemperance. Alas ! how many who have 
 claimed to be the followers of Christ have fallen 
 into these pitfalls of Satan ! Apprehensive of no 
 danger, they have indulged their appetites to the 
 loss of all spirituality. As Christians, we may 
 learn to appreciate the danger of such indulgence 
 by the fearful dissipations which cursed the Co- 
 rinthian Church, and by the warning which the 
 Saviour gave to his disciples. "Take heed," 
 says he, "to yourselves, lest at any time your 
 hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunk- 
 enness, and cares of this life; and so that day 
 come upon you unawares." The ancient philo- 
 sophers, at least many of them, gave sound ad- 
 vice upon the subject of temperance in eating 
 and drinking. It is said of Diogenes, that, meet- 
 ing a young man who was going to a feast, he took 
 him up in the street, and carried him home to his 
 friends, as one who was running into imminent 
 danger had he not prevented. " What would 
 that philosopher have said, had he been present," 
 says Addison, "at the gluttony of a modern 
 meal ? Would not he have thought the master 
 
T i M V 1 : 11 A N C E . 93 
 
 of the family mad ; and have begged his servants 
 \v tied down his hands, had he seen him de- 
 vour fowl, fish, and flesh, swallow oil and vinegar, 
 wine and spices, throw down salads of twenty 
 different herbs, sauces of an hundred ingredients, 
 confections and fruits of numberless sweets and 
 flavors? What counter-ferments must such a 
 medley of intemperance produce in the body ! 
 For my part, when I behold a fashionable table, 
 set out in all its magnificence, I fancy that I see 
 gouts and dropsies, fevers and lethargies, with 
 other innumerable distempers, lodging in ambus- 
 cade among the dishes/' 
 
 The body is not the only sufferer in such ex- 
 cesses : the mind is stultified under them, and the 
 soul sensualized and contaminated. The whole 
 being is unfitted for that rational and holy service 
 which God demands of his creatures. Remember 
 the injunction of the Scriptures : " Look not thou 
 upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his 
 color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. 
 At the last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth 
 like an adder." 
 
94 st. peter's chain. 
 
 The religion of Christ requires that we refrain 
 not only from outward excess, but it enjoins the 
 strict control of our passions and tempers. The 
 God with whom we have to do u looketh at the 
 heart. " And it is according to the moral condi- 
 tion of the heart that he approves or condemns. 
 David, under a sense of the exposure of his heart 
 to the eye of God, prays, " Create in me a clean 
 heart, God, and renew a right spirit within 
 me." The Scriptures of God teach us that sin 
 does not always consist in overt acts, but that sin 
 and guilt originate in evil thoughts ; that adultery 
 is a lustful look ; and that murder is the hatred 
 of our brother. Our Saviour informs us that 
 "Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, mur- 
 ders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false-witness, 
 blasphemies/' Anger, pride, malice, revenge, 
 lust, envy, all evil passions, desires, emotions, and 
 affections, are inconsistent with that temperance 
 which forms one of the ornamental graces of the 
 Christian character. A life of self-denial is looked 
 upon by some as a hard life; but they deceive 
 themselves. Those who live a life of fleshly in- 
 
T E m r 1: R A NCE. 95 
 
 dulgenee are the drudges. They lead a course of 
 daily bondage to the most debasing appetites. 
 
 d ]>yron somewhere says that " Habit is 
 destiny." He knew well its power, its tyranny. 
 Nothing but the omnipotence of Divine grace 
 can control and destroy it. Think you that 
 the libertine and drunkard can enjoy any real 
 and solid happiness ? They might, if they had 
 no conscience and no reflection, possess a sort 
 of brute enjoyment, but their rational natures 
 will not allow of such an enjoyment, and hence 
 their very habits become to them a source of 
 misery. Well may the wise man ask, " Who hath 
 woe ? who hath sorrow ? who hath contentions ? 
 who hath wounds without cause ? who hath red- 
 ness of eyes ? They that tarry long at the wine : 
 they that go to seek mixed wine." Well, too, 
 may he warn against a course of libertinism, 
 speaking of the strange woman : u Remove thy 
 way far from her, and come not nigh to the door 
 of her house : lest thou give thine honor unto 
 others, and thy years unto the cruel : lest stran- 
 gers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labors be 
 
96 st. peter's chain. 
 
 in the house of a stranger; and thou mourn at 
 the last, when thy flesh and thy body are con- 
 sumed, and say, How have I hated instruction, 
 and my heart despised reproof!" " Her house 
 is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of 
 death." He who is under the influence of de- 
 praved habits is like the poor Gadarene, who was 
 possessed with devils : they drive him about as a 
 slave, and hold him "in durance vile :" and none 
 but He who ejected those devils and restored the 
 man to his right mind, can destroy these habits, 
 and give liberty to their captive. 
 
 Classify good and bad men according to their 
 principles. Put Enoch, Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, 
 John, Paul, Luther, and Wesley together. Then 
 put together Pharaoh, Ahab, Herod, Henry VIII., 
 Voltaire, and Thomas Paine, and say on which 
 side you would look for the greater happiness. 
 Certainly not among the latter; for " there is no 
 peace to the wicked ;" but among the former, for 
 " Great peace have they which love thy law." 
 
 A greater mistake was never made than to 
 suppose that happiness is to be found in self- 
 
TEMPEKAN C E . 07 
 
 indulgence. The opposite is true : happiness 
 is found alone in the path of self-denial. lie 
 who shuns this path must remain a stranger to 
 the most exquisite enjoyment permitted to mortals 
 on earth. How many are endeavoring to avoid 
 the duty of self-denial and cross-bearing, with the 
 vain hope of living a life of ease ! Alas ! they 
 only find themselves the greater strangers to what 
 they seek. Give to flesh and appetite all that 
 they demand, and still, with a restless, longing 
 dissatisfaction, they will cry, il Crive, give I" 
 
 What is worldly greatness but a pest, and a source 
 of disquietude ? This is shown in an anecdote 
 which Lady Colquhoun mentions in her work on 
 u The World's Religion/ ' and which was commu- 
 nicated to her by her father, Sir John Sinclair. 
 He was invited by a late eminent statesman, Lord 
 Melville, then high in office, to spend New Year's 
 day with him, at Wimbledon Common. He ar- 
 rived there the day before, and in the morning 
 repaired to the chamber of his host, to wish him 
 a happy New Year. "It had need be happier 
 than the last," replied Lord Melville; "for I can- 
 
 
98 st. peter's chain. 
 
 not recollect a single happy day in it!" And 
 this was the man who was the envy of many, 
 being considered at the height of worldly pros- 
 perity ! 
 
 What says Paul ? "I take pleasure in infirm- 
 ities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, 
 in distresses, for Christ's sake." In another 
 place, the apostle, after reciting a long catalogue 
 of his sufferings, says, "As sorrowful, yet always 
 rejoicing ) as poor, yet making many rich ; as 
 having nothing, yet possessing all things." 
 
 They who would have a clear mind and a quiet 
 conscience, must practice a life of self-denial — 
 temperance. " Finally, brethren, whatsoever things 
 are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever 
 things are just, whatsoever things are pure, what- 
 soever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of 
 good report : if there be any virtue, and if there 
 be any praise, think on these things." 
 
 " So let our lips and lives express 
 The holy gospel we profess : 
 So let our works and virtues shine, 
 To prove the doctrine all divine. 
 
TEMPERANCE. 
 
 99 
 
 M Thus shall wo best proclaim abroad 
 The honors of our Saviour God; 
 When the salvation reigns within, 
 And grace subdues the power of sin. 
 
 "Our flesh and sense must be denied, 
 Passion and envy, lust and pride; 
 While justice, temperance, truth, and love, 
 Our inward piety approve. 
 
 u Religion bears our spirits up, 
 While we expect that blessed hope, 
 The bright appearance of the Lord ; 
 And faith stands leaning on his word." 
 
100 st. peter's chain. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 PATIENCE. 
 
 The great importance of patience to Christ's disciples in stem- 
 ming the opposition they have to meet — Causes of impatience — 
 Several encouragements to patience considered — The poor Chris- 
 tian with lockjaw. 
 
 To temperance add patience. Our Saviour 
 did not decoy men into his service under prom- 
 ises of worldly riches and greatness. He did not 
 tell them that if they would become his disciples 
 he would secure them ease, fame, and power. 
 He rather taught the reverse. True, he pointed 
 to riches, honor, and glory, but they were to be 
 obtained after this life, in a higher and brighter 
 sphere. They were promised after a probation 
 of suffering, toil, and cross -bearing. The pic- 
 ture of suffering which the Saviour presented to 
 his disciples as awaiting them, was fearful to 
 
PATIENCE. 101 
 
 contemplate. From the 8th to the 19th verse 
 of the 21st chapter of Luke, we have some of 
 the trials which were to befall them set forth : 
 arraignment before governors, accusations before 
 councils, threatenings, persecutions, chastise- 
 ments, imprisonments, betrayals, and parental 
 and filial desertions. Yet. in view of all these 
 things, the Saviour says to them, " In patience 
 possess ye your souls/' What supplies of grace 
 and inward strength did this injunction promise ! 
 
 Let us consider the importance of patience in 
 the service of God. The word itself is from a 
 Latin word, which signifies to suffer. The pri- 
 mary sense is, to hold out — continuance. It is 
 the bearing, without fretfulness or murmuring, 
 pain, affliction, toil, calamity, or other evils. 
 
 Patience may spring from constitutional forti- 
 tude or firmness, a kind of heroic pride, or from 
 Christian submission or resignation to the Divine 
 will. It is of this last that we desire just now 
 to speak. None who have embarked in the 
 service of God, and continued in it long, are 
 insensible to the indispensablencss of this virtue. 
 9* 
 
102 st. peter's chain. 
 
 They have passed through scenes and have been 
 surrounded by circumstances where they have 
 deeply felt its need. The Christian cannot 
 promise himself exemption from crosses in this 
 world, since the Saviour has said, " In the world 
 ye shall have tribulation." Yet this is not their 
 sole inheritance here, for he adds, "In me ye 
 shall have peace :" li Be of good cheer, I have 
 overcome the world." The follower of Christ, 
 then, must look to be jarred and jostled by con- 
 tact with the world. He indeed is a new crea- 
 ture, but the world remains unchanged ; and the 
 very dissimilarity of nature which exists between 
 him and the world produces an antagonism, a 
 discordancy, which can never be reconciled. He 
 is pledged by his profession never to come upon 
 terms of intimacy with the world. The com- 
 mand of our Saviour is explicit : " Love not the 
 world." " Know ye not that the friendship of the 
 world is enmity with God ? Whosoever, there- 
 fore, will be the friend of the world is the enemy 
 of God." The Christian is the follower of one 
 whom the world hated. It refused him a recep- 
 
PATIENCE. 103 
 
 tion as well as an entertainment. It never 
 paused in its vindictive spirit towards him until it 
 had put him to death. Nor has its hatred ceased 
 with his death, but continues in unabated vio- 
 lence. His name and doctrines are traduced, 
 and his friends share with him in the world's 
 hatred. The Saviour, in view of the suffering 
 which his people would have to endure for his 
 sake, exhorts them to the cultivation of the spirit 
 of patience. 
 
 The Christian has his share in the misfortunes 
 which are common to our humanity ; and with- 
 out patience he will be ill prepared to bear up 
 under them. Among them we will mention a 
 few which put to trial his patience. 
 
 First, there is the loss of worldly goods. The 
 good man's possessions are exposed to all those 
 casualties and wasting agencies to which the 
 property of the wicked is exposed. But the 
 former has the advantage of the latter, in that 
 he is never without some important compensa- 
 tion, having grace to comfort him here, and a 
 title to a blessed inheritance hereafter. 
 
104 
 
 ST. PETERS CHAIN. 
 
 Job, the holy man of Uz, was suddenly re- 
 duced from the heights of affluence to the depths 
 of poverty. Yet he could say, " The Lord gave, 
 and the Lord hath taken away : blessed be the 
 name of the Lord/' The Scripture speaks of 
 those early Christians who suffered the spoiling 
 of their goods, but the grace which God imparted 
 to them enabled them to suffer such spoliation 
 joyfully. 
 
 Again, many Christians know nothing but 
 poverty from their birth to their death. All 
 their efforts to acquire a competency prove 
 abortive. It is with extreme difficulty that 
 they can clothe, feed, and shelter themselves. 
 Satan is not backward to seize upon such a con- 
 dition of things, and to turn them into torment- 
 ing temptations. He seeks to irritate their souls 
 and to stir them up to impatience, to distrust 
 God, and to entertain hard thoughts of him. 
 Those of our readers who have not been forced 
 to look poverty full in the face, can but poorly 
 appreciate the- distresses of those who have. 
 
 The treachery of friends is sometimes a source 
 
PATIENCE. 105 
 
 iiliction to the people of God. They find 
 those upon whom they have fondly relied, prov- 
 ing themselves false, seeking to undermine their 
 reputation, and taking advantage of them in 
 trade and otherwise. This is no insignificant 
 and uncommon trial. And it is well for those 
 who are subjected to it if they can "in patience 
 possess their souls." 
 
 Christians are liable to impatience from im- 
 paired health. While in the world they are ex- 
 posed to the vicissitudes of the seasons : to wet 
 and dry, to cold and heat. They have physical 
 organs which are liable to disease and to decay. 
 A thousand health-destroying agents surround 
 them. Many bear in their bodies those pains 
 which are the sure premonitions of approaching 
 death. This diseased condition of the body 
 often acts injuriously upon the mind, producing 
 depression and disquietude. The difficulty of 
 maintaining a patient and resigned spirit under 
 such circumstances is very great. 
 
 The loss of friends by death is also a trial to 
 which the patience of Christians is subjected. 
 
106 st. peter's chain. 
 
 Those especially who are possessed of a social 
 and affectionate nature, on the loss of loved ones, 
 have a fountain of grief opened in their hearts 
 which it is difficult to assuage. They are often 
 like wounded harts, which desert the herd, to 
 pine amid deep and solemn shades. They give 
 themselves to thoughts of sorrow, and, like 
 Kachel, pour out their lamentations, refusing to 
 be comforted. It is well if such a state of feeling 
 does not induce a morbid condition of mind, incom- 
 patible with the spirit and duties of Christianity. 
 There are many other trials by which the pa- 
 tience of Christians is proved, but which we need 
 not now specify. They have " fightings without, 
 and fears within/' Thousands of unfriendly in- 
 fluences are opposing their progress in piety, and 
 hindering them from laying hold on eternal life. 
 They are constantly in need of the spirit of watch- 
 fulness and prayer, lest they become " weary, and 
 faint in their minds. " It has been well said, 
 " We must pray as if nothing depended on our- 
 selves, and watch as if every thing depended on 
 ourselves/' 
 
PATIENCE. 107 
 
 Afflictions are a part of our inheritance. It 
 Icon observed, "Adversity, like winter wea- 
 ther, is of use to kill those vermin which the 
 summer of prosperity is apt to produce and nou- 
 rish." "However trees in the wilderness may 
 grow without culture, trees in the garden must be 
 pruned to be made fruitful; and cornfields must 
 be broken up, when barren heaths are left un- 
 touched/' An old writer says, "God had a Son 
 without sin, but none without sorrow : he had a 
 Son without corruption, but no son without cor- 
 rection/' " Sanctified afflictions are spiritual 
 promotions." Those children which are the most 
 humored and indulged, are the least inclined or 
 able to bear crosses. So those Christians who are 
 pampered and caressed by the world, are poorly 
 prepared to practice the self-denial and cross-bear- 
 ing which Christianity demands. They grow 
 impatient when duties are to be performed or 
 burdens borne. Many hardly have enough of 
 trials to entitle them to the name of children. 
 " If ye be without chastisement, whereof all are 
 partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons." 
 
108 st. peter's chain. 
 
 But let us consider how we may comply with 
 the injunction of the apostle, to add patience to 
 the other Christian graces. May we not cultivate 
 this virtue, so strengthen it, as that it may be- 
 come a habit of the soul ? This idea is perhaps 
 conveyed in the words of our Saviour : " In your 
 patience possess ye your souls. " Here we are in- 
 structed to seek that mental control by which we 
 may preserve ourselves from corroding care and 
 agitating fear. that we may catch that spirit 
 of encouragement which these words of the Sa- 
 viour are intended to afford ! 
 
 How, then, may we cultivate this Christian 
 virtue ? 
 
 1. By having our confidence in Divine goodness 
 increased, and by recognizing habitually God's 
 providence over us. This will serve wonderfully 
 to keep the mind tranquillized amid the various 
 perplexities and crosses incident to our earthly 
 sojourn. The prophet Isaiah felt that God was a 
 sure foundation, upon which the soul might se- 
 curely repose. "Thou wilt keep him in perfect 
 peace whose mind is stayed on thee ; because he 
 
P AT 1 ENCE. 109 
 
 trust- tli in thee. Trust ye in the Lord for ever; 
 fur in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength." 
 I. They who have an abiding trust 
 ire more than armed against their spirit- 
 ual (ves. They can triumphantly say, " God is 
 our refuge and strength : a very present help in 
 t rouble.' ' The Christian may sometimes be 
 forced with the Psalmist to cry out, " Why art 
 thou cast down, my soul ? why art thou dis- 
 quieted in me V* Yet, with the Psalmist, he 
 shall lift up his head, and, with a reanimated 
 soul, exclaim, U Hope thou in God ; for I shall 
 yet praise him for the help of his countenance." 
 This confidence in God led the Apostle Paul to 
 be contented in all the varied conditions of life; 
 for, says he, " I have learned, in whatsoever state 
 I am, therewith to be content." 
 
 The spirit of prayer is of great importance in 
 acquiring patience of soul. Christians of all ages 
 have realized its benefits in time of calamity and 
 trial. In the midst of tossings, the good man 
 says, while looking to God, " fteturn unto thy 
 rest, my soul." There are peculiar trials, when 
 10 
 
110 
 
 ST. PETER'S CHAIN. 
 
 the mind is so agitated that no reasoning can 
 suffice to quiet it, and our only succor is to be 
 found in approaching God in prayer. Then we 
 grow patient and courageous, and can tread the 
 path of duty, though it may be thronged with 
 dangers. Jacob trembled at the thought of meet- 
 ing the severe Esau ) yet after, by close and un- 
 ceasing prayer, he obtained the grace he implored, 
 he went forward to the interview without fear. 
 How often, when our spirits have been over- 
 whelmed within us — how often, when the waters 
 of trouble have rolled threateningly around us, 
 have we been made to cry out, " Master, carest 
 thou not that we perish ?" when lo ! He who is 
 mighty to save was at hand to rescue us and to 
 allay our agitations. Paul, to the Philippians, 
 says, " Be careful for nothing; but in every thing 
 by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, 
 let your requests be made known unto God. And 
 the peace of God, which passeth all understand- 
 ing, shall keep your hearts and minds through 
 Christ Jesus." 
 
 2. They who would have an increase of pa- 
 
PATIENCE. Ill 
 
 tience, must also seek for an increase of holiness. 
 Why is it that Christians ever grow impatient ? 
 It is, doubtless, from a want of a sufficient con- 
 f.dence in God's willingness to help in the hour 
 of need. And wherefore this want of confidence ? 
 It beyond doubt often originates in a sense of 
 unfaithfulness toward God. The trembling, anx- 
 ious one feels that sin has separated between him 
 and his God. A want of holiness has interrupted 
 his communion, and a sense of condemnation pro- 
 duces disquietude. " Brethren, if our hearts 
 condemn us not, then have we confidence towards 
 God/' A condemning conscience can afford no 
 peace to the soul, because God also condemns; 
 but an approving conscience is a fountain of 
 peace, because God approves. Now, in order to 
 secure the approval of God and our consciences, 
 we must seek to live uniformly holy. This holi- 
 ness will keep us in communion with God, and 
 will increase in proportion to the nearness and 
 constancy of that communion. With holiness of 
 heart and communion with God, the soul is secured 
 against fear and impatience. A child, when sepa- 
 
112 st. peter's chain. 
 
 rated from its parent amid darkness and danger, 
 is filled with alarm; but let it realize its parent's 
 presence, and lay its little hand into its parent's 
 hand, and its agitation ceases. So with the 
 Christian. When he cannot realize the Divine 
 presence, there comes over him a sense of weak- 
 ness and exposure. But let him feel that his God 
 is present with him, and his fears at once sub- 
 side, and his soul becomes calm and courageous. 
 Christian resignation or patience, then, can only 
 grow out of union with and confidence in God ; 
 and these can exist only in connection with holi- 
 ness. The most patient have been the most holy, 
 and the reverse. 
 
 3. As an encouragement to patience, the Scrip- 
 tures tell us to M look unto Jesus/' He not only 
 teaches us patience in his discourses, but exhibits 
 in his life the most beautiful example of it the 
 world has ever witnessed. Who was so abased, 
 so destitute, so comfortless as he ? " The foxes," 
 said he, " have holes, and the birds of the air 
 have nests ; but the Son of man hath not where 
 to lay his head." Whose mission was so misun- 
 
PATIENCE. lit 
 
 footood? whose motives were so impugned? 
 
 whose wordfl were so perverted as his? His ene- 
 mies, like tireless wolves, were ever upon his path, 
 Witching for occasions to harass and to destroy 
 him ; yet with what meekness and patience did 
 he bear up under these trials ! " When he was 
 reviled, he reviled not again : when he suffered, 
 he threatened not; but committed himself to 
 him that judgeth righteously/' 
 
 Paul points us to him for encouragement. " Let 
 us run with patience the race that is set before 
 us, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher 
 of our faith ; who, for the joy that was set before 
 him, endured the cross, despising the shame ; and 
 is set down at the right hand of the throne of 
 God." Keeping the eye of faith steadily fixed 
 upon Christ, and following in his steps, will pre- 
 serve the soul calm and unharmed amid the 
 spiritual tempests and dangers through which 
 pilgrims of Zion are called to pass. 
 
 4. A contemplation of the lives of the emi- 
 nently pious who have gone before us, is an en- 
 couragement to patience. Read the examples of 
 10* 
 
114 st. peter's chain. 
 
 patient suffering in Hebrews xi. There you have 
 before you those who, for the sake of Christ, en- 
 dured the most terrible afflictions. They were 
 mocked, tortured, stoned, sawn asunder. Others 
 wandered about in sheep-skins and goat-skins, 
 dwelling in dens and caves of the earth, " desti- 
 tute, afflicted, tormented :" u of whom," says the 
 apostle, " the world was not worthy.' ' 
 
 Thank God for this catalogue of suffering 
 saints ! It shows us that the grace of God can 
 sustain and comfort his people under the severest 
 earthly trials. The noble apostle of the Gentiles 
 was moved by the Spirit to write this chapter, 
 and to draw this picture of saintly suffering and 
 saintly triumph, for the encouragement of God's 
 people in all time to come. " Seeing we are com- 
 passed about with so great a cloud of witnesses," 
 we are inspired with a mightier courage, and a 
 more enduring patience to run the heavenly race, be- 
 set though it be with perils and hardship. While 
 we see the footprints of our Saviour, and of his suf- 
 fering but now victorious ones who have gone before 
 us, we can exultingly exclaim, with the sacred poet : 
 
PAT I I NO B. 115 
 
 4 '0, what are nil my Bufferings here, 
 It", Lord, thou count me meet 
 With that enraptured host t' appear, 
 And worship at thy feet!" 
 
 Fifthly, if we would " possess our souls in 
 patience/' we should habitually meditate upon 
 the reward set before us — heaven. Paul found 
 comfort in so doing. "For our light affliction, 
 which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far 
 more exceeding and eternal weight of glory : 
 while we look not at the things which are seen, 
 but at the things which are not seen ; for the 
 things which are seen are temporal, but the 
 things which are not seen are eternal." He con- 
 sidered his afflictions light, compared with that 
 weight of glory (transcendent exaltation and 
 bliss) which awaited him, and but for a moment 
 compared to its endless duration. Why did 
 Moses esteem the reproach of Christ greater 
 riches than the treasures of Egypt? Because 
 11 he had respect unto the recompense of reward." 
 Why did he forsake Egypt, not fearing the wrath 
 of the king? Because he " endured as seeing 
 him who is invisible." We may well dwell 
 
B 
 
 116 st. peter's chain. 
 
 above all internal disturbance when we remember 
 that the Saviour has " prepared a place' ' for us, 
 and has said, " "Where I am, there shall ye be 
 also." Who would cast away that " confidence" 
 to which is promised a u great recompense of 
 reward?" Can we distrust him whose word is 
 pledged to afford his people guiding, comforting, 
 and sustaining grace ? Has he said, " My grace 
 is sufficient for thee?" Art thou trembling 
 under a sense of thy weakness ? Dost thou feel 
 that Satan and the world are combined against 
 thee, and are plotting thy destruction ? Is the 
 race before thee a rough and perilous one ? Art 
 thou sometimes enveloped in darkness, bowed 
 under manifold temptations, through ignorance 
 involved in error ? Still confide in Him who 
 says, " My grace is sufficient for thee." Wisdom, 
 strength, comfort, victory in all difficulties, are 
 promised in these words. What have they to 
 fear who have the all-wise, the all-good, and the 
 almighty One as their guide and defender? Did 
 he not pluck the Israelites out of the hands of 
 the persecuting Pharaoh, and, amid wilderness 
 
TATIENCE. 117 
 
 nduct them safely to the land which 
 he had promised them through Abraham ? Did 
 he not shield his servant Daniel and the He- 
 children against pagan wrath ? Did he 
 in later times, in answer to the prayer of his 
 Church, dispatch an angel to unchain Peter, and 
 to deliver him from prison and from the expecta- 
 tion of the Jews ? And shall we fear what man 
 and Satan can do unto us while having such a 
 God to trust in? We may exultingly exclaim, 
 with the Psalmist, " Our God is the God of sal- 
 vation." His saving power shall encompass 
 his people throughout their earthly journeyings, 
 and bring them to their promised rest in heaven. 
 He who trusts in God has nothing to lose but 
 sin and hell j but all that is glorious to gain. 
 Jleaveu, as the consummation of a holy life, the 
 reward of faith through the merits of Christ, is 
 enough to preserve the soul from all impatience 
 and disquietude. He who can trust in God's 
 promises with all his heart will be raised above 
 all repinings. We have this fact exemplified in 
 
118 
 
 ST. PETER S CHAIN. 
 
 the lives of the apostles, as well as in the lives 
 of many modern Christians. 
 
 Dr. Gregory, of the Royal Military Academy, 
 in an address before the Bible Society in Eng- 
 land, related an incident strikingly confirmatory 
 of this truth. At the request of a benevolent 
 woman, he visited an indigent man. "On enter- 
 ing the cottage/' says he, " I found him alone, 
 his wife having gone to procure him milk from a 
 kind neighbor. I was startled at the sight of a 
 pale, emaciated man, a living image of death, 
 fastened upright in his chair by a rude mechan- 
 ism of cords and belts, hanging from the ceiling. 
 He was totally unable to move either hand or 
 foot, having, for more than four years, been en- 
 tirely deprived of the use of his limbs, yet the 
 whole time suffering extreme anguish from the 
 swellings at all his joints. 
 
 "As soon as I had recovered a little from my 
 surprise at seeing so pitiable an object, I asked, 
 'Are you left alone, my friend, in this deplorable 
 situation V ' No sir/ replied he, in a touchingly 
 
PATIENCE. 110 
 
 feeble tone of mild resignation, (nothing but his 
 lips tnd Qjm moving while he spoke,) <I am not 
 alone, for God is with me.' On advancing, I 
 found the secret of this striking declaration, 
 for his wife had left on his knees, propped with 
 a cushion for the purpose, a Bible lying open at 
 a favorite portion of the Psalms of David. I 
 sat down by him and conversed with him. On 
 ascertaining that he had but a small weekly 
 allowance, certain, I inquired how the remainder 
 of his wants was supplied. c Why, sir,'* said he, 
 1 'tis true, as you say, seven shillings a week 
 would never support us ; but when it is gone, I 
 rely upon the promise I find in this book : 
 " Bread shall be given him, and his water shall 
 be sure/ ,J I asked him if he ever felt tempted 
 to repine under the pressure of so long-continued 
 and heavy a calamity. ' Not for the last three 
 years/ said he : ' blessed be God for it/ — the eye 
 of faith sparkling, and giving life to his pallid 
 countenance, while he made the declaration; — 
 1 for I have learned in this book in whom to be- 
 lieve; and though I am aware of my weakness 
 
120 ST. peter's chain. 
 
 and unworthiness, I am persuaded that he will 
 never leave me nor forsake me. And so it is. 
 that often, when my lips are closed with lockjaw, 
 and I cannot speak to the glory of God, he 
 enables me to sing his praise in my heart.' 
 
 " This and much more," continues the Doctor, 
 "did I hear during my first visit; and in my 
 subsequent visits, (for I am not ashamed to say 
 that often, for my own benefit, have I gone to 
 the cottage of this afflicted man.) I generally 
 found him with his Bible on his knees, and uni- 
 formly witnessed the like resignation flowing 
 from the blessing of God upon the constant 
 perusal of the Holy Scriptures. He died with a 
 hope full of immortality, and is gone to the rest 
 that remaineth to the people of God. And gladly 
 would I sink into the obscurity of the cottage, 
 gladly would I languish in the same chair, could 
 I but enjoy the same uninterrupted communion 
 with God, be always filled with the same 
 strong consolation, and always behold, with equal 
 vivid perception before me, the same celestial 
 crown." 
 
PATIENCE. 121 
 
 In this example we see what patience confi- 
 dence in God can implant in the soul. Nothing 
 short of this confidence could have sustained 
 this poor man in the midst of such excruciating 
 and protracted suffering. Thus we learn, to pos- 
 sess patience we must possess God. 
 
 Dear reader, are you seeking to add patience 
 to your other graces? Are you committing 
 yourself and all your earthly and eternal interests 
 to God ? Seek to do this, if you would preserve 
 a tranquil soul. 
 
 "BE YE PATIENT." 
 
 "Beside the toilsome way, . 
 Lowly and sad, by fruits and flowers unblest, 
 Which my worn feet tread sadly, day by day, 
 Longing in vain for rest, 
 
 "An angel softly walks, 
 With pale, sweet face, and eyes cast meekly down ; 
 The while, from withered leaves and flowerless stalks, 
 She weaves my fitting crown. 
 
 "A sweet and patient grace, 
 A look of firm endurance true and tried, 
 Of suffering meekly borne, rests on her face, 
 So pure, so glorified. 
 
 11 
 
122 
 
 ST. PETERS CHAIN. 
 
 "And when my fainting heart 
 Desponds and murmurs at its adverse fate, 
 Then quietly the angel's bright lips part, 
 Murmuring softly, ' Wait ! ' 
 
 " 'Patience!' she sweetly saith — 
 * The Father's mercies never come too late ; 
 Gird thee with patient strength and trusting faith, 
 And firm endurance — wait!' 
 
 "Angel ! — behold — I wait — 
 Wearing the thorny crown through all life's hours, 
 Wait till thy hand shall ope the eternal gate, 
 And change the thorns to flowers." 
 
GODLINESS. 123 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 GODLINESS. 
 
 What it id not— Baptismal regeneration — What godliness is — Evi- 
 dences of increasing godliness — Evils of the theatre, novels, 
 ball-room — The profitableness of godliness — Living nearer to 
 God, etc. 
 
 Add to patience godliness. Godliness does 
 not consist in saying, u Lord, Lord :" does not 
 rest in formal services and Pharisaical observ- 
 ances : not in any outward appearances ; but it 
 is a principle of holiness in the heart, implanted 
 therein by the operation of the Spirit of God. 
 It includes that change which is theologically 
 termed regeneration. Some people hold to the 
 doctrine of " baptismal regeneration/'* or a re- 
 newal of heart by baptism. This doctrine is so 
 
 * See this subject discussed in "Summers on Bap- 
 tism." 
 
124 
 
 ST. PETERS CHAIN. 
 
 absurd and antiscriptural, that it is strange that 
 any person could receive it. Yet it is neverthe- 
 less so. The mistake in the reception of this 
 dogma lies in attaching an undue importance 
 both to the ordinance and to the administrator. 
 The ordinance, instead of being what it is — a 
 means of grace — becomes, in the hands of the 
 supposed successor of the apostles, grace itself; 
 or else they suppose that grace, through the ad- 
 ministrator, is imparted to the subject. 
 
 Paul never assumed to himself this power of 
 regenerating souls. In his Epistle to the Co- 
 rinthians, he says, " I thank God I baptized none 
 of you but Crispus and Gaius ; lest any should 
 say I had baptized in mine own name. And I 
 baptized also the house of Stephanas : besides, I 
 know not whether I baptized any other. For 
 Christ sent me, not to baptize, but to preach the 
 gospel." If any person were likely to know the 
 efficacy of this rite in regenerating the soul, Paul 
 was that person. Or if any person, by superior 
 qualifications in the ministry, could add any sav- 
 ing power to this rite, Paul had these qualifica- 
 
(i oDi.i M ess. 125 
 
 tions. Yet he appears to have been ignorant of 
 both. lie felt that his chief business was to 
 preach the gospel. Could he have saved souls 
 by adm 'mistering baptism alone, then he might 
 have omitted the preaching of the gospel, and 
 gone everywhere baptizing. 
 
 We do not intend to lower the dignity of this 
 sacrament : we would give it that position in the 
 Christiau system assigned it in the Scriptures. 
 It is to be regarded as the door of initiation into 
 the Church. In submitting to it, we make a 
 public profession of our faith in Christ as our 
 Saviour, and it becomes the badge of our disci- 
 pleship. That pardoning and regenerating grace 
 is sometimes given to a person in the act of re- 
 ceiving baptism, will not be denied; but this 
 grace comes from the Spirit of all grace, and not 
 from the minister. Faith takes hold of Christ 
 through baptism, as a means of grace, just as it 
 would take hold of him through any other means 
 of grace — prayer, the eucharist, the Bible, the 
 preached word. 
 
 In the case of Cornelius the centurion, we find 
 11* 
 
126 
 
 st. peter's chain. 
 
 that he received the Holy Ghost before his bap- 
 tism. So also did those who were present with v 
 him to hear Peter. As this apostle preached, it 
 is said " the Holy Ghost fell on all them which 
 heard the word." And as an evidence of it, they 
 spake with tongues, and magnified God. "Then 
 answered Peter, Can any man forbid water, that 
 these should not be baptized, which have received 
 the Holy Ghost as well as we ? And he com- 
 manded them to be baptized in the name of the 
 Lord." Here, then, the Holy Ghost did his 
 work without the imposition of apostolic hands. 
 
 Again, we have in the Acts of the Apostles 
 an example of one who received no spiritual 
 benefit, although the hands of an apostle were 
 laid upon him in baptism. This was Simon, the 
 sorcerer. Philip baptized him, and " he con- 
 tinued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the 
 miracles and signs which were done." He pro- 
 posed to purchase of the apostle the power of 
 imparting the Holy Ghost. Peter, who had 
 come down to Samaria, reproved him, declaring 
 to him that his heart was not H ri°;ht in the sight 
 
O0DLINIS8. 127 
 
 of God. Repent, therefore, of this thy wicked- 
 
 . ami pray God, if perhaps the thought of 
 
 thy heart may be forgiven thee. For I perceive 
 
 that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the 
 
 ; of iniquity." 
 
 Here, then, was an apostle who administered 
 the rite of baptism, and yet the subject, accord- 
 ing to the testimony of Peter, possessed a heart 
 a not right in the sight of God," and remained 
 in the u gall of bitterness, and in the bond of 
 iniquity." Now, both of the examples which 
 are here cited, make against the strange doctrine 
 of ''baptismal regeneration." Cornelius was re- 
 newed without baptism, and Simon was baptized 
 without being renewed. We have no need of 
 substituting baptismal fonts and purgatorial fires 
 for the "blood of Christ." This, the word of 
 God teaches us, u cleanseth from all unright- 
 eousness." 
 
 The instrument through which the saving 
 power of the Spirit is exerted, is the word of 
 truth. Hence, we read, " Born not of cor- 
 ruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word 
 
128 st. peter's chain. 
 
 of God, which liveth and abideth for ever/' 
 Philip preached the word to the eunuch : Paul 
 preached it at Athens and Rome, and souls were 
 converted. The word was preached by Peter on 
 the day of Pentecost, when so many were enabled 
 to believe. We shall find, in reading the Acts 
 of the Apostles, that the conversions of the mul- 
 titude recounted there, were effected through the 
 word. We do not affirm this to be the only in- 
 strumentality which the Holy Ghost employs to 
 save men; but we say it is the ordinary, the 
 chief one. 
 
 Godliness not only includes regeneration, but 
 justification, and its consequent fruit. " There- 
 fore, being justified by faith, we have peace with 
 God, through our Lord Jesus Christ : by whom 
 also we have access, by faith, into this grace, 
 wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the 
 glory of God." Paul to the Corinthians, says, 
 " Ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, 
 and by the Spirit of our God." The Spirit en- 
 lightens, convicts of sin, reveals Christ and his 
 atonement as the ground of pardon, encourages 
 
GODLINESS. 129 
 
 faith to shelter there, and then seals the pardon 
 upon the heart, filling it with holy joy. Hence, 
 \\v read in the Scriptures of the " renewing of 
 the Holy Ghost:" of "being sanctified by the 
 .Holy Ghost." 
 
 Here, then, is the origin of that godliness 
 which is under discussion. It begins with the 
 ehange of heart which takes place in the moment 
 of the soul's espousal to God. But those ad- 
 dressed by Peter were Christians; and when he 
 exhorts them to add godliness to their other 
 graces, we are not to suppose that he means 
 they are to seek the regeneration of their souls, 
 but rather that they must "grow in grace" — in- 
 crease in godliness. In a word, he is encourag- 
 ing the people of God to move forward to higher 
 attainments in holiness. The Scriptures every- 
 where urge upon the Christian a " continuance 
 in well-doing/' and the strengthening of those 
 spiritual gifts bestowed upon us, by avoiding sin, 
 and " watching unto prayer." 
 
 The threatenings, the admonitions, the pro- 
 mises of the Divine word, all have this in view. 
 
130 
 
 ST. PETER S CHAIN. 
 
 We are to " earnestly contend for the faith which 
 was once delivered unto the saints." " Stand 
 fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving toge- 
 ther for the faith of the gospel." We should be 
 like David, when he exclaims, " God, thou art 
 my God : early will I seek thee : my soul thirst- 
 eth for thee : my flesh longeth for thee : my soul 
 followeth hard after thee. 7 ' Here is a soul mov- 
 ing toward God as its true centre ; following 
 after him as its chief good ; crying, as it looks 
 up, " Whom have I in heaven but thee ? and 
 there is none on earth that I desire beside thee." 
 The godly soul disdains the sickly pleasures and 
 gaudy toys of earth, and fixes its gaze upon the 
 imperishable treasures of the skies. It "counts 
 all things but loss for the excellency of the know- 
 ledge of Christ," 
 
 Let us notice some of the evidences of a 
 healthy, increasing godliness. For as we may 
 know when God, for Christ's sake, pardons our 
 sins and adopts us into his family, so we may 
 know when we are u growing in grace." 
 
 There will be an increasing hatred of sin 
 
GOD LI N ESS. 131 
 
 The individual who is really advancing in piety 
 ha< no disposition to indulge in any sin. It mat- 
 not with him who loves it or smiles upon it, 
 'udenins it as that abominable thing which 
 hates. If such a one should be overtaken 
 in a fault, he does not justify himself in it, by 
 pleading the imperfection of his nature, or by 
 pointing to weak and defective professors, but 
 before God deplores his departure from him, and 
 entreats him, with tears of contrition, to pardon 
 his sin, and to " restore unto him the joys of his 
 salvation.' ' 
 
 Again, there will be a groicing indifference to 
 Uy pleasures. As religion in the soul in* 
 the love of the world decreases. The 
 hold of the world upon the affections of such a 
 soul goes on relaxing until it becomes disentan- 
 gled from its influence, emancipated from its fatal 
 sorcery, and can soar away heavenward upon the 
 wings of a vigorous and rejoicing faith. 
 
 When we observe professors of the religion 
 of Christ courting the pleasures of sense, and 
 pursuing the gay and fashionable world, we may 
 
 
132 
 
 ST. PETER S CHAIN. 
 
 know that their faith is weakening, and that the 
 decay of their spiritual life has begun. We feel 
 sad when we call up the hour of their conversion, 
 when God gave them pardon and peace, and 
 adopted them into his family. We are ready to 
 ask, Can they forget that hour and their protesta- 
 tions of love to God, and go back to the bondage 
 of sin and to the road of destruction ? Ah, how 
 many have we seen withering like some beautiful 
 tree whose roots are gnawed by devouring worms. 
 They have barely borne the flowers, much less 
 the fruits of piety, ere they begin to languish and 
 die. The neglected Bible, the deserted closet, 
 and their longings after earthly joys, point to a 
 fatal and unhappy end. 
 
 The theatre, the ball-room, and novels, are 
 among the snares which Satan, the cunning 
 fowler, has with too much success set for religious 
 professors. They have perhaps heard the first 
 spoken of as a school for the cultivation of taste, 
 and of the fine arts. Again, it has been said in 
 their hearing that the theatre has a moral ten- 
 dency, by exposing the vices of human nature 
 
GODLINESS. 
 
 Hon The vices of human nature may be 
 
 exposed, but not with the view of teaching mo- 
 rality and bettering the hearts of those who wit- 
 - the exposure; but rather for the purpose of 
 Lng for them, and conciliating towards 
 them the feelings of the spectators. If we 
 wished to harden a man and make him tolerate 
 vice in all its fornis, we could hardly more effect- 
 ually do it than by urging him to frequent the 
 theatre, and gaze upon the nightly spectacle of 
 murder and bloody assassination — upon virtue 
 bleeding in contempt, and vice triumphing amidst 
 friends. Here all his worst passions would be 
 excited by listening to the vulgarisms of seducers 
 and libidinous lovers. Here he would hear 
 from lewd actors, in the language of ribaldry and 
 blasphemy, religion, the ministry, and virtue 
 abused. A school of morality ! Did the world 
 ever hear of anybody's being converted by at- 
 tending a theatre, or made more virtuous by it? 
 "Who uphold it by their patronage ? For the 
 most part the licentious of the community. Do 
 the actors exhibit morality in their lives ? Do 
 12 
 
134 st. peter's chain. 
 
 they read the Bible, attend upon the services of 
 the sanctuary, and aid in the conversion of the 
 the world ? No, no ! Then let those blush who 
 advocate an attendance upon the theatre upon 
 the plea of its moral tendency. Aristotle, So- 
 crates, Plato, and Ovid — yea, Rousseau, the infi- 
 del, have spoken against theatres, as schools of 
 corruption and vice; and surely Christians can 
 never fall so far below heathens and infidels as 
 to call that innocent which they pronounce 
 vicious. It is reasonable to suppose that Mac- 
 ready, who once stood at the head of the list 
 among actors, should know the influence which 
 they exert. It is said that he retired from the 
 stage to live quietly in the bosom of his family ; 
 and, among other rules for governing that family, 
 there is one from which he never deviates : 
 "None of my children/' says he, "shall ever, 
 with my consent, or on any pretence, enter a 
 theatre, or have any visiting connections with 
 actors or actresses/' Let those who would live 
 godly lives shun these sinks of pollution. That 
 professor who gets his consent to visit them has 
 
GODLINESS. 135 
 
 already halted on the way to heaven and turned 
 backward. 
 
 The ball-room, like the theatre, contains an 
 atmosphere poisonous to piety. Here many have 
 lost their title to heaven, and have crucified the 
 >ur and put him to an open shame. Some 
 venture to advocate dancing as an important 
 accomplishment. But we question whether it 
 has ever contributed in the least to the happiness 
 of any individual or household. We believe 
 that no man has ever loved his wife the better for 
 being an accomplished dancer. But many a man 
 has had his heart ache from being the husband 
 of such a wife. She has kept her husband's 
 purse emptied by her extravagances, and his 
 patience thread-bare by her abandonment of 
 home and home responsibilities for the pleasures 
 of the ball-room, and for the society of others. 
 Such a husband is to be pitied, and so are those 
 children who have fallen into the hands of such 
 a mother. 
 
 It is afflicting to know that there are certain 
 parents professing godliness who allow, rather 
 
136 st. peter's chain. 
 
 who encourage, their children to dance by sending 
 them to schools gotten up for that purpose. A 
 teacher of dancing opens his rooms with an ad- 
 vertisement of rates of tuition, etc., and closes 
 by stating that the morals of the pupils will be 
 particularly guarded. This last is thrown in, 
 doubtless, to catch the pious. But what do 
 dancing-masters care for morals ? If they felt so 
 solicitous for the morals of the children, they 
 would give up their trade. The truth is, they 
 are proverbial for their Sabbath-breaking, swear- 
 ing and drinking propensities. These are the 
 last characters with whom children should be 
 permitted to associate. 
 
 It is said of Timothy, that he knew the Scrip- 
 tures from a child, and that they were taught 
 him by his mother and grandmother. It would 
 add nothing to the beauty of his character, nor 
 would it reflect any honor upon his pious instruct- 
 ors, had it been stated in connection with his 
 religious training, that he knew how to dance 
 from a child. To say of some men that they 
 were fine dancers would be at once to undignifv 
 
 
GODLINESS. 137 
 
 them. It would sound as a poor compliment to 
 BftOOBj Newton, Franklin, or Washington, to say 
 that they danced well. 
 
 Mahj religious parents, after having encour- 
 I their children to engage in these exercises, 
 have lived to see them grow up and die without 
 any religion. Indeed, our observation has proved 
 to us that the children thus indulged seldom 
 become pious. If they join any church, it is 
 generally one whose lax discipline will offer no 
 hindrance to their worldliness. Instructing chil- 
 dren to dance interferes with their mental and 
 moral culture. There is something so fascinating 
 about it, something so consonant to their na- 
 tures, that it absorbs them, soul and mind, and 
 they care to talk and think about nothing else. 
 If religious influences are thrown around them, 
 these are neutralized by this passion. They soon 
 get to dread the society of ministers and pious 
 people, because they imagine them opposed to 
 this amusement. 
 
 It is a worldly accomplishment at best, and the 
 Scripture says, u Be not conformed to this world." 
 12* 
 
138 st. peter's chain. 
 
 In proportion as you magnify this world in the 
 estimation of the young, in the same proportion 
 do you diminish the magnitude and importance 
 of eternal things. Hence the frequent warnings 
 in the Bible against loving the world : " Know 
 ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity 
 with God V\ Yet it is the aim of many parents 
 to teach their children to please the world. 
 They have them trained after worldly models, 
 and cultivate in them fashionable tastes. The 
 result is generally hurtful to their children. It 
 makes them artificial characters : enervates their 
 minds : leads them to become extravagant in 
 dress | to waste time ; to shun the society of the 
 sober and wise, for that of the gay and frivolous. 
 How important for all parents professing to be 
 the followers of Christ to withdraw their children 
 from such influences, and to form the resolution 
 of Joshua : "As for me and my house, we will 
 serve the Lord." No other course is compatible 
 with a godly obedience. Faithful Abraham 
 guided his family in the fear of the Lord, and 
 the Lord commended him for it. He says of 
 
(iODLINESS. 139 
 
 him, u For I know him, that he will command 
 his children and his household after him, and 
 they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice 
 and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon 
 Abraham that which he hath spoken of him." 
 
 W« shall not stop to notice the evil influence 
 which novels have had upon the piety of many. 
 Suffice it to say that they have been the prolific 
 S'jiirce of great spiritual distempers, producing 
 mental dissipation, and a distaste for the Holy 
 Scriptures, which have resulted in fearful apos- 
 tasies. 
 
 The Christian who is anxiously endeavoring to 
 
 his soul will avoid the very appearance of evil. 
 
 Worldly pleasures will be insipid and uninviting. 
 
 Another evidence of increasing godliness is a 
 growing fondness for the services of God's house. 
 Payers, its songs, its ordinances will be sweet 
 to the growing Christian. He will have the spirit 
 of David : " I was glad when they said unto me, 
 Let us go into the house of the Lord." "If I 
 forget thee, Jerusalem, let my right hand for- 
 her cunning. If I do not remember thee. 
 
140 st. peter's chain. 
 
 let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth ; 
 if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy/' 
 
 Another evidence of growing piety is a desire 
 for the companionship of God's people, especially 
 those who are decidedly pious. We will seek to 
 derive benefit from their example and their con- 
 versation, and can say, like the Psalmist, " I am 
 a companion of all them that fear thee, and of 
 them that keep thy precepts." 
 
 Again, a growing piety will show itself in a 
 " hungering and thirsting after righteousness." 
 The soul will pray, in the language of Moses, " I 
 beseech thee, show me thy glory." With this 
 desire there will exist a readiness to obey God in 
 whatever he commands : a burning zeal to pro- 
 mote the cause of truth, to aid in the salvation 
 of souls. 
 
 Such are some of the characteristics of that 
 godliness which we are exhorted to possess. He 
 who is possessed of it is rich indeed; for it is 
 written, " Godliness is profitable unto all things, 
 having promise of the life that now is, and of that 
 which is to come." 
 
GODLINESS. 141 
 
 There are many who delay the embracing of 
 the religion of Christ, for fear of its interfering 
 with some of their worldly projects and schemes, 
 projects and schemes are dishonor- 
 able and sinful, this religion will by no means 
 ite them; but if they are worthy and proper, 
 then it will interpose no obstacle, but rather in- 
 sure success. 
 
 Godliness procures those temporal blessings 
 which the world prizes and seeks after. 
 
 It is promotive of health. It is known that 
 Be follows excesses. We should be astonished, 
 if diseases could be traced back to their causes, 
 to find what a large proportion of their number 
 have originated in habits of dissipation. Now, it 
 is the object of religion to correct these habits, 
 and to lead men to be sober and temperate in all 
 _s. In forbidding all excesses, it would pre- 
 vent not only the infraction of the moral law, but 
 of those great physical laws which God has im- 
 pressed upon our natures. Those who lead disso- 
 lute lives, sin not only against moral but against 
 physical law, and therefore pay the penalty in 
 
142 st. peter's chain. 
 
 the loss of health. The mental, physical, and 
 moral constitutions all become diseased, and break 
 down, under a course of sin. Keligion is a 
 great hygienic principle, and comes to restore 
 man to health, and to keep him in health, by 
 prescribing to him a course of moderation and 
 temperance in all things. 
 
 Godliness is promotive of health further, be- 
 cause it relieves the mind of corroding cares. 
 That much disease has originated from this cause, 
 is beyond question. Yea, death itself has followed 
 it. U The sorrow of the world," says the Scrip- 
 ture, " worketh death/' It belongs to our holy 
 religion to relieve the mind from its burdens, and 
 to quiet its agitations. It says to it, " Peace, be 
 still." It points the soul up to God, and says : 
 
 "No profit canst thou gain 
 By self-consuming care : 
 To Him commend thy cause : his ear 
 Attends the softest prayer." 
 
 Peter says, " Casting all your care upon him, 
 for he careth for you." Isaiah: "Thou wilt 
 
GODLINESS. 143 
 
 keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed 
 on thee." 
 
 It promotes to honor. It leads a man to be 
 courteous, kind, and upright in his intercourse 
 with the world; and thereby secures the good- 
 will and respect of all whose friendship is of any 
 value. The religion of Christ has nothing in it 
 incompatible with the strictest rules of politeness. 
 It carries in itself the very spirit of true polite- 
 ness, which consists, not in the observance of a 
 worldly etiquette, but in a feeling of benevolence 
 toward others, and readiness to contribute to their 
 comfort. Peter enjoins it upon his brethren to 
 be courteous. Paul says, " Be kind one to an- 
 other; tender-hearted. " He himself was a spe- 
 cimen of good -breeding. No man who obeys 
 the teaching of God's word can fail to be re- 
 spected. " Him that honoreth me," saith the 
 Lord, "I will honor." Godliness implants in 
 the heart those dispositions which make up amia- 
 bility; which give to character that moral sym- 
 metry and worth which cannot fail to elicit ad- 
 miration. 
 
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 Again : it secures success in business. Godli- 
 ness is opposed to idleness and profligacy, the 
 cause of so much misery and poverty. It encour- 
 ages industry and frugality. The word of God, 
 while it commands the observance of the Sabbath, 
 enjoins labor on the six days. Its language is, 
 " Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work." 
 Paul, to the Romans, couples worldly and spiritual 
 industry together : " Not slothful in business ) 
 fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." The 
 Psalmist says, " Both riches and honor come of 
 thee." Even godliness, without earthly riches, 
 is a treasure within itself, and compensates for 
 the want of earthly ease and luxuries. If an 
 individual is poor, how much better can he en- 
 dure poverty, if he possesses an approving, con- 
 science, peace with God, and a title to an endless 
 and heavenly inheritance ! But it is true, as we 
 have said, that godliness secures worldly success, 
 in that it encourages good habits. Find a com- 
 munity of consistent Christians, and you will 
 find an industrious, frugal, generous, and happy 
 people. 
 
(JODLINESS. 145 
 
 But godliness has the promise not only of the 
 blessings of "this life," but of "the life to 
 come." Here it has the promise of "a good 
 reputation, and an honored name when dead i" 
 mfort in affliction :" "food and raiinent :" 
 " support in old age and in death. " But it pro- 
 mises blessings beyond the grave. It sustains the 
 soul when beauty, wealth, honors, and friends 
 fail. Infidelity promises no future happiness. It 
 would even blot out the hopes of Christianity : 
 rob the soul of all its comforts, and leave it to an 
 uncheered and rayless passage into a world of 
 gloom. But, thank God, our glorious religion 
 illumines the valley of death, and introduces its 
 possessor to an inheritance of glory and happi- 
 ness. What that life to come is, we cannot now 
 know; but it is in perfect contrast with this 
 present life. This is one of toil, sorrow, and 
 temptation : that is one of rest, peace, security. 
 
 "Beyond this vale of tears 
 There is a life above, 
 Unmeasured by the flight of years, 
 And all that life is love." 
 
 13 
 

 146 st. peter's chain. 
 
 The truly godly man easily parts with the 
 world for heaven. He has that spirit which was 
 manifested in the remark of an eminent man. 
 "At my death/ ' said he, " I mean to take a total 
 adieu of the world, not caring for a monument, 
 history, or epitaph : not so much as the memory 
 of my own name to be found anywhere but in the 
 universal register of God/' 
 
 Reader, what is the condition of your heart? 
 Do you find it humble before God, and full of 
 love to him and to your neighbor ? Remember, 
 "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy 
 heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, and 
 with all thy strength. And thou shalt love thy 
 neighbor as thyself." Obedience to these com- 
 mands constitutes true godliness. Let us seek to 
 live nearer to God. 
 
 " Nearer, my God, to thee — 
 
 Nearer to thee! 
 E'en though it be a cross 
 
 That raiseth me: 
 Still all my song shall be, 
 Nearer, my God, to thee — 
 
 Nearer to thee! 
 
 
GODMNKSS. 147 
 
 "Though, liko a wanderer, 
 
 The sun goes down, 
 Darkness comes over me, 
 
 My rest a stone ; 
 Yet in my dreams I'd be 
 Nearer, my God, to thee — 
 
 Nearer to thee ! 
 
 "Then let the way appear 
 
 Steps unto heaven : 
 All that thou sendest me, 
 
 In mercy given: 
 Angels to beckon me 
 Nearer, my God, to thee — 
 
 Nearer to thee ! 
 
 "Then, with my waking thoughts 
 
 Bright with thy praise, 
 Out of my stony griefs, 
 
 Bethel I'll raise: 
 So, by my woes to be 
 Nearer, my God, to thee — 
 
 Nearer to thee! 
 
 11 Or if, on joyful wing, 
 
 Cleaving the sky, 
 Sun, moon, and stars forgot, 
 
 Upward I fly: 
 Still all my song shall be, 
 Nearer, my God, to thcc — 
 
 Nearer to thee!" 
 
148 st. peter's chain. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 BROTHERLY KINDNESS. 
 
 The scriptural view of this subject — Brotherly love overflows 
 party boundaries — The primitive Christians — Paul's illustration 
 of Christian unity — A living Church. 
 
 To godliness add brotherly kindness. This 
 love which Christians are to cherish for each 
 other is one of the fruits of that godliness of 
 which we spoke in the preceding chapter. There 
 can never exist this brotherly affe'ction where 
 there is no genuine scriptural piety. Men may 
 respect each other, perform offices of kindness 
 for each other, they may even be strongly 
 attached to each other, and have no religion; 
 yet to possess this brotherly affection recom- 
 mended by the apostle, requires the regeneration 
 of our nature and a gracious state of soul. In- 
 deed, it is one of the evidences of our being 
 
BROTH I II L Y KINDNESS. 149 
 
 renewed in Christ. "We know/ 7 says John, 
 " that we have passed from death unto life, be- 
 lt we love the brethren." The carnal mind 
 must be renewed before this love for Christians 
 can occupy the heart; for the carnal mind, which 
 is enmity against God, is enmity also to that which 
 is like God — which bears his holy image. The 
 ungodly may acknowledge the worth of the Chris- 
 tian, may feel honored by his acquaintance, may 
 do him an act of kindness ; yet he cannot possess 
 for him that tender, sanctified attachment denom- 
 inated "brotherly love." This love must be 
 wrought in the heart through the operation of 
 the Holy Spirit. He who loves a follower of Christ 
 because he is such, gives a certain evidence of hav- 
 ing received a like spirit. It is equally true, on 
 the other hand, that a want of this love for the 
 pious is the evidence of an unrenewed and an 
 unenlightened soul. "He that loveth not his 
 brother abideth in death." "Beloved, let us 
 love one another; for love is of God ; and every 
 one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth 
 God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God ; for 
 13* 
 
150 st. peter's chain. 
 
 God is love. Herein is love : not that we loved 
 God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be 
 a propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so 
 loved us ; we ought also to love one another. If 
 a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, 
 he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, 
 whom he hath seen, how can he love God, whom 
 he hath not seen ?" Here, then, we have pre- 
 sented to us the source of this love : " Love is 
 of God;" and the evidence it affords of our filial 
 relation to God : " Every one that loveth is born 
 of God and knoweth God." No man, destitute 
 of this love to the brotherhood, can claim to love 
 God, without bringing upon himself the charge of 
 falsehood. He " abideth in darkness." He gets 
 up at morn and lies down at eve in spiritual 
 night: the "true light" has not shined into his 
 heart. He is not only in darkness, but in death. 
 He u abideth in death," an alien to God and to 
 that new and divine life revealed in the gospel. 
 Christ, the resurrection and the life, hath not 
 spoken the word of quickening and salvation to his 
 soul. He remains "dead in trespasses and sins." 
 
BROTHERLY KINDNESS. 151 
 
 "Love the brotherhood" is tlio language 
 of one who breathed the gospel spirit. Chris- 
 tian love grows out of Divine love — that love 
 which God sheds abroad in the heart. It 
 can only exist in a renewed heart, for it is an 
 affection or principle too refined and pure for an 
 unregenerate heart. It flows out of and goes along 
 with love to God. A person who has never been 
 converted has no love for God, but, rather, cher- 
 ishes against him a feeling of enmity; for the 
 " carnal mind is enmity against God, and is not 
 subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." 
 The more men dislike God, the more they must 
 dislike those who the most resemble him in the 
 purity of their lives. On the other hand, those 
 who have the greatest love for God will have this 
 principle of brotherly kindness the most strongly 
 and permanently fixed in their hearts. The 
 Christian loves his Saviour, loves the virtues of 
 his character, his meekness, his benevolence, 
 and his spotlessness. And this love for his Sa- 
 viour leads him to love all who resemble him. 
 He discovers those traits of character in his 
 
152 st. peter's chain. 
 
 brother which speak to him of Christ, and tell 
 him that he too has " put on Christ/' and has 
 a drunk into the same spirit' 7 with himself. 
 Those who belong to the household of faith pos- 
 sess a household affection : common sympathies, 
 common interests, and common cares, unite their 
 hearts ; and so long as they remain in this rela- 
 tion to one another, so long will this affection 
 exist. Their union increases their affection, and 
 their affection strengthens their union. 
 
 "Love the brotherhood." And who consti- 
 tute this brotherhood ? Those alone who bow 
 around the altars where I am accustomed to 
 worship ? those who rally with me around the 
 same denominational standard, and who sub- 
 scribe to the same denominational creed ? Surely 
 not. They may form a portion of that brother- 
 hood, but do not constitute the whole of it. All 
 who have been renewed and born of water and 
 of the Spirit, and who have been engrafted by 
 faith into Christ, and are branches of that holy 
 vine, belong to this brotherhood. They may 
 differ in color, in social position, in intelligence, 
 
BROTHERLY KINDNESS. 153 
 
 and in wealth. They may differ in Christian 
 experience. Some may have a weak faith, and 
 some a strong faitb. Some may have but reached 
 the first stage of a religious life ; others may 
 have gone on and reached Christian perfection. 
 Some may be babes, some young men, and some 
 fathers in -Christ. Still, being in Christ, they 
 make up but one family, and are entitled to my 
 warmest affection. I am not to inquire, as a 
 condition of giving them my love, Can they pro- 
 nounce my sectarian shibboleth, and do they em- 
 brace my creed ? No ; but do they love my Sa- 
 viour, and are they his followers ? It is allowable 
 for me to love my denomination better than oth- 
 ers, to prefer above others its standards of theol- 
 ogy, and its formularies of worship. Yet I am 
 not to forget the fact that Christ has other sheep 
 which are not of this fold to which I belong ; 
 and that these (when he has at the last day 
 divided the good from the wicked) will he bring 
 with him where all distinctions shall be blotted 
 out, and there shall be but one fold and one 
 Shepherd. 
 
154 st. peter's chain. 
 
 That love which we are to possess and to cul- 
 tivate flows beyond all party boundaries, and ex- 
 tends itself to all true saints. One well says, 
 y When we love our own party exclusively ■, or 
 persons only of our own peculiar train of think- 
 ing, we love ourselves in them. We see our own 
 image and admire it. But when we love those 
 who differ from us in non-essentials, because we 
 discover in them the humility, meekness, purity, 
 patience, and benevolence of the Redeemer, then 
 our love is truly Christian. It is Christ in them 
 whom we love." Those who profess to be the 
 disciples of Christ, for the most part, need more 
 of this holy love — this love which binds heart to 
 heart for Christ's sake : which seeks in others 
 for Christ, and embraces those most warmly in 
 whom they most discern him. It is sad to 
 reflect upon the great want of this enlarged affec- 
 tion among professing Christians : this affection 
 which rests upon pure Christian principles. We 
 hear it preached about in the pulpit, talked of in 
 the Church : its excellence and beauty are highly 
 extolled. But how few cultivate it and give it an 
 
BROTH i; 11 LY KINDNESS. 155 
 
 abiding-place in their hearts ! Sometimes, on 
 certain occasions of spiritual refreshing, we see 
 evidences of its existence : it overleaps its usual 
 enclosure, and takes in the Christian world; but 
 when these glad seasons are ended, this love be- 
 gins to lose its expansion and warmth, and to 
 grow contracted and selfish. The word of God 
 would have this principle of love, like every 
 other holy principle, permanently fixed and ever 
 strengthening in the heart. M Let brotherly 
 love continue." " Be kindly affectioned one to 
 another with brotherly love." How beautiful 
 was the picture of love which was exhibited by 
 the disciples on the day of Pentecost ! The sacred 
 historian says, "And the multitude of them that 
 believed were of one heart, and of one soul." 
 We cannot withhold from the reader the remarks 
 of the Rev. Lyman Coleman, in his " Christian 
 Antiquities," on the mutual love and concord of 
 the primitive Christians : 
 
 "Among the various features in the character 
 of the primitive Christians, there is none that so 
 eminently claims our admiration as their mutual 
 
156 st. peter's chain. 
 
 love. All the details transmitted to us of their 
 social intercourse, and of their public conduct, 
 bespeak the lively operation of this Christian 
 spirit. And when we read of the delightful har- 
 mony and concord that reigned in their assem- 
 blies ; their ready disposition to render every one 
 his due; the high, condescending to those of low 
 degree } the poor, giving the tribute of their re- 
 spect to those whom Providence had placed in a 
 more exalted station ; and all vying, with amiable 
 rivalry, to promote each other's happiness and 
 welfare, we perceive the strong ground of the 
 proverbial observation of the heathen : ' Behold 
 how these Christians love one another V Not 
 only when they were in small numbers, and, 
 meeting together almost daily, were well known 
 to each other, did this admirable affection prevail 
 among them, but, how widely soever they might 
 be separated, the ardor of their love suffered no 
 diminution ; and, forgetting every other distinc- 
 tion" in that of being the followers and friends of 
 the Saviour, they sympathized in each other's 
 joys and sorrows. Whatever blessing one of their 
 
B B I 11 K B L Y KIND N ESS. 157 
 
 Qumber had received, was a subject of lively 
 gratitude to ;ill; and whatever calamity bad be- 
 fallen a single member, spread a gloom over the 
 whole community. 
 
 u Bound to each other by ties infinitely holier 
 and dearer than any that belong to the world, 
 they looked upon themselves as members of the 
 same common family. Every time that they met, 
 either in their own houses or in their public as- 
 semblies, they interchanged the kiss, as a badge 
 of fellowship and token of the warmest affection. 
 Though totally unconnected by ties of consan- 
 guinity, they addressed each other, according to 
 their age and sex, by the name of father, mo- 
 ther, brother, sister. Though naturally separated 
 by distinction of rank and diversity of color, no- 
 thing could cool the ardor or prevent the recipro- 
 cities of their mutual love. The knowledge of 
 the simple fact that any one was a follower of 
 Jesus, changed him at once from a stranger to a 
 friend ; creating a union between them not to be 
 described by the cold, selfish friendship of the 
 world ; and to them belongs the peculiar distinc- 
 14 
 
158 st. peter's chain. 
 
 tion of realizing a state of society which many 
 philosophers had often delighted to picture to 
 their fancy, and wished for in vain — the idea of a 
 community united by no other bond than the 
 golden chain of universal love." 
 
 What a happy thing for the world, had this 
 delightful state of things continued in the 
 Church ! But, alas for poor human nature ! it 
 yielded to the solicitations of evil. A lust for 
 pleasure, for power, for riches, with false doctrine, 
 crept into the sacred enclosures of the Church, 
 and divisions and discords followed, and have re- 
 mained until the present day; and it can no 
 longer be said of the general Church, " Behold 
 how these Christians love one another." 
 
 When shall the spirit of contention cease, 
 and the spirit of peace, and harmony, and bro- 
 therly love return? Not until the Church has 
 divorced itself from its unholy alliance with the 
 world, and not until it has received a mightier 
 anointing of grace, and drunk deeper into the 
 spirit of its Divine Head., Then, and not till 
 then, shall the Church fully obey Christ, who 
 
B R O T IT K R h Y KINDNESS. 159 
 
 has said, u This is my commandment, That ye 
 love one another, as I have loved you." 
 
 This brotherly love in a Church can alone pre- 
 serve its unity. "We have hinted at this unity, 
 but wish to add a word more upon it. Its im- 
 portance is plainly exhibited by the frequency 
 with which it is mentioned in the Scriptures. 
 " Behold how good and how pleasant it is for 
 brethren to dwell together in unity ! It is like 
 the precious ointment upon the head, that ran 
 down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard : that 
 went down to the skirts of his garments. " Ps. 
 cxxxiii. 1. Our Saviour says, "Neither pray I 
 for these alone; but for them also which shall 
 believe on me through their word : that they 
 all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and 
 I in thee, that they also may be one in us ; that 
 the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 
 And the glory which thou gavest me, I have 
 given them ; that they may be one, even as we 
 are one." John xvii. 22. "I, therefore, the pris- 
 oner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy 
 of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all 
 
160 st. peter's chain. 
 
 lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, for- 
 bearing one another in love : endeavoring to keep 
 the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace/ ' Eph. 
 iv. 1. 
 
 "We might multiply passages from the word of 
 God, bearing upon Christian unity; but the 
 above are sufficient to show us the Spirit's teach- 
 ing upon this subject. We have the Psalmist 
 characterizing it as good and pleasant. It is good 
 in principle, because it is the obeying of scrip- 
 tural teaching; and good in its results, convin- 
 cing those that are without that religion is true. 
 This unity is pleasant, since it shuts out every 
 element of discord, and binds heart to heart. 
 Again, this unity is pleasant to contemplate, for, 
 however the world may wrangle and contend, it 
 can never cease to admire that spirit of concord 
 and peace which reigns in the hearts of true be- 
 lievers. The Psalmist compares it to oil, which, 
 says Dr. Delany, u is, without question, the finest 
 emblem of union that was ever conceived. It is a 
 substance consisting of very small parts, which yet, 
 by their mutual adhesion, constitute one uniform, 
 
BROTHERLY KINDNESS. 161 
 
 well-united, useful body. The sacred oil carries 
 the idea and advantage of union yet farther, which, 
 being extracted from various spices, yet made up 
 one well-cohering and more valuable compound." 
 We see how the blessed Saviour regarded this 
 uuity among his disciples, by the intercessory 
 prayer which he offered up in their behalf. He 
 prays that they may be one — not only they who 
 were immediately associated with him — but all 
 (including believers of all time) who should be- 
 lieve on him through their word. One, as he 
 and the Father are one : one in purity of heart 
 and design, in affection, and labor : one, that the 
 world might know that he was sent of the Fa- 
 ther. This being " like-minded, having the same 
 love, being of one accord, of one mind," is influ- 
 ential for good upon the minds of gainsayers, 
 convincing them of the truth of Christianity, by 
 showing them that it has power to destroy the 
 selfishness of human nature, to eradicate from the 
 hearts of men all malign passions and low affec- 
 tions, and to unite them in the love and pursuit 
 of those objects which serve to promote their mu- 
 14* 
 
162 st. peter's chain. 
 
 tual good. The loving of one another, and the 
 " bearing of one another's burdens/' prove the 
 mission of Him whom they profess to obey and 
 follow truly Divine ; for it manifests a spirit of 
 disinterestedness which belongs not to the world, 
 and can only find its origin in a being superhuman 
 and Divine. 
 
 Paul exhorts the Ephesians to the cultivation 
 of those graces which were in keeping with their 
 vocation, and to endeavor to u keep the unity of 
 the Spirit in the bond of peace." Without this 
 endeavor, they could make no progress in a life 
 of piety, for where discord reigns there will be 
 found every evil work. How did the holy apos- 
 tle grieve over the divisions which rent in pieces 
 the Corinthian Church ! He saw in them the 
 works of the flesh, the spirit of the evil one; 
 for, says he, "Ye are yet carnal; for whereas 
 there is among you envying, and strife, and divi- 
 sions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men V 7 He 
 affectionately strives to unite them in love, by 
 saying, "Now I beseech you, brethren, by the 
 name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak 
 
BEOT U E B L V K I N D N E B S . 1G3 
 
 the same thing, and that there be no divisions 
 among you; but that ye be perfectly joined to- 
 gether in the same mind and in the same judg- 
 ment." He illustrates the importance of Chris- 
 tian unity by a striking similitude, taken from 
 the mutual dependence of the various parts of 
 the human body. These various parts all har- 
 moniously unite, and form one complete body. 
 " For the body is not one member, but many. 
 If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, 
 I am not of the body ; is it therefore not of the 
 body ? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not 
 the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not 
 of the body ? If the whole body were an eye, 
 where were the hearing? If the whole were 
 hearing, where were the smelling? But now 
 hath God set the members every one of them in 
 the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they 
 were all one member, where were the body? But 
 now are they many members, yet but one body. 
 And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no 
 need of thee : nor again the head to the feet, I 
 have no need of you. Nay, much more those 
 
164 st. peter's chain. 
 
 members of the body, which seem to be more 
 feeble, are necessary. And those members of the 
 body, which we think to be less honorable, upon 
 these we bestow more abundant honor; and our 
 uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. 
 For our comely parts have no need; but God hath 
 tempered the body together, having given more 
 abundant honor to that part which lacked : that 
 there should be no schism in the body ; but that 
 the members should have the same care one for 
 another. And whether one member suffer, all 
 the members suffer with it ; or one member be 
 honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now 
 ye are the body of Christ, and members in par- 
 ticular." "For as the body is one, and hath 
 many members, and all the members of that one 
 body, being many, are one body, so also is 
 Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized 
 into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, 
 whether we be bond or free ; and have been all 
 made to drink into one Spirit." Such are the 
 powerful arguments which the apostle presents 
 to enforce the propriety as well as necessity of 
 
 
 
BROTH EltLY KINDNESS. 1G5 
 
 Christian unity. The diversity of gifts and of 
 offices affords no ground for schism , but is ra- 
 ther to be desired, as giving symmetry and com- 
 pleteness to this spiritual body. Whatever social, 
 spiritual, or intellectual differences may exist 
 among its members, yet, having been " baptized 
 by one Spirit into one body, and made to drink 
 into one Spirit/' they become one in Christ, and 
 members one of another. 
 
 Nothing, then, can promote unity but this 
 brotherly kindness, which we are exhorted to add 
 to our other graces. And without this unity 
 there can be no strength. Well did the great 
 Washington understand the importance of union 
 among the States of this confederacy, in order to 
 its growth and perpetuity. Hence that signifi- 
 cant and oft-repeated declaration of his : " United, 
 we stand : divided, we fall." This is but the 
 reiteration of the Saviour's sentiment : "A 
 house divided against itself shall not stand." If 
 all the people of God could present to the world 
 an evidence of love and harmony among them- 
 selves, the triumph of the truth would be 
 
166 st. peter's chain. 
 
 placed beyond uncertainty; for then the world 
 could no longer find ground to cavil at Christian- 
 ity; its divinity would be a demonstration. The 
 inefficiency of the Church has originated in its 
 divisions and contentions, which have impaired 
 its moral force and dimmed its glory. Had those 
 who have been wrangling about doctrinal, gov- 
 ernmental, and ritual differences, been " keeping 
 the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace/' 
 then would the Saviour by this time have had a 
 much larger inheritance among the heathen, and 
 a more extended possession in the earth. 
 
 With a view of cultivating this holy feeling 
 and promoting this unity, as well as with a view 
 of promoting the Kedeemer's. kingdom, Christ- 
 ians should learn to sympathize with each other 
 in their afflictions : to exercise towards each 
 other the spirit of forbearance on occasions of 
 disagreement. They should seek to contribute 
 to each other's good, guard each other's interest, 
 and pray for each other's spiritual prosperity. 
 The love and pursuit of earthly objects, such 
 as gold, fame, and pleasure, often become the 
 
BROTHERLY KINDNESS. 167 
 
 occasion of discord among professing Christians. 
 Their interests clash : their paths cross each 
 other, and jealousies spring up. It is impossible 
 for those who are inordinately attached to the 
 world to possess in any high degree this broth- 
 erly kindness; for the world, as it gains upon 
 the heart, dries up its humanities and strength- 
 ens the principle of selfishness. It usurps for 
 itself the chief place in the affections, and 
 claims the undivided homage of its worshippers. 
 To keep, then, this holy affection warm, healthy, 
 and growing, we must guard against this influ- 
 ence of the world, and seek to drink deeper into 
 the Spirit of Christ, who is in all things a pattern 
 to his followers. 
 
 This love must be sincere. John, who is called 
 the beloved disciple — perhaps because of his 
 affectionate disposition, for his very soul appeared 
 to swim in love — in addressing the Church says, 
 11 My little children, let us not love in word, 
 neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth." 
 Let not our love rest alone in profession, but let 
 it be practical. Let it not dwell merely upon 
 
168 st. peter's chain. 
 
 the tongue, but let it abide in the heart. In a 
 word, let us love "in deed and in truth. " This 
 same sentiment we find in Paul's Epistle to the 
 Romans : " Let love be without dissimulation." 
 A spurious love, like spurious coin, may pass 
 current for a while, but it cannot escape detec- 
 tion. A love, to be enduring, must be sincere, 
 and must occupy a heart cleansed by the Holy 
 Spirit. No one can claim to love God who does 
 not love his people ; for, says the Scripture, " He 
 that loveth not his brother, whom he hath seen, 
 how can he love God, whom he hath not seen?" 
 Again, this love must be deep, like the love 
 of Christ ; for, says he, " This is my command- 
 ment, that ye love one another as I have loved 
 you." Now, if you can fathom the depth of 
 Christ's love, then you may have some concep- 
 tion of that love we are called to possess for our 
 brethren. Consider what the love of Christ led 
 him to suffer and to do for us. 
 
 " For love of us he bled, 
 And all in torture died : 
 'Twas love that bowed his fainting head, 
 And oped his gushing side." 
 
BROTHERLY KINDNESS. 160 
 
 u Hereby pereeive we the love of God, because 
 he laid down his life for us; and we ought to 
 lay down our lives for the brethren." Such love 
 leads us to u bear one another's burdens," to 
 overcome our selfishness and jealousies, and to 
 do each other all possible good. " See," says 
 Peter, " that ye love one another with a pure 
 heart fervently." 
 
 ! if this sort of love united the hearts of all 
 Christians, then would the " heavens cease to be 
 as brass," and Zion cease to languish, and to 
 hang her harp upon the willows; but she would 
 go forth to meet her enemies, "fair as the 
 moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army 
 with banners." Energy and triumph would 
 characterize her ever onward march. Then 
 Christ would walk amid the golden candle- 
 sticks, and a celestial light would stream forth, 
 so brilliant and intense that even error would be 
 struck blind and forced to betake itself to flight. 
 If we would have the sun to give out its strongest 
 heat, we must focalize its rays through a pure 
 and perfect lens. So if we would have the rays 
 
 15 
 
170 st. peter's chain. 
 
 of the Sun of righteousness to thaw the icy 
 affections of mankind; to consume falsehood, 
 and to kindle the fires of a holy love everywhere, 
 we must let them shine through a pure and affec- 
 tionate Church. This moral lens, if kept free 
 from the breath and dust of selfishness, would 
 concentrate such a burning heat upon the heart 
 of the world as would at once melt it down into 
 obedience and humility before God. 
 
 Reader, hast thou diligently cultivated this 
 love for the brethren, and art thou willing to bid 
 all God-speed who love our Lord Jesus Christ in 
 sincerity ? Let us pause, and pray for this holy 
 love to be deepened in our hearts. 
 
 "Our earthly ties are weak, 
 
 Whereon we dare not rest ; 
 For time dissolves and death will break 
 
 The sweetest and the best. 
 Yet there's a tie which must remain, 
 Which time and death assault in vain* 
 
 " The kindred links of life are bright, 
 
 Yet not so bright as those 
 In which Christ's favored friends unite, 
 
 And each on each repose : 
 Where all the hearts in union cling 
 To Him, the centre and the spring. 
 
BROTHERLY KINDNESS. 171 
 
 11 Tlio friends of Jesus, joined to think 
 
 With one desire and aim, — 
 A chain, wherein link answers link, — 
 
 A heavenly kindred claim ; 
 And ! how sweet, where in each mind 
 A throb to echo theirs they find ! 
 
 "Though lovely many an earthly flower, 
 
 Its beauty fades and flies ; 
 But they, unchanging, form a bower, 
 
 To bloom in Paradise. 
 Sprung from the true, immortal Vine, 
 In Him they live and round Him twine. 
 
 " Their bond is not an earthly love, 
 
 By Nature's fondness nursed : 
 As they love Him who reigns above, 
 
 Because He loved them first, 
 So they all minor ties disown — 
 The sweetest — for his sake alone." 
 
172 st. peter's chain. 
 
 CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 CHARITY. 
 
 The extent of this charity — Comment upon a part of 1 Corinthians 
 xiii. — Quesnel quoted — Sir Isaac Newton — The widow of Muckle 
 Harbor — "What charity has done, and may accomplish — Bright 
 visions of the Church. 
 
 Charity, or love, stands last in this catalogue 
 of graces which we are encouraged to cultivate. 
 Though last, it is not the least ; for, among the 
 graces, it may be regarded as the crowning one 
 of all. True scriptural charity may be understood 
 as involving the whole spirit of Christianity. It 
 is included in that brotherly kindness which has 
 just come under consideration; yet it is more 
 extensive in its range and ampler in its embrace 
 than brotherly kindness. That has somewhat of 
 a specific or limited character : this has a general, 
 unlimited character. That encloses in its arms 
 
CHARITY. 173 
 
 all the spiritual family of God : this not only 
 takes in those, but those who are strangers to the 
 household of faith. In a word, it takes in the 
 whole world of mankind, and seeks to do them 
 only good. 
 
 The Apostle Paul well knew the worth of 
 charity ; " For/' says he, " now abideth faith, 
 hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of 
 these is charity. " Perhaps we cannot have a 
 clearer and a more comprehensive description of 
 charity than that which is furnished us in 1 Cor. 
 xiii. : M Charity [love] suffereth long, and is kind: 
 charity envieth not : charity vaunteth not itself; 
 is not puffed up ; doth not behave itself unseemly; 
 seeketh not her own; is not easily provoked; 
 thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but 
 rejoiceth in the truth ; beareth all things, believ- 
 eth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all 
 things. " 
 
 "Charity suffereth long: is not easily pro- 
 voked." It is free from irritability and petu- 
 lancy. It enables us to bear the neglects and 
 slights of others, without wishing to retaliate 
 15* 
 
174 st. peter's chain. 
 
 upon them by returning similar treatment. It 
 leads us rather to pity their weakness, and wish 
 them well. 
 
 Charity cannot encourage anger or harbor re- 
 venge. It retires from scenes of strife, and only 
 defends itself when absolute necessity requires it. 
 If we possess true Christian charity, (and that is 
 the only kind of charity which, in the sight of 
 God, is of any value,) we shall not delight to 
 speak injuriously of those who have done us an 
 unkindness, or bear toward us ill-will : we shall 
 have the spirit and temper of Him " who, when 
 he was reviled, reviled not again : when he suf- 
 fered, threatened not; but committed himself to 
 Him that judgeth righteously/ [ When we are 
 reproached and wronged, we should bring to 
 mind our Saviour, and remember that our re- 
 proaches fell upon him : that he endured them 
 for our sakes. We ought, therefore, to be willing 
 to bear reproach for his sake. He was guileless 
 and innocent, and therefore deserved not the hard 
 treatment which he met with. We, in too many 
 instances, merit the trials and sufferings which 
 
CHARITY. 175 
 
 befall us : if not from man, yet from God, through 
 man, for our unfaithfulness to him. 
 
 All those revilements which fall upon us for 
 our profession's sake, constitute a part of that 
 moral discipline which is intended to render us 
 serviceable to the cause of Christ here, and pre- 
 pare us for association with the purified saints of 
 heaven. Charity rejoices in being counted worthy 
 to suffer for Christ's sake. He whose words and 
 works were full of charity says, " Ye have heard 
 that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neigh- 
 bor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, 
 Love your enemies : bless them that curse you : 
 do good to them that hate you ; and pray for 
 them that despitefully use you and persecute 
 you/' Matt. v. 43, 44. 
 
 The spiritual Quesnel observes, upon this pas- 
 sage : " We must love our enemies in heart, in 
 word, and in deed : desiring their welfare, pray- 
 ing for them, speaking well of them, and assisting 
 them as occasion requires. The enemies whom 
 Christ enjoins us here to love, are either those 
 who hate us, or those whom we do not love. A 
 
176 st. peter's chain. 
 
 man certainly bears a hostile mind, when he 
 therein cherishes aversion and hatred, either 
 with or without cause. This one precept alone 
 is a sufficient proof of the holiness of the gospel, 
 and of the truth of the Christian religion. None 
 but God could have imposed a yoke so contrary 
 to self-love; and nothing but the supreme and 
 infinite Charity could have made men love and 
 practice a law so insupportable to corrupt nature. 
 In vain do men flatter themselves with loving 
 their enemies, if their works do not give testimony 
 thereof." Again, says he, " There is nothing 
 greater than to imitate God in doing good to our 
 enemies. All the creatures pronounce on the 
 revengeful the sentence of their condemnation, 
 wrote with the rays of the sun, the drops of rain, 
 and all the other natural good things, the use 
 whereof God gives even to his enemies. If God 
 had not loved us while we were his enemies, we 
 could never have become his children ; and we 
 shall cease to be so, if we cease to imitate him." 
 Charity "is kind" It not only leads us to for- 
 give our enemies, but to do them good ; yea, it 
 
 hi 
 
 ft 
 
CHARITY. 177 
 
 - into its embrace the whole world. It thinks 
 kindly, it Bpeak& kindly, it feels kindly, and acts 
 kindly. It implies a tender regard toward the 
 feelings of others, and makes us careful not to do 
 any thing which will afflict or mortify the most 
 humble of our race. It is ready to relieve the 
 needy, to soothe the disquieted, and to strengthen 
 the feeble. We find a beautiful and striking 
 illustration of this characteristic of charity in the 
 good Samaritan. He was not satisfied with giving 
 the mangled and half-dead Jew his sympathies 
 alone, but he carries to him his oil and wine, and 
 pours them into his wounds j and then bears him 
 away from his hard bed by the roadside to an inn, 
 and never deserts him until he gets the pledge 
 from the keeper that he will supply his wants, at 
 the same time binding himself to pay the ex- 
 penses incurred by his helpless brother. Here 
 was the kindness of charity, which merits higher 
 commendation than the proudest achievements 
 of earth's renowned captains and statesmen. 
 
 To pity suffering humanity, and to fly to its 
 succor, belongs to the spirit of Christian charity, 
 
178 st. peter's chain. 
 
 and comports with the nature of Him who is the 
 personification of charity. If this kindness per- 
 vaded the family-circle, there would cease to be 
 jars and discords between husbands and wives : 
 they would seek to abide in each other's affections, 
 and to promote each other's peace of mind. 
 Those words, and manners, and looks which are 
 calculated to irritate and chafe, would be stu- 
 diously avoided, and those only employed which 
 are conciliatory and pacific. 
 
 Charity is not only a bond of union between 
 the different members of the family, but it also 
 binds together members of the Church, and mem- 
 bers of communities and neighborhoods. 
 
 This kindness of charity exhibits itself not 
 only toward mankind, but toward the inferior 
 creatures. It creates within us a feeling of ten- 
 derness for them, and a readiness to pity and re- 
 lieve their sufferings. This trait of character 
 finds an illustration in the life of Sir Isaac New- 
 ton. Sir David Brewster says of him, "He was 
 too deeply versed in the Scriptures, and too much 
 imbued with their spirit, to judge harshly of other 
 
CHARITY. 179 
 
 men who took different views of them from his 
 own. He cherished the great principles of reli- 
 gious toleration, and never scrupled to express 
 his abhorrence of persecution in its mildest forms. 
 Immorality and impiety he never permitted to 
 pass un reproved. When Vigani told him ' a loose 
 story about a nun/ he gave up his acquaintance ; 
 and when Dr. Ilalley ventured to say any thing 
 disrespectful of religion, he invariably checked 
 him with the remark, 'I have studied these 
 things : you have not.' He considered cruelty 
 to brute beasts as a violation of Christian moral- 
 ity; and such was his tenderness for the lower 
 creation, that he could not tolerate the sports of 
 hunting or shooting animals. When Mr. Con- 
 duitt one day was speaking favorably of one of 
 Sir Isaac's nephews, he urged it as an objection 
 to him, * that he loved killing of birds.' " 
 
 Charity li envieth not" Envy is that passion 
 which causes one to be dissatisfied with his situa- 
 tion in life, because he imagines it to be inferior 
 to that of some others. There are those who 
 envy the standing, the learning, the eloquence, 
 
180 
 
 ST. PETER S CHAIN. 
 
 the beauty, and the wealth of others. This feel- 
 ing engenders discontent tinder the allotments 
 of Providence, and is opposed to that scripture 
 which teaches us to "be content with such things 
 as we have." Envy frequently occasions great 
 unhappiness : 
 
 "Base envy withers at another's joy, 
 And hates that excellence it cannot reach." 
 
 No age or class is exempt from this infirmity, 
 and there is no cure for it but in possessing 
 that charity which " envieth not." No matter 
 what its position in the world may be, it is in 
 harmony with God. It desires no place but that 
 which his wisdom and goodness assign it. 
 
 Charity " is not puffed up : vaunteth not it- 
 self" There is no reason in pride; for "what 
 have we that we have not received ?" and what 
 have we that we must not give up ? Who, then, 
 among all the sons of earth, "hath whereof to 
 boast?" Did Adam, in Paradise, possessed of 
 innocence, wisdom, majesty, and beauty, have 
 any ground for pride or boasting? None; for 
 
11 A 11 IT Y. 181 
 
 what he 1 was derived from Him who 
 
 had called him into being. Well may the Scrip- 
 ture Bay, "If any man glory, let him glory in the 
 Lord." 
 
 The beauty of the form or countenance, like 
 the beauty of the flower, is evanescent : time, 
 disease, and death will cause it to disappear. 
 Honors of the world are as uncertain as life, and as 
 fickle as the minds of those from whom they are 
 derived. They will soon have to be turned over 
 to a successor, or put off at the grave. Riches, 
 who gave them ? who controls them ? who can 
 take them away? God. Weak indeed, then, is 
 he who can vaunt himself in his riches. As well 
 may the eagle boast of his strength of wing : the 
 lion boast of his power; or the sun boast of its 
 brightness. Neither has a man the right to glory 
 in his talents; for these are the gifts of God, and 
 may at any time, by his will, be weakened or de- 
 stroyed. " For who maketh thee to differ from 
 another ? and what hast thou that thou didst not 
 receive ? Now, if thou didst receive it, why 
 dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it J" 
 16 
 
182 st. peter's chain. 
 
 Charity, with all its possessions, is humble. All 
 of earth's glories cannot innate it with pride, or 
 tempt it to boast. What it has, it holds in 
 trust, as from the Lord, and rejoices alone in 
 Him. 
 
 Charity H doth not heliave itself unseemly" 
 It does nothing incompatible with Christian pro- 
 priety. Its deportment, its words, its spirit, are 
 Christ-like. It seeks in all things to follow his 
 example, and to obtain his approval. 
 
 "Seeketh not her own" Selfishness is the 
 sin of most men. They wish to monopolize the 
 riches and honors of the world to themselves. 
 Each is striving for the mastery. Selfishness 
 lies at the foundation of all the strife and conten- 
 tion of the world. It mars the peace of families, 
 of churches, of neighborhoods, and embroils na- 
 tions in war. How lovely is that charity which 
 removes this element of evil from the heart, and 
 draws it out in affection and labors for others ! 
 What an unselfish life was that of our Saviour ! 
 i( Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he 
 
C II A R I T Y. 183 
 
 became poor, that ye through his poverty might 
 
 rich." l >au l sa )' s > "Let every one of us 
 please his neighbor for his good to edification. 
 For even Christ pleased not himself; but as it is 
 written, The reproaches of them that reproached 
 thee fell on me/' Here was charity which has 
 brought salvation to the world, and opened 
 heaven to all who will enter. Those who have 
 drunk the most largely into the spirit of Christ 
 have been the most devoted to the work of doing- 
 good to others. The more they have known of 
 him, the more they have imitated him. The 
 Church has furnished many bright examples of 
 this charity, which has employed itself in pro- 
 moting the cause of virtue and the happiness of 
 mankind. 
 
 " The island of Rona is a small and very rocky 
 spot of land, lying between the Isle Syke and 
 the mainland of Applecross, and it is well 
 known to mariners by the rugged and dangerous 
 nature of its coasts. There is a famous place of 
 refuge in its south-western extremity, called the 
 < Muckle Harbor;' of very difficult access, how- 
 
184 st. peter's chain. 
 
 ever, which, strange to say, is easier entered by 
 night than by day. At the extremity of this 
 hyperborean solitude is the residence of a poor 
 widow, whose lonely cottage is called the light- 
 house, from the fact that she uniformly keeps 
 her lamp burning in her little window at night. 
 By keeping this light, and the entrance of the 
 harbor open, a strange vessel may enter with the 
 greatest safety. 
 
 " During the silent watches of the night, the 
 widow may be seen, like Norma of the Fitful 
 Head, trimming her little lamp with oil, fearful 
 that some frail bark may perish through her neg- 
 lect; and for this she receives no manner of 
 remuneration : it is pure and unmingled philan- 
 thropy. The poor woman's kindness does not 
 even rest here; for she is unhappy until the 
 benumbed and shivering mariner comes ashore to 
 share her little board, and recruit himself at her 
 glowing and cheerful fire ; and she can seldom be 
 prevailed upon to accept any reward. She has 
 saved more lives than Davy's lamp, and thousands 
 of pounds to the underwriters. The poor crea- 
 
II A II I T Y. 185 
 
 tuiv, in her younger days, witnessed her husband 
 Struggling with and swallowed up by the billows, 
 
 1 In Bight of homo, and friends that thronged to save* 
 
 This circumstance seems to have prompted her 
 present devoted and solitary life, in which her 
 only enjoyment is doing good." 
 
 that we had more of that charity which 
 would make us delight to minister unto others 
 more than to be ministered unto ! 
 
 Charity " tliinketh no evil" It does not judge 
 harshly of others, or devise plans for undermin- 
 ing their reputation. It is slow to suspect or to 
 criminate the motives even of its enemies. "It 
 delights to speak well and think well of others : 
 it says little or nothing, except when necessity 
 compels it, of their bad actions. It imputes not 
 evil so long as good is probable : it makes every 
 allowance that truth will permit : suffers not its 
 opinions to be formed till it has had opportunity 
 to escape from the mists of passion." 
 
 "Rejoiceth not in iniquity } out rejoicetk in the 
 truth" It has no evil deeds, that it should 
 16* 
 
186 st. peter's chain. 
 
 shun the light. When it sees iniquity abound- 
 ing, ungodliness flourishing, it is pierced with 
 sorrow, and its eye is rilled with tears. But when 
 truth — divine truth — prevails over error, forcing 
 its enemies to do it homage, and to help on its tri- 
 umphs, then the voice of charity is heard rejoicing. 
 "Bcareih all things — endureth all things" 
 He whose heart is the home of this charity does 
 not " return evil for evil, but contrariwise bless- 
 ing." Is he the subject of censorious remarks? 
 does the tongue of slander seek to blur and blast 
 his good name ? he bears it all, and looks up to 
 Him who has said, "I will never leave thee nor 
 forsake thee." He acts on the principle of suf- 
 fering wrong rather than doing wrong. This 
 characteristic of charity was prominently mani- 
 fested in the life of our Saviour, and has marked 
 the lives of the pious of all ages. Those who 
 have been willing, for Christ's sake, to " endure 
 the great fight of affliction/' from Stephen, the 
 proto-martyr, down to the last one upon whom 
 the rod of persecution has fallen, possess this 
 charity which " beareth all things and endureth 
 
G H A II l T V. 187 
 
 all things. 11 "I love poverty/' says Pascal, 
 "btt hrist loved it. I love wealth, 
 
 it livos the means of assisting the 
 wretched. I render no evil to those who have 
 evil to me ; but I wish them a condition 
 similar to my own, in which they would not re- 
 from the greater portion of men either good 
 or evil. "Whether I am alone or in the sight of 
 men, I have before me, in all my actions, the 
 view of God, who will judge them, and to whom 
 I have consecrated them all. These are my 
 feelings; and I bless my Redeemer every day of 
 my life, who has plauted them in me, and who, 
 from a man full of weakness, misery, lust, pride, 
 and ambition, has formed one victorious over 
 these evils, by the power of that grace to which 
 I owe every thing, since in myself there is nothing 
 but fear and misery." 
 
 il B >ll things — hopeth all things " "Is 
 
 ever ready to believe/' says Dr. Clarke, "the 
 Lest of every person, and will credit no evil of 
 any, but on the most positive evidence : gladly 
 receives whatever may tend to the advantage of 
 
188 st. peter's chain. 
 
 any person whose character may have suffered 
 from obloquy and detraction; or even justly, 
 because of his misconduct." u When there is 
 no place left for believing good of a person, then 
 love comes in with its hope, where it could 
 not work by its faith ; and begins immediately 
 to make allowances and excuses, as far as a good 
 conscience can permit; and further, anticipates 
 the repentance of the transgressor, and his restor- 
 ation to the good opinion of society, and his place 
 in the Church of God, from which he had fallen." 
 Such is the nature of charity. Without it, 
 the apostle teaches us, all other acquirements 
 are empty and vain. " Though I speak with 
 the tongues of men and of angels, and have 
 not charity, I am become as sounding brass or 
 a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the 
 gift of prophecy, and understand all myster- 
 ies and all knowledge ; and though I have all 
 faith, so that I could - remove mountains, and 
 have not charity, I am nothing. And though I 
 bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though 
 I give my body to be burned, and have not 
 
C B A R I I v. 189 
 
 charity, it profiteth me nothing Vml 
 
 DOW abideth faith, hope, charity, these three, 
 but the greatest of these is charity." 
 
 Charity lies at the foundation of all the great 
 moral enterprises of the world. It has opened 
 the hearts and purses of Christians to send the 
 gospel, with its "good news and glad tidin 
 to the perishing heathen. It has awakened such 
 an interest in the hearts of the missionaries for 
 this benighted portion of mankind, that they 
 willingly yield up the comforts, the refinements, 
 aud the associations of a religious and civilized 
 land, to consecrate their lives to the business of 
 preaching to them Christ, and in turning them 
 away from the worship of dumb idols, to the 
 worship of the one living and true God. 
 
 This charity, in the person of a Carey, a Mar- 
 tyn, a Buchanan, a Judson, an Eliot, a Williams, 
 a Morrison, and hundreds of others, h 
 forth to claim " the heathen for Christ's inherit- 
 ance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his 
 ssion." It kindled in the heart of Paul u 
 zeal for the conversion of the world, which made 
 
190 st. peter's chain. 
 
 him cry out, "I am a debtor both to the .Greek 
 and to the barbarian, both to the wise and to the 
 unwise." It prompted the mighty labors of Lu- 
 ther, Wesley, and Whitefield. It led Bishop Coke 
 to wish he had the voice of a trumpet and the 
 wings of an eagle, that he might preach the gos- 
 pel to the whole world. It was this that caused 
 him to give himself and a large sum of money 
 toward carrying out a projected mission to British 
 India. This charity sent John Howard through 
 the dark prisons of Europe, to carry health and 
 comfort to those burdened beneath the weight of 
 guilt and chains. It conducted him to the inhos- 
 pitable regions of Russia, where he sacrificed his 
 life in seeking to mitigate the sorrows and cure the 
 diseases of others. It influenced Robert Raikes in 
 his Sabbath-school enterprise, which has proved so 
 great a blessing to the world. It has, in no small 
 degree, added to the glory and prosperity of our 
 own mighty republic, in creating in the minds of 
 our youth a reverence for the word of God, for 
 the Sabbath, and the services of the sanctuary. 
 Chief Justice Marshall, in reference to the 
 
C ii A B i I v. 101 
 
 American Sunday-school Union, remarks. u 1 km 
 much, very much gratified at the BmcceBS which 
 baa thus far attended its philanthropic, merits 
 
 orious, and well-directed efforts. " Judge Wash* 
 ington says that this, "of all the institutions in 
 the country, most deserves the name of charita- 
 ble, because exerting a moral influence that will 
 regenerate the world." Judge M'Lean, after 
 speaking much in the praise of Sunday-schools, 
 adds : " They are the nurseries of virtue, of an 
 elevated patriotism, and of religion." 
 
 These institutions of Christianity have been 
 established by missionaries in the midst of pagan- 
 ism, and are exerting a reformatory power upon 
 the morals of the people, astonishing to all who 
 have witnessed it. Glance your eye over the 
 Sandwich Islands, once the habitation of every 
 species of cruelty. There idolatry drenched its 
 altars, and bathed the feet of monstrous gods 
 with human blood. Behold the mighty oh; 
 under the teachings of the gospel. "All over 
 the islands," says the Rev. Mr. Djright, "thfi 
 Sabbath is remarkable for its stillness. I, 
 
192 st. peter's chain. 
 
 congregations assemble for religious instruction 
 in every district. Children are everywhere ga- 
 thered into Sabbath-schools. Adults are associ- 
 ated in Bible-classes. Daily morning prayer- 
 meetings, and weekly or semi-weekly lectures and 
 conferences, are attended in most of the churches. 
 Most of the children of the nation, and most of 
 the members of the churches, commit one verse 
 of the Bible every day. Thousands ask the bless- 
 ing of God on their daily food : as many ob- 
 serve morning and evening worship. If able, all 
 members of churches give something for the sup- 
 port of the gospel; while, at different time#, 
 several religious associations are remembered in 
 their prayers and benefactions." After stating 
 that they had formed a native missionary society, 
 and sent out native missionaries to some of the 
 surrounding islands, he remarks : "According to 
 their ability and numbers, it may be safely said 
 that the Sandwich Island churches are giving 
 more to benevolent purposes than any other body 
 of Christians on the globe." Such are some of 
 the glorious fruits of charity ! 
 
C H A K 1 I V. 
 
 Charity is over devising Behemes for the good 
 of mankind, The l>iblc cause, the Tract cause, 
 
 the Temperance cause, have originated in thifl 
 charity. It builds our hospitals, asylums, and 
 temples of worship. It will never cease to dis- 
 pense its blessings while there is nakeducss to 
 clothe, hunger to satisfy, and souls to save. This 
 is the crowning grace that gives completeness to 
 the Christian character. Without charity, Chris- 
 tianity has no vitality, no self-perpetuation ; but 
 with it, it is irresistible, and nothing can hinder 
 its universal triumph. If all the followers of 
 Christ possessed a full measure of holy love, how 
 soon would fraud, dissensions, war, and bloodshed 
 cease, and how soon would every tongue, and 
 kindred, and people of the earth rejoice in the 
 sound of the gospel ! 
 
 " Who ever lost by loving? 
 
 Though all our heart we pour, 
 Still other spirits moving, 
 
 To pay our love with more. 
 And was there ever blessing 
 
 That did not turn and rest, — 
 A double power pot 
 
 The blessing being blesa 
 17 
 
194: st. peter's chain. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 The conditions of an abundant entrance into the kingdom of our 
 Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ — The character of this kingdom 
 dwelt upon at large — Concluding address to the reader — The 
 pilgrim. 
 
 Dear reader, you have not gotten into heaven 
 yet. You are still in the wilderness, surrounded 
 by dangerous enemies, which you must overcome 
 before you go over and possess the promised land. 
 " For if ye do these things, ye shall never fall." 
 What things? If you "add to your faith vir- 
 tue," knowledge, temperance, godliness, bro- 
 therly kindness, charity. The apostle teaches us 
 that "he that lacketh these things is blind and 
 cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he 
 was purged from his old sins." 
 
 We observe the importance of keeping these 
 
C0NCLUS1 O \. 196 
 
 li ifl not enough to add oaa fco the other, 
 bat to lee, in order to the retailing of them, that 
 each one is improved and strengthened. We 
 must guard against a relapse into sin. Our apofltle 
 is doing this ; that is, urging Christians to a growth 
 in grace, in order to secure them against spirit- 
 ual loss. We must not imagine that when once 
 a person is converted, his salvation is placed be- 
 yond all contingency. This is calculated to 
 induce spiritual indolence, and to remove from 
 the soul that fear of sin which acts as a stimulus 
 to religious watchfulness, activity, and prayer. 
 To see the danger of falling away from God, you 
 have but to consult carefully your Bibles. Read 
 Ezekiel xviii. 24, 26 : " But when the righteous 
 turneth away from his righteousness, and com- 
 mitteth iniquity, and doeth according to all the 
 abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall 
 he live ? All his righteousness that he hath 
 done shall not be mentioned: in his tn 
 that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that lie 
 hath sinned, in them shall he die. ,; M Wh< 
 righteous man turneth away from his right 
 
196 st. peter's chain. 
 
 ness* and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them ; 
 for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die." 
 How plain and intelligible is this language of 
 the prophet ! He shows us that a righteous man 
 may lose the savor of grace, fall into sin, and 
 die without the favor of God. 
 
 2 Peter ii. 20 : " For if, after they have 
 escaped the pollutions of the world through the 
 knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, 
 they are again entangled therein and overcome, 
 the latter end is worse with them than the begin- 
 ning." Here we read of those who have escaped 
 the pollutions of the world. What meaning do 
 we attach to the word escape ? It signifies, to 
 flee from, avoid, to get out of the way, to shun, 
 to obtain security from danger. The one who 
 has escaped the pollutions of the world is one 
 
 * Some construe this righteousness as the man's own 
 righteousness, and say he can turn away from this, 
 and not from the righteousness of God. There is so 
 much absurdity involved in this subterfuge that we will 
 not dwell upon it ; only remark that self- righteousness 
 is sin, and no man can be condemned for turning away 
 from it. It was condemned in the Pharisees. 
 
C N OLU0ION. 1 *>T 
 
 who has been converted, cleansed from sin. The 
 means of the escape is 4k through the knowl< 
 of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ/' Now 
 Peter teaches us that it is possible for such to be 
 u entangled again" in the world : to get back into 
 its pollutions, and that the " latter end is worse 
 with them than the beginning/' " For it had 
 been better for them not to have known the way 
 of righteousness, than after they have known it 
 to turn from the holy commandment delivered 
 unto them. But it is happened unto them ac- 
 cording to the true proverb : the dog is turned 
 to his own vomit again ; and the sow that was 
 washed to her wallowing in the mire." If there 
 is no danger of Christians going back into the 
 world, why are the Scriptures so full of warnings 
 against sin ? why so many encouragements to 
 perseverance in well-doing? The wrath and 
 mercy of God are both employed to induce 
 Christians to eschew evil and to cleave to that 
 which is good. "Be thou faithful unto death, 
 and I will give thee a crown of life." U U any 
 man draw back, my soul shall hay* DO pleasure 
 
198 st. peter's chain. 
 
 in hirn." "Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise 
 being left us of entering into his rest, any of you 
 should seem to come short of it." These scrip- 
 tures are not without meaning; and yet, if there 
 is no danger of apostasy, they are without mean- 
 ing: God is made to utter false alarms. But, 
 reader, you are not prepared to say this. You 
 know too much of the treachery of your own 
 nature to be insensible to those dangerous influ- 
 ences which surround you and are constantly 
 seeking to destroy your confidence in God, and 
 to draw you away from his service. The only 
 security against the loss of heaven is in follow- 
 ing the injunction of Peter : u Give diligence 
 to make your calling and election sure j for if ye 
 do these things, ye shall never fall; for so an 
 entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly 
 into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and 
 Saviour Jesus Christ." The possession and culti- 
 vation of these graces, which have been dwelt 
 upon in the preceding chapters of this book, con- 
 stitute you a subject of the kingdom of grace 
 here. If you are faithful in this kingdom, you 
 
C N c L r B l n • 199 
 
 shall be introdaoed by and by into ihc kingdom 
 glory. This latter kingdom lei na For a 
 moment gratefully contemplate. "Let Jerusa- 
 lem come into your mind." 
 
 This kingdom is cur of purity. None can 
 enter it but the upright in heart. u Blessed are 
 the pure in heart, for they shall see God," are 
 the words of Him who reigns in that kingdom. 
 John, who was permitted from the Isle of Pat- 
 mos to behold the King in his glory, and to sur- 
 the worshippers about his throne, informs us 
 that that throne upon which the King is seated 
 is a white throne, aud that the worshippers are 
 robed in white, which color is emblematic of 
 purity. He sometimes speaks of the inhabitants 
 of heaven being clothed in fine linen, white and 
 clean ; and says that the fine linen is the right- 
 eousness of the saints. He describes a com- 
 pany of heaven, which had attracted his atten- 
 tion, as having " washed their robes and made 
 them white in the blood of the Lamb." All 
 his revelations of heaven and its inhabitants goto 
 impress upon our minds that it is the abode of 
 
200 st. peter's chain. 
 
 purity, and that nothing that defileth can enter 
 there. " Without holiness no man shall see the 
 Lord." These words will not find favor with 
 those who love the low pleasures of sense, and 
 abide in the filthiness of the flesh. But the true 
 Christian would not have them stricken from the 
 Bible. He desires to reach that place where sin 
 shall no more be known : where he can no more 
 be assailed by Satan, or led astray by the influ- 
 ence of the wicked; and where the desire to 
 disobey God will cease to exist: where no un- 
 faithfulness or sluggishness in duty, and no for- 
 getfulness of God, can ever take place. 
 
 This kingdom is one of love. This earth is a 
 scene of contention and feud. Its honors, its 
 riches, its pleasures, are eagerly sought and 
 fiercely contended for. Hence we find among 
 their votaries the spirit of jealousy, envy, and 
 strife. They, in seeking to get the advantage of 
 each other, jostle against each other, quarrel 
 with each other, and sometimes war upon and 
 kill each other. But in heaven such scenes of 
 contention will be unknown. All the malign 
 
00 N C I. i SI N . 201 
 
 •ns will have boon destroyed, and a purr 
 
 and holy lovo will lill the soul. The saints will 
 be amazed at the grace by which they have 
 boou saved and put in possession of such an 
 inheritance. They will dwell in the presence of 
 Him who is love itself, and will be ever drinking 
 into the same spirit. 
 
 It is a kingdom of delightful and hallowed 
 associations. The good of earth will there be 
 congregated. Abel, Enoch, Abraham, Isaac, and 
 Jacob; Job, Moses, and Joshua; Isaiah, with his 
 brother prophets; the long line of those who 
 have witnessed for Christ — apostles, martyrs, and 
 confessors — will make up the inhabitants of that 
 kingdom. Those of whom the apostle speaks in 
 Hebrews xi., when he says, " Of whom the world 
 was not worthy/' will be there. The faithful 
 missionaries who have died preaching the gospel 
 of Christ to the benighted heathen, will swell that 
 throng. Indeed, not a servant of Cod, however 
 long since he passed from earth to heaven, and 
 however obscure the place where he lived or 
 died, will be excluded from that association. The 
 
202 st. peter's chain. 
 
 word of God presents heaven under the idea of 
 social relations. "I beheld," says John, "and 
 lo ! a great multitude, which no man could num- 
 ber, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and 
 tongues, stood before the throne, and before the 
 Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in 
 their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, 
 Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the 
 throne, and unto the Lamb." 
 
 And you, if a sincere and faithful follower of 
 Christ till death, will be united to this rejoicing 
 multitude. Have you not already many dear 
 friends who have joined them — friends who loved 
 the Saviour, and left the world with a strong and 
 triumphant faith, saying, " Meet me in heaven V 
 You, perhaps, said, "I will try .and meet you." 
 It may be that some of your loved ones have died 
 away from you, and you have felt sad, because 
 you could no more meet them here ; yet you have 
 comforted yourself with the prospect of reunion 
 with them in that blissful region where the word 
 farewell is never heard, and " separations ne'er 
 take place." You, then, will not only associate 
 
c o \ c 1. 1 si o n. 208 
 
 with those of your friends who have died in the 
 
 Lord, not only with patriarchs, prophets, and 
 
 ties, but with those bright and Bpotlesa ang< h 
 
 who have kept their first estate. Is not the com- 
 pany an inviting one ? Yea, a glorious one ! ( '(in- 
 sider, moreover, that it shall be erowned with the 
 presence of Christ, who is " the chiefest among ten 
 thousand, and altogether lovely ;" " the bright 
 and morning star;" "the Sun of righteousness." 
 The pious Baxter says : " The expectations of 
 loving my friends in heaven principally kindles 
 my love to them on earth. If I thought I should 
 never know them, and, consequently, never love 
 them, after this life is ended, I should number 
 them with temporal things, and only love them 
 as such. But I now delightfully converse with 
 my godly friends, in a firm persuasion that I 
 shall converse with them for ever; and I take 
 comfort in those who are dead or absent, as be- 
 lieving I shall shortly meet them in heaven ; 
 and I love them with a heavenly love, M the 
 heirs of heaven ; even with a love that shall 
 there be perfected and for ever exercised. " 
 
204 st. peter's chain. 
 
 That kingdom will be one of superior know- 
 ledge. Here we are surrounded by ignorance and 
 darkness. We "see through a glass darkly. 1 ' 
 Perhaps it may be said that we know nothing in 
 this life perfectly. The boasted " wisdom of this 
 world is foolishness with God." That which men 
 call wisdom is, in the sight of God, worse than 
 nonsense. It is full of pride and sin, and leads 
 from heaven rather than to heaven. The know- 
 ledge of Christians, even in those things which 
 are matters of faith, is extremely meagre. How 
 little do they know of their own hearts, their at- 
 tainments in grace, the full measure of duty, the 
 obligations they are under to God, the cause of 
 their creation, preservation, and redemption, and 
 of the operations and designs of Providence in their 
 prosperity and affliction ! ! how will doubts be 
 scattered, obscurities cleared up, mysteries unrav- 
 elled, in that blessed kingdom of Christ ! 
 
 They who " see through a glass darkly" here, 
 will then see face to face, and they who know in 
 part, then will know even as they are known. 
 The dark pages in life's troubled history will then 
 
M L r s [OK. 
 
 be illuminated and fully understood. Trials and 
 temptations will then bo seen as haying entered into 
 
 that moral discipline which worked for our good. 
 We shall not obtain knowledge by those tedious 
 and painful processes of reasoning which belong 
 to this state of being; but glorious truths will be 
 revealed to our astonished and delighted minds. 
 The knowledge received will but heighten the 
 bliss of the recipients. 
 
 This kingdom is one of delightful employ- 
 '. No intelligent Christian can for a moment 
 believe that a state of inaction will exist in 
 heaven. Archbishop Whateley well remarks, 
 M That the blest in heaven shall be in some way 
 actively employed in fulfilling God's will, and 
 promoting the happiness of each other; and that 
 their happiness and knowledge of God's glorious 
 works shall be continually advancing, seems as 
 reasonable a hope, as it must be, to a right- 
 minded Christian, a fervent wish : a hop 
 well founded as it is cheering and delightful." 
 The Scriptures give us reason to believe that the 
 glorified saints of heaven are ever employed in 
 IS 
 
206 
 
 st. peter's chain. 
 
 the service of God, and that they find pleasure in 
 this service. Such is the nature of that employ- 
 ment, and their adaptation to it, that they can 
 never know languor nor weariness. The very 
 name of the inhabitants of heaven implies activ- 
 ity, for they are called angels, which signifies 
 messengers. We know how often, in the word 
 of God, they are spoken of as bearing messages 
 from God to his creatures on earth. They are 
 also spoken of as " ministering spirits." 
 
 To specify all the particulars connected with their 
 employment would be impossible. The acquisi- 
 tion of knowledge — knowledge of God's charac- 
 ter, his providence, his stupendous works — will 
 doubtless constitute a part of that employment. 
 Again, the glorious system of redemption, dis- 
 playing the love of God, through Christ, toward 
 our fallen race, will engage their earnest atten- 
 tion. Peter tells us that they desire to look into 
 this great mystery. One part of that delightful 
 employment will be in praising the triune God. 
 There will be music, in heaven. There is some- 
 thing so pleasing in the concord of sweet sounds, 
 
00 N 0I&U8ION. 207 
 
 that all creatures seem to enjoy it. All nature 
 
 is full of music. The Scriptures are foil of it. 
 They tell Ufl the mountains siogj the valleys MDgj 
 the trees of the wood sing; the birds of the air 
 pour their varied strains of melody into the ear 
 of Him who feeds them. 
 
 u Sing praises to God, sing praises/' says the 
 Psalmist: "sing praises unto our King, sing 
 praises." And the apostle says, Col. iii. 1G, 
 " Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in 
 all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one an- 
 other in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, 
 singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." 
 And the saints on earth delight to do this. It is 
 meet that they should praise Him who is the 
 fountain of all their blessings and joys. The 
 rabbies tell us that the Jews, after the feast of 
 the Passover was celebrated, sang the one hundred 
 and thirteenth psalm, and the five following. Mat- 
 thew tells us, that immediately after the Saviour 
 had partaken of the blessed Supper with his 
 disciples, they "sang an hymn." If the saints 
 of God on earth, amid so many depressing trials, 
 
208 st. peter's chain. 
 
 find pleasure in chanting his praises, do you not 
 think that, when free from earth, they will 
 praise God with a gladder, louder, and happier 
 strain? " The morning stars sang together" 
 over this new-made earth. The heavenly host 
 caused the plains of Judea to ring with music, 
 when our Immanuel appeared in Bethlehem. 
 Those same "morning stars/' and the heavenly 
 host which heralded by song the Saviour's advent, 
 have had added to their number millions of sing- 
 ing, praising saints. "And a voice came out of 
 the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his ser- 
 vants, and ye that fear him, both small and 
 great. And I heard as it were the voice of a 
 great multitude, and as the voice of many wa- 
 ters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, 
 saying, Alleluia; for the Lord God omnipotent 
 reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give 
 honor to him ) for the marriage of the Lamb is 
 come, and his wife hath made herself ready." 
 There is a song which John heard, peculiar to 
 the redeemed : "And I heard from heaven, as 
 the voice of many waters, as the voice of great 
 
CONCLUSION. 209 
 
 thunder ; and I heard the voice of harpers, harp- 
 ing with their harps. And they sang as it were 
 a new song before the throne, and before the four 
 beasts, and the elders ; and no man could learn 
 that song but the hundred and forty and four 
 thousand, which were redeemed from the earth." 
 Reader, shall we be permitted to swell the sym- 
 phonies of that multitude in the kingdom of 
 Christ ? 
 
 Lastly, the kingdom of Christ is one of 7'est. 
 The employment of which we have been speak- 
 ing will not interfere with this rest. The em- 
 ployment itself will be rest, refreshing the soul 
 and filling it with joy. There is something 
 sweet in the word rest. How gladly does the 
 husbandman, after the toils and sweat of a long 
 summer's day, look forward to the night as a sea- 
 son of rest, when he can lay down his weary 
 limbs upon his bed, and give himself to balmy 
 slumber ! How sweet is the thought of return- 
 ing peace to the soldier, after months of hard 
 fighting and heavy marching, when he can return 
 to the rest of a quiet home ! How does the heart 
 18* 
 
210 st. peter's chain. 
 
 of the long-tossed and storm-beaten mariner re- 
 joice when he enters the harbor where he is 
 accustomed to meet the greetings of his friends ! 
 How does the traveller, worn down with thirst 
 and travel over the bald and dusty desert, shout 
 for joy, when he spies some cooling shade and 
 stream at hand ! So heaven will be hailed as a 
 blessed rest by that Christian laborer who has 
 borne the burden and heat of the day in cultivat- 
 ing the vineyard of his Master. The Christian 
 soldier will rejoice when, entering heaven, he 
 feels that the last battle is fought, and the last 
 enemy is conquered. The Christian mariner, 
 whose bark has been riding upon troubled seas, 
 will shout in triumph when he anchors in the 
 port of the celestial city. The Christian pilgrim, 
 with staff in hand, toiling through the arid desert 
 of life, amid doubts, and fears, and joys, will 
 forget the past, when he finds himself reposing 
 beneath the shade, and plucking the fruits of the 
 tree of life. That kingdom is the kingdom of 
 rest. " There remaineth, therefore, a rest to the 
 people of God." 
 
C N L i B ion. -11 
 
 This kingdom is a perpetual one. Barthly 
 kingdoms are of uncertain duration : b thousand 
 destructive elements are at work in them, and 
 they are ever changing and passing away. ]Jut 
 Christ'-e kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. "It 
 hath foundations," which nothing can Undermine 
 or destroy. Beyond the reach of the devouring 
 sword or consuming fire, no wasting pestilence or 
 gaunt famine can reach its inhabitants ; for there 
 shall be no more curse, for the former things are 
 passed away. The perpetuity of this kingdom, 
 with all its holy delights, makes it peculiarly at- 
 tractive. One of the chief hindrances to our 
 earthly happiness lies in the unsubstantial aud 
 evanescent nature of those objects which engage 
 our affections. " Kiches make to themselves 
 wings, and fly away." They are called "uncer- 
 tain riches." Our friends, "the partners of our 
 blood/ ' are ever disappearing from our sight. The 
 honors and entertainments of the world cheat us 
 as oft as we look to them for enjoyment. 1 > it t 
 in the kingdom of our Saviour we shall come into 
 the possession of blessings which shall never 
 
212 
 
 ST. PETER S CHAIN. 
 
 cloy, and never cease. It is an " inheritance 
 incorruptible, undefilcd, and that fadeth not 
 away." " Therefore are they before the throne 
 of God, and serve him day and night in his tem- 
 ple ; and he that sitteth upon the throne shall 
 dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, 
 neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun 
 light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb, 
 which is in the midst of the throne, shall feed 
 them, and shall lead them unto living fountains 
 of waters; and God shall wipe all tears from 
 their eyes." 
 
 Such is the nature of Christ's kingdom. It 
 is exempt from every evil. " There shall be no 
 more curse." 
 
 "Pure are the joys above the sky, 
 And all the region peace : 
 No wanton lip, nor envious eye, 
 Can see or taste the bliss. 
 
 " Those holy gates for ever bar 
 Pollution, sin, and shame : 
 None shall obtain admittance there 
 But followers of the Lamb." 
 
 Into this kingdom, "the everlasting kingdom 
 
CONCLUSION. 218 
 
 of our Lord and Saviour Jesufl Christ/' we may, 
 
 it' diligent to make our calling and election sure, 
 by cultivating a scriptural piety, have an '"'abun- 
 dant entrance f "for so an entrance shall be 
 ministered unto you abundantly into the everlast- 
 ing kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
 Christ." Dr. Adam Clarke finds an allusion here 
 to the military triumphs among the Romans. 
 Great honor was conferred upon a general when 
 he gained an important victory over the enemy 
 of his country, or conquered a province. On 
 such occasions, the conqueror entered the city 
 clad in a rich purple robe, interwoven with gold 
 figures, setting forth his achievements. Upon 
 his head was a crown of pure gold, and in his 
 hand a branch of laurel, the emblem of victory. 
 He was borne in a chariot adorned with ivory 
 and gold, and usually drawn by two white horses. 
 A long procession, led by musicians playing 
 triumphal pieces in praise of the general, went 
 before. These were followed by young men, 
 leading the victims for sacrifice. Then came 
 vehicles, loaded with the spoils taken in battle, 
 
214 st. peter's chain. 
 
 with their horses and chariots. Then followed 
 the kings, and princes, and generals who had been 
 conquered in war; and lastly came the triumphal 
 chariot, before which, as it passed, the people 
 strewed flowers, and shouted lo triumphe ! Of 
 course the Christian's entrance into heaven will 
 not be attended by circumstances which charac- 
 terize the triumphs of military chieftains, yet, if 
 he is faithful, he will have a triumphal entrance. 
 He will, in death, see all his enemies put 
 under his feet, and, with the song of the victor, 
 he can shout, u death, where is thy sting ? 
 grave, where is thy victory ? Thanks be to God, 
 who giveth us the victory, through our Lord Je- 
 sus Christ/' Palms of victory will be given him, 
 and "a crown of life" placed upon his head. 
 The angels of God will escort him into the city, 
 and the King will meet him and say, "Well 
 done, good and faithful servant : enter thou into 
 the joy of thy Lord." 
 
 0, how many of God's saints have quit the 
 world in the full hope of heaven; yea, with 
 heaven opening before them, with all its bright- 
 
0ONOL1 si o N. 215 
 
 and glory ! The Bong o( victory has often 
 been hoard bursting from the lips of dying pil- 
 grims, as they have escaped the wilderness of 
 earth, and passed over the Jordan of death, and 
 entered into the upper Canaan, to be for ever 
 with Christ and his glorified saints. 
 
 Pear reader, now, as we part, let us examine 
 ourselves u whether we be in the faith," and arc 
 adding to this faith virtue, knowledge, temper- 
 ance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and 
 charity. We are yet on our pilgrimage, and can- 
 not tell how long it may continue; yet, be it 
 short or long, we maybe confident that it will end 
 with an abundant entrance " into the kingdom 
 of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ/' if we 
 obey the word of God. " Dearly beloved/' says 
 Peter, "I beseech you, as strangers and pilgrims, 
 abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the 
 soul." Let us be like those holy worthies spoken 
 of by Paul, Heb. xi., who "confessed that they 
 were strangers and pilgrims on the earth ;" who 
 " desired a better country, that is an heavenly : 
 wherefore God is not ashamed to be called 
 
216 st. peter's chain. 
 
 their God; for lie hath prepared for them a 
 city." 
 
 " Now unto him that is able to keep you from 
 falling, and to present you faultless before the 
 presence of his glory, with exceeding joy : to the 
 only wise God our Saviour, be glory and ma- 
 jesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. 
 Amen/' 
 
 THE END. 
 


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