CHRISTIAN 
 
 YOUNGJLEIN 
 
 85 OLIN 
 
 ri'h'fiMiii 
 ijjfyij;;,''.:.' 'I'ii 
 
 ■ ',■-. .I.'- ■ 1 H WtMilUlWlyWiMU.' 
 
 17 
 
I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.* 
 
 
 \ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. | 
 

RESOURCES AND DUTIES 
 
 OF 
 
 CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN. 
 
 A DISCOURSE TO THE 
 
 GRADUATING CLASS OF WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY, 
 AUGUST, 1845. 
 
 BY STEPHEN OLIN, D. B, 
 
 GEORGE PECK, EDITOR. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY LANE & TIPPETT, 
 
 FOR THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 200 MULBERRY-STREET 
 ^^ JAMES COLLORD, PRINTER. ^ 
 
 *<zc 
 
 
> c 
 
 
 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1846, by 
 G. Lane & C. B. Tippett, in the Clerk's Office of the District 
 Court of the Southern District of New-York. 
 
 4^4^ 
 
 
 \ 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The following discourse is published at the re- 
 quest of the class of young gentlemen for whose 
 benefit it was delivered, and to them it is now affec- 
 tionately inscribed. 
 
 I have esteemed it a misfortune that my personal 
 intercourse with the students of the university has 
 been so frequently interrupted since my official rela- 
 tion to them commenced, and that I have hitherto 
 enjoyed fewer opportunities than I had confidently 
 and reasonably expected for the inculcation, whether 
 in the pulpit or the lecture room, of such Christian 
 lessons as, from time to time, might seem adapted 
 to their circumstances and wants. The improving 
 condition of the affairs of the institution will, I trust, 
 hereafter leave me at liberty to devote a larger por- 
 tion of my efforts to the more appropriate duties of 
 my station. In the mean time, I gladly avail myself 
 of the present occasion to place in the hands of my 
 young friends, as well those who are still under my 
 watchcare as those who have gone forth into the 
 
busy world, my exhortation and advice in regard to 
 several topics in which they are likely to feel a 
 lively and increasing interest. 
 
 I suppose educated young men to be peculiarly 
 liable to the false reasonings and seductive influ- 
 ences which it is the object of the following pages 
 to counteract and expose : but I have miscalculated 
 the evil tendencies of the times, if the admonitions 
 of this discourse are not found applicable to a far 
 larger class of our youth. To this most interesting 
 portion of the Christian community these unpretend- 
 ing suggestions are here presented, with my earnest 
 prayers that God's blessing may attend and make 
 them, in some degree, subservient to the promotion 
 of an earnest and stable piety . 
 
RESOURCES AND DUTIES 
 
 CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN. 
 
 " Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not pro- 
 vision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof." 
 
 Romans xiii, 14. 
 
 This text is highly figurative, but its 
 intention and import are very obvious. It 
 is an exhortation to be evangelically and 
 thoroughly religious. The first eleven 
 chapters of the Epistle to the Romans are 
 devoted to the exposition and inculcation 
 of Christian doctrines. The twelfth and 
 thirteenth are hortatory and preceptive. 
 They announce our practical duties, and 
 warn of dangers to be shunned. They 
 declare, with authority and without any 
 reserve at all, that we are held, under the 
 gospel dispensation, to the highest style of 
 virtue, both in the motive and in the per- 
 formance. As far as concerns the principle 
 
O RESOURCES AND DUTIES OF 
 
 of our movements in the new life, " love is 
 the fulfilling of the law," while in point of 
 fact and actual manifestation, believers are 
 called upon to " present their bodies a 
 Living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto 
 God, which is their reasonable service," 
 to " prove what is that good, and accept- 
 able, and perfect will of God." Our text 
 announces the true method of attaining 
 these vital Christian objects in reference 
 both to the motive and the manifestation : 
 u Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
 make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill 
 the lusts thereof." 
 
 There is a numerous and very interest* 
 ing class of persons entitled to our respect 
 by their intelligence and moral worth, and 
 appealing strongly to our sympathies by 
 the false and highly critical position which 
 they occupy. They are undoubting be- 
 lievers in the Christian religion, and warm, 
 avowed admirers of its sublime theology, 
 pure ethics, and divine philanthropy. Yet 
 they are not Christians. They are desti- 
 tute not only of the hopes, but also of the 
 
CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN. 7 
 
 helps, of the gospel. Something of its 
 morals they contrive to exemplify. Some 
 chill, half-extinguished rays from the Sun 
 of righteousness are allowed to blend with 
 their philosophy, and give coloring to their 
 maxims of life ; but as a religious system, 
 claiming the profoundest homage, and the 
 most unreserved obedience — they only 
 contemplate it from afar, and sedulously 
 shun all personal contact and near com- 
 munion with it. As a religious system, 
 that is to say, as to all the ends for which 
 God has made this great revelation to the 
 world, the gospel is to these men but a nul- 
 lity, and, for all practical results, all one as 
 a lie. The moral attitude of these be- 
 lievers, who yet refuse to be Christians, is 
 painfully anomalous as well as grossly at 
 variance with all right reason and the 
 manifest fitness of things, just in propor- 
 tion as their convictions are clear, and their 
 faith satisfactory. Speculate upon it as a 
 mere phenomenon apart from all evil con- 
 sequences ; — what a spectacle of absurd 
 folly and self-degradation is it for a rational 
 being to live in habitual contempt of the 
 
RESOURCES AND DUTIES OF 
 
 sure teachings of his own reason and expe- 
 rience ; or for a moral being to live in per- 
 petual conflict with his conscience ? What 
 should we think of a man of mature age 
 and unimpaired vision, who should delibe- 
 rately walk into a flood, or into a confla- 
 gration ? What should we think of a com- 
 munity skilled in the laws and liabilities 
 of our earthly being, which should con- 
 temn all the promises of seed time and 
 harvest, and blindly and bravely advance 
 to meet the inevitable famine ? What but 
 that chance or Heaven had smitten them 
 with madness, the dire precursor of im- 
 pending destruction ! Yet the infatuation 
 we are now seeking to expose is greater 
 and worse than this, in the same degree 
 that eternal things are more important than 
 temporal. What right has a man, I do not 
 speak of him now as a creature of God, 
 and responsible at his tribunal, but as a 
 man accountable to himself, and bound to 
 maintain some degree of self-respect as 
 well as to make some provision for his 
 own wellfare, present and prospective, — 
 ivhat right has he to trifle with his own 
 
CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN. 9 
 
 destiny, and to perpetrate such enormities 
 as the shutting of his ears and his eyes 
 against the words and the manifestations 
 of the divine mercy toward him ? He is 
 a being with strong passions, which need 
 to be chastened and controlled — of power- 
 ful tendencies downward as well as up- 
 ward, which call for checks — of immortal 
 aspirations, which struggle for their sphere 
 and their proper satisfactions. These un- 
 felt, undying wants, for which the gospel 
 alone has made adequate provision, are so 
 many voices rising up out of the bosom 
 of our human nature, to rebuke and shame 
 the believing impenitent out of his stupen- 
 dous folly and more stupendous guilt. 
 
 It is to be remembered that the gospel 
 is a voluntary system, under which no one 
 becomes virtuous or pious without seeking 
 to become so. It is under this condition 
 that it appeals to our moral susceptibili- 
 ties ; and not to yield obedience to the call, 
 is both to leave this part of our nature 
 without development and training, and to 
 inflict upon it positive violence. Religion 
 too has its times and seasons. The dews 
 
10 RESOURCES AND DUTIES OF 
 
 of its grace are specially adapted to tender 
 plants and fresh opening flowers, and are 
 less congenial and less effectual when the 
 growth is more advanced, and the root has 
 struck deeper into the hard, arid soil of this 
 world. Religion has its special lessons for 
 youth, which cannot be learned, or if learn- 
 ed, are no longer of much practical import- 
 ance in maturer life. It seeks to lay its 
 molding hand upon young, unsophisti- 
 cated minds, that it may bring out fine 
 specimens of redeemed humanity for God's 
 glory and for heavenly bliss. It does not, 
 and it cannot, change the leopard's spots. 
 Repetition and reiteration have given to 
 these simple statements the character and 
 authority of proverbs, and, I am sorry to 
 say, the infirmity of nite maxims ; yet are 
 they the suggestions of the highest phi- 
 losophy, and the most venerable expe- 
 rience, and they are so many arguments in 
 favor not only of becoming pious, but of 
 doing so at the right time. 
 
 Religion, to be genuine and effective, 
 must be ostensible and avowed. Let no 
 one hope to work out his salvation, or to 
 
CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN. 11 
 
 secure any, even the smallest of the spi- 
 ritual advantages which the gospel offers, 
 by stealth. God, and our own moral na- 
 ture, call for open, manly confession, and 
 both will assuredly disown and denounce 
 all pretensions to piety which shun ex- 
 posure to the broad light of the day. No- 
 thing can be effectually done in this work 
 till the sincere aspirant after Christian 
 excellence fairly assumes his position, and 
 becomes, as he is intended to be, " a spec- 
 tacle to men and to angels " — " a city set 
 on a hill that cannot be hid." We not 
 only have lessons to learn for our own 
 improvement, but lessons to exemplify for 
 the improvement of others and for the 
 Saviour's honor. They only who run law- 
 fully win the prize, and none others are 
 likely to receive the precious aids indis- 
 pensable to success. This we might expect 
 from all we know of ourselves or of God's 
 attributes, and of this we are notified in 
 his word. Till a man assumes an avowed 
 and recognized Christian position, he has 
 no full scope for the exercise of his own 
 proper resources, and no adequate occa- 
 
12 RESOURCES AND DUTIES OF 
 
 sions for calling up his powers. The state 
 of indecision and divided aspirations which 
 precedes the final and formal decision of 
 this great question, is little better than a 
 paralysis of the soul. There is seldom 
 any distinct vision, and never any earnest, 
 well-directed purpose or action, until this 
 moral crisis is passed. But with the as- 
 sumption of his true Christian position, at 
 the moment of " putting on the Lord Jesas 
 Christ;" not on religious, supernatural 
 grounds alone, but on philosophical also, 
 the man receives an investiture of high 
 powers and immunities. It is an im- 
 portant point gained to have it known to 
 which party we belong. The sight of the 
 banner that floats over our heads will not 
 fail of clearing away many annoyances 
 and many enemies, and of bringing to our 
 aid troops of powerful auxiliaries. The 
 courage of the soldier rises - with the putting 
 on of his uniform, and still more at sight 
 of the marshaled hosts that throng the out- 
 spread field. 
 
 The responsibilities of a Christian pro- 
 fession, so often feared and shunned as 
 
CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN. 13 
 
 intolerable burdens, under the pressure of 
 which we are likely to make a disgraceful 
 fall, ought rather to be invited as safe- 
 guards and helps in the working out of 
 our salvation. We are likely to walk cir- 
 cumspectly as in the day, when conscious 
 that the expectant eyes of friends as well 
 as foes are upon us. The pious iEneas 
 had a double motive for flying from the 
 burning city when he bore his aged father 
 upon his shoulders, and led his infant son 
 by the hand. 
 
 The pursuits, too, in which religion 
 employs us, have a direct and powerful 
 tendency to expand and invigorate the 
 virtues to which they give exercise. We 
 begin feebly and faintly™ it may be almost 
 reluctantly. With infinite difficulty we 
 drag ourselves away from the world, but 
 more encouragements and fresh resources 
 rise up in our path, and we speedily find 
 that Christ has counter and stronger attrac- 
 tions. His grace, ^ver the sole dependence 
 of the humble Christian, operates at first 
 but feebly ; beseeching, wooing, drawing 
 us to be reconciled to God. It comes, 
 
14 RESOURCES AND DUTIES OF 
 
 however, to exert an influence more and 
 more decided. It animates, it encourages, 
 it impels, it constrains us. We are borne 
 onward by it as on the bosom of a great 
 deep. Its prevalence becomes at length a 
 domination, and the willing captive, bound 
 but unconscious of his chains, loses, in the 
 deep feelings of the devotion of his heart, 
 all sense of his moral agency, which gives 
 way to a law of love — to a sort of pre- 
 destination by the affections. Religion is 
 no longer a drudgery, but a delight ; and 
 he who could at first do nothing as it ought 
 to be done, is enabled to do all things 
 through Christ. 
 
 At the same time that the resources 
 of him who has fairly " put on the Lord 
 Jesus Christ" are thus constantly and 
 rapidly augmenting, the positive ob- 
 stacles in the way of success gradually 
 but surely diminish both in number and 
 magnitude. In the first place, the evil 
 passions and the devil can find little 
 for one to do who is fully employed by 
 the Saviour. Then bad habits, a great 
 hinderance at first, grow weaker by disuse 
 
CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN. 15 
 
 and neglect. Better tastes, too, are culti- 
 vated ; , so that what were seductive plea- 
 sures, and so powerful temptations once, 
 lose their character and become an offense. 
 Walking by faith, the Christian appreciates 
 more and more completely the excellence 
 of the heavenly objects with which he is 
 thus made familiar, and so acquires a 
 standard of comparison which he can but 
 be ever applying to the worldly objects 
 and enjoyments that invite his regards. 
 Such a process cannot fail to wean him 
 from perishable good, and so leave him 
 more free from every weight. 
 
 While this Christian process strengthens 
 perpetually the motives and the aids to 
 piety, and abates the force of opposition, 
 it has a yet stronger tendency to improve 
 the quality of our virtues. Nothing is 
 more likely to retard and discourage a 
 generous mind, intent on the attainment 
 of the highest excellence, than a perpetual 
 consciousness, or even suspicion, that its 
 best performances are marred by the ad- 
 mixture of some base alloy; that some 
 low, selfish motive may have been active, 
 
16 RESOURCES AND DUTIES OF 
 
 though unperceived, in the production of 
 its most shining deeds. We may acquire 
 humility or modesty from worldly disap- 
 pointments and mortifications, but some 
 measure of misanthropy and discontent are 
 likely to be derived from the same lessons. 
 It is hot always easy to practice benefi- 
 cence and charity, to exert the highest 
 public, or social, or private virtues, without 
 having, whether we will or not, some re- 
 ference to the returns which we are likely 
 to receive in the form of gratitude, or 
 reputation, or public confidence, or pos- 
 thumous fame. This selfishness, to what- 
 ever extent it mingles with our motives, 
 not only produces a sense of self-degrada- 
 tion, but it is, in fact, degrading to our 
 performances and character ; and so largely 
 does this debasing alloy enter into our 
 spirit and conduct, and so utterly impos- 
 sible is it to exclude it altogether, without 
 some more potent exorcism than mere 
 human virtue can summon to its assistance, 
 that most men, after some vain struggles 
 against its occult, malignant influence, 
 yield to its dominion, and become satisfied 
 
CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN* 17 
 
 with doing their duty, without much con- 
 cern about the motive. Under such cir- 
 cumstances it is but too obvious that virtue 
 has nothing left besides its form and its 
 name. It has no longer any power to 
 purify, etherealize, and exalt our nature. 
 It is a mere earthly thing, a matter of 
 business, a balancing of interests and con- 
 veniences, a skillful and comprehensive 
 solution of the question, How can we take 
 the best care of ourselves ? I am quite 
 sure that many will find, in their own 
 consciousness and recollections, manifold 
 illustrations of the evil I have exposed. 
 Now he who has " put on the Lord Jesus 
 Christ," has found a perfect antidote for 
 this evil. He has become a disciple, that 
 he may be saved ; and he devotes his entire 
 life to Christ, who was crucified for him, 
 as a matter of gratitude and pious obliga- 
 tion. " Love is the perfecting of the law," 
 and this is a motive from which self is 
 wholly excluded. We work, we suffer, 
 we live for another, even for Him who died 
 for us, and rose again. When we have 
 fully " put on Christ," then is love made 
 
18 RESOURCES AND DUTIES OF 
 
 perfect, and all fear and all selfishness is 
 fully "cast out." Disenthralled from ail 
 low, personal ends, and seeking only how 
 we may please Christ, we enter upoTi a 
 high, holy career of virtue, which can never 
 know the taint of worldly maxims, which 
 finds its model, its resources, and its ends, 
 in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Gratitude, love, 
 loyalty, these are the motives by which 
 all heaven is swayed. They impel the 
 angels onward in their career, and yet 
 more the " spirits of just men made 
 perfect." Indeed^ heavenly pursuits, and 
 enjoyments, and virtues, are no other than 
 those into which the good man is intro- 
 duced when he "puts on Christ," — the 
 remote and invisible parts of the orbit in 
 which he has already begun to move. 
 
 As the Christian motive is the only one 
 which can be trusted for purity, so it is 
 the only one that can be relied on for ef- 
 ficiency, " Love is stronger than death." 
 A man will often do for the love of his 
 friend, or his family, what he could not 
 do on any lower impulse. But if affection 
 for kindred, according to the flesh, is able 
 
CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN. 19 
 
 to minister strong impulses to the spirit, 
 the love of Christ " constrains us." It 
 imparts an energy something more than 
 human, and qualifies for achievements only 
 less than divine. A man's performances 
 are likely to bear some proportion to the 
 strength of the motives on which he acts. 
 Now the great Christian motive, love to 
 Christ, partakes of the superhuman and 
 the godlike. It has the additional advan- 
 tage of stability. It cannot be impaired 
 by time, or change, or circumstance, but 
 attains dominion over the soul, potent in 
 exact proportion to our progress in piety. 
 The racer moves more swiftly as he ap- 
 proaches the goal. A body tending to the 
 earth, gains speed in its descent. So the 
 Christian is borne on with an ever accu- 
 mulating momentum as he draws nearer 
 to perfection in faith and love. "When we 
 add that Christ has provided divine assist- 
 ance for all exigencies to which our human 
 resources are unequal ; that he gives the 
 Holy Spirit to help our infirmities — to as- 
 sure our hopes, illuminate our minds, and 
 purify our hearts— I am unable to per- 
 
20 RESOURCES AND DUTIES OF 
 
 ceive what is yet wanting to a most 
 admirable and all-sufficient apparatus of 
 motives and means for the attainment of 
 the highest moral excellence, and to the 
 most glorious consummation of all that our 
 fallen, but redeemed nature can aspire to. 
 
 I have already intimated — indeed, the 
 text directly affirms, and this is its burden — 
 that these great facilities for the prosecu- 
 tion of our moral improvement are sus- 
 pended on the one condition of a sincere 
 and hearty adoption of the gospel. We 
 are " to put on the Lord Jesus Christ." 
 He must become to us wisdom, and righte- 
 ousness, and sanctification, and redemption 
 — must be teacher, and priest, and only po- 
 tentate. We must wear his livery, must 
 go our warfare at his charges, and under 
 his banner. Our dignity, our defense, and 
 our exceeding great reward, must be sought 
 and found in him. But we are not only 
 called upon to make this entire dedication 
 to Christ ; we are also cautioned against 
 all reservations : " Make not provision for 
 the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof." Faith 
 
CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN. 21 
 
 in Christ, and a resort to the gospel for 
 pardon, and purity, and eternal life, presup- 
 pose an unconditional submission to its 
 terms. Not one successful step can be 
 taken in religion previously to the settle- 
 ment of this grand preliminary. The mind 
 may not be able at the outset to take in 
 all the particulars involved in this great 
 act of submission, but it can and does 
 embrace them implicitly ; and it is of the 
 very essence of all right faith to confide in 
 Christ to the uttermost, and to consent to 
 follow him whithersoever he goeth, giving 
 to the winds all anxiety about the special 
 paths in which we may be called to pro- 
 ceed in our onward march to heaven. 
 Christ's dignity and sovereignty are con- 
 cerned in imposing such conditions as he 
 pleases, and in receiving no terms at the 
 hand of the sinner ; and he will unques- 
 tionably use his disciples in just such 
 services, and impose upon them just such 
 burdens, as he sees best, giving no pledges 
 in advance, but the assurance that his 
 grace shall be sufficient for them. I know 
 well that a multitude, even of professing 
 
22 RESOURCES AND DUTIES OF 
 
 Christians, begin and prosecute what is 
 called a religious course, on a very different 
 plan. They give law to religion. They 
 retain as many indulgences, and concede 
 as many sacrifices, as may fall in with 
 their tastes. They make provision for 
 pride, and ambition, and sensuality, and 
 self-will, and " put on the Lord Jesus 
 Christ" only in so far as they think he 
 may set off their own purple and fine linen 
 to the best advantage. But my business 
 to-day is with the sincere, who wish to be 
 made holy and to be saved by Christ, and 
 who really desire to know the conditions 
 of success. I take it upon me to warn all 
 such to beware of admitting any worldly, 
 or selfish motive, or consideration whatever, 
 into the settlement of this great question 
 between God and their souls. I take it 
 upon me to proclaim that all such tamper- 
 ing in the business of religion will certainly 
 prove fatal to any well-founded hopes of 
 success in the Christian career. Whoever 
 stops to inquire whether it may cost him 
 sacrifices to be a Christian, with any inten- 
 tion to hesitate if it does, has admitted a 
 
CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN. 23 
 
 consideration utterly incompatible with his 
 becoming a Christian at all. Whoever 
 chooses his creed or his church with any, 
 the slightest, reference to the honor, or the 
 ease, or the emolument, it may give or 
 withhold, does, by such an admission, ut- 
 terly vitiate all his claim to have any part 
 or lot in the matter of saving piety. I do 
 not speak of those who knowingly and 
 deliberately make these their chief grounds 
 of preference ; but I affirm that it is wholly 
 antichristian, and an insult to the crucified 
 Saviour, to yield any, the smallest, place 
 to worldly motives in choosing the Chris- 
 tian position which we will occupy. Let 
 Christ and conscience decide in this matter. 
 " Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make 
 not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts 
 thereof." The gospel will admit of no 
 compromise here. This is its point of 
 honor, which it cannot, and will not, yield 
 by a single iota. I feel called upon to use 
 the language of unmeasured denunciation 
 against a mistake, so often fatal to hopeful 
 beginnings in religion ; so very often fatal 
 to the religious prospects of young men, 
 
24 RESOURCES AND DUTIES OF 
 
 I deem this point of sufficient importance 
 to receive more particular and detailed 
 illustration. 
 
 Without stopping here to consider the 
 grosser forms which this grave offense 
 against the Saviour's dignity familiarly 
 assumes, I will only refer to such as are 
 most likely to be found in cultivated, as- 
 piring minds. A demand is often put 
 forth in this quarter for more tasteful de- 
 velopments of Christianity than we are 
 wont to meet with in its every-day history. 
 Accustomed to look for the beautiful and 
 the poetical in their speculations as well 
 as in external objects, persons of this class 
 can conceive of nothing higher or nobler 
 in the gospel than its adaptations to min- 
 ister to this universal want of cultivated, 
 polished society ; and they have little true 
 respect, and less sympathy, for any mani- 
 festation of piety which does not conform 
 to their special tastes. They have a theory 
 on the subject, which requires that the 
 divine Author of all the beauty and har- 
 mony of the material world, as well as the 
 
CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN. 25 
 
 world of intellect, should, for still higher 
 reasons, observe the same great principles 
 in his plans and operations for bringing 
 men to heaven. I have stated the sub- 
 stance of the theory, which is, however, 
 variously modified by habit, education, 
 and temperament. And I remark that this 
 demand upon the gospel quite loses sight 
 of the fact, that the salvation of souls is 
 its grand design and object, to which 
 mental and social improvement are only 
 incidental and secondary ; that Christianity 
 finds the world immersed in darkness, and 
 vice, and depravity; so that its great work 
 on earth is that of elaboration, of reno- 
 vation, of preparation, for a higher estate 
 of mature graces and perfect harmonies. 
 It has, of necessity, a great deal of rough 
 work to do ; its processes must be adapted 
 to the material to be acted on, no less than 
 to the results to be produced. The sym- 
 phonies divine that charm the angels are 
 not so well fitted to this sinful world, which 
 has contrived to array its tempers, and 
 tastes, and tendencies, against its Maker, 
 in a hostility far more brutish than angelic. 
 
26 RESOURCES AND DUTIES OF 
 
 The means and appliances of the gospel, 
 in order to be effective, must recognize the 
 conditions and the disabilities of the beings 
 over whom its conquests are to be won ; 
 and whoever would be an effective co- 
 worker with God in this broad field, must, 
 like God, be content to accommodate his 
 message and ministry to the multitude. 
 Let no man who has raised himself to the 
 great purpose of living for his race and 
 for eternity, indulge in the idle fancy that 
 he can gain his chosen end by herding 
 with the philosophers, and propounding 
 Christianity to the multitude in learned 
 theses. Let him rather come down from 
 the high places of intellectual pride, and 
 put himself in communication with the 
 masses. These are not yet polished, or 
 intelligent, or able to appreciate all that in 
 heaven will be familiar as household words. 
 In the most favorable state of society which 
 has ever existed on the earth, the multi- 
 tude of men have been uneducated — have 
 been doomed to toil, and to comparative 
 poverty. To this condition of our race the 
 gospel at first adapted its lessons and its 
 
CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN. 27 
 
 agencies, it may be, from choice, but as- 
 suredly from necessity — a necessity that 
 still exists in all its force. I may add, that 
 the demand for more tasteful or philo- 
 sophical developments of Christianity can 
 only be satisfied at the expense of the im- 
 mensely important class of men for whose 
 special benefit the Christian revelation 
 was promulgated — for " the gospel was 
 preached to the poor." The reform pro- 
 posed might accommodate the tenth of a 
 tithe of the population of highly civilized 
 nations ; but its natural tendency would be 
 to separate this favored class from the 
 masses, and bring them under a Christian 
 culture, the most intellectual and graceful 
 it may be, but wholly inapplicable to the 
 condition and wants of the people. These, 
 forsaken by their natural guides, their can- 
 dlesticks removed from their midst, must 
 sink into hopeless impiety and ignorance 
 but for God's mercy, which is wont to in- 
 terpose, and raise up prophets from among 
 themselves. 
 
 But this divine interference for the pre- 
 vention of results, utterly and eternally ruin- 
 
28 RESOURCES AND DUTIES OF 
 
 ous, does not adequately provide against 
 some of the most deplorable evils that mar 
 the piety, and fetter the energies, of the 
 church. The gospel is a leveler, and con- 
 templates our whole sinful race as " made 
 of one blood." It will have " the rich and 
 the poor meet together " at the feet of Je- 
 sus, and forget all earthly distinctions in 
 rapt meditation on the infinite goodness 
 and glory of God, and on the heavenly 
 world, to which they both look by faith, as 
 to a common inheritance. It will have 
 the lettered and the untaught, the high- 
 born and the low, mingle before a common 
 altar, and bow down before a common 
 Saviour. It abhors caste, and is ambitious 
 of bringing together in one vast brother- 
 hood of faith, and feeling, and co-opera- 
 tion, all blood-bought souls. It will have 
 the rich contribute their wealth, the noble 
 their influence, the learned their wisdom, 
 the poor their sterling virtues, their patient 
 toil, their might of sympathy and of sinew, 
 to the building up of a pure and powerful 
 church. It is by the combination of all 
 classes, and all talents, that human society 
 
CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN. 29 
 
 prospers most, and, for aught that appears, 
 it is the Saviour's design to constitute and 
 edify the church upon the same principle. 
 Now the pride of man comes in to thwart 
 this benevolent design. It will have an 
 aristocracy, where Heaven can, least of all? 
 tolerate it. It puts asunder what God has 
 joined together. As far as the antichris- 
 tian theory, against which I so earnestly 
 protest, is carried out in practice, it mono- 
 polizes and covers up the light. It se- 
 questers talent and influence but to place 
 them in positions where they act not at 
 all, or at the greatest disadvantage, upon 
 the general interests of religion and hu- 
 manity. 
 
 Nor must I pass over, as too unim- 
 portant to deserve notice, the inevitable 
 tendency of this religious exclusiveness to 
 generate a spirit and a power antagonist 
 to the universal equality guarantied by 
 our free institutions. We have no privi- 
 leged orders, nor is it likely, in the existing 
 temper of the public mind, that talent, or 
 wealth, or ancestry, or even great virtues, 
 will ever give to their possessors a social 
 
30 RESOURCES AND DUTIES OF 
 
 position dangerous to the rights of the 
 humblest citizen; but I must think the 
 lovers of our republican institutions and 
 manners will have some cause for solici- 
 tude, if the growing tendency among our 
 influential classes to desert the popular 
 walks of religion, for more select and pre- 
 tending connections, shall increase in a 
 similar ratio for twenty or fifty years to 
 come. The danger is not at all diminish- 
 ed by Christian forms and names ; and a 
 religious aristocracy which is completely 
 sheltered under the guaranties of universal 
 freedom of conscience, secured to all by 
 our free institutions, has no security to give 
 in return to those institutions, that it will not 
 at least generate a spirit dangerous to their 
 purity and perpetuity. No pride is more 
 blinding and corrupting than spiritual pride, 
 and men who are ever fancying themselves 
 upon a lofty eminence, unconsciously ac- 
 quire a habit of looking doivn upon the 
 rest of the world.* 
 
 A question of far deeper import is this : 
 What are the more strictly religious effects 
 
 * See Note A, at the end. 
 
CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN. 31 
 
 of this defection from the popular Chris- 
 tianity upon the persons most concerned ? 
 How is it with the dainty seceders who 
 loathe the manna that " covers the face of 
 the wilderness," of which "every man may 
 gather according to his eating," and deem 
 it distasteful to receive with the multitude, 
 seated on the ground, the bread which Jesus 
 so liberally blesses and breaks ? Of all wh o 
 lightly turn away from the lowlier faith 
 of their early education and their fathers 5 
 house, to rear their showy altars upon the 
 high places of the land, whether seduced by 
 vanity, or ambition, or fastidiousness, it may 
 well be doubted if many secure more than 
 the shadow of true religion. If they have 
 borne with them to this false, exposed po- 
 sition, some measure of spirituality, the 
 growth of a more fruitful soil, and of a more 
 benignant clime, it speedily withers and 
 decays for want of a participation in those 
 popular sympathies, from which they start 
 back with a disgust so profound. Their 
 dwelling places are unquestionably on the 
 Parnassus or the Olympus of the Chris- 
 tian world, but these mountain tops have 
 
32 RESOURCES AND DUTIES OF 
 
 neither depth of earth, nor springs of wa- 
 ter, and no plant of righteousness is likely 
 to strike its roots into the hard rock that 
 composes their shining hut arid summits. 
 
 Such aristocratic aspirants after a grace- 
 ful piety, (I call them aristocratic for 
 want of a better term to mark this per- 
 verse development of Christianity,) natu- 
 rally fall into two classes, and exhibit two 
 great corruptions of the gospel. The more 
 intellectual and philosophical part com- 
 monly wander into that cold region of un- 
 fruitful speculations, where rationalism or 
 transcendentalism, or whatever neology 
 happens to be in fashion, claims empire. 
 The merely fashionable, and ambitious, 
 and fastidious portion, more usually pay 
 their courtly homage to graceful forms or 
 venerable reminiscences, and find and ex- 
 hibit, at least, some of the semblances of 
 spiritual piety in the religion of the imagi- 
 nation.* 
 
 I cannot part with the topic under con- 
 sideration without bestowing a passing 
 thought upon the God-dishonoring senti- 
 
 * See Note B, at the end. 
 
CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN. 33 
 
 ments in which this deplorable fallacy has 
 its origin. This demand for a Christianity 
 more refined and tasteful than that of 
 Christ, proceeds upon the assumption that 
 God is specially pleased and honored by 
 the conversion of persons of literary taste, 
 and polished manners ; of men accustom- 
 ed to good society, and well read in good 
 authors. Disguise it as we will, that is 
 the fundamental idea of this antichristian 
 theory. Now, for aught that appears, these 
 accomplishments do not figure very large* 
 ly in Heaven's estimate of man. I cannot 
 help suspecting that John Bunyan, John 
 Nelson, and worthies of this class, wore, in 
 God's sight, the insignia of a truer and 
 higher nobility, than the choicest spirits of 
 the brilliant eras of Elizabeth and Anne. 
 
 What are the attributes most prized and 
 most sought for in man, by the crucified 
 Saviour ? Charity and purity. These are 
 the cardinal virtues of the gospel. Every 
 one that loveth is born of God, and know- 
 eth God. If we love one another, God 
 dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in 
 us. God is love, and he that dwelleth in 
 3 
 
34 RESOURCES AND DUTIES OF 
 
 love, dwelleth in God, and God in him. 
 The entire law is fulfilled by him who 
 loves God with all the heart, and his neigh- 
 bor as himself. This is glory to God in 
 the highest, peace on earth, and good will 
 to men. The gospel is satisfied when this 
 great end is achieved, and it labors, from 
 age to age, to implant this law of univer- 
 sal affinity and brotherhood in all hearts, 
 and thus to establish a vast system of or- 
 der and divine harmony, worthy of the 
 wisdom and of the mercy of God. And 
 this is its primary, proper object. High in- 
 tellectual culture, advanced civilization, re- 
 finement of sentiments and of manners, 
 do indeed attend, or rather follow, its pro- 
 gress, but only as incidental results of the 
 great moral changes which have their sphere 
 in the moral nature and character of man. 
 The moral transformation is all that the 
 gospel, as such, aims to accomplish. This 
 makes the sinner a child of God, fits him 
 for heavenly society and pursuits, makes 
 him a joint heir with Christ. These are 
 no doubtful announcements, but first prin- 
 ciples of the gospel, which no sane Chris- 
 
CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN. 35 
 
 tian will for a moment call in question ; 
 and they suggest the irresistible conclusion, 
 that that is the most Christian church, and 
 that the most apostolic ministry, which 
 most successfully accomplish these most 
 Christian ends. No matter who they are 
 that are converted, and sanctified, and 
 brought to heaven. The ignorant, the 
 outcast, the Hottentot, the slave — these are 
 Christ's well-beloved brethren, and with 
 him heirs of God. The princes of this 
 world may be glad to go to heaven, if they 
 may, in such company, and angels would 
 exult to be co-workers with God in preach- 
 ing the gospel to the poor. What lesson 
 of instruction do I find in this digression ? 
 A stern rebuke of that wretched fastidious- 
 ness which refuses to be satisfied with such 
 a type of Christianity as satisfies Christ — 
 demonstrative proof that this reiterated de- 
 mand for a more tasteful and philosophical 
 religion is unreasonable and unphiloso- 
 phical, as well as unchristian — new force 
 in the exhortation, " Make not provision for 
 the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof." Would 
 you find for yourselves a religion adapted 
 
36 RESOURCES AND DUTIES OF 
 
 to the soul's pressing wants, and to the de- 
 mands of a perishing world ? Drink deeply 
 of the Christian sentiments and sympa- 
 thies of the people. "Would you act a 
 heroic part in the holy war which God and 
 good men are carrying on against error 
 and sin ? Throw yourselves into the midst 
 of the masses, where there are most hearts 
 to be won, and most souls to be saved. Do 
 not be for ever gazing at the toy that glit- 
 ters on the top of the steeple, but bend 
 your regards upon the living stones that 
 compose Christ's holy temple, upon the 
 undying souls that throng its inner and 
 outer courts. There the true altar and the 
 authorized priest are sure to be found, and 
 there God has work to do for all, who, like 
 his well-beloved Son, are content to aba^ 
 themselves, that they may be exalted. 
 
 I have not left time for the discussion 
 of some other topics which I cannot wholly 
 overlook. Educated young men often find 
 another stumbling block in the presumed 
 or dreaded interference of an honest con- 
 secration to Christ with their ambitious, 
 and, as they are prone to esteem them. 
 
CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN. 37 
 
 their pure and honorable aspirations. My 
 own observations on this subject would 
 lead me to regard this as one of the most 
 common and fatal causes of backsliding, 
 as well as procrastination. Many, who 
 hear and recognize the voice of God, re- 
 fuse to enter his vineyard, because they 
 are not quite sure that the employments 
 and immunities to be assigned them there 
 will be agreeable and satisfactory. Im- 
 piety never assumes a more daring attitude 
 than this, however the rank offense may 
 be disguised or concealed by circumstances 
 or by false reasonings. What is implied by 
 the postponement or abandonment of a re- 
 ligious course on such grounds ? Distrust 
 in God is implied, and unbelief in its most 
 odious, atrocious, insolent form. Has God, 
 then, no right to interfere with our plans ? 
 This mental discipline, and these accom- 
 plishments, which are too good to be sub- 
 jected to his control — were they acquired 
 — are they held, on terms altogether inde- 
 pendent of Jehovah ? Is the inexperienced 
 youth, fresh from the schools and prover- 
 bially ignorant of the world, and of the 
 
OO RESOURCES AND DUTIES OF 
 
 future, somewhat better qualified to choose 
 his own way, and thread the labyrinth of 
 life alone, than God is to guide him ? You 
 will not be a Christian, because that con- 
 fessedly assigns you a sphere of action 
 where God and conscience must be consult- 
 ed. You seek a freer range and a wider 
 sphere. Take them, and then inquire if 
 you are beyond the domain of God. Are 
 you really freer to choose or surer to win ? 
 Is responsibility excluded, or danger of dis- 
 appointment and disaster ? No ; for God 
 reigns everywhere. All that is gained by 
 this daring revolt against his authority is 
 the dire privilege of working out our des- 
 tiny without any promise of guidance, or 
 grace, or reward, yet always under the 
 divine supervision and control — always in 
 conflict with his revealed will — always ob- 
 noxious to his displeasure, and certain of 
 ultimate ruin whatever fortunes may be 
 conceded to a career which is, at best, only 
 a prolonged rebellion against God. 
 
 After saying so much of the religious 
 aspects of this case, I must not omit to 
 expose the shallow views of life on which 
 
CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN. 39 
 
 this great practical error is based. As a class, 
 truly pious men are the most fortunate in the 
 world. Estimate their successes by honors 
 won, by their usefulness, by their attain- 
 ments, or by their enjoyments, and these 
 persons greatly outstrip their competitors. 
 I will not stop to inquire why it is so, 
 though I doubt not there is in the thing 
 both a divine providence and a divine phi- 
 losophy. Heaven guides and cheers on 
 the man who is content to receive his com- 
 mission from above, while the virtues and 
 safeguards of religion do naturally minis- 
 ter to his successes even in secular pur- 
 suits. The fact, however, is all I contend 
 for here. Common experience is a demon- 
 stration that godliness is profitable for this 
 life, as well as that to come. It is some- 
 thing more than impiety — it is gross,"blind 
 folly, for a young man, setting out in life, 
 to guard against the disturbing influence 
 of religion in the settlement of his plans. 
 God is likely to be his wisest counselor, 
 and his most powerful auxiliary, and to 
 exalt him in proportion to the humility of 
 his submission to the divine authority. 
 
40 RESOURCES AND DUTIES OF 
 
 I must add another remark. It is un- 
 questionably true that piety often pro- 
 motes, while it seldom retards, a man's 
 progress in the world, It is no less so, and 
 no less proper to mark the fact, that men 
 who seek to make of religious pretensions, 
 and church relations, instruments of ambi- 
 tion or gain, are almost sure of meeting 
 with signal disappointment. Success in 
 such attempts would offer a dangerous 
 temptation to human virtue, and fill the 
 churches with hypocrites ; but success in 
 such attempts, in such a country as this, 
 where the government is neutral, and all 
 sects have fair play, is nearly impossible. 
 Aristocracy in religion meets with a potent 
 antagonist in the legal and social democ- 
 racy that universally prevails. Proscription 
 for religious opinions is nearly impractica- 
 ble in any form, where there is a multitude 
 of sects, and the weak are prone to unite 
 against any encroachment by the strong. 
 In such a state of things there is an open 
 field for industry and merit, in which no 
 sectarian badge can win or lose the prize. 
 There is no reward for the hypocrisy which 
 
CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN. 41 
 
 would profess, or the base cowardice, or 
 heartless prudence, which would shun to 
 profess, any opinion or bear any name, for 
 selfish objects. The temptation to sin in 
 this matter is really so weak that there is lit- 
 tle need of providing any safeguard against 
 it, beyond a statement such as has been 
 made. Neither cupidity nor vanity has 
 much to gain by " making provision for 
 the flesh," when neither emolument nor 
 influence are to be won by recreancy to 
 principle. 
 
 The short-sighted ambition which covets 
 higher and brighter spheres of effort and 
 manifestation than comport with the claims 
 of duty, or the arrangements of Providence, 
 is wont to fall into another capital error. 
 In paying to circumstances their vain 
 court for facilities and rewards, seldom 
 granted but as the fruit of patient labor 
 and practical self-denial, these impatient 
 aspirants after distinction are insensibly 
 led away from the only theatre of action 
 adapted to their character and attainments. 
 Talent is ever best developed, and common- 
 ly best rewarded, where it is most wanted. 
 
42 RESOURCES AND DUTIES OF 
 
 It should therefore respect the great laws of 
 demand and supply ; and while the wide 
 earth and boundless sea are open to its en- 
 terprise, should never press too eagerly into 
 petty, glutted marts. An educated Christian 
 young man, who, in all the attainable good 
 before him, has eyes to see something bet- 
 ter and nobler than mere pecuniary gain, 
 cannot fail to perceive a most hopeful field 
 of usefulness in his connection with one 
 of the great popular Christian denomina- 
 tions of this country. It is unavoidable, 
 that among the vast multitudes, so rapidly 
 gathered into these broad folds by primi- 
 tive zeal and labors, many will lack culture, 
 and intelligence, and refinement. Edu- 
 cation and literature, polished eloquence, 
 and profound learning, naturally follow, 
 though they seldom precede, the greatest 
 successes of young and rising sects. "When 
 such wants are most pressing, precisely 
 then is there likely to exist the most urgent 
 demand for such qualifications to satisfy 
 them. 
 
 A religious community whose successes 
 have outstripped ail its anticipations, sud- 
 
CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN. 43 
 
 denty finds itself responsible for the intel- 
 lectual, as well as moral, improvement of 
 millions. It has reached a point in its his- 
 tory where a demand for cultivated talent 
 is of the most urgent character. It must 
 have educated men ; and literary attain- 
 ment, when united with piety and good 
 sense, is sure to be placed in positions 
 the most favorable for the efficient exer- 
 tion of extensive and salutary influence. 
 It almost necessarily happens that learning, 
 and eloquence, and refinement, acquire a 
 consideration and a power to do good, 
 great in proportion to then scarcity, and to 
 the multitude of demands upon such qua- 
 lifications. Just such a theatre as enlight- 
 ened, sanctified ambition should most de- 
 sire, is here opened to the Christian youth. 
 It proffers useful, congenial, and honor- 
 able employment. It insures the earliest, 
 fullest development of his mental and moral 
 resources. It promises all reasonable and 
 desirable exemption from the tedious proba- 
 tion and discouraging competition which he 
 may be doomed to encounter elsewhere. It 
 offers him equal and honorable partnership 
 
44 RESOURCES AND DUTIES OF 
 
 in the holy work of training a host of im- 
 mortal beings for usefulness, purity, happi- 
 ness, and heaven. The folly of turning 
 away from these outspread fields waving 
 with golden harvests, and echoing all around 
 with Macedonian cries for more laborers, 
 is only less than the guilt which is always 
 superadded, when, in addition to this con- 
 tempt for the suggestions of a sound dis- 
 cretion, some violence is also inflicted upon 
 the conscience. And here I cannot refrain 
 from a passing remark on the benignant 
 relations which religion ever sustains to 
 the practical movements of business and 
 of life. So nicely and so graciously is the 
 great scheme of an overruling, watchful 
 providence, adapted to our various circum- 
 stances, that the most inexperienced youth 
 — the merest novice in affairs- — has little 
 more to do, than simply to obey the dic- 
 tates of an enlightened conscience, in or- 
 der to secure all the advantages of the 
 most comprehensive and well-digested 
 plans, and of the deepest insight into the 
 future. An unwavering trust in God and 
 his word is the best guide, as well as 
 
CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN. 45 
 
 the best safeguard. It is a great simplifier 
 of life's complicated pursuits, and endows 
 each single-hearted follower of Jesus Christ 
 with a precocious, heavenly wisdom. 
 
 In anything I have said, I do not mean 
 to intimate that both our actual piety and 
 our Christian profession may not involve 
 the most serious consequences. I know too 
 well the genius of the gospel, to inculcate a 
 doctrine so foreign from its avowals and its 
 spirit. Great sufferings and great sacrifices 
 do, unquestionably, enter into God's en- 
 tire scheme for diffusing and propagating 
 the true religion, and for the moral discipline 
 of individuals. Christ was made perfect by 
 suffering, and through much nibulation we 
 are called to enter into the kingdom of 
 heaven. Afflictions work out for the saints 
 an exceeding weight of glory. Not only 
 are Christians subject to the common lot 
 of mortals, which is usually one of many 
 pains and sorrows, but they are often call- 
 ed to suffer for Christ's sake. It is funda- 
 mental to the Christian system that men 
 were redeemed by suffering, and hardly 
 less so, as far as history is our teacher. 
 
46 RESOURCES AND DUTIES OF 
 
 that the best achievements of the gospel 
 are to be carried in the midst of peril, and 
 loss, and agony. In this great work of 
 toil and sacrifice, it is no doubt the will of 
 God that young men, and educated young 
 men, shall have a principal share. God 
 chooses them because they are strong, and 
 he intends to make them the chief of his 
 instruments for the accomplishment of his 
 great designs of mercy. Let them look their 
 calling fairly in the face, and enter on the 
 career of duty, well aware of the conditions 
 upon which they serve a crucified Redeem- 
 er. None more need to stir up the gift that is 
 within them, to gird about then loins, and 
 put on the armor of righteousness. I may 
 safely say that no policy is so dangerous 
 as caution and cowardice. I may confi- 
 dently warn them of the folly and danger 
 of " making provision for the flesh," by re- 
 fraining from such a dedication as may 
 exact from them the sternest conditions 
 known to our Christian vocation. If great 
 results can be attained by great efforts and 
 great sufferings, what generous heart will 
 refuse the sacrifice ? If, our own holiness 
 
CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN. 47 
 
 and the happiness of others may be pro- 
 moted in proportion to the expenditure of 
 toil, or talent, or wealth, who will not feel 
 that the outlay is reasonable and even po- 
 litic ? But the argument likely to be most 
 effectual with ingenuous and truly pious 
 minds is derived from the genius of our 
 religion. The gospel is a way of salvation 
 by grace. It lays the Christian under ob- 
 ligations immeasurably sfrong, which he 
 can never satisfy, while it awakens in him 
 a sense of gratitude ever restless and stu- 
 dious of methods by which it may testify 
 its loyalty, and crown with honor the great 
 Benefactor, who is too high to be repaid 
 for all his mercies. This deep, undying 
 sentiment of the pious soul, finds utterance 
 in thanksgiving and adoration — in prayer 
 for the extension of the kingdom of Christ, 
 and in all the ways by which a sincere 
 Christian makes manifestation of his piety. 
 But the unwasted, struggling impulse gains 
 strength by all its activities, and longs for 
 new modes of exercise and development. 
 Dissatisfied with the little it can do for the 
 glory of the Saviour, it would gladly give 
 
48 RESOURCES AND DUTIES OF 
 
 its testimony by suffering. This feeling is 
 natural ; and it is strong in every bosom 
 in proportion as piety is profound and in- 
 tense. It has led many misguided Chris- 
 tians to devote themselves to penances and 
 voluntary inflictions. It led the apostles to 
 rejoice " that they were counted worthy to 
 suffer for Christ." Paul avowed a desire to 
 endure martyrdom for the satisfaction of 
 this profound sentiment, and many early 
 Christians joyfully submitted to the se- 
 verest tortures as a testimony of their 
 devotion and gratitude to Christ. Not 
 many in these days of peace and tol- 
 eration are likely to be called to pass 
 through such an ordeal ; but if the spirit 
 to suffer the loss of all things for Christ's 
 sake be not still with us, then has 
 the true glory of the church perished with 
 her martyrs. Doubtless this spirit yet lives, 
 and would be made manifest by fitting oc- 
 casions. Doubtless there are multitudes 
 who would encounter losses of all sorts — 
 privations, labors, and even death itself — 
 for the crucified Redeemer. They remem- 
 ber his words, that if any love father, or 
 
CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN. 49 
 
 mother, or brother, or sister, or houses, or 
 lands, more than him, he cannot be a 
 disciple. They remember that it is often 
 more prudent to lose the life than to save 
 it. Many even feel that they have a bap- 
 tism to be baptized with, and are sfraiten- 
 ed till they perform it. They are eager to 
 live, and, if needs be, to die for Christ. 
 They have " put on the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 and made no provision for the flesh, to ful- 
 fill the lusts thereof." Their cry is, " Speak, 
 Lord, thy servant heareth." They are not 
 careful to make conditions. Wheresoever 
 God's Spirit or providence will lead, they 
 stand ready to go ; neither do they call any- 
 thing their own which they possess, whether 
 of talent, learning, position, wealth, or in- 
 fluence ; but regard themselves only as 
 stewards of the manifold grace of God, and 
 servants to the church for Christ's sake. 
 These are Christians such as Christ came 
 down from heaven to raise up. They are 
 the messengers of his mercy — ministers 
 of grace. Then* hearts throb in unison 
 with Christ — their ears are open to every 
 Macedonian cry. The church, this coun- 
 
50 RESOURCES AND DUTIES OF 
 
 try, the age, and state of the world, want 
 such Christians, and only want enough 
 such, speedily to cover the earth with 
 righteousness. 
 
 I have no higher wish on behalf of the 
 young men whom I now address, than to 
 see them thoroughly imbued with the 
 spirit of such a religion as I have attempted 
 to exhibit. Put on, my friends, put ye on 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not pro- 
 vision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts 
 thereof. I may claim to feel the profound- 
 est interest in your wellfare, but I am not 
 afraid to trust you to the guidance of such 
 auspices. Go forth clad in these robes of 
 purity and beauty, protected by this impene- 
 trable armor of righteousness, and none who 
 love you will have anything to fear or to de- 
 sire beyond. Christ will guide you aright. 
 Precisely into such positions as are best 
 suited to your talents, and most adapted to 
 usefulness, will he be sure to lead you. 
 And this is the only way for attaining at 
 once the highest happiness and the most 
 perfect development of the intellectual and 
 moral powers. Here you are sure of hav- 
 
CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN. 51 
 
 ing " grace sufficient for you," and that is 
 the only sure pledge and hope for eminent 
 success. Here alone you secure that har- 
 mony and co-operation of the moral with 
 the mental forces ; that concurrence of the 
 emotions with the intellect, indispensable 
 to the fullest development, and the highest 
 achievements, of a human being. 
 
 I shall close by making of the exhorta- 
 tion in the text a special application to 
 those who hear me. I am too intimate 
 with the liabilities and the actual history 
 of young men, not to be aware that many 
 of them act in direct opposition to the les- 
 sons inculcated in this discourse. They 
 deliberately u put off the Lord Jesus Christ," 
 and that for the very purpose of making 
 provision for satisfying the lusts of the 
 flesh. They have found unexpected dif- 
 ficulties in the way of a religious life on 
 their first entrance upon the scenes of pub- 
 lic education. The buoyancy and the 
 levity of youth, the confluence of a mul- 
 titude of petty temptations, small but eager 
 rivalries, new demands upon time, and a 
 new arrangement of their hours, the esprit 
 
52 RESOURCES AND DUTIES OF 
 
 du corps which too often operates to an 
 extent incompatible with an easy discharge 
 of the highest moral duties ; these, and 
 many more nameless evils, often combine 
 to test whatever integrity and strength of 
 religious principle and habit the inexpe- 
 rienced youth may have brought from 
 more quiet scenes to the threshold of col- 
 lege life. A brief season of trial, a manly 
 bearing in the face of danger, an honest 
 recurrence to first principles — more than 
 all, humble reliance upon God, and a 
 conscientious observance of the duties of 
 religion, would soon overcome difficulties 
 which are only formidable from their no- 
 velty and their number. At this precise 
 point not a few who come among us, with 
 the fairest promise, abandon their religion. 
 Some do it with apparent deliberation, and 
 at once ; others gradually, and, it may be, 
 insensibly, but none the less effectually and 
 fatally. A vague purpose is commonly 
 cherished of resuming it again under more 
 favorable auspices, when temptations shall 
 be fewer or weaker, and better helps avail- 
 able. But for the present they put off 
 
CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN. 53 
 
 Christ, and get their education and form 
 their character without him, seeming to 
 regard themselves more free than before 
 to indulge in doubtful pleasures and asso- 
 ciations, and still more to omit the dis- 
 tinctive duties and manifestations of a 
 Christian profession. If conscience at 
 first interpose some obstacles in the way 
 of such a defection, it soon accommodates 
 itself with a vicious facility to the cherished 
 inclinations of the heart. I have often 
 seen a hopefully pious youth thus throw 
 away his armor in the day of battle, putting 
 off Christ just when he most needs to put 
 him on — entering on a career of many 
 dangers without religion, just because he 
 thinks it will be difficult or unpleasant to 
 get along with religion. He thus fairly 
 uncovers his bosom to the envenomed 
 shaft. He invites, yea, compels God to 
 forsake him, and then rushes, blind and 
 naked, into the midst of his foes. I speak, 
 young gentlemen, of an experience not 
 unknown among you ; not to reproach, 
 but to warn. Some may have gone so 
 far in this downward career, and ,have 
 
54 RESOURCES AND DUTIES OF 
 
 drunken so deeply of the cup of cursing 
 which they have chosen, that the voice of 
 affectionate admonition will be lost upon 
 them. Not so, I trust, with others who 
 hear me. The agony is not yet over with 
 them. Shamefully have they slighted, 
 deeply have they grieved, the Saviour; 
 but their hearts yet beat quickly and sor- 
 rowfully when they look upon Him whom 
 they have pierced. You who have made 
 a trial of this style in religion, say, Is it 
 satisfactory ? Does it shield you in the day 
 of peril? The enjoyments, the lusts of 
 the flesh, for which you have provided at 
 such enormous expense, are they, upon 
 the whole, better than the peace of God 
 and the love of Christ which you have 
 lost ? If you look back with desire and 
 self-reproach, then you have still a taste 
 and a conscience for better things, and 
 may, I trust will, rally and struggle to 
 regain the position you have rashly aban- 
 doned. 
 
 Those who are about to leave this arena 
 of preparation to enter upon new scenes 
 of life, and engage in fresh enterprises, I 
 
CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN. 55 
 
 beseech to listen to the instructions of this 
 occasion. Do not venture to take a step 
 into this dark, troublesome world, now 
 opening before you, without a divine 
 guide. You I may exhort with special 
 emphasis, " Put ye on the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, 
 to fulfill the lusts thereof." Fear to move 
 in the grave matter of choosing your pro- 
 fession, and forming the more permanent 
 plans and relations of life, before you as- 
 sume your proper religious position, and 
 are thus enabled to act under divine direc- 
 tion. You may not neglect this duty with- 
 out incurring the entire forfeiture of God's 
 promises and grace. Let me inquire of 
 you, with an earnestness and solemnity 
 befitting the importance of the interests 
 involved, whether you have hitherto been 
 true to your convictions of duty, whether 
 your plans of life have thus far been form- 
 ed prayerfully and conscientiously, in the 
 best moods of your religious feelings, when 
 you most fully appreciated Christ's su- 
 preme claims? Are there not in your 
 bosoms half-stifled convictions, slumber- 
 
56 RESOURCES AND DUTIES OF 
 
 ing recollections of unpaid vows made 
 under circumstances of deepest solemnity ? 
 Look over these archives of conscience 
 with heedful deliberation. Resolutions, 
 formed when your bosoms glowed with 
 zeal and love for Christ, are most likely 
 to be the wisest and the best. Bring your- 
 selves back to the same moral attitude, 
 and review these high, holy purposes, 
 under the same clear manifestations that 
 led to then formation, or you are likely to 
 sin against your own souls irretrievably. 
 " Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ," and 
 then choose your way under his divine 
 auspices. See to it that you make no 
 provision for the flesh in this deeply in- 
 teresting crisis of your endless being. For 
 God's sake do not blunder here. Remem- 
 ber you choose for eternity, and that an 
 error at this point must give a wrong di- 
 rection to all your future career. You 
 determine what you will do for Christ, and 
 for men, and for your own souls. Choose 
 honestly ; choose bravely ; fearing no la- 
 bors, or crosses, or sufferings. Better far 
 than honors or crowns are the sacrifices 
 
CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN. 57 
 
 which fidelity to Christ shall impose upon 
 you. 
 
 There is among our educated Christian 
 young men a grievous offense, so common 
 as to have become a sign of the times, and 
 so full of evil tendencies as to call loudly 
 for exposure and denunciation. I refer to 
 the levity with which so many treat their 
 early vows of consecration to the Christian 
 ministry. Under convictions of duty and 
 of a heavenly calling, always deeply felt 
 and gratefully recognized in seasons of 
 high religious enjoyment and spiritual 
 devotion, they begin or prosecute their 
 literary career as a preparatory training for 
 the sacred office. With seasons of de- 
 pression or declension come doubts, and 
 reluctance, and dissatisfaction, with plans 
 of life which really present few alluring 
 aspects to the lukewarm, worldly-minded 
 Christian. Such occasions are often chosen 
 for testing the validity of the call to a work 
 involving many sacrifices, and for which 
 high sphituality and entire consecration to 
 Christ are, confessedly, indispensable quali- 
 fications. It is then no difficult task to 
 
58 RESOURCES AND DUTIES OF 
 
 discover deficiences which the least sensi- 
 tive conscience must feel, and which there 
 is even a strong temptation to magnify as 
 the means of obtaining a release from obli- 
 gations hitherto deemed sacred and invio- 
 lable. I have briefly indicated the process 
 by which many of our Christian students, 
 designated for the ministry by the most 
 unequivocal marks of a divine vocation, 
 contrive to stifle their own convictions, 
 and elude the sacred claims of the church 
 and of the crucified Saviour. I can truly 
 affirm that no other instances of religious 
 defection and recreancy to sacred duties 
 are wont to fill me with a sorrow so pro- 
 found and inconsolable. I habitually look 
 upon pious students with the deepest 
 interest, as in a peculiar sense the property 
 of Christ, not only as the purchase of his 
 blood and the trophies of grace, but as the 
 probable and fit instruments to be chosen 
 for the enlargement of his kingdom. It is 
 to be expected that many, so providentially 
 prepared by literary training, should be 
 divinely called to the ministry of recon- 
 ciliation; and it is matter of unfeigned 
 
CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN. 59 
 
 thankfulness, but none of surprise, that so 
 large a proportion of converted students 
 become deeply impressed with the duty 
 of devoting themselves to this great work. 
 Few, I believe, who maintain a devotional, 
 cross-bearing spirit, ever fall into serious 
 or lasting doubts about the authenticity 
 of their heavenly calling. They may be per- 
 mitted to pass through seasons of trial and 
 self-examination for the establishment of 
 their faith and for the attainment of a 
 higher moral preparation for the exigences 
 of their holy vocation ; but few sincere souls, 
 I am persuaded, will ever be left to dis- 
 card, as the result of fancy or of enthusiasm, 
 these awful impressions of the highest 
 duty. They who have been seduced by 
 ambition, or indolence, or unbelief, or self- 
 indulgence, from the higher walks of piety, 
 do, indeed, bring upon themselves a moral 
 state to which distrust, and distaste, and 
 absolute repugnance, in regard to their 
 proper mission, are natural and unavoid- 
 able. They are no longer fit to be ministers 
 of Christ; but this does not annul their 
 call nor its binding obligations. The bur- 
 
60 RESOURCES AND DUTIES OF 
 
 den rests upon them none the less because 
 the strength to hear it is gone. They have 
 clearly fallen into the snare of the devil, 
 and there is only one way of escape. They 
 must revert to first principles, or be irre- 
 trievably ruined. They must return to 
 their first love — must revisit the sunny re- 
 gions of divine grace and manifestation, 
 where clear convictions and holy aspira- 
 tions domineer over the soul — where love, 
 and faith, and joy in the Holy Ghost im- 
 part strength to sustain and light to guide. 
 There is really no other alternative be- 
 sides such a spiritual revival, for any who 
 lack the nerve, to conclude that they can 
 get along, in life and in death, without a 
 Saviour. To keep this an open question, 
 with some latent floating purpose, to take 
 advantage of a day of feeble impulses and 
 dim manifestation for sliding away into 
 a secular profession, is to impose upon 
 the mind and the heart an intolerable bur- 
 den, the ominous pledge of comfortless 
 progress, and of ultimate, shameful dis- 
 comfiture. The interests of both worlds 
 are equally concerned in such a choice of 
 
CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN. 61 
 
 occupation as shall leave the conscience 
 free to approve, and God free to patronize. 
 To those who are rather timid than rebel- 
 lions, and have still a sponger desire to win 
 the crown than dread of bearing the cross, 
 it may be right to point ont the vast re- 
 sources placed at their disposal, and of 
 which they receive the investiture on as- 
 suming their true position; but it must, 
 after all, be admitted to be the mark of a 
 degraded moral tone for a Christian man 
 to manifest much anxiety for anything be- 
 yond the doing of his duy. It has been 
 well said that events belong to God; and 
 it may be added, that we are likely to be 
 made happier, as well as better and abler 
 men, by every encounter with difficulties 
 and every blast of adversity. These are 
 God's chosen methods of discipline, and 
 his appointed conditions of all eminent 
 success. So true is this, even in common 
 life, that we do not hesitate to pronounce the 
 most unfavorable auguries of an educated 
 young man, who, in his plans of life, makes 
 an over-careful provision for self-indulgence 
 and an exemption from severe toils and 
 
62 RESOURCES AND DUTIES OF 
 
 trials. If he will not push from the shore 
 till he has taken pledges for a smooth sea 
 and a favorable breeze— if he must, at all 
 events, have sumptuous fare, and fine linen, 
 and houses of cedar, he insists on conditions 
 which neither Heaven nor earth will grant, 
 and which are wholly incompatible with 
 the performance of great actions, or the 
 formation of great characters. In religion, 
 this timid, selfish spirit, to whatever extent 
 it may exist, is subversive of the best prin- 
 ciples of the gospel. It is utterly incom- 
 patible with faith, and in itself a mortal 
 sin. We may not inquire too anxiously 
 what Christ will demand of us in reUirn 
 for the blood he has shed and the heaven 
 he has prepared for us ; but we know he 
 will have nothing less than entire conse- 
 cration ; and that we are to be ever ready 
 " not only to be bound, but also to die, for 
 the name of the Lord Jesus." It is pre- 
 cisely at this point of entire self-renun- 
 ciation that the soul becomes endowed 
 with the power of an endless life, and 
 can do all things, through Christ. If this 
 is an excellent attainment, usually reserved 
 
CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN. 63 
 
 for advanced piety and matured graces, it 
 may, nevertheless, become the starting 
 point of every Christian young man. Let 
 him put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
 make no provision for the flesh, and he 
 obtains the mastery over all resources, 
 human and divine, needful to the fulfill- 
 ment of a glorious destiny. 
 
CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN. 65 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 NOTE A —Page 30, 
 
 I shall have been greatly misunder- 
 stood if it is inferred from the statements 
 and reasonings of this discourse, that I enter- 
 tain uncharitable views, or would call in 
 question the sincere piety and Christian 
 virtues of the religious denominations of 
 this country. My single object is, to ex- 
 pose a practical and most pernicious error, 
 which is perpetually forced upon my atten- 
 tion by my position, and by some acquaint- 
 ance with the present condition of the 
 American church. It is no reflection upon 
 the conscientious and devout members of 
 any Christian sect to intimate that persons, 
 attracted to its communion, or its ministry, 
 by other than strictly religious considera- 
 tions, are not very likely to become emi- 
 nent for Christian attainments or useful- 
 ness. It is well understood, that such 
 5 
 
66 RESOURCES AND DUTIES OF 
 
 proselytes are frequently admitted into 
 their new relations with a degree of dis- 
 trust and caution, of which no conjecture 
 could be formed from the eclat which is 
 given to their conversions by a sectarian 
 press. In that particular branch of the 
 church which numerically profits most by 
 the tendency I have exposed, a conviction 
 is evidently gaining ground, that it is better 
 policy, upon the whole, to train up its own 
 ministry than to open so wide a door to 
 recruits from the seminaries and pulpits 
 of other* denominations. Moderate men 
 are becoming startled at the vaulting speed 
 with which the neophyte so generally 
 hastens to embrace the most extreme 
 opinions and policy known to his new 
 sphere of speculation and activity ; while, 
 to considerate men of all parties,, it must 
 be obvious, that however a deep, heredi- 
 tary reverence for imposing forms, and 
 high, exclusive claims, may be compatible 
 with humble, evangelical piety in persons 
 trained, from their childhood, under such 
 influences, there may, at least, be some 
 danger to the unstable, giddy mind of the 
 
CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN. 67 
 
 novice, who, without any such safeguards, 
 is suddenly brought in contact with ideas, 
 to him so new and so magnificent. 
 
 I hope I shall not be thought to bestow 
 upon this topic a measure of attention 
 greater than its intrinsic importance. As 
 a practical question, its importance is every 
 day increasing in this county, and the 
 time may not be far away when it will 
 force itself upon the consideration of all 
 thoughtful minds. As a mere sectarian 
 question, it may well enough be regarded 
 as nivial ; for it is of little consequence to 
 the enlightened Christian whether the los- 
 ing party suffer, more by mortification than 
 the winning gains by the enjoyment of a 
 petty triumph. There are considerations, 
 however, of far deeper import both to the 
 individual seceder and to the cause of our 
 common Christianity. These easy transi- 
 tions from the church in which we were 
 reared, or into which we have been provi- 
 dentially led to enter, on our conversion^ 
 to another, however pure or orthodox, can 
 hardly ever be effected without injury to 
 the cause of Christ: and I must think 
 
68 RESOURCES AND DUTIES OF 
 
 them almost never innocent, unless when 
 they are prompted by strictly conscientious 
 motives. It would generally be better to 
 submit to great inconveniences, and even 
 to tolerate slight errors in doctrine or disci- 
 pline, rather than resort to a remedy so 
 violent and dangerous. To the individual 
 himself it is likely to prove a very hazard- 
 ous experiment to forsake the hereditary, 
 or the chosen, communion for another. 
 He deprives himself of advantages not to 
 be expected from new religious associa- 
 tions, however pure and elevating. Ties, 
 which religion sanctifies and strengthens 
 for itself, are weakened or broken asunder. 
 The genial sympathies of domestic piety 
 are chilled; the unquestioned authority 
 of hereditary faith is shaken, and all 
 the nameless influences that guard and 
 help a youth, seeking and serving God in 
 the midst of his kindred, and under the 
 approving and watchful eyes of the good 
 men with whose faces and names are 
 associated his hallowed recollections and 
 impressions of the Lord's house, are all 
 utterlv lost, I will not affirm that such 
 
CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN. 69 
 
 evils uniformly result from such defections, 
 nor that they are, in all cases, of sufficient 
 force to interfere fatally with the successful 
 prosecution of a religious life. It is no 
 exaggeration, however, to say that they are 
 not of rare occurrence, and that they are 
 wont to exert a very pernicious influence 
 on personal piety. 
 
 Evils, of a still graver character than 
 any that befall the individual, are likely to 
 follow such recreancy. In proportion to 
 his position and influence does he inflict 
 upon the church and the general interests 
 of religion the greatest calamity ; not chiefly 
 by withdrawing his talents and resources 
 from then appropriate sphere of usef illness, 
 but by grieving pious souls — by awaken- 
 ing distrust of his own sincerity, and 
 resentment for his recreancy, and by pro- 
 voking uncharitableness, jealousy, sectari- 
 anism, and evil-speaking, in multitudes of 
 professing Christians. I have usually been 
 led to doubt whether an influential layman 
 or a minister can ever reasonably expect 
 to do as much good, in any new church 
 relations, as he unavoidably does harm 
 
70 RESOURCES AND DUTIES OF 
 
 by violating the old. It should be kept 
 in view in estimating the probable effects 
 of such changes, that a man never carries 
 with him into his new field of action 
 more than a small portion of the influence, 
 and other means of usefulness, which he 
 had acquired by faithful services and an 
 upright walk. Of these he is destined to 
 make, at least, a partial forfeiture by the 
 transition, and years must probably elapse 
 before he can regain the vantage ground 
 which he has so lightly abandoned. Sus- 
 pected, or denounced, by those whom he 
 deserts, he must pass a long probation ere 
 he wins the confidence of his new asso- 
 ciates. 
 
 Upon the irreligious world the effect 
 of such instability is yet more observa- 
 ble and pernicious. It leads to a dis- 
 trust of all pretensions to piety, and goes 
 far to confirm the too prevalent suspi- 
 cion, that when educated or influential 
 men become religious, they have com- 
 monly some selfish end to subserve. 
 What gives additional force to such sus- 
 picions is the notorious fact that the transi- 
 
CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN. 71 
 
 tion, frequently as it occurs of late, is almost 
 never made where any personal sacrifice, 
 present or prospective, is involved. I 
 do not allow myself to doubt that, in 
 several instances, at least, educated men 
 and ministers have felt constrained to give 
 np old, and contract new, church relations ; 
 but I can scarcely recollect a case in which 
 the change was made in the face of losses 
 or sufferings. It is usually from low to 
 higher salaries — from more to less labor 
 or exposure — from less cultivated, or weal- 
 thy, or fashionable communities, to those 
 deemed more so. I would not dare express 
 or indulge distrust in regard to the motives 
 which, in any particular instance, may have 
 led to such changes ; but the facts to which 
 I have adverted are incontrovertible, as they 
 are universally known. There are few 
 observing or prominent Christians, I appre- 
 hend, who have not had some occasion to 
 receive, in silence, the cutting rebukes which 
 irreligious men are accustomed to visit on 
 such transactions. I am free to confess 
 that, in my opinion, no measure of blame 
 or reproaches can possibly transcend the 
 
72 RESOURCES AND DUTIES OF 
 
 demerits of a man who, for any reasons 
 lower or weaker than such as are strictly 
 conscientious and constraining, puts in 
 jeopardy so many of the precious interests 
 of religion. He betrays a sacred trust. 
 Up to the full measure of his influence, 
 and talents, and position, he inflicts a griev- 
 ous wrong upon the communion in whose 
 bosom he has been nurtured, or into which 
 he has obtained admission. He dimi- 
 nishes its ability to do good, and casts a 
 doubt on its purity, or orthodoxy. If a 
 minister, set apart and ordained as a teach- 
 er of religion, and a dispenser of its holy 
 sacraments, his power to do evil is greatly 
 augmented, and with it the guilt of such 
 a defection. His new investiture of eccle- 
 siastical authority and dignity is equivalent 
 to a public declaration that others are but 
 rash intruders into the sacred office. He 
 thus wounds their reputation and weakens 
 their influence. As far as in him lies, he 
 shakes the confidence of the people in their 
 pastors, and despoils their message of its 
 power over the sinner's conscience. He 
 denies the character and immunities of 
 
CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN. 73 
 
 Christ's ministers, not to a few obscure 
 individuals, but to nine-tenths of all the 
 consecrated men upon whom the popula- 
 tion of this great country depend for reli- 
 gious instruction and consolation. I am 
 ready to admit that conviction may be so 
 clear and controlling as to make it a good 
 man's duty to act in defiance of all these 
 considerations ; but no sane mind can, for 
 a moment, hesitate to believe that to do 
 so, on lower grounds, is one of the gravest 
 offenses against religion of which a human 
 being can be guilty. 
 
74 RESOURCES AND DUTIES OF 
 
 NOTE B —Page 32, 
 
 The strong tendency in our religious 
 operations to gather the rich and the poor 
 into separate folds^ and so to generate and 
 establish in the church distinctions utterly 
 at variance with the spirit of our political 
 institutions, is the very worst result of the 
 multiplication of sects among us ; and I 
 fear it must be admitted that the evil is 
 greatly aggravated by the otherwise be- 
 nignant working of the voluntary system. 
 Without insisting further upon the proba- 
 ble or possible injury which may befall our 
 free country from this conflict of agencies, 
 ever the most powerful in the formation of 
 national and individual character, no one, 
 I am sure, can fail to recognize in this de- 
 velopment an influence utterly and irre- 
 concilably hostile to the genius and che- 
 rished objects of Christianity. It is the 
 peculiar glory of the gospel, that, even un- 
 der the most arbitrary governments, it has 
 usually been able to vindicate and practi- 
 cally exemplify the essential equality of 
 
CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN. 75 
 
 man. It has had one doctrine and one 
 hope for all its children ; and the highest 
 and the lowest have been consttained to 
 acknowledge one holy law of brotherhood 
 in the common faith of which they are 
 made partakers. Nowhere else, I be- 
 lieve, but in the United States — certainly 
 nowhere else to the same extent — does 
 this antichristian separation of classes pre- 
 vail in the Christian church. The beggar 
 in his tattered vestments walks the splendid 
 courts of St. Peter's, and kneels at its costly 
 altars by the side of dukes and cardinals. 
 The peasant in his wooden shoes is wel- 
 comed in the gorgeous churches of Notre 
 Dame and the Madeline ; and even in 
 England, where political and social dis- 
 tinctions are more rigorously enforced than 
 in any other country on earth, the lord and 
 the peasant, the richest and the poorest, 
 are usually occupants of the same church, 
 and partakers of the same communion. 
 That the reverse of all this is true in many 
 parts of this country, every observing man 
 knows full well : and what is yet more de- 
 plorable, while the lines of demarkation 
 
76 RESOURCES AND DUTIES OF 
 
 between the different classes have already 
 become sufficiently distinct, the tendency 
 is receiving new strength and develop- 
 ment in a rapidly augmenting ratio. Even 
 in country places, where the population is 
 sparse, and the artificial distinctions of so- 
 ciety are little known, the working of this 
 strange element is, in many instances, 
 made manifest, and a petty coterie of vil- 
 lage magnates may be found worshiping 
 God apart from the body of the people. 
 But the evil is much more apparent, as 
 well as more deeply seated, in our populous 
 towns, where the causes which produce it 
 have been longer in operation, and have 
 more fully enjoyed the favor of circum- 
 stances. In these great centres of wealth, 
 intelligence, and influence, the separation 
 between the classes is, in many instances, 
 complete, and in many more the process 
 is rapidly progressive. There are crowded 
 religious congregations composed so ex- 
 clusively of the wealthy as scarcely to em- 
 brace an indigent family or individual; 
 and the number of such churches, where 
 the gospel is never preached to the poor, 
 
CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN. 11 
 
 is constantly increasing. Rich men, in- 
 stead of associating themselves with then- 
 more humble fellow Christians, where 
 then* money as well as their influence and 
 counsels are so much needed, usually 
 combine to erect magnificent churches, in 
 which sittings are too expensive for any 
 but people of fortune, and from which their 
 less-favored brethren are as effectually and 
 peremptorily excluded as if there were dis- 
 honor or contagion in their presence. A 
 congregation is thus constituted, able, 
 without the slightest inconvenience, to 
 bear the pecuniary burdens of twenty 
 churches, monopolizing and consigning 
 to comparative inactivity intellectual, mo- 
 ral, and material resources, for want of 
 which so many other congregations are 
 doomed to struggle with the most em- 
 barrassing difficulties. Can it for a mo- 
 ment be thought, that such a state of things 
 is desirable, or in harmony with the spirit 
 and design of the gospel ? 
 
 A more difficult question arises when 
 we inquire after a remedy for evils too 
 glaring to be overlooked, and too grave to 
 
78 RESOURCES AND DUTIES OF 
 
 be tolerated without an effort to palliate, if 
 not to remove them. The most obvious 
 palliative, and one which has already been 
 tried to some extent by wealthy churches 
 or individuals, is the erection of free places 
 of worship for the poor. Such a provi- 
 sion for this class of persons would be 
 more effectual in any other part of the 
 world than in the United States. Whether 
 it arises from the operation of our political 
 system, or from the easy attainment of at 
 least the prime necessaries of life, the 
 poorer classes here are characterized by a 
 proud spirit, which will not submit to re- 
 ceive even the highest benefits in any form 
 that implies inferiority or dependence. 
 This strong and prevalent feeling must 
 continue to interpose serious obstacles in 
 the way of these laudable attempts. If in 
 a few instances churches for the poor have 
 succeeded in our large cities, where the 
 theory of social equality is so imperfectly 
 realized in the actual condition of the peo- 
 ple, and where the presence of a multitude 
 of indigent foreigners tends to lower the 
 sentiment of independence so strong in 
 
CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN, 79 
 
 native-born Americans, the system is yet 
 manifestly incapable of general application 
 to the religions wants of onr population. 
 The same difficulty usually occurs in all 
 attempts to induce the humbler classes to 
 worship with the rich in sumptuous 
 churches by reserving for then* benefit a 
 portion of the sittings free, or at a nominal 
 rent. A few only can be found who are 
 willing to be recognized and provided for 
 as beneficiaries and paupers, while the 
 multitude will always prefer to make great 
 sacrifices in order to provide for themselves 
 in some humbler fane. It must be ad- 
 mitted that this subject is beset with 
 practical difficulties, which are not likely 
 to be removed speedily, or without some 
 great and improbable revolution in our 
 religious affairs. Yet if the respectable 
 Christian denominations most concerned 
 in the subject shall pursue a wise and 
 liberal policy for the future, something may 
 be done to check the evil. They may re- 
 tard its rapid growth, perhaps, though it 
 will most likely be found impossible to 
 eradicate it altogether. It ought to be well 
 
80 RESOURCES AND DUTIES OF 
 
 understood, that the multiplication of mag- 
 nificent churches is dayly making the line 
 of demarkation between the rich andthepoor 
 more and more palpable and impassable. 
 There are many good reasons for the erec- 
 tion of such edifices. Increasing wealth and 
 civilization seem to call for a liberal and taste- 
 ful outlay in behalf of religion, yet is it the 
 dictate of prudence no less than of duty 
 to balance carefully the good and the evil 
 of every enterprise. It should ever be kept 
 in mind, that such a church virtually writes 
 above its sculptured portals an irrevocable 
 prohibition to the poor, " Procul o procul 
 este profani." 
 
 I will not pretend to determine how 
 far it might be wise, even if it were 
 practicable, to check the liberal spirit now 
 so active in multiplying sumptuous re- 
 ligious edifices. We have perhaps more 
 encouragement to look in another direc- 
 tion for the melioration desired. There 
 can be no doubt that a general increase of 
 humble, spiritual religion would operate 
 as a powerful check upon the prevailing 
 disposition to prefer communion with opu- 
 
CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN. 81 . 
 
 lent congregations, rather than pursue the 
 walks of a lowlier piety in company with 
 the poor. The same good ends would be 
 further promoted by the increasing preva- 
 lence of a liberal catholic spirit. A de- 
 cided and simultaneous advance in piety 
 and charity, though it should stop short of 
 harmonizing conflicting sects and opinions, 
 and bringing then votaries to worship in a 
 common temple, might yet be sufficient to 
 reach and considerably mitigate some of 
 the greatest hardships to which I have ad- 
 verted. In such an improved state of 
 Christian sentiment, a congregation, or a 
 sect, opulent in intellectual or pecuniary 
 means, beyond the ratio of its numbers, 
 might easily confer the greatest benefits 
 on the feeble and destitute. A wealthy 
 denomination with few of the poor under 
 its ministry, and with little access to this 
 class, would then be inclined to aid those 
 who are providentially called to preach the 
 gospel to the masses. How easily might 
 one of our great metropolitan churches re- 
 lieve a dozen poor congregations from the 
 burden of debts, or other embarrassments, 
 6 
 
82 RESOURCES AND DUTIES OF 
 
 under which they are left to struggle on 
 from year to year ! What inestimable bene- 
 fits might a denomination, at once the 
 smallest and richest, confer by aiding the 
 poorer sects in extending the blessings of 
 religion and education to the vast multi- 
 tude placed by divine Providence under 
 their influence and watchcare! Now it 
 can hardly be doubted, that with such an 
 enlargement of charity as I have supposed, 
 there would come more enlarged views of 
 duty and privilege, and that sectarian lines 
 might cease to be insuperable barriers in 
 the way of a far more exuberant and diffu- 
 sive liberality than now prevails. Under 
 such better auspices it would at least be 
 no longer possible for opulent, enlightened 
 Christian denominations to look with hos- 
 tility or even indifference upon their fel- 
 low-laborers in the vineyard of a common 
 Master. The sympathies as well as the 
 resources of the whole Christian church 
 would look about in quest of its wants and 
 substantial interests: while there would 
 inevitably arise bonds of brotherhood, so 
 many and so strong, between all the mem- 
 
CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN. 83 
 
 bers of the one Christian family, as would go 
 far to exclude all the petty jealousies and 
 heart-burnings which wealth and position 
 are sure to provoke in the church no less 
 than in the world, when they forget their 
 proper mission. 
 
 One lesson more, we should imagine, 
 would be ineffaceably impressed upon those 
 Christian denominations which, through 
 providential means or their own special 
 adaptations and exertions, monopolize a 
 large portion of the influential classes, 
 while they have signally failed of obtain- 
 ing a corresponding development among 
 the great body of the people. It is a lesson 
 of enlarged catholic liberality. They have, 
 in their relative position, a clear demonslra- 
 tion at least that others as well as they 
 have a dispensation of the gospel commit- 
 ted to them. That, surely, cannot be the 
 only apostolic and legitimate system of 
 faith or polity, which, after an experiment 
 carried through successive generations of 
 men, has, in this country, shown itself essen- 
 tially incapable of penetrating the masses. 
 They who evangelize the wealthy, the 
 
/ 
 
 84 RESOURCES AND DUTIES, ETC. 
 
 intellectual, and the refined, do unques- 
 tionably perform a good work ; and there 
 may be those who have a special vocation 
 to this inviting field. No liberal-minded 
 Christian will undervalue their efforts, or 
 desire to call in question the genuineness 
 of their piety, or the validity of their eccle- 
 siastical system ; but it may be well for all 
 parties to remember that there are signs of 
 apostleship older and surer than this mission 
 to the rich ; and they need not despair of 
 making good their claim to a part in this 
 ministry who can appeal, as their Master 
 did, to eminent success among the masses, 
 and affirm, like him, that through their in- 
 strumentality " the blind receive their sight 
 and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed 
 and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up 
 and the poor have the gospel preached 
 
 UNTO THEM."