^LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.! 
 
 [SMITHSONIAN DEPOSIT.] 
 
 [SONIAN DEPOSIT.] 
 
 ! UNITED STATES Of AMERICA-! 
 
THE WORLD 
 
 INFLUENCES. 
 
 WRITTEN FOR THE BOARD OF PUBLICATION. 
 
 W, On. £. 
 
 t3y 
 
 m 
 
 * 
 
 PHILADELPHIA : 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION. 
 
 NO. 265, CHESTNUT STREET. 
 
M/4, f 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by 
 
 JAMES DUNLAP, Treas. 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District 
 of Pennsylvania. 
 
 \ 
 
 STEREOTYPED BX 
 
 JESPER HARDING, 
 
 No. 57. South Third St.. Philadelphia. 
 
TO THE READER. 
 
 This little book has been prepared for 
 your special use, and it has been made 
 purposely brief in the hope that you 
 might be induced to spare the very short 
 time which its perusal may require. The 
 writer has at least the advantage of some 
 experience to justify his expostulations, and 
 if his general impressions of the world, 
 as derived from his contact with it for 
 
 (3) 
 
4 TO THE READER. 
 
 many years, may avail in engaging your 
 attention, and awakening your thoughtful 
 consideration, he will be amply compensated 
 for his labour — which, for your welfare, has 
 been a "labour of love." 
 
 \V. M. E. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The world as seen by its votaries before 
 
 TRIAL. -.-.-.-9 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 The world regarded in the light of 
 revelation. ------ 32 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The world as estimated by its votaries 
 after a trial of its pursuits. - - 51 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 The world in comparison with the better 
 
 way. -------85 
 
 X * (5) 
 
%\t Msth 
 
 AS VIEWEDBY ITS VOTARIES 
 BEFORE TRIAL. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 ' N the first exercise 
 of our conscious- 
 ness, we find our- 
 selves dwellers upon 
 ^ earth. The first ob- 
 jects which attract 
 ]us are its material 
 i structure and ani- 
 mated inhabitants ; 
 and for a series of years, commencing 
 with infancy, we are occupied in obtaining 
 a knowledge of the novelties which sur- 
 round us. The eye gazes on new scenes 
 and the ear catches strange sounds, and as 
 the sphere of observation enlarges, the 
 
 (9) 
 
10 THE WORLD 
 
 overarching firmament and the outspread 
 landscape bring to the view new reve- 
 lations of beauty. The material world, 
 with all its variety of objects, becomes the 
 subject of engaging study, and the eye is 
 gradually educated in determining distance, 
 proportion, colour, and general harmony. 
 The external senses have each their re- 
 spective province. The eye is arrested by 
 forms of beauty, the ear charmed by 
 musical cadences, fragrant odours minister 
 to another sense, and taste and feeling are 
 the inlets to many pleasurable sensations. 
 Regarded as mere sentient beings, it is 
 natural, that from our first introduction 
 into the world, we should form a high 
 estimate of its capabilities for producing 
 enjoyment, and be exhilarated by the 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 11 
 
 thought that it is to be our place of resi- 
 dence. So bright are its prospects and so 
 ■winning its proffered friendship, that no 
 suspicion is awakened that its glowing 
 horizon may ever be clouded. 
 
 The first experiences of life are thus 
 sensuous, and its earliest enjoyments lay 
 the foundation of those attachments which 
 are to be ripened into habits. The gradual 
 development of the rational life, in the 
 exercise of our reasoning and reflective 
 faculties, will necessarily modify, without 
 correcting, our first impressions. Youth, 
 with its inherent buoyancy, evades the 
 sage counsels of the more experienced, and 
 is reluctant to learn what it is unwilling to 
 know. The pictured beauties of a glowing 
 imagination have all the form and colour- 
 
12 THE WORLD 
 
 ing of reality which is not destined to fade 
 away and die. To the senses they appear 
 substantial ; why suffer reason to interpose 
 to prove their evanescence ? 
 
 Advancing life will, however, bring dis- 
 quieting lessons. The transitoriness of pres- 
 ent objects of pursuit will be exemplified. 
 Who has not experienced childhood's first 
 griefs, as an anticipated pleasure has fail- 
 ed, or a bright hope been disappointed ? 
 And yet, the tear soon dried on the cheek, 
 and the clouded face resuming its smiles, 
 the alert mind springs forward in the race 
 with new vigour, attributing the temporary 
 interruption to accident rather than neces- 
 sity. The lesson has been communicated, 
 but not learned. So deeply engrafted is the 
 conviction that this world is all-sufficient 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 13 
 
 for human happiness, that it will require 
 many such lessons to counteract it. What 
 is usually styled the thougthlessness of 
 youth, is rather an obstinate determination 
 to think in its own way, and according to 
 its cherished tastes. 
 
 So early commences the idolatrous devo- 
 tion to external things, that even a daily 
 recurring death, which is the palpable sun- 
 dering of earthly ties, and the demonstra- 
 tive proof of the instability of human 
 enjoyments, fails to make its due impression, 
 and the tide runs on as if it were never to 
 ebb. To the living, and especially to the 
 living, ardent youth, death is an accident 
 which may be evaded, or averted, or, at 
 least, indefinitely postponed. As a personal 
 concern it is only seen in dim perspective. 
 
14 THE WORLD 
 
 The earliest pleasures being those of sense, 
 the conviction too often results, that the 
 gratification of the animal propensities 
 constitutes the chief, if not the only, happi- 
 ness of life. Thinking, feeling, and acting 
 in unison with this impression, lead to the 
 formation of habits which give a colouring 
 to the future life, and "grow with the 
 growth and strengthen with the strength." 
 Tastes are then formed; thought receives 
 its direction, and the affections select their 
 objects of preference. Hence it is that 
 little is observed in the fully developed 
 man which was not previously seen in the 
 boy. The same intense earnestness of 
 purpose, the same absorbing pursuit of 
 present gratification, and the same restive- 
 ness under opposition, are characteristic of 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 15 
 
 both. The impulse of the boy is to be 
 above and beyond control, impatient of 
 discipline, eager for amusement, and anx- 
 ious to give full scope to his love and 
 pursuit of pleasure.* 
 
 Some may regard this as innocent, as 
 well as natural, and be unwilling to apply 
 any stringent check ; but nothing can be 
 more evident than that character, for all 
 
 * The child foreshadows the man in its devotion to 
 appetite and love of dress, in its furious outbursts of 
 passion, its excited interest in games of chaDce, and 
 anxiety to win the little property of its companion, its 
 jealousies, quarrels, and defiances of reproof. Here is 
 the embryo glutton, lover of fashion, duelist, gambler, 
 and reckless disturber of society. How can it be other- 
 wise without a gracious change ? The tree may be judged 
 by its first fruits, as well as by the products of its 
 maturer growth. 
 
16 THE WORLD 
 
 future life, is thus receiving its formative 
 attributes, which time will settle into fixed- 
 ness. We might here suggest, although 
 aside from our specific object, that parental 
 training must be commenced early to be 
 effectual. Indiscreet delay will place the 
 subject beyond control. Children are born 
 with the world in them ; and the ascend- 
 ency it acquires over their habits of thought 
 and feeling, is alarmingly rapid. 
 
 As youth ripens into manhood, the influ- 
 ence of the world grows up with it. Its 
 views have been but little sobered by expe- 
 rience ; nor has judgment acquired the 
 requisite skill to discriminate between the 
 true and the false. Still the thoughts are 
 bounded by an earthly horizon, and the 
 track beaten by the march of those who 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 17 
 
 have gone before, is pursued. To account 
 for the uniformity of this result, by the 
 force of the imitative principle, is not 
 sufficient. It is due to a much more potent 
 influence than that of example. An ob- 
 scured reason, a perverted judgment, or in 
 a word, a vitiated nature is alone capable 
 of solving the enigma. Why, among the 
 countless millions of the human family, do 
 we find none who are naturally attracted 
 to God, as the sum of all excellency ? Why 
 are not the native tendencies of the heart 
 to love him, earnestly covet his presence 
 and fellowship, and to rejoice in his service? 
 Why are the affections so estranged from 
 him that God is not permitted to be in all 
 the thoughts? And why is it that the 
 uncertain tenure of earthly things, and 
 
18 THE WORLD 
 
 their demonstrated incompetency to meet 
 the earnest longings of our nature, fail to 
 produce the conviction of their insuffic- 
 iency? While the rational faculties are 
 held in subjection to the animal instincts 
 and are forbidden to assert their superior- 
 ity, no adequate explanation of the fact 
 can be suggested but that which supposes 
 an inherent vice in the nature, which 
 theologically is described as u the want of 
 original righteousness and the corruption 
 of the whole nature." "God created man 
 upright, but he has sought out many inven- 
 tions." Endowed with immortality and de- 
 signed for the highest exercises of rational 
 being, he has become earthly, sensual, grov- 
 elling. 
 
 Thus possessing a common nature, and 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 19 
 
 that degenerate, we are led to look for that 
 very uniformity in absorbing, worldly pur- 
 suits, which, in actual life, we observe. 
 This community of nature may be, and is, 
 modified by differences in constitutional 
 temperament. With diversity of tastes and 
 pursuits there is a common proclivity and 
 a similar misdirection. The ultimate aim 
 of all men is happiness, and yet the pur- 
 suit of it is in different directions ; and, 
 until the views are corrected by a heavenly 
 instruction, all alike mistake the true meth- 
 od of reaching the goal. The first radical 
 error is in the mistaken judgment formed 
 of the nature of happiness itself ; or the 
 kind of happiness adapted to our peculiar 
 constitution, as rational and immortal crea- 
 tures. If man differs from brutes and is 
 
20 THE WORLD 
 
 superior to them in nature and position, 
 his aims should be loftier and his gratifi- 
 cations more refined and rational. As mere 
 animals, they are prone to indulgences 
 suited to the low level of their nature, and 
 as creatures of no hereafter, the enjoyment 
 of the present comprehends the whole aim 
 and end of their being. With no rational 
 instincts, no noble aspirations, no reflec- 
 tion, no conscience, or sense of accounta- 
 bility, no faculty for holding intercourse 
 with the Deity, health, protection, rest and 
 the gratification of appetite constitute their 
 highest bliss. Not so man. He is differ- 
 ently endowed, and hence he grievously 
 errs when, with some unimportant modifi- 
 cations, he has no loftier aim than the 
 beasts that perish ; when to eat, drink and 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 21 
 
 be merry are his chosen pleasures ; and in 
 all his speculations and plans for happiness, 
 his eye never sees beyond the murky atmo- 
 sphere of earth. He is in pursuit of a 
 purchasable commodity for present use, a 
 frail flower of earthly growth, which is 
 captivating to the sense and then destined 
 to wither and die. 
 
 It is no difiicult task to sum up the in- 
 ventory of the world's enjoyments. No 
 acute analysis is requisite to expose them 
 in all their superficial worthlessness. There 
 is first the "lust of the flesh," or the law- 
 less and libertine indulgence of natural 
 appetites, useful as servants, but oppressive 
 as task-masters. " The eye," in which ever 
 direction it turns, is saluted by these types 
 of the mere animal man — the caterer to 
 
22 THE WORLD 
 
 its own "lust." In their paradise, the 
 chambers of imagery are crowded with 
 pictured licentiousness ; rich and luxurious 
 viands are spread out to pamper and glut 
 their fleshly desires ; music is heard in 
 their feasts ; and the shout of the reveller — 
 the false pretence of cheerfulness — breaks 
 in upon the midnight hour. Then, too, there 
 is the love of ostentatious show; for the 
 "pride of life" is intimately associated 
 with " the lust of the flesh." Nature and 
 art are alike placed under contribution. 
 How intimately is happiness supposed to 
 be associated with the palatial mansion, 
 the gorgeous equipage, the costly dress ! 
 How busy is taste in accumulating rich 
 paintings, statuary and other objects of 
 virtu! Surrounded by everything that 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 23 
 
 can attract the eye by beauty, or soothe 
 the ear with harmony, where every sense 
 is regaled and every taste ministered to, 
 will not contentment come as a matter of 
 course ? 
 
 Others again, perhaps, having tried the 
 former method ineffectually, may turn into 
 the paths of a higher ambition. Their 
 proudest aspirations are for exalted position 
 and influence. Successful literature may 
 point to a noble eminence from which the 
 aspirant may look down on his fellows in 
 proud triumph ; or heroism points out the 
 path to glory, while fame, with its brazen 
 trump, heralds the victor's triumphs ; or a 
 wide field of exciting enterprise lies open to 
 the politician who aims to control the state 
 and dispense patronage. The gaze, the plan- 
 
24 THE WORLD 
 
 dits, and even the envy of the crowd are 
 coveted as a substantial reward. 
 
 Or, in a different direction, the votaries 
 of pleasure are impelled by the gratifica- 
 tions which entertainments and amusements 
 proffer. Scenic representations, the music of 
 the opera, expensive fetes, the mazy dance, 
 and games of chance are the antidotes to 
 tcedium vitce, or corroding ennui. These 
 are recurred to as the fancy may dictate, 
 and in perpetual round. And then if their 
 interest declines and the spirits flag, foreign 
 travel, with its novel sights and new phases 
 of life, may afford agreeable change and 
 relaxation. Pleasures at home producing 
 satiety, the pleasures abroad are in reserve. 
 How various the resources of the worldling, 
 and what a plenitude of happiness do they 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 25 
 
 promise ! Will anything but a sour cyni- 
 cism deny their rich diversity, or question 
 their efficacy ? 
 
 The streams which flow from the foun- 
 tains of worldly pleasure are not to be 
 participated in without money or price. 
 Each devotee is to come with the price in 
 his hand. Wealth has an acknowledged 
 potency; its golden key is supposed to 
 have the power of unlocking every portal 
 of the temple. Social position, influence, 
 and present gratification are the commod- 
 ities for which it bids. Hence its acquisi- 
 tion becomes an idolatry, as well as its 
 possession. More worshippers bend the 
 knee in homage before the gilded god, than 
 in reverential adoration before the Creator 
 of all things. As a means to an end, as 
 
26 THE WORLD 
 
 the introduction to ease, independence, 
 power and enjoyment, it is sought with 
 insatiable avidity, and with a preliminary 
 drudgery which would be regarded as an 
 enslavement, were it not voluntary. The 
 eye of avarice is sleepless and its energy 
 indomitable. What lustre so radiant as 
 the glitter of gold, or what music so sweet 
 as its ring in the coffer? The measures 
 for its acquisition may be honest, but who 
 does not know that under its fascinating 
 spell the most unscrupulous and fraudulent 
 means may be resorted to ? In the eager 
 and servile pursuit, not unfrequently, its 
 uses as a means to an end are forgotten, 
 in the mere pleasure of accumulation — 
 certainly the most despicable and degrading 
 of all pleasures. The miser, who gloats 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 27 
 
 over his treasures, whose very heart con- 
 tracts the rust of sordid gold, and who, in 
 the midst of his abundance, is a pauper, 
 is the caricature of humanity. And yet 
 many such there are, who are tempted by 
 the world, not like the profligate, to spend 
 all, but merely to heap up riches for un- 
 known and thankless heirs.* 
 
 * Although we have principally had in view worldly 
 persons in what are called the higher classes of society, 
 among whom the appliances for self- gratification are the 
 most abundant, we are far from restricting our remarks 
 to such. The same principles of action influence persons 
 in all grades of life, even the lowest. They are actuated 
 by the same intense worldliness, with this difference, 
 that they reach the end by methods less refined. Their 
 sensual propensities are equally imperious, their love of 
 amusements the same, and they feel the same impulse to 
 acquire money as the chief good. There is no essential 
 
28 THE WORLD 
 
 This brief sketch may be sufficient as 
 suggestive of the well known features of 
 human society. As the mass moves on in 
 the great panorama of life, it might well 
 be questioned whether they have any seri- 
 ous conviction of their immortality. The 
 grasp of the world is upon them, and there 
 is no effort to release themselves. Its smile 
 is courted, its frown dreaded, while its 
 promises inspire a faith, which the higher 
 
 difference between their cherished enjoyments and those 
 of their superiors in station. The parquette of a theatre 
 is separated by a trifling distance from the gallery; the 
 stimulus of whiskey is equal to that of wine; the 
 fiddle supplies the place of the opera ; the vulgar dance 
 is as merry as the polkas of a ball-room ; and small sums 
 purchase congenial pleasures, as well as thousands. The 
 omnipotent sway of the world is observable alike 
 in both. 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 29 
 
 promises of religion vainly essays to awa- 
 ken. Thus captivated by the blandishments 
 and fascinations of the present scene, cel- 
 estial and eternal revelations lose their 
 power of attraction. 
 
 3* 
 
REGARDED IN THE LIGHT OF 
 REVELATION. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 ^E have glanced at 
 
 the world from that 
 
 point of view at 
 
 which it is seen by 
 
 its votaries. Its 
 
 procession has 
 
 passed before us in 
 
 its holiday costume. 
 J/|/ O fv^ -yy e k ave not p re _ 
 
 tended to penetrate its disguises or expose 
 its fallacies. That is reseryed for future 
 consideration. In the mean time we pro- 
 (32) 
 
THE WOKLD AND ITS INFLUENCES. 33 
 
 pose to regard it from another and higher 
 stand-point. 
 
 When we look at the world in the light 
 of revelation, we may at least claim from 
 those who dispute the Divine authority of 
 the Bible, respect for its testimony, as 
 venerable for its antiquity and remarkable 
 for its wisdom. Even passing by those 
 other forms of evidence on which its pre- 
 tensions are supported, the candid mind 
 cannot but be affected by the force of the 
 internal evidence which arises from its 
 discriminating and truthful representations 
 of human things. Its thorough dissection 
 of the human heart; its penetration into 
 the very depths of our being ; its disclo- 
 sure of the secret springs of action, and its 
 graphic portraiture of life in its various 
 
34 THE WORLD 
 
 phases, evince extraordinary knowledge. 
 If we desire to see a masterly exhibition 
 of what man really is, we must look for it 
 here. We must contemplate him as he is 
 portrayed here in his degeneracy, swayed 
 by false reason and impelled by evil pas- 
 sions ; or as a new light dawns upon his 
 mind, new principles of action influence 
 him, and as he struggles, in the strength of 
 a renovated nature, into a new and better 
 life. We must study his character as it is 
 influenced by hope and fear, joy and sor- 
 row, success and disappointment, virtues 
 and vices ; or as it is shaped by heavenly 
 or grovelling pursuits, and by the approach 
 of death, with its attendant triumph or 
 remorse. Has human philosophy ever thus 
 succeeded in delineating;; the character of 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 35 
 
 man ? Could any have done it but that 
 omniscient One who knows, at a glance, 
 what is in man? The Bible, embodying 
 the experience of past ages, may safely be 
 referred to as authority on the subject 
 which we are illustrating. As a record of 
 early history, a treatise on human nature, 
 a book of the heart, it speaks both wisely 
 and divinely. 
 
 In referring to its pages, attention is 
 immediately arrested by the fact, that, in 
 every page, man is regarded as a fallen 
 and degenerate creature, changed from his 
 primitive condition with the holy features 
 of his character obliterated by sin. In its 
 view, he is a bankrupt in reputation and 
 happiness, and the world originally provi- 
 ded and furnished as his blissful home, is 
 
36 THE WORLD 
 
 regarded in the sombre hues which it has 
 assumed since his apostacy — no longer 
 his home but the place of his temporary 
 sojourn. Its fountains have been poisoned, 
 its elements converted into the ministers of 
 disease and death, and when questioned it 
 gives back the response, "this is not your 
 rest." In accordance with this, if we trace 
 the history of man from the period of his 
 expulsion from paradise to the present 
 time, we find it to be the reiterated story 
 of vain struggles against adverse influences. 
 We see man, contending for power, plung- 
 ing into sensuality, hoarding riches, living 
 in a vain show, courting oblivion for his 
 cares, and when every expedient is exhaust- 
 ed, sinking down sorrowfully into the for- 
 getfulness of the grave. 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 37 
 
 The biblical history of one age will 
 apply to every age. As the eye reverts to 
 the past it discerns through the long vista, 
 mouldering cities, tarnished pageants, pros- 
 trate grandeur and extinct generations. 
 We listen, but the busy activities of count- 
 less millions are quieted, and the voice of 
 their mirth and music is hushed. Scarcely a 
 vestige remains of their proud career. 
 "Passing away" and "passed away" are 
 inscribed on the monuments of the present 
 and the past. No where else can we find 
 such emphatic and truthful descriptions of 
 the vanity of the world and all that it con- 
 tains, as in the Holy Scriptures. In the 
 fall, man lost communion with his Maker, 
 and in this is comprehended the loss of all 
 which could have contributed to his dignity 
 and happiness. 
 
38 THE WORLD 
 
 Listen to these oracles ! " Man that is born 
 of woman is of few clays and full of trouble. 
 He cometh forth like a flower and is cut 
 down ; he fleeth also as a shadow and 
 continueth not." "All flesh is grass, and 
 all the goodliness thereof is as the flower 
 of the field ; the grass withereth, the flower 
 facleth, because the Spirit of the Lord 
 bloweth upon it ; surely the people is 
 grass." " The days of our years are three- 
 score years and ten ; and if by reason of 
 strength, they be fourscore years, yet is 
 their strength labour and sorrow ; for it is 
 soon cut off and we fly away." "Ye know 
 not what shall be on the morrow. For 
 what is your life? It is even a vapour, 
 that appeareth for a little time and then 
 vanisheth away." Such the brevity and 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 39 
 
 instability of human life. Death stands 
 at every avenue to mock the mere earthly 
 hope of man, and at any step in his 
 career it may trip the eager pursuer of 
 pleasure. While the generations of the 
 dead silently corroborate these representa- 
 tions, they testify also to the vanity of 
 the objects which now engage the world- 
 ling's attention. There is no cup of enjoy- 
 ment which has not been quaffed, no form 
 of pleasure which has not been tried in the 
 long ages past. They have been found 
 wanting. No one has been more favourably 
 situated for testing the capacity of the 
 world to satisfy man's insatiate desires, 
 than the rich and powerful King of Israel, 
 and no one less reluctant than he to push 
 the experiment to the utmost limit. The 
 
40 THE WORLD 
 
 value of his recorded experience has not 
 suffered by the lapse of time. " I builded 
 me houses ; I planted me vineyards ; I made 
 me gardens and orchards, and I planted 
 trees in them of all kind of fruits. I made 
 me pools of water; I got me servants and 
 maidens, and had servants born in my 
 house ; also I had great possessions of 
 great and small cattle above all that were 
 in Jerusalem before me. I gathered me 
 also silver and gold and the peculiar trea- 
 sure of kings and of the provinces. I 
 gat me men-singers and women-singers, and 
 the delights of the sons of men, as musical 
 instruments, and that of all sorts ; and 
 whatsoever mine eyes desired, I kept not 
 from them ; I withheld not my heart from 
 any joy. Then I looked on all the works 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 41 
 
 that my hands had wrought and on the 
 labour that I had laboured to do, and 
 behold! all was vanity and vexation of 
 spirit, and there was no profit under the 
 sun. Therefore I hated life, because the 
 work that is wrought under the sun is 
 grievous unto me, for all is vanity and 
 vexation of spirit." Here the experiment 
 was made on the largest scale, and under 
 the most propitious circumstances, and yet 
 the luxurious monarch, sated with enjoy- 
 ment, turned away in disgust, like the 
 capricious child from the toys which have 
 ceased to amuse him. He felt, as all must 
 feel who imitate his example, the utter 
 inanity of mere earthly and sensual grati- 
 fication. The soul must be extinguished 
 and man descend to the level of the brute, 
 
42 THE WOULD 
 
 before such outward appliances can impart 
 to him full satisfaction. They are of the 
 earth earthy, and must utterly fail in the 
 education of the soul, the refinement of its 
 faculties, the exaltation of its purposes, 
 the gratification of its lofty aspirations, 
 and in its preparation for a more congenial 
 sphere of existence. 
 
 The Holy Scriptures regard man in his 
 two-fold life, the animal and spiritual, and 
 in his two-fold relations to the present and 
 future worlds. Detecting in the degener- 
 acy of our nature the source of the mis- 
 taken judgment which gives prominence to 
 things of temporary interest, while the 
 higher ends of being are overlooked, they 
 admonish, expostulate and threaten, for the 
 purpose of arousing a reluctant attention. 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 43 
 
 They represent the world as under a curse 
 which no human contrivance can counteract, 
 and whose most nicely adjusted arrange- 
 ments may, in a moment, be disturbed and 
 confounded. Its streams are shallow and 
 turbid, its cup mingled with wormwood and 
 incapable of supplying even the present 
 limited capacity for happiness. Hence the 
 inspired cautions against that easy credu- 
 lity which is disposed to put faith in 
 worldly promises. It is not in the spirit 
 of morbid misanthropy but of appropriate 
 soberness we are admonished ; " The time 
 is short ; it remaineth that both they that 
 have wives be as though they had none ; 
 and they that weep as though they wept 
 not ; and they that rejoice as though they 
 rejoiced not ; and they that buy as though 
 
44 THE WORLD 
 
 they possessed not ; and they that use this 
 world as not abusing it, for the fashion of 
 this world passeth away." The men of 
 the world adopt a different practice. They 
 have no conception of happiness which is 
 not dependent on these and such like ar- 
 rangements. They so completely restrict 
 themselves in this respect, that when the 
 sources of their earthly joy fail, they 
 plaintively exclaim, " Ye have taken away 
 my gods and what have I left? " 
 
 To countervail this mistaken and melan- 
 choly impression, we hear the voice of the 
 oracle : " Wherefore do ye spend money 
 for that which is not bread, and your 
 labour for that which satisfieth not ?" " Love 
 not the world, neither the things that are 
 in the world. If any man love the world, 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 45 
 
 the love of the Father is not in him. For 
 all that is in the world, the lust of the 
 flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of 
 life, is not of the Father, but is of the 
 world." "Know ye not that the friendship 
 of the world is enmity with God ? "Who- 
 soever therefore will be a friend of the 
 world, is the enemy of God." Much is 
 comprehended in the fact, that friendship 
 with God is wholly incompatible with that 
 of the world; for as He holds unlimited 
 control over the material universe, we 
 may readily see with what ease he can dis- 
 appoint the expectations of those who place 
 on it their sole dependence. Health is 
 dependent on him ; he touches it and it is 
 irreparably impaired, and what can the 
 sensualist do without it ? He can with- 
 
46 THE WORLD 
 
 hold or withdraw wealth at his pleasure ; 
 or so divest it of its power, as a minister 
 of good, as to make its possessor of all 
 men the most miserable. He can interrupt 
 the happiest social arrangements by awak- 
 ened jealousies and estrangements, so as to 
 make a man's foes those of his own house- 
 hold. When other circumstances are pro- 
 pitious, he can by some peculiarity of 
 temper in the individual, render happiness 
 an impossibility; or, on the contrary, he 
 can remove all restraint ; afford the fullest 
 license, furnish all necessary appliances, 
 and leave the worldling to work out his 
 own miserable experience, until, in his last 
 remnant of life, wearied and worn out with 
 his servitude, he is left without one con- 
 solatory reflection on the past or one ray 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 47 
 
 of hope for the future. How emphatic the 
 queries, " What shall it profit a man if he 
 shall gain the whole world and lose his 
 soul ? Or what shall a man give in exchange 
 for his soul," if it once be lost? Ah, with 
 what a melancholy chiming come down to us 
 the experiences of the past ! This is their 
 sound in the ears of the devotees to this 
 world : " Even in laughter the heart is 
 sorrowful and the end of that mirth is 
 heaviness." "I said in my heart, go to 
 now, I will prove thee with mirth ; there- 
 fore enjoy pleasure ; and behold, this also 
 is vanity. I said of laughter, it is mad ; 
 and of mirth, what doeth it" ? " Rejoice 
 young man, in thy youth, and let thy 
 heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, 
 and walk in the ways of thine heart and 
 
48 THE WORLD 
 
 in the sight of thine eyes, but know thou, 
 that for all these things, God will bring 
 thee into judgment." " They send forth 
 their little ones like a flock and their 
 children dance. They take the timbrel and 
 harp and rejoice at the sound of the organ. 
 They spend their days in wealth and in a 
 moment go down to the grave. There- 
 fore they say unto God, Depart from us, 
 for we desire not the knowledge of thy 
 ways." 
 
 In this rapid and very inadequate survey, 
 we see the estimate which God's word 
 places on the present world, considered in 
 its largest resources for contributing to 
 man's happiness ; and how strongly it con- 
 trasts with that which the children of men 
 are disposed to form. Where lies the truth ? 
 We shall presently see. 
 
% ffifaft 
 
 AS ESTIMATED BY ITS VOTARIES 
 
 AFTER A TRIAL OF ITS PURSUITS. 
 5 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 E respectfully listen 
 to the traveller who 
 describes the coun- 
 try which he has 
 visited and inspect- 
 ed ; and in other de- 
 partments of know- 
 ledge, we are accus- 
 tomed to appeal to 
 those who, from experience, are best quali- 
 fied to give us exact information. If, too, 
 in establishing a cause, we can elicit testi- 
 
 (51) 
 
52 THE WORLD 
 
 mony from the adverse side, which would 
 have been withheld had it not been extorted, 
 we regard it as possessing peculiar value. 
 In accordance with this, if we can obtain 
 from the world a testimony against itself, 
 and induce its votaries to acknowledge 
 that, having explored all its resources, and 
 tested all its expedients, in the vain search 
 for happiness, none will deny that this is 
 unexceptionable testimony. We interrogate 
 the men of the world then, one by one, 
 "Have your hopes been realized?" Let 
 the response come from those who have 
 made some progress, and are hence better 
 qualified to judge, rather than from those 
 who have just commenced the experiment. 
 Youth is apt to be deceived by illusions 
 which vanish as they are approached. The 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 53 
 
 sky which is bright in the morning is often 
 overcast at noon, and wrecked with the 
 tempest at night. The sunny radiance of 
 youthful hope undergoes more or less ob- 
 scuration as life advances. The glowing 
 feeling, the merry laugh and the bounding 
 spring of the boy give place to graver 
 feeling and action in the man; and this 
 change is not altogether attributable to 
 maturity, with which such young feelings 
 would be incompatible, but in a large 
 measure to the saddening influence of 
 successive disappointments. Experience 
 takes the place of fancy and is a more 
 sober teacher. Closer and longer contact 
 with the world exposes many of its dis- 
 guises and betrays the worthless tinsel 
 which was once imagined to be burnished 
 
 5* 
 
54 THE WORLD 
 
 gold. The paradise which had entranced 
 us at a distance, reveals the coarsest fea- 
 tures of the landscape on a nearer inspec- 
 tion. Now, whether the men of the world 
 will express or withhold the convictions of 
 their hearts, we can still detect in their 
 altered tone and mein the opinion into 
 which they have been surprised, that the 
 world has not been true to its promise. 
 What the word of inspiration has 
 so solemnly affirmed, and what Christians, 
 who after a trial of the world have turned 
 to higher and nobler pursuits, are ready 
 to testify, meets with an emphatic corro- 
 boration from those who are still lured by 
 the false glare and delusive promises of the 
 things "which are seen and temporal." 
 Appealing to their consciousness, if not, 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 55 
 
 to their consciences, we ask — Is the liber- 
 tine happy in his successes, — and do his 
 pleasures never pall ? Is his peace never 
 disturbed by hideous scenes and reminis- 
 cences such as made Byron acknowledge 
 that their repetition might persuade him to 
 put an end to them and life together ? Is 
 the boisterous mirth of the reveller always 
 sincere, the genuine outburst of a joyous 
 heart, or is it often assumed to drown 
 sadder feelings ?* Does not the exciting 
 
 * Colonel Gardiner, after his remarkable and genuine 
 conversion, acknowledged that, on one occasion, when 
 his libertine associates loudly congratulated him as 
 "the happy rake," he turned his eyes upon a dog 
 just entering the room, and wished in his heart that 
 he could exchange conditions with him. He was 
 living in unrestrained licentiousness, with a strong 
 and unimpaired constitution, and for this he was an 
 
56 THE WORLD 
 
 music of the dance often ring out gloomily, 
 rather dirge-like than as a psean of joy ? 
 At the festive board, while luxuries regale 
 the palate and the brimming wine-cup is 
 placed to the lips, does not apprehension 
 often trace the mysterious hand- writing on 
 the wall ? Who, we ask, inscribed over 
 the door of the gambler's saloon the des- 
 criptive name of " hell ?" Was it done by an 
 ignorant hand, or by those who sought in 
 its feverish excitements an oblivion for 
 thought or relief from previous depression ? 
 Can the theatre, amidst all its gorgeous 
 representations, bear no testimony to the 
 disgust and ghastly disappointment of 
 
 object of envy, while his secret conviction was that he 
 was degraded by the distinction which his successful 
 vices had earned for him. 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 57 
 
 those who have resorted to it for amuse- 
 ment? Is the fashionable belle, radiant 
 in her charms, always satisfied with her 
 conquests, and never corroded by envy and 
 jealousy ? Are those who, being nauseated 
 with the pleasures of one clime, have sought 
 variety in those of another, always successful 
 in their pursuit ? How is it that solitude and 
 ennui are equivalant terms to the pleasure- 
 seeker ? Why is calm and sober reflection 
 so carefully eschewed? Or why should 
 they affix so suspicious a name to their 
 amusements as time-killers ? These are not 
 irrelevant questions. The heart will, as we 
 well know, often answer truly and silently 
 while, not unfrequently, an open response 
 will be extorted. The truth is felt, if not 
 expressed, that when the gay routine is run, 
 
58 THE WORLD 
 
 there is a secret dissatisfaction which gnaws 
 like a worm at the root. The trial may be 
 and is repeated, only to produce a deeper 
 conviction of the folly. The more violent 
 the struggle, the severer the recoil. The 
 virtue of fashionable pleasures is supposed 
 to reside in their power to produce agree- 
 able excitement, and to keep the animal 
 spirits in brisk circulation ; but the powers 
 of nature flag under the exhaustive pro- 
 cess, and the reaction is correspondingly 
 depressive.* The strength which is unduly 
 
 * A living author in honestly giving his impressions 
 of the epicurean and bacchanalian carouses in which 
 he had participated with those who boast that they 
 know how to enjoy life, says: "And this is the stale, 
 dull, vulgar life which thousands of men of cultivated 
 intellects and gentle hearts, lead, day after day, and 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 59 
 
 taxed by the midnight revel, licentious 
 indulgence, and other such exhaustive pro- 
 cesses, staggers under the severity of the 
 trial, and at length its recuperative power 
 fails, and with it the capacity for enjoy- 
 ment. The aching joints, the failing 
 strength, the nerveless imbecility cause 
 many a fast liver to fall out of the ranks, 
 as no longer fit for service. The world 
 has many such spectral victims, and the 
 grave covers many more. The devotees 
 do not live out half their days ; their path 
 
 year after year. I would rather be a methodist parson, 
 as to the fun of the thing. It is the paltriest cheat, 
 the most insulting delusion, to call this pleasure. 
 Why, it is neither more nor less than the purchase 
 of headaches on disadvantageous terms." 
 
60 THE WORLD 
 
 is strewed with the wounded and the slain, 
 more thickly than the battle-field.* 
 
 * Lord Chesterfield remarkable for his endowments, 
 distinguished alike in the political and fashionable 
 worlds, and who, without scruple, participated in every 
 guilty pleasure, arrived at an age when his capacity 
 for enjoyment was much impaired, and from that 
 point made the following forcible review of his life. 
 "I have seen the silly rounds of business and pleasure, 
 and have done with them all. I have enjoyed all the 
 pleasures of the world, and consequently know their 
 futility, and do not regret their loss. I appraise them 
 at their true value, which is, in truth, very low. 
 Whereas those that have not experienced, always over- 
 rate them. They only see the gay outside and are 
 dazzled at the glare. But I have been behind the 
 scenes. I have seen all the coarse pullies and dirty 
 ropes which exhibit and move the gaudy machines ; 
 and I have seen and smelt the tallow-candles which 
 illuminated the whole decoration, to the astonishment 
 of the ignorant audience. When I reflect on what 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 61 
 
 We have referred to worldliness under 
 other forms ; and these when fairly esti- 
 mated according to their accompaniments 
 
 I have seen, what I have heard and what I have done, 
 I can hardly persuade myself that all that frivolous 
 hurry, and bustle and pleasure of the world had any 
 reality; but I look on all that is past, as one of 
 those romantic dreams which opium commonly occa- 
 sions; and I do by no means desire to repeat the nau- 
 seous dose for the sake of the fugitive dream. Shall 
 I tell you that I bear this melancholy situation with 
 that meritorious constancy and resignation which most 
 people boast of? No, for I really cannot help it. I 
 bear it, because I must bear it whether I will or no, 
 I think of nothing but killing time the best way I can, 
 now that he has become my enemy." The experience 
 of Chesterfield is that of multitudes. He had exhausted 
 the pleasures of the world, and having, in his scepticism, 
 put the hopes of religion beyond his reach, he had no 
 alternative but to sit down and brood gloomily over his 
 total and irreparable bankruptcy. How impressive is his 
 testimony! 
 
t)2 THE WORLD 
 
 and results, will be found equally insuffic- 
 ient for the attainment of life's great ob- 
 jects. The eager worshipper of mammon will 
 sooner or later discover how unproductive 
 is his devotion. The power of gold has 
 its limit. Among the commodities which 
 it may purchase, in vain do we look for 
 elastic health, placidity of temper, content- 
 ment, pleasant reflections and retrospects, 
 firm friendships, domestic quietude and 
 satisfaction, and especially an exemption 
 from that crisis which is stealthily and 
 steadily approaching with its winding sheet 
 and narrow abode, in utter mockery of all 
 earthly grandeur.* The man of millions 
 
 * When the wealthy cardinal Beaufort was dying, 
 he exclaimed, ** Wherefore should I die being so 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 63 
 
 is the man of cares. Like the wearied 
 sentinel at his post, he must be sleeplessly 
 watchful over property which will soon 
 belong to others, and with no other than a 
 soldier's reward, — his daily pay and rations. 
 Impelled by his passion for wealth, he 
 foregoes the opportunities of converting 
 his money to useful and laudable purposes, 
 and drudges on in his vocation like a 
 chained galley-slave. Wealth can pur- 
 chase envy more readily than friendship ; 
 it can convert filial reverence into an ill- 
 concealed satisfaction at a parent's death. 
 How often is it found associated with 
 unhappiness ; and misery clothed in purple 
 
 rich ? Will not death be bribed ? Will money do 
 nothing?" There could be but one answer, " Thy 
 money perish with thee !" 
 
64 THE WORLD 
 
 and fine linen, differs little from wretch- 
 edness clad in squalid rags. Misery may 
 dwell in a hovel, but it has no poignancy 
 unknown to the splendid wretchedness to 
 be found in many a stately mansion. Money 
 then, in itself considered, never can fulfil 
 the promise of imparting true satisfaction 
 to its possessor. 
 
 The same story, with a like catastrophe, 
 is to be told of the man in public life who 
 ambitiously struggles upwards to the high- 
 est stations of power; of the ardent stu- 
 dent expending his mental and physical 
 energies that he may inscribe his name 
 high up on the scroll of fame ; and of the 
 enterprising chieftain who fights his way 
 until he becomes the hero of a hundred 
 battles. In politics, literature and war 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 65 
 
 there is a written and traditional history 
 of hopes blighted, services ungratefully 
 requited, and hearts broken. Biography, 
 with its habitual partiality, may suppress 
 many of the darker hues and incidents of 
 life, and yet it discloses enough to divest 
 the ambitious pursuits of men of their 
 more imposing and romantic features. The 
 statesman, alternately the object of plau- 
 dits and maledictions, is forced to tax his 
 powers to a painful and exhausting ex- 
 treme, to maintain his position against 
 the arts of alert and powerful rivals. His 
 fall is often as sudden as his elevation was 
 slow, and the glory of his public service ends 
 in involuntary retirement and chagrin.* 
 
 * The politics of all countries, not excepting our 
 own, afford melancholy examples of the disastrous over- 
 
t)0 THE WORLD 
 
 The academic grove is not always one 
 where peace and quiet reign. Literature 
 is the resort of many for distinction rather 
 than usefulness, and yet how often does 
 the author step out on the public arena, 
 with flushed hope, to be badgered by the 
 critics, maligned by his own fraternity, 
 unappreciated by the reading world, and 
 to have his hopes thwarted and his sensibili- 
 ties deeply wounded? The barque which 
 is launched with flaunting streamers is not 
 always destined to sail " on the smooth 
 surface of a summer's sea." Poetry is 
 
 throw and downfall of high-vaulting ambition The 
 denouement in Wolsey's case is well known. "Had I," 
 said he, " but served my God as diligently as I have 
 served my king, he would not have forsaken me now in 
 my gray hairs-" 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 67 
 
 the favourite vehicle of complaint, and 
 many a devoted slave to the muse has 
 uttered his plaint in mournful numbers, of 
 the world's cruelty and ingratitude. Kneel- 
 ing at the shrine of his idol, his devo- 
 tion has been repaid with bitter scorn ; 
 asking for a laurel wreath, he has received 
 a whip of scorpions. 
 
 We have seen too the military chieftain, 
 with strategic skill and prowess acknow- 
 ledged, after, escaping the perils of bat- 
 tle, outliving public notice, superseded by 
 younger aspirants, and left to nurse his 
 wounds in solitude. And what is the sum 
 of his happiness ? After the ardour of 
 pursuit has cooled down, do sacked towns, 
 ghastly wounds, dying groans, and the 
 wails of bereaved widows and orphans form 
 
bS THE WORLD 
 
 the best materials for agreeable reminiscen- 
 ces ? Who would accept the fame of a Caesar 
 or an Alexander, of a Charles or a Napoleon 
 with all their responsibility for blood shed ? 
 Thus it is in all the pursuits of ambition ; 
 the thousands fail and the few succeed, and 
 they that do succeed, find to their chagrin 
 that they have spent life in chasing an 
 unreal phantom. The highest attainable 
 stations are but dizzy heights calculated to 
 awaken apprehension and fear. Monarchs 
 are proverbially the most unhappy of men, 
 and least to be envied. The secret history 
 of those who have worn the insignia of 
 royalty, is a sad chapter in human life. 
 Their position, from its cares and responsi- 
 bilities, is less to be coveted than that of 
 the humblest subject; and with all their 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 69 
 
 surroundings of grandeur, they must — most 
 humiliating thought, — die like the common 
 herd.* 
 
 We have already seen that the spirit of 
 the world infects the lower as well as the 
 higher classes of society. It is the same 
 web, although of coarser fabric. They have 
 the same views of the world's sufficiency, 
 and are impelled by the same sensualism. 
 May we not say, with the. same results ? 
 
 * Philip III. of Spain, when dying is said to have 
 exclaimed ! " Oh ! would to God, I had never reigned ! 
 Oh, that those years I have spent in my kingdom, I 
 had lived a solitary life in the wilderness ! Oh, that I 
 had lived a life alone with God ! How much more 
 secure should I now have died ! With how much more 
 confidence should I now have gone to the throne of God ! 
 What doth all my glory profit, but that I have so much 
 the more torment in my death \" 
 
70 THE WORLD 
 
 Victims of intemperance, prowlers upon 
 society, disturbers of the peace, how often 
 does their devotion to the world terminate 
 in incurable vice and poverty, in the alms- 
 house and prison ? The world treats them 
 roughly, and at last shakes them off as 
 deluded fools, who in despite of warning 
 have rushed on the shoals already strewed 
 with the wrecks of their predecessors. 
 
 In strongly defining the illustrative cases 
 which we have employed, we do not design 
 to exclude the more numerous and less 
 marked ones which lie between the extremes 
 of high fashion and low life. We are fully 
 aware that many, imbued with the spirit of 
 the world, occupy the middle rank, and 
 pursue a more moderate and even tenor, 
 mingling the claims of business and pleas- 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 71 
 
 ure. They have no thought of the life to 
 come, and yet from educational restraint, 
 or limited means, they exhibit little of the 
 impetuosity which characterizes the persons 
 already referred to. Still they are one 
 with them in general principle. They live 
 only for the present. Happy family ar- 
 rangements, competence, influence, ease 
 and general enjoyment are their object, 
 and yet, with more moderate expectations 
 and less excessive expenditure, this world 
 is their idol, and no plans are arranged 
 beyond its limits. The result is of course 
 the same, although, from the character of 
 the persons, less distinctly marked. Soon- 
 er or later they are disappointed ; no high 
 end is achieved, and as the sands of life 
 run low they are apt to awake to the con- 
 viction that 
 
72 THE WORLD 
 
 " He builds too low who builds beneath 
 the skies."* 
 
 If these representations be truthful it 
 might be asked, Why should not the world 
 become wiser ? Why should not men aban- 
 
 * We fall into a serious mistake when we undertake 
 to estimate men from their public appearance. Each 
 one has his secret history, which he endeavours carefully 
 to conceal from the scrutiny of others. Could this 
 secret history be revealed, we should be almost tempted 
 to believe that all pretences of happiness among the irre- 
 ligious are counterfeit and hypocritical. How many 
 painful feelings, how many dark broodings, how many 
 desperate resolves, would be exposed ! Loss of property, 
 treachery of pretended friends, maddened disappoint- 
 ment, corroding jealousies, and such like, scare sleep from 
 many a pillow. Remorse, too, has possession of many 
 hearts, and we know nothing of it and of a thousand 
 other secret causes of unhappiness, until we see them 
 making frightful inroads upon health, or driving men to 
 desperation and suicide. 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. T3 
 
 don that, the futility of which has been so 
 often demonstrated ? We reply, the vanity 
 of the world is a demonstrable truth. It 
 was acknowledged of old time, and the 
 lapse of centuries has produced no change ; 
 and yet the same vain course is run with 
 the same uniform results. There are rea- 
 sons : 
 
 1st. The race of men appear on the 
 stage of action in successive and short- 
 lived generations. The places of the retir- 
 ing are soon filled by their successors ; 
 who, possessing the same vitiated nature 
 with all its characteristic passions and 
 temperaments, are disposed to act for them- 
 selves, without norrowly enquiring into the 
 experience of the past. Even with a full 
 knowledge of the failures of their prede- 
 7 
 
74 THE WORLD 
 
 cessors, it might be convenient for them to 
 attribute them rather to accident than 
 necessity. They might have been improvi- 
 dent, or unwisely selected their means for 
 the accomplishment of their purposes, or 
 the state of things may have undergone a 
 material change ; and they think that with 
 better management they would succeed 
 whatever had been the fate of others. Every 
 natural man is wise in his own conceit, and 
 every one imagines that he possesses the 
 power of self-restraint. He fixes a limit and 
 promises that thus far he will go and no 
 further, until having fairly committed him- 
 self to the current he is carried forward 
 with an impetuosity which he at length 
 finds he has no power to control. 
 
 2d. It is to be remembered, too, as we 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 75 
 
 have already remarked that the tastes and 
 habits of worldlings are formed in the 
 earliest and most thoughtless period of 
 life. Even in the tenderest youth we de- 
 tect the proclivities which characterize the 
 future man. These are shaped and strength- 
 ened in each successive year, until the 
 habit becomes the atmosphere in which 
 alone he breathes easily. The longer a 
 man's contact with the world, the more 
 formidable the impediments to a change of 
 character. " Can the Ethiopian change his 
 skin or the leopard his spots ? Then may 
 ye also do good, that are accustomed to do 
 evil." The better principles of nature be- 
 come paralyzed, its better feelings indura- 
 ted, and there is no disposition to pause or 
 turn back. 
 
76 THE WORLD 
 
 3d. A potent cause for adhering, at all 
 events, to the world, may be found in the 
 religious scepticism, which is at first as- 
 sumed as an expedient to quiet the voice 
 of conscience, rather than from deliberate 
 conviction. It is a rejection of the whole 
 system of religion, or such a perversion 
 of it as will awaken no apprehensions of 
 its righteous retributions. In the scheme 
 of the worldling, God is wholly indifferent 
 to the actions of men, or he is too merciful 
 to hold them to a rigid account. The whole 
 temper and constitution of the Christian 
 system are so uncongenial with the mind 
 that is intent on self-gratification, that it 
 has no beauty that it should be desired. 
 The rigid ethics of the gospel are distasteful 
 to one in this position ; and as the choice 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 77 
 
 lies between the license of the world and 
 the self-control which the gospel enjoins, 
 the former with all its delusions and inani- 
 ties is still adhered to as the better choice. 
 " This is the victory which overcometh the 
 world, even our faith," and yet he that has 
 adopted infidel sentiments, has madly cast 
 away this only weapon of victory. He is 
 either unwilling to believe, or by an unhappy 
 obliquity of mind, cannot believe, and hence 
 clings to the world. The substitution of 
 faith for scepticism implies a revolution of 
 sentiments and habits. Old things pass 
 away, behold all things become new. 
 Charity for censoriousness, self-denial for 
 licentiousness, purity for defilement, sub- 
 mission to God for obstinate self-will, spir- 
 ituality for earthly — Handedness, the defer- 
 
78 THE WORLD 
 
 red joys of heaven for the sensual pleasures 
 of time, indicate some features of the 
 change. Even then, when the suspicion is 
 awakened that the course now pursued is a 
 mistake, the worldling feels as if he had 
 no other resource than to proceed. His 
 practical as well as theoretical scepticism 
 excludes the religion of the gospel as an 
 alternative ; and soured and chafed as he 
 may be, at the failure of his chosen pur- 
 suits to bring peace and contentment, he 
 multiplies the dull and guilty repetition of 
 his pleasures, and adventures all on the 
 stake. The world is thus the objeot of 
 his dissatisfied idolatry, as if there were 
 no other object of worship. 
 
 It can be no object with us to exaggerate 
 these statements. We do not wish to be 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 79 
 
 understood as affirming that the convictions 
 of the worldly are in all cases equally 
 strong ; or that at all times they confess to 
 themselves the folly of their course ; for 
 it is acknowledged that many, even for a 
 long series of years, preserve their zest for 
 earthly pleasures unimpaired; and under 
 favouring associations, with talents adapted 
 for success, and health still vigorous, they 
 may be beguiled and led onward cheerfully, 
 as if disappointment were impossible. Still, 
 however, under the most propitious cir- 
 cumstances, conviction will be forced on 
 the mind, that the satisfaction, which pro- 
 vides not for the urgent demands of the 
 soul and furnishes no antidote to the fears 
 of death, is more superficial, than substan- 
 tial. The questions will arise, What am I 
 
80 THE WORLD 
 
 living for ? What profit have I in all my 
 labour ? To what ultimate end of happi- 
 ness am I progressing? Do I not often 
 feel life to be a burden ? The most favour- 
 ed and prospered cannot fail to see, as 
 they advance in years, how many pleasant 
 associations have been broken up ; how 
 many of their choice companions have dis- 
 appeared from the scene, even before they 
 had reached their prime ; how many friend- 
 ships have proved false ;.* and, in how 
 
 * It has often struck us as one of the most melancholy 
 illustrations of the insincerity of worldly friendships, 
 particularly among young men, that the most trivial 
 quarrels often lead to deadly feuds. The recollection of 
 every one will furnish instances of intimate friends, so 
 called, repairing to the field to settle a trifling dispute by 
 shedding each other's blood- The world that can exact 
 obedience to a code of honour, so heartless and bloody, 
 is surely not the young man's friend. 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 81 
 
 many instances, they have shrunk away 
 spiritless from their dearest engagements, 
 as falling far short of their anticipations. 
 Or, at all events, when their strength 
 decays, and their animal spirits flag, and an 
 inevitable death stands at the door, sternly 
 and relentlessly resolved to fulfil his com- 
 mission, can they confidently feel that 
 their compensation has been satisfactory? 
 Do cheerful reflections arise on the review 
 of life, and that calm self-approbation which 
 constitutes the sweet solace of declining 
 years ? Does not the past flit before them 
 like the visions of a disturbed and confused 
 dream, and the future salute them as a 
 dark apparition, or glare upon them with 
 its frightful forebodings ? Surely that 
 course cannot be rightly chosen which will 
 
82 THE WORLD 
 
 not bear the close interrogations of con- 
 science ; nor that life be well spent which 
 has no outbeaming brightness to impart 
 lustre to the tomb. 
 
IN COMPARISON 
 WITH THE BETTER WAY. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 J% HOULD this little 
 
 treatise fall under 
 
 the eje of any 
 
 who are disposed 
 
 to pause in their 
 
 worldly career to 
 
 question their own 
 
 hearts and take a 
 
 calm review of life, 
 
 it will afford us peculiar gratification to 
 
 invite their attention to the better way. 
 
 Aware of the prejudice, from whatever 
 
 8 (85) 
 
86 THE WORLD 
 
 cause, which is entertained against religion 
 and its professors, it may be well, as a 
 preliminary step, to obviate the objections 
 which are founded on the character and 
 conduct of Christians in the world. It 
 may plausibly be urged, if Christianity be 
 the better way, why should not those who 
 profess to be influenced by it, conform 
 more strictly to its rules, and exhibit 
 more of the happiness which it is said to 
 inspire ? 
 
 In regard to the objection which arises 
 from the imperfections and inconsistencies 
 of professing Christians, we would, without 
 any attempt at concealment or palliation, 
 suggest an important distinction for the 
 purpose of averting the infliction of unjust 
 censure. There is a class of nominal 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 87 
 
 Christians whose religion is one of form 
 merely. It may have been assumed delib- 
 erately, as a hypocritical disguise, for mer- 
 cenary and sinister purposes ; or on the 
 principle of compromise with a troublesome 
 conscience ; or through ignorant and mistak- 
 en views of its true character and require- 
 ments; but with whatever purpose, the 
 assumption is merely nominal. They have 
 clothed themselves in the livery of religion, 
 while their heart is not in the service ; they 
 are still in the world, for they have never 
 sincerely renounced its pomps and vani- 
 ties. Religion does not claim them, neither 
 should it be responsible for their miscon- 
 duct To the tender mercies of the world we 
 are willing to leave them. There is another 
 class, however, whose sincerity may not be 
 
88 THE WORLD 
 
 questioned, who, in a greater or le3S de- 
 gree, fail in their exemplification of the 
 spirit and temper of the gospel. No 
 Christian is perfect in this life. He car- 
 ries about with him a body of sin and 
 death, — a condition as necessarily involv- 
 ing moral deficiencies, as it does physical 
 infirmities. He is in a state of tutelage, 
 learning his lessons gradually and making 
 progress slowly; and compared with the 
 perfect standard proposed for his imitation 
 in the precepts and life of Jesus, he is 
 found to fall immeasurably short of a per- 
 fect obedience. The principle of a new 
 life infused into him, is only partially de- 
 veloped. This we urge in explanation, 
 rather than extenuation ; and we only wish 
 it to apply to those who, failing as they 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 89 
 
 often do, are still striving, and not without 
 success, to attain to the same mind that 
 was in Christ Jesus. As for those who tax 
 their ingenuity to contrive a way of main- 
 taining friendship with both worlds, pro- 
 secuting schemes of ambition, pursuing 
 wealth as a chief good, or paying homage 
 to it when possessed by others, mingling in 
 the amusements of the world as far as it 
 may be done with safety to their public 
 reputation, or condescending to unworthy 
 artifices for the promotion of their personal 
 popularity and aggrandizement, we note 
 them as just so far compromising their 
 Christian reputation, forsaking the safety 
 of the narrow way, imperilling their own 
 hopes and enjoyments, and exposing them- 
 selves to those severe chastisements by 
 
90 THE WORLD 
 
 which God is wont to restore his prodigal 
 children to their right mind. While we 
 lament the necessity of acknowledging that 
 there are too many points of apparently 
 amicable contact between the church and 
 the world, there is still a wide and radical 
 difference between the two. There is much 
 hidden excellence in every true Christian, 
 and no just estimate can be formed of him 
 without some acquaintance with his interior 
 life. If Christianity is to be judged by the 
 conduct of its disciples, it may at least in 
 equity be demanded, that the best and not 
 the worst specimens should be selected — 
 those most imbued with its spirit and most 
 successful in coming up to the spirit of its 
 requisitions, instead of those whose delin- 
 quencies can only prove that they have 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 91 
 
 failed to exemplify its principles. When, 
 however, we would direct the attention of 
 worldlings to the better way, it is to the 
 way itself, rather than to the travellers in 
 it ; it is to the perfect and divine system 
 as unfolded in the gospel and as illustrated 
 in the life of its Author. We can safely 
 follow Christians only so far as they follow 
 Christ. 
 
 As to the other point in the objection, 
 that Christianity fails to fulfil its promise 
 in rendering its disciples happy, and hence 
 the discouragement in embracing it as an 
 alternative, we are ready to admit, that to 
 a casual observer, it may seem that 
 Christians have few joys and many sorrows; 
 their countenanecs are often saddened ; 
 their tears flow ; like other men they have 
 
92 THE WORLD 
 
 their pains, griefs and disappointments, and 
 receive no apparent compensation for their 
 numerous sacrifices. It is very true that 
 they are not exempt from the sorrows of 
 life. Their imperfect and mortal condition 
 does not admit of it, neither does religion 
 promise it. Their physical weaknesses and 
 moral deficiencies adhere to them as a 
 consequence of a. depraved nature and 
 the disorganized condition of their faculties. 
 There is, however, this peculiarity in their 
 trials, that they are at once disciplinary 
 and salutary; they tend to make them 
 better and holier men ; and they are, be- 
 sides, accompanied by unusual supports, 
 and brightening anticipations of that "rest 
 which remaineth." He that becomes a 
 sufferer in the world's service has no inter- 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 93 
 
 nal sources of support and comfort ; the 
 world failing him, everything fails ; while 
 the Christian, on the contrary, can recog- 
 nize a paternal hand in all his sorrows, and 
 can trace them all to a benevolent design 
 to amend his character and fit him for a 
 higher sphere of blessedness. Paradoxical 
 as it may appear to the uninitiated, it is a 
 well settled maxim in the Christian's experi- 
 ence, that he may be " troubled on every 
 side, yet not distressed ; perplexed, but not 
 in despair ; persecuted, but not forsaken ; 
 cast down, but not destroyed." " By hon- 
 our and dishonour ; by evil report and 
 good report ; as deceivers, and yet true ; 
 as unknown, and yet well known ; as dying, 
 and behold we live ; as chastened, and not 
 killed ; as sorrowful, and yet always rejoic- 
 
94 THE WORLD 
 
 ing ; as poor, and yet making many rich ; 
 as having nothing, and yet possessing all 
 things." These are combinations, not in- 
 compatibilities, in Christian experience. 
 There is perfect harmony in their seeming 
 opposition. The believer in Christ has an 
 outward and inward life ; his hopes coun- 
 terbalance his fears ; his joys outweigh his 
 sorrows ; in the conscience void of offence 
 to God and man, he experiences (i the soul's 
 calm sunshine and the heart-felt joy;" and 
 as his path brightens more and more to 
 its close, he furnishes a marked contrast 
 to the man of the world, who has here 
 no adequate alleviation to his sorrows, 
 and whose sun goes down in impenetrable 
 gloom. 
 
 Having disposed of these preliminary 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 95 
 
 objections, we would, with the revelation of 
 God in our hand, say to wanderers in 
 "forbidden paths," — "This is the way, 
 walk ye in it." The religion of Jesus 
 Christ, claiming a divine origin, deserves 
 and demands an impartial examination. It 
 is neither just nor magnanimous to set it 
 aside on the prejudiced report of others, or 
 on the ground of superficial and unimport- 
 ant difficulties. As a moral system it should 
 be compared with the most prominent 
 philosophical systems ; and as a revelation 
 of salvation it should be brought into juxta- 
 position with every other religious scheme, 
 which offers an antidote to human suffering, 
 or holds out a promise to the aspirations 
 of hope. If upon impartial examination 
 it fails to sustain its pretensions, its rejec- 
 
96 THE WORLD 
 
 tion will be reasonable ; under any other 
 circumstances it would be perilous. 
 
 It is a mistake to suppose that the gospel 
 appeals rather to the credulity than the 
 intelligence of men. It addresses itself to 
 our highest reason, our dearest hopes, the 
 best feelings of our humanity. It courts 
 scrutiny, provided it be thorough and un- 
 prejudiced ; and it is a fact not to be over- 
 looked that many in every nation, in all 
 ages, of every diversity of custom, lan- 
 guage and talents have not only admitted its 
 credibility as a divine revelation, but have 
 adventured their immortal hopes on its 
 promises. Although the determinations of 
 others may not be regarded as conclusive 
 in the way of argument, it may be presumed 
 that men so differently circumstanced and 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 97 
 
 alike estimable for their moral qualities and 
 intellectual capabilities, would not have 
 hazarded their dearest interests by a rash 
 belief in a fable, however cunningly devi- 
 sed.* This, however, is not the place to 
 enter upon so wide a field of enquiry. Our 
 object is not a formal demonstration of the 
 truth of the Bible. The appliances for 
 such an investigation are within the reach 
 of all, and the serious enquirer may find 
 
 * We might readily cite a multitude of names which 
 have adorned every department of human science, in 
 proof that the evidences supporting the divine origin 
 of the Christian religion have commended themselves to 
 the reason of men under the highest culture. Credulity 
 will scarcely be charged on such men as John Milton, 
 Sir Isaac Newton, John Locke, Robert Boyle, and Sir 
 William Jones, who professed to rest their hopes on the 
 truth of the Christian system. 
 9 
 
98 THE WORLD 
 
 the arguments for the Christian religion 
 luminously presented by many writers of 
 distinguished ability.* The scepticism of 
 men of the world is, for the most part, 
 more superficial than argumentative ; adopt- 
 ed rather to silence the disturbing and 
 annoying upbraidings of conscience, than 
 from deliberate conviction. The considera- 
 tions which we have to urge will be suffici- 
 ent, if they can pierce through this flimsy 
 armour of defence. On the presumption 
 that there are always some of this class 
 
 * Without pretending to enumerate even the chief of 
 these, in which the subject has been treated in every 
 possible aspect, and with regard to all the varying forms 
 of infidelity, it may not be asking too much of the reader 
 to solicit his perusal of Paley, and Dr. Archibald Alex- 
 ander, on the Evidences of Christianity. 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 99 
 
 who, from personal experience, are dissatis- 
 fied with the course of life they have pur- 
 sued, and that the prospects of happiness, 
 which were once so alluring, have proved 
 visionary and fallacious, we are encouraged 
 to address them in the language of expos- 
 tulation. We would say to them, Pause and 
 reflect ; take a calm review of the past ; 
 recall the scenes in which you have been 
 participators ; weigh them deliberately, and 
 examine well the results, and then ask if 
 they are vindicated by reason, or approved 
 by your better judgment. When you 
 remember the time squandered in mere 
 amusements, and the talents misapplied in 
 the acquisition of possessions which you 
 dare not imagine to be permanent ; or, when 
 you recall the sensual indulgences into 
 
100 THE WORLD 
 
 which impetuous passion has hurried you, 
 can you deliberately commend their frivol- 
 ity and criminality ? Do no painful reminis- 
 cences obtrude themselves, when you reflect 
 upon the character of your associates, some 
 of whom, at least, have from time to time, 
 left their places vacant, and prematurely 
 finished their earthly career, without one 
 soothing influence from religious hope ? 
 Have you seduced none into sin, who are 
 now beyond the reach of restoration ? Have 
 you pleasure in the prospect of meeting 
 your gay and guilty companions in that 
 future world, where character will be tested 
 by the strictest rules of virtue ? Compare 
 yourselves as you now are, with what you 
 once were, in the days of comparative 
 innocence. Are you not sensible of a 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 101 
 
 material deterioration in your character, 
 from your close association with the world — 
 with a less distinct appreciation of right 
 and wrong, with fewer good impulses, with 
 principles less pure and exalted ? With a 
 natural conscience, not wholly overpowered ; 
 a conviction, not yet extinguished, that 
 this life is not the whole, or chief part, of 
 your being ; an unwillingness to admit the 
 fearful dogma, that at death you will cease 
 to exist ; and with some dim trace of light 
 from the religious truth which you may 
 have heard, can you believe that in forget- 
 ing God and refusing to render him hom- 
 age ; in neglecting prayer, and dismissing 
 from your mind all reference to an eternal 
 world and your accountability there, you 
 have acted as rational and immortal beings 
 9* 
 
102 THE WORLD 
 
 should have acted ? What ! partaking daily 
 of God's bounty without an emotion of 
 gratitude ! Receiving your being from 
 God, and yet no recognition of his provi- 
 dence ! Destined to live for ever, and yet 
 regardless of all preparation for the great 
 transition ! 
 
 We ask again, that you should compare 
 the life you are now living with that which 
 religion enjoins, and judge whether the 
 latter, in all its distinguishing features, is 
 not commended as far more consonant with 
 the dignity and destiny of your nature. 
 The religion of Jesus Christ is not to be 
 regarded as a mere philosophy, although it 
 is that in the purest and highest sense ; its 
 chief characteristic is its revelation of the 
 only way of salvation. It brings life and 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 103 
 
 immortality to light. It coincides with our 
 own conviction that our nature has been 
 radically disordered and needs reparation ; 
 that it is subject to the lures of temptation, 
 prone to sin, exposed to death, and obnox- 
 ious to future judgment. To secure this 
 renovation, the Son of God, in the spirit 
 of a divine benignity, became incarnate, 
 that he might not only be touched with the 
 feeling of our infirmities, but become our 
 surety and substitute, to make reparation 
 for us and reconcile us to God. In his 
 personal and perfect obedience even to death 
 the law of God received ample vindication, 
 its claims were satisfied, and the justification 
 of the sinner became possible. "He hath 
 borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows ; 
 he was wounded for our transgressions and 
 
104 THE WORLD 
 
 bruised for our iniquities ; the chastisement 
 of our peace was upon him, and with his 
 stripes we are healed." In the testament 
 which he left behind him, provision is made 
 for the pardon of the penitent and the 
 salvation of the believing. In view of 
 these simple and encouraging statements, 
 in which God is represented as condescend- 
 ing to men, and soliciting them to accept 
 the gift of eternal life, is it not eminently 
 reasonable that we should repent of that, 
 which even our natural conscience acknow- 
 ledges to be sinful, and with a believing 
 confidence rely upon a promise of mercy so 
 sincerely made and so adapted to our ex- 
 igencies ? Pernicious as the influence of 
 the world is, it seldom, except in extreme 
 cases, so deadens the moral sense, as to 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 105 
 
 make men wholly regardless of their sal- 
 vation. We see this in their reserved inten- 
 tion to repent at some future time, or in 
 their present notion that, without any 
 thorough amendment of their lives, they 
 may trust in the general mercy of God. 
 How much more reasonable to repent noto, 
 than to defer it to an uncertain future ; and 
 how much safer to trust to the revealed 
 mercy of God, as we find it in the gospel 
 of Jesus Christ, than to a fancied clemency 
 of which we have no satisfactory proof ! 
 
 To this we may be encouraged, not only 
 by the positive promise of God, but by the 
 fact that this course has proved eminently 
 efficacious in the case of others, who have 
 found "repentance toward God and faith 
 in our Lord Jesus Christ" the precursors 
 
106 THE WORLD 
 
 of a peace of mind before unknown to 
 them. It is through this vestibule that 
 they have entered on the Better Way. 
 Pardon and acceptance with God through 
 the mediation of Christ, constitute the 
 commencement of a new life — a life of 
 progressive happiness. When the transi- 
 tion is once effected, men marvel that they 
 should have been deluded by the false and 
 deceitful lures of the world so long; and 
 after being tossed on a sea of passion, the 
 sport of every veering wind, and cheated 
 out of their fondest hopes, they are glad- 
 dened to find, when they least expected it, 
 a haven of rest. 
 
 It should be distinctly borne in mind 
 that the religion of Jesus Christ, when 
 rightly apprehended and applied, is a 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 107 
 
 remedy adapted to the disorders of our 
 nature. The " whole head sick, and the 
 whole heart faint," are brought under its 
 curative power. Sin is remitted, guilt 
 cancelled, and as the moral pressure is 
 removed, the faculties awake to their 
 appropriate exercise. Good and evil are no 
 longer confounded, but assume by clearly 
 marked peculiarities, their antagonistic at- 
 titude. Reason learns to assert its supre- 
 macy over passion ; judgment corrects the 
 false estimates by which we have been led 
 to prefer the world to God ; and the mind, 
 purged of its gross misapprehensions, and 
 liberated from its subserviency to the flesh, 
 finds higher and purer channels for its 
 thoughts. The change effected in the cor- 
 poreal frame by a restoration from malig- 
 
108 THE WORLD 
 
 nant and prostrating disease, furnishes but 
 a faint emblem of the revolution effected 
 in the moral and spiritual nature, bj the 
 power of the Spirit of God. The difficulty 
 lies in conveying any intelligible notion of 
 it to one who has not experienced it. It is 
 not only a healing of our nature but a 
 renewal of it, a resurrection from the dead, 
 " old things pass away, behold, all things 
 become new." The change radically affects 
 our opinions, our emotions, our views of 
 life, our conduct. The principle of a new 
 life implanted directs the soul to nobler 
 objects of pursuit ; instead of countenan- 
 cing the degrading indulgence of the sensual 
 tastes for ever imperious and unsatisfied, it 
 contemplates the higher aims of our nature, 
 urging onward the earnest struggles of the 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 109 
 
 soul to find its way back to God, and to its 
 own primitive happiness and glory. When 
 we learn to obey the behests of conscience, 
 to provide for the mind suitable subjects for 
 thought, and to repress wrong and cultivate 
 right emotions of heart, we become at once 
 conscious of rising in the scale of being. 
 When the Divine Being, once the object of 
 dread and aversion, becomes the object of 
 reverent attachment in his attributes, law 
 and government, and we learn devoutly to 
 worship him, and maintain communion of 
 spirit with him — the prelude to the holier 
 service and purer joys of the heavenly 
 world— a happiness is begun on earth, to 
 which earth can offer no parallel ; a happi- 
 ness not superficial but solid, not transient, 
 but permanent, not exhausting, but refresh- 
 
110 THE WORLD 
 
 ing, and, unlike that of the world, satisfy- 
 ing the heart and entailing no saddening 
 and remorseful reflections. 
 
 We put it then to the worldling him- 
 self: — who is engaged in the most rational 
 and dignified pursuits, the votary of worldly 
 pleasures, or the aspiring candidate for 
 heaven? Contrast their feelings, their 
 conduct, and the respective issues, and say 
 which has made the wise choice and has the 
 fairest promise. 
 
 In the contrasted view we have been 
 taking, we wish to hold up more specifically 
 the pre-eminence of the religion of Christ, 
 as a rule of life, in contra-distinction to the 
 jejune morality of the world. As a system 
 of morals it has extorted the applause of 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. Ill 
 
 many who repudiated its claims as a divine 
 revelation.* 
 
 Bring it to the most rigid test, and the 
 more illustrious will it appear. No human 
 philosophy has approached its ethical per- 
 fection. For self-government and for the 
 regulation of conduct in the various rela- 
 tions of life, its directions are comprehen- 
 sive and exact. Its control is not despotic 
 
 * Many remarkable testimonies of this kind might 
 be quoted; we will content ourselves with the single one 
 of Lord Bolingbroke, who was an avowed sceptic. He 
 says: " No religion ever appeared in the world, whose 
 natural tendency was so much directed to promote the 
 peace and happiness of mankind, as the Christian. The 
 Gospel of Christ is one continued lesson of the strictest 
 morality, of justice, benevolence, and universal charity. 
 Supposing Christianity to be a human invention, it is 
 the most amiable and successful invention that ever was 
 imposed on mankind for their good." 
 
112 THE WORLD 
 
 but benevolent ; it demands no self-sacrifice 
 whicb is not reasonable and salutary, and 
 requires no service which is not attended 
 by its own reward. They who have sub- 
 mitted most unreservedly to its dictation, 
 are the readiest to testify, that the service 
 of God is the most perfect freedom ; and 
 the more deeply they have been imbued 
 with its spirit, the more distinguished have 
 they become for the observance of all 
 relative duties, as the best men, the trusti- 
 est citizens, the purest patriots, in the 
 domestic circle and in public life. They 
 have been distinguished, too, by their com- 
 placent delights, as well as their exultant 
 hopes. There can be no more grave error 
 than the common opinion that the present 
 life of the Christian is all hardship, and 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 113 
 
 that his enjoyments are all prospective. 
 He is not required to refrain from one true 
 enjoyment of the present life; it is only 
 from its factitious and demoralizing ones. 
 He may use the world; — he is only enjoined 
 not to abuse it. True it is, that as his 
 virtue is only partial, and his obedience 
 imperfect, his happiness cannot be perfect. 
 His sins of short-coming will be attended 
 by trials, and these very trials, are designed 
 as a discipline to promote his growth in 
 virtue ; yet with all these unavoidable 
 drawbacks, the conscientious followers of 
 Christ are ready to verify the Scriptural 
 declaration that " although no chastisement 
 for the present is joyous, but grievous, yet 
 nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peace- 
 able fruits of righteousness to them that 
 10* 
 
114 THE WORLD 
 
 are exercised thereby." The highest mor- 
 ality is accompanied by the purest enjoy- 
 ment. The higher the Christian rises, above 
 the influences of the world, in his ob- 
 servance of all God's commandments, the 
 clearer his intellect, the more expanded his 
 views, the more vigorous the exercise of 
 his mental and moral faculties, the more 
 agreeable his emotions, the more emphatic 
 the approval of his conscience. 
 
 It may be said, too, of the Christian that 
 he does not live in daily apprehension that 
 death will despoil him of all his treasures, 
 and put an end to life and enjoyment 
 together. This is the wormwood and the 
 gall mingled in the worldling's cup ; while 
 the believer's riches are treasured up in 
 heaven, and death in his case, is but the 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 115 
 
 introduction into a full and perfect possess- 
 ion. There is an end which can neither be 
 evaded nor averted. He that cannot keep 
 his eye steadily fixed on it, furnishes the 
 evidence by that very fact, that he is not 
 applying life to its proper purposes.* If 
 there were no hereafter, the determination 
 would be less revolting, "let us eat and 
 drink, for to-morrow we die;" but when 
 the present life is acknowledged to be the 
 mere beginning of an existence which is to 
 be endless, the folly and rashness of over- 
 looking the future, must be apparent. The 
 
 * The celebrated Caesar Borgia when compelled to 
 contemplate the near approach of death, mournfully ex- 
 claimed, "I have provided, in the course of my life, for 
 everything except death, and now alas ! I am to die, 
 although entirely unprepared." 
 
116 TEE WORLD 
 
 uncertainty of life is proverbial. It is a 
 battle in wbich multitudes fall at the first 
 onset, still others as the contest progresses, 
 until few remain who deserve the name of 
 veterans. " The days of our years are 
 threescore years and ten : and if by rea- 
 son of strength they be fourscore years, 
 yet is their strength labour and sorrow, for 
 it is soon cut off and we fly away." The 
 hard usage to which the world subjects its 
 votaries permits few to reach the extreme 
 limit, and those that do, find that they have 
 not only outlived their pleasures, but the 
 familiar companions of their follies and 
 sins. What spectacle more melancholy 
 than an old age of irreligion ! A dreary 
 sunset of life, with no ray of hope to 
 irradiate it ! The past furnishes no refresh- 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 117 
 
 ing recollections, the present no joys, the 
 future is enveloped in clouds and darkness. 
 Life to them has been more than a failure. 
 Better if they had never been born. None 
 of the great purposes of life have been 
 accomplished. The world is shaking them 
 off, and they have no anchor-hold for eter- 
 nity!* On the contrary the "hoary head 
 is a crown of glory when found in the way 
 of righteousness." " The path of the just 
 is as the shining light which shineth more 
 
 * Gibbon, the distinguished historian and sceptic, on 
 the near approach of death, acknowledged that when he 
 considered worldly things, they were all fleeting; when 
 he looked back, they had been fleeting; when he lookod 
 forward all was dark and doubtful. This was a dreary 
 summary of a life which might have been as distinguished 
 for goodness as it was for cavilling unbelief, and might 
 have closed in joyful anticipations, as it did in gloomy 
 forebodings. 
 
118 THE WORLD 
 
 and more to the perfect day." The obedi- 
 ent disciple of Christ may die in his youth, 
 but to him death is never untimely, as the 
 great end of life is accomplished ; or he 
 may live to experience many years of 
 earthly vicissitude, out of which he shall 
 eventually come as a conqueror, with the 
 exulting exclamation, " I have fought a 
 good fight, I have finished my course, I 
 hare kept the faith ; henceforth there is laid 
 up for me a crown of righteousness, which 
 the Lord the righteous judge shall give me 
 in that day."* Reluctant as the men of 
 
 * The excellent and truly devoted Dr. Payson, when 
 dying and exulting in the prospect, exclaimed : " The 
 battle is fought ! the battle is fought ! The victory is 
 won! the victory is won for ever! I am going to bathe 
 in an ocean of purity, and benevolence, and happiness, to 
 all eternity." 
 
AND ITS INFLUENCES. 119 
 
 the world may be to engage in the service 
 of Christ, with what they esteem its oner- 
 ous work and painful self-denial, a dis- 
 quieted conscience will extort from them 
 the wish, "Let me die the death of the 
 righteous, and let my last end be like his." 
 This then, reader, is the Better Way, 
 which, with a benevolent regard to your 
 welfare, we urge upon your choice. None 
 that have selected it have repented their 
 decision, while thousands have been con- 
 strained, when too late, to utter their un- 
 availing regrets that the favourable oppor- 
 tunity of securing its advantages has been 
 suffered to pass away, neglected and mis- 
 improved. Warned alike by both, it will 
 be wise in you to pause and consider. 
 You are cheated by a gilded pageant and 
 
120 THE WORLD 
 
 lured by false lights. Your mightiest 
 efforts can secure but a small part of the 
 world and for a brief time ; but if you 
 could secure the whole by imperiling your 
 souls, what would it profit you ? Remem- 
 ber that the Lord who is offended by your 
 rebellion, holds your life in his hand and 
 can at any moment recall it ; that he con- 
 trols the providential arrangements of the 
 world, and may so order them as to defeat 
 your most cherished projects ; nay, that he 
 is the Master of your mind and heart, and 
 may at his pleasure render your enjoy- 
 ments distasteful and nauseating. Why not 
 then secure his friendship ? 
 
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