UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES GIFT OF Dr. ERNEST C. MOORE YOUNG CHRISTIAN SERIES. IN FOUR VOLUMES. I. THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN. JL THE CORNER STONE. III. THE WAY TO DO GOOD. . IV. HOARYHEAD AND M'DONNER. VERY GREATLY IMPROVED AND ENLARGED. en?ftfe numerous SEnjjrabfnga. NEW YORK: HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 329 & 331 PEARL STREET, FRANKLIN SQUARE. 1859. THE WAY TO DO GOOD, BY JACOB ABBOTT, VERY GREATLY IMPROVED AND ENLARGED, numerous NEW YORK: HARPER f as a means to touch the feelings of others, and to arouse Conscience, and awaken a sense of obligation to God ; while the affectation of what is not possessed is a slim disguise, which the instinct of mankind detects at once, and repels. Be honest, then. Be natural. If you really feel any warm- G* l5l THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Interest in human salvation. Companions ; friends ; neighbors. hearted interest in those around you, let your words and actions freely show it ; hut if you do not, guard most care- fully against the attempt to feign any. I do not mean, guard against a deliberate and understood intention to impose upon men ; for thpse only, who are utterly destitute of piety will be guilty of this ; but watch your heart, lest, adroit as it is in eluding your vigilance and running away into sin, it should escape you here. If you are aware that the real, unfeigned interest which you feel in the progress of God's Kingdom and the salvation of sinners, is not enough to enable you to go forward with much success, you must not attempt to remedy the difficulty by exhibiting more of the appear- ance, but by securing more of the reality. This brings us to the second of the directions we proposed to give. 2. Cultivate a genuine interest in the salvation of men, by appropriate meditation and prayer. It should be a part of our daily duty, in our hours of retirement and devotion, to bring the spiritual condition and prospects of our neigh- bors and friends distinctly before our minds. We have in the ordinary walks of life so many mere business dealings with those around us, that we soon come to consider them in the light of mere business or social connections. The merchant or mechanic whom we meet with every day, we soon come to consider as merely a merchant or mechanic, we think of him as a workman, we look at his character in a business point of view, and after a short time we cease to regard him as an immortal being going to the judgment, and destined to an eternity of holy happiness or of wretch- edness and sin. We forget that he has a soul to be saved, and that the responsibility of doing something to promote its salvation, devolves upon us. Now, this disposition to overlook the spiritual condition and prospects of our fellow- men, is one which we can avoid only by continued medita- tion and prayer. We must have time, -vhen, in the privacy PROMOTION OF PERSONAL PIETY. 155 Prayer. A tost of sincere prayer. of the closet, we may regard our fellow-men as they are, and see their true spiritual condition ; when we may look at our neighbors and friends with a view to their prospects as immortal beings. And we must not only think of the character and condition of our companions and friends in respect to their prospects for eternity, but a part of our daily duty must be, honest, heartfelt prayer for them. I do not mean that we must utter a cold form of petition, asking in general terms for the conversion of sinners, and for the extension of God's kingdom. We all do this as a matter of course. The language forms a part of every prayer, and it is uttered by thousands every day, who feel none of the desires they seem to express. What I mean by really praying for sinners is a very different thing. Sincere prayer for the conversion of souls must spring from a distinct view of their spiritual danger, and an honest desire that they may be rescued from sin and its consequences. We must think of our neighbors and friends, of a parent, a hus- band or a child, as an enemy of God, justly obnoxious to his anger, and actually condemned already. With our hearts full of compassion for them, and sorrow for the awful fate which we see impending over them, we must go alone before God, and pour out our whole souls before him in fervent sup- plication that he will have mercy upon them and save them. It is not the cold repetition of a form of words, to which we have become so habituated that we can not well construct a prayer without it, that will prevail with God. It is the warm, deep fervency of the heart, that feels for the sorrows and sufferings which it wishes to relieve. There is one test of genuine prayer for sinners which is so simple and so easily applied that I can not forbear mention- ing it here. It is the freedom with which particular cases are brought before God. 156 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Religious emotion. Nature and province of it. Illustration. When our devotions are cold and formal, we content our- selves with generalities ; but when prayer comes from the heart, it is dictated by feelings of strong compassion, and this compassion is awaked by considering the spiritual wants, and the gloomy spiritual prospects, of individuals. We shall bring these individual cases before God. We shall come with our neighbors, our acquaintances, the one who walks with us to church, or who sits in the same seat ; or our friend, or our parent, or our child. We shall bring the individual case to God, with strong crying and tears, that God would save them, those particular individuals, from the woes and sufferings which we see hanging over their heads. 3. Do not, however, lay too much stress upon religious emotion. One of the most common religious errors of the present day, is, the* habit of confounding religious interest with religious emotion. Interest in religion is our constant duty. Emotion is one of the forms which this interest occa- sionally assumes. Now many persons confound the two, and think they are in a cold, stupid state, unless their hearts aro full of a deep, overwhelming emotion. They struggle con- tinually to awaken and to sustain this emotion, and are dis- tressed and disappointed that they can not succeed. They fail, for the obvious reason that the human heart is incapable of long-continued emotion of any kind, when in a healthy state. Susceptibility of emotion is given by the Creator for wise and good purposes, but it is intended to be an occasional, not an habitual state of the mind ; and, in. general, our duty is to control, rather than to cherish it. For example, a man loves his wife and his little children, and thinks that he may promote their permanent good in the world, by removing to a new home in the West, where he can make his labors far more effectual in laying a founda- tion for their wealth and prosperity, than he can in the home of his own childhood. He sets off, therefore, on the long arid PROMOTION OF PERSONAL PIETY. 157 The traveller at the West. Ills letter. toilsome journey, to explore the ground and prepare the way for them to follow. As soon as he gets fairly on the confines of the settled country, his mind is daily engrossed by labors and cares. Now, he is toiling over the rough and miry road, now hesitating upon the bank of a rapid stream, now making his slow and tedious way through the unbroken forest, his mind intent in studying the marks of the trees, or the faint traces of the Indian's path. During all this time, he feels no emotion of love for his wife and children, but his mind is under the continued influence of the strongest possible interest in them. It is love for them which carries him on, every step of the way. It is this that animates him, this that cheers and sustains ; while he perhaps very seldom pauses in his labors and cares, in order to bring them dis- tinctly to his mind, and fill his heart with the flowings of a sentimental affection. At length, however, at some solitary post- office, in the cabin of a settler, he finds a letter from home, and he lays the reins upon his sad- dle-bow, and reads the welcome pages, while his horse willing to rest, walks slowly through the forest. As he reads sentence after sentence of the message which has thus found its way to him from his distant home, his ardent affec- tion for the loved ones there, which has, through the day, THE POST-OFFICE. Io8 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Emotion. remained calm within, a quiet and steady principle of action, awakes and begins to agitate his bosom with more active emotions ; and when, at the close of the letter, he comes to a little postscript, rudely printed, asking " father to come home soon," it calls to his mind so forcibly that round and happy face which smiled upon him from the steps of the door when he came away, that his heart is full. He does not love these absent ones any more than he did before ; but his love for them takes for the moment a different form. Nor is it that his affection is merely in a greater state of intensity than usual, at such a time. It is in a totally different state ; different in its nature, and different, nay, the reverse in its tendency. For while love, as a principle of action, would carry him forward to labor with cheerfulness and zeal for the future good of his family, love, as a mere emotion, tends to destroy all his interest- in going forward, and to lead him to turn round in his path, and to seek his shortest way back to his home. He readily perceives this, and though the indulgence of such feelings may be delightful, ha struggles to put them down. He suppresses the tear which fills his eye, folds up his letter, spurs on his horse, and instead of considering the state of emotion, the one to be cultivated, as the only genuine evidence of true love, he regards it rather as one to be controlled and suppressed, as interfering with the duties and objects of genuine affection. Now the discrimination, which it is the design of the fore- going case to set iu. a strong light, is very often not made in religion. But it should be made. Piety, if it exists at all, must exist generally as a calm and steady principle of action, changing its form and manifesting itself as religious emotion only occasionally. The frequency of these emotions, and the depth of the religious feeling which they will awaken, de- pend upon a thousand circumstances, entirely independent of the true spiritual condition of the soul. The physical influ- PROMOTION OP PERSONAL PIETY. 159 Conditions of religious emotion. Wasted efforts. ences by which we are surrounded, the bodily temperament, the state of the health, the degree of pressure of active duty, the social circumstances in which we are placed, the season, the hour, the scenery, a thousand things, may, by the combined influence of some or of all of them, fill the heart with religious emotion, provided that the principle of religion be already established there. But we must not sup- pose that religion is quiescent and inactive at other times. Religion, is, to say the least, quite as active a principle, when it leads a man to his work in the cause of God, as when in his retirement, it swells his heart with spiritual joys. They are, in fact, two distinct forms which the same principle assumes, and we can not compare one with the other so as to assign to either the pre-eminence. Neither can exist in a genuine state without some measure of the other. It is, however, undoubtedly the former which is the great test of Christian character. It is the former which we are to strive to establish in our hearts, and in which we may depend upon making steady and certain progress just in proportion to the faithfulness of our vigilance and the sincerity of our prayers. But in point of fact, the attention of Christians, in their efforts to make progress in piety, very often looks almost exclusively to the latter. They think that continued reli- gious emotion is the only right frame of mind, while, in fact, the human mind is so constituted that continued emo- tion of any kind is consistent only with insanity. They toil and struggle for emotion, but they labor in vain, for emo- tion of any kind is just the very last thing to come by being toiled and struggled for. The result is, therefore, either a feeling of dejection and confirmed despondency or else the gradual cultivation of a morbid sentimentalism, which has nothing but the semblance of piety. Our business, then, is in our efforts to bring our hearts in 160 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Strngf ling for feeling. The agency of the Holy Spirit. a right state in respect to God's kingdom in this world, to cultivate a steady, healthy, active interest in it, not to strug- gle in vain for continued religious emotion. If the one really reigns over us, it will lead us to exactly the right sort of effort in God's cause ; and it will hring to our hearts many happy seasons of the other, in our hours of retirement, medi- tation, and prayer. 4. It must be your habitual feeling in all your plans for the salvation of souls, that you are and can be only the in- strument, that the only efficient means of success must be a divine influence exerted upon the soul. Consider often how radical, how entire is the change which you wish to effect. If you only desired to alter a friend's course of conduct, by showing him another in which he might more safely and certainly gratify the reigning desires and affections of his heart, you might perhaps do it by the mere natural effect of the information you might give. But here, it is the very desires and affections of the heart themselves which you wish to change. You are going to offer him the communion and friendship of God. It is just the very thing he would most dislike and avoid. He would rather have God away than near. You are going to offer him forgiveness of sin, through Jesus Christ, his Savior. Far from valuing the forgiveness of sin, which implies the abandonment of it, it is the con- tinued commission of sin which he most eagerly clings to. The terms of salvation, and the duties arising from them, are humbling : he is perhaps hesitating whether he can com- ply with terms so disagreeable. He is naturally proud. He can be pleased only with what is lofty. Now his heart must be changed, so that he shall love these very terms, and love them on the very account of their humiliating character. He never can be saved until he so feels his sins, and the attitude in which he stands toward God, as to find the lowest place be- fore the throne of God the one to which he comes easily and PROMOTION OF PERSONAL PIETY. 16] Greatness of the change. Difficulties. Walk softly. with pleasure, and where he finds the greatest peace and happiness. You do not come, therefore, to show the soul a new way to get what it loves, but you come to lead it to love what it most dislikes and avoids. Humility, penitence, a lowly walk with God, the ceaseless presence and restraints of divine communion, escape from sin and every sinful pleas- ure, and the absorbing of the soul in holy spiritual joys ; these favors, invaluable as they really are, are not such as we can expect mankind to welcome, if left to themselves. In some cases, that is, when you act in coincidence with the desires and affections of the heart, the more clearly and dig- tinctly you present reasonable claims, the more certain it is that they will be adopted. But the more clearly and dis- tinctly you offer these spiritual blessings to the world, the more open and unequivocal will be the decision with which they reject them. For in their very nature they run exactly counter to, and across, all their natural feelings and wishes and desires. God must work in them, both to will and to do. While you kindly invite, he must move their hearts to love the boon you offer, and to accept the invitation. You must always feel this. It will make you quiet, lowly, sub- missive. You will walk humbly and softly before God in your labors to promote his cause, and it will be safe for him to give you success. " Walk humbly and softly before God :" there is a great meaning in these words. Like children, who go out with their father to a work of difficulty or danger, too much for their feeble powers. They walk quietly by his side. They speak to him with subdued voices, and walk with cautious steps, looking up to him for direction, and trusting to his strength for success. Just so the Christian should walk, in his path of active duty in this world, humbly and softly by the side of his Father. ] 62 THE WAY TO DO UOOD. The measures. Examination of the ground. These suggestions we have offered in respect to the prep- aration, the state of heart appropriate to the work of saving souls. We now come to consider the measures necessary in the work itself. THE MEASURES. 1. Explore fully the spiritual field around you. Not a little of good fails of being accomplished in this world, on ac- count of its not being known how easily it might be done. Now every Christian, in his daily routine of business and of intercourse with society, finds himself placed in a little sphere of duty, which he ought to consider as assigned especially to him. The portion of the vineyard by which he is imme- diately surrounded, is the one which it is his peculiar prov- ince to till. And he ought, first of all, to make himself care- fully acquainted with its conditions. We ought to make it our business to learn, by delicate, and gentle, and proper methods, the actual spiritual condition of our acquaintances and friends, so as to be ready to act when there is opportu- nity for action. Hollow-hearted and hypocritical zeal, in at- tempting to do this, will run itself into continual difficulties ; and by its coarse, obtrusive, and censorious spirit, close up against itself every avenue to the heart. But humble, unas- suming, and heartfelt piety, warm with sincere attachment to the Savior, and honest benevolence toward men, will in- stinctively know how to accomplish this work without friction or noise. The truth is, that there exists to a far greater extent than is generally supposed, among impenitent persons in every Christian land, a disposition to listen, at least, to the claims of religion, and to appreciate efforts for their salvation, made in honest good-will. While the heart rises against holiness, union with God, and other spiritual blessings, it still shrinks from the prospect of perpetual and ceaseless sin ; and he who PROMOTION OF PERSONAL PIETY. 163 Popularity of our Savior's preaching. Limitation of the principle. endeavors to save his neighbors and friends from this ruin, will find that though they may reject the salvation offered, and still cling to sin, they will generally feel a sentiment of kindness only toward him who faithfully offered it. It was so with our Savior's preaching, the common impression to the contrary notwithstanding. The ecclesiastical influence of his day armed itself against him, but the populace everywhere thronged him. The common people heard him gladly. They welcomed him when he came in peace, with hosannas and branches of the palm-tree ; and when his enemies con- trived to enlist the Roman military power on their side, so as to lead him out to Calvary, the vast crowds from Jerusalem followed, lamenting and bewailing him. In those throngs, there might have been few who were his sincere disciples, but though they would not yield to the inflexible demands of the doctrine, they could not but be touched by the unaf- fected and unceasing benevolence of the man. Now it al- ways has been so, and it always must be so with proper efforts to save men's souls. Faithful attachment to the cause ofGod will bring upon those who exhibit it, persecution, it is true, but it is the persecution of the few, not of the many. That is the true distinction. The Christian must expect, if he is faithful, to be buffeted, and opposed, and hated, but it will only be by a few, whose peculiar circumstances, or whose extreme depravity, separates them from mankind at large. He must expect that the mass of those whom he endeavors to save, will appreciate his honest kiudness, and feel something like respect and gratitude toward him. These remarks, however, we wish the reader especially to observe, are intended to apply almost exclusively to private intercourse with neighbors and friends, in a quiet Christian community, where the principles and duties of Christianity are in theory admitted. When Christian principle comes to array itself in opposition to powerful interests, or to the 164 THE WAY TO BO GOOD Estimation of virtue in this world. prevailing habits or pursuits of the community, it often awa- kens universal and most bitter hostility. Such emergencies have often occurred, and must undoubtedly often occur again. In respect, however, to the ordinary personal intercourse of private Christians, with their impenitent neighbors and friends, in a land like ours, we at least ought not to antici- pate hostility. Many circumstances in the past history of piety, show that men have often been disposed to perceive its excellence in others, even when they would not yield to its influences themselves Abraham was received with favor wherever he went. Joseph was generally respected and be- loved. They were few who lowered him into the pit, and sold him into slavery. The character of Daniel commanded admi- ration, though there were malignant individuals who plotted against his life. John the Baptist was in no danger from the throngs around him, while defenseless, and in the solitary wilder- ness, he reproved them of sin. They loved to hear him. It was the hate of only one adul- teress, and the cruelty of one tyrant, which cost him his life. So the general popularity of our Savior as a preach- er, the crowds that everywhere thronged him, testify. His ene- mies were few, though they were powerful enough, with the help of Roman spears, to lead him to the cross. And lastly, Paul found a welcome and listening hear JOHN THE BAPTIST. PROMOTION OF PERSONAL PIETY. 105 Common impression. A distinction. ere wherever he went. His dangers and difficulties were the work of a small number of designing men, and the populace moved against him only when these few, by falsehood and misrepresentation, urged them on. Now we are slow to make the distinction pointed out above. We are apt to imagine that inasmuch as faithful, Christian effort must expect opposition in every age, it must expect it from every person ; and we sometimes go about our work expecting to be met everywhere with the look of hostility and defiance. And going with the expectation of finding this feeling, we insensibly speak and act in such a manner as to awaken it. The reader may have been accus- tomed to take a different view of the feelings with which the mass of mankind are prepared to receive honest efforts for their spiritual good, yet the more he reflects upon it, the more he looks at the testimony of Scripture, and the history of the church, the more he will be satisfied that the view above presented, is true. If it is true, it is plain that we must go about the work of seeking, and saving men, with the feeling that our efforts, if properly and kindly made, will not be angrily received. That hostility and hatred are to be ex- pected only from a- few, but that the great majority, while they will still perhaps love and cling to their sins, will ap- preciate and feel the kindness which attempts to save them from future misery. It is very probable, now, that some reader who may have perused these last paragraphs, without very discriminating attention, may iinderstand me to say that the natural heart has no feeling of hostility to the claims of God's law. Whereas, a little attention will observe that I say no such thing. On the other hand, I have repeatedly asserted ex- actly the contrary. There is a hostility to the claims of God's law, but not always hostility to the messenger who kindly presents those claims. It may seem strange, perhaps, 166 THE WAY TO DO GOOD We must expect a welcome. Favorable opportunities. that a man should feel gratitude and attachment to the friend who endeavors to save him from the sin, while he yet loves the sin, and clings to it, and is determined not to let it go. But such is human nature, and the experience of every Christian who has been faithful in his Master's work, will readily call to mind many cases in illustration of it. We are to make it our business, then, to look around over the field to which Ged has assigned us, with the expectation of finding, in ordinary cases, a welcome, not a repulse, in our efforts to save the soul. This expectation should lead us to go forward boldly, hut at the same time delicately and kindly. We must be active, and faithful, and frank, and courageous, while at the same time we are mild and unas- suming. If our hearts are really in it, it will be easy and' pleasant work, and we shall have far more numerous oppor- tunities for doing something for the cause of God, than we have supposed. Almost every Christian would find within his family, or within the circle of his acquaintance, several persons who are constantly expecting, even desiring that he will intro- duce religious conversation with them. Gently pressed, from time to time, for many years, perhaps, with feeble convic- tions of sin, they are continually hoping that some faithful, Christian friend will address them. Though they dislike the service of God, and continue accordingly to live in sin, con- science is not quiet, and the future is darkened by their fore- boding fears. They are inexcusable for continuing thus in sin, waiting for an influence from another, but yet this in- fluence, if exerted, might, very probably, be the effectual instrument in leading them to repentance. Now see to it, my reader, that no such cases exist near to you. Perhaps there are some. Explore the ground and see. It may be your most intimate and familiar companion, whom you have seen every day for years, and conversed with on every sub- PROMOTION OF PERSONAL PIETY. 167 Artifice. Anonymous letters. Courtesies of social life. ject of interest to you both, except the salvation of your souls ; it is strange, but it is very often the case, that the Christian and the sinner who are most closely associated in the family, or in the business or social relations of life, are those between whom the subject of salvation is most shunned. 2. These views of the condition and of the feelings of mankind, in respect to the efforts made for their salvation, should lead you to be frank, and open, and candid, in all that you do and say. Expect to be met with a friendly spirit ; and act accordingly, with frankness, openness, and honesty, Resort to no artifices, no contrivances, no management. An anonymous letter, a concealed tract, a covertly insinuated reproof, will awaken nothing but displeasure, where an honest, direct, and friendly communication would be received in the spirit with which it was given. In being open, however, be careful not to be ostentatious, and never let frankness de- generate into disrespectful familiarity, nor honesty become bluntness, nor plain dealing, coarse obtrusion. In all your religious intercourse also with others, be governed entirely by those rules of delicacy and propriety which constitute the cement and the charm of social life. Perhaps no error is more common, than for a professing Christian, forward and zealous in his Master's cause, to consider himself absolved from all obligations like these. The lofty nature of the work that he has to do, rises so high, he imagines, as to lift him above all the restraints of these principles of action by which human conduct is ordinarily controlled. Sad mistake ! It is not, however, that the work of saving souls ought to be sacrificed to the principles of human courtesy, but that it can not go on in defiance of them. The paths in which we have to labor, in promoting the salvation of men, are the ave- nues to the human heart, and we can not succeed, if we re- 168 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Discussions. Truth spiritually discerned. Examples. sort to measures by which every such avenue is barred up and defended. I ought, however, here, and repeatedly in the course of these remarks, to remind my readers that these directions are intended mainly for common Christians in the walks of pri- vate life. Cases do doubtless often occur, in which persons holding important stations in the church, and even private Christians, are bound to rebuke sin and sinners in the most decided manner. Nay, prevailing sins in a community may sometimes call for an array of the followers of Jesus Christ in an attitude of open and positive hostility. These cases we do not here include. We refer ouly to the private efforts of individual Christians, in the common walks of life, to spread their Master's spirit from soul to soul. 3. Generally avoid discussion of doctrine with religious inquirers. There is a double reason for this. In the first place, you can not remove the theoretical difficulties which cluster about the subject of religion, while the heart of the inquirer remains unchanged ; and then, in the second place, if you could do it by great effort, this labor may as well be spared, for if the change in the heart is once effected, these difficulties will melt away of themselves, and all your labor of endless debate will be saved. The need of a Savior, for instance, you can not establish by argument to the satisfac- tion of a mind insensible of guilt. But let the moral sensi- bilities be once awakened, bring conviction of sin, and the soul will hunger and thirst for a Savior with an ardor of desire which nothing but an atoning sacrifice of the Son of God will effectually relieve and satisfy. So in regard to the agency and the influence of the Holy Spirit ; there are a thousand questions connected with that subject, which can not be understood by any mind in which those influences have not been felt. But where they have been felt, although the subject, even then, may not be theoretically understood, PROMOTION OP PERSONAL PIETY. 169 Effect of a discussion. A common error. all the practical difficulties at once disappear. So with the desert of sin, and the just weight and duration of future punishment ; they can not be seen by a mind that is impen- itent and worldly. Many such minds may, indeed, from the influence of early education, receive unquestioned the scrip- ture statements on all these subjects ; but if they do not receive them, if they have begun to entertain doubts, or to feel difficulties, you can not easily solve or remove them by theological discussion, while the subject of them remains in his sins. A discussion, though begun on the part of the inquirer, with an honest desire to have his difficulties re- moved, will soon become a contest for victory ; and far from solving his doubts, it will be quite as likely that he will defeat you, as that you will satisfy him. The reason is, that the truths, or rather the elements to which the truths relate, which you wish to make plain to him, are spiritually dis- cerned, while in his present state he can not know them. He may take them upon trust from others ; but he can not see them with his own eyes, or believe them with his own faith, till his eyes have been opened by influences very differ- ent from those of theological discussion. There prevails among irreligious men, I mean, those who feel any interest at all in the subject of salvation an im- pression that they must have clear ideas of truth, before they are under any obligation to do duty. They talk of looking into the subject of religion, of inquiring into the tenets of different persuasions, as preliminary altogether to personal piety. They seem to imagine that so long as peculiar cir- cumstances, such as the pressure of business, or the appa- rent balance of the argument,' keep them from coming to a decision about the theory, they are under no practical obli- gations whatever. The latter may, they think, properly remain in suspense, until the former are all settled ; and the more argument and debate you hold with them, the more H 170 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Degree of knowledge necessary to saltation. permanent is this impression. But the truth is, there is very little theoretical truth whose possession is necessary to hring upon a man the whole force of imperious obligation to repent of his sins. There is one question, it is true, which a man must have knowledge enough to answer. " Have I ever done wrong ?" If the powers of his feeble intellect grope in darkness in respect to this question, his Maker will doubtless hold him exempt from moral obligation, through the imper- fection of his faculties. But if, on the other hand, he has light enough for this, he need not wait, certainly, for more. The duty of repentance presses upon him with the whole weight of her claims. Until these claims are admitted, he ought not to expect to make successful progress in under- standing the nature of God's government, or his relations to men. How can he expect it, while he shows himself God's enemy by clinging to acknowledged sin. Our first great duty, then, with . religious inquirers, is to bring them, not to correctness of theological sentiment, but to heartfelt conviction of sin : and this, not because correctness of religious sentiment is not immensely important, but because it is impossible to force it upon an impenitent heart by the mere power of reasoning. Error comes through the corruption of the heart ; and the full establishment of the truth must be expected from its purification. The Spirit does indeed make the truth the instrument of conviction and conversion ; nay, more, the truth is the only instrument ; but the important point to be noticed is, that there is truth enough blazing before the mind and conscience of every man, to bring upon him the full force of moral obligation, though there may be many things connected with revealed religion, which, through the insensibility of a hardened heart, or the feebleness and imperfection of human powers, are involved in obscurity. Press therefore the obligations arising out of truths which can not be denied, and by the blessing of the PROMOTION OF PERSONAL PIETY. 171 A dialogue. Investigation not the first duty. Holy Spirit you may hope to awaken spiritual sensibility, by means of which the soul which you are attempting to save shall hunger and thirst after more. For example, we will suppose that an impenitent man in conversing with a religious friend, under some circumstances which have awakened temporary seriousness, expresses his state of mind as follows. The replies and remarks of the Christian illustrate the course indicated by these principles. Sinner. This subject has lately been a great deal upon my mind. I have, however, some difficulties. I have been inclined to disbelieve the doctrine of future punishment, but some things lately, have led me to fear that I may have been mistaken, and I intend to take hold of the subject, and examine it fairly and thoroughly. Can you recommend to me any books ? He says this with an air of satisfaction, as if his Christian friend would receive the intimation with joy and pleasure, and regard his determination to give both sides a fair hear- ing, as a very meritorious act. His friend replies, " I could name to you some books, but I should hardly advise you to make such an investigation." " Should not advise me to make it !" exclaims the inquirer, " why not ?" " No, sir, I should not think that your first step would be to examine that subject." "Why not?" " Will you allow me to ask you a question ? Perhaps I ought not to ask it ; but since you request Tny advice in re- spect to your religious course, and as I can not give it with- out distinctly understanding the facts, I know you will excuse it. Are you in the daily habit of secret prayer ?" " Why, no, sir, I can not say that I am." ' You believe there is a God ?" 172 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. The difficulty in the heart. " Certainly, I do." " And that he exerts a constant oversight and care of all his creatures ?" " Yes, sir." " Do you think it right or wrong, then, for us to live in the neglect of all communication and intercourse with him ?" " It is wrong, I must admit." " I must ask one more question about it. When you con- sider the whole case, our connection with God and his com- mands, do you think it very wrong, or only moderately wrong, to live many years, as you have, without any inter- course with him ?" The man is silent. Utter speechlessness is the proper an- swer to such a question. " Now, sir, I think there is a far more important, and more profitable question for you to examine, than the ques- tion of future punishment. It is this. Why is it that you are doing now, and have been doing, year after year, for a very long time, what you must see is the height of ingrati- tude and sin ?" " Why, sir, the truth is, I have not thought much about it." "True : but that only brings up the question in a little" different form. How could you have lived so long, with so many memorials of God all about you, and so many calls to love and serve him, and yet not think much about it ? If you go to examining the subject of future punishment, you may, perhaps, get engaged in the discussion, so that your rea- soning powers will be interested ; but while your heart re- mains in its present state, you will end as you began, youi reason perplexed by the opposing arguments, and your con- science asleep, as it has been, in sin. But if you look into your heart, in view of your life of ungodliness and sin, with humble prayer that God will help you understand it, and PROMOTION OF PERSONAL PIETY. 173 Another case. A proposed argument. Its uaelessneM. that by his grace he will renew it, you may hope to be saved." Or perhaps the inquirer comes with the same difficulty, but in a little different spirit. He wishes to argue the case directly with you. He knows that you believe in the eter- nal suffering of the wicked, and comes with a store of objec- tions and arguments, to refute the opinion. Now, however strongly you may yourself believe, and however clear the ar- guments may stand in your own mind, and however easily you may be able to set aside every objection, you can make no progress in a debate with such a man. If he is a good disputant, he will know how to embarrass and perplex you, though he may have a bad cause. If he is a bad one, he will not understand your arguments, or appreciate the force and bearing of what you say ; but he will be slipping off, and flying away in every direction, and after an hour's debate, you will find that you have made no progress what- ever. You may say to him then, " Suppose we should have such a discussion, what would oe the result ? Suppose that you should convince me that there is no punishment for sin, in another world, what then ?" " Why then I should expect you would give it up, and not let us hear any more of it." " And suppose I should gain the victory, and prove to your satisfaction, that there is a judgment to come, and that you will be called to account there for all your sins in this world ?" " Why in that case, I should admit it, if you convince me satisfactorily." " And should you feel an obligation to attend to the sub- ject of religion ?" 174 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. The proper course. Aim to produce conviction of Bin. " Yes, I should," he replies decidedly. " If you will con- vince me that there is to he a judgment after death, I prom- ise you that I will immediately attend to the subject of re- ligion." " What do you mean by religion ?" " Why we both understand what is meant by it, I can not undertake to define it." " I understand of it, repenting of, and abandoning all sin, and beginning to love and serve God, in hope of forgiveness through Jesus Christ." "Very well." " You admit this. Well, just see in what state of mind you are, when you come to have a discussion with me. You will not repent and abandon sin, or begin to love and serve God, because you think you are not to be called to account for it. If I can prove to you that there is a future world of eternal suffering, and that you must be ruined if you die as you are, then you will alter your course, and begin to love God ; otherwise, you will not. Now I know that I never could convince you while you are in this state of mind. It would do no good to try." Your companion will find it difficult to reply to this, and you can easily lead him to see, that the facts in this case in- dicate a sad state of dislike to God and hostility to his reign ; and that instead of disputing on the question whether he is to escape punishment for this or not, he ought to humble himself at once before God, and secure his forgiveness ; for whether he is to be punished or not for it, it is, undoubtedly, a most heinous sin. So in all other cases. A man living in impenitence and sin, is not in a state of mind to be convinced of religious truth by disputation ; and it is wiser and better that the attempt should not be made. This subject, how- ever, will come before us again in another chapter. 4. Endeavor to lead the inquirer immediately to use the means of grace, honestly and faithfully. Let him begin to PROMOTION OF PERSONAL PIETY. 175 Means of grace. Common impression ; groundless. read the Bible every day, and to pray to God in secret, and in his family, if he have one. Show to him that he ought at once and openly to abandon his sinful and worldly courses, and to devote a portion of his time to reading, meditation, re- ligious conversation, and prayer. We sometimes shrink a little from giving these directions, lest they should turn off the attention of the inquirer from the duty of immediate re- pentance, and lead to a round of mere external duties, instead of forming that vital union with the Savior, by penitence and faith, which can alone save the soul. And there is, in fact, some danger here, but this should not prevent our pressing upon the impenitent sinner his whole duty, as claiming at once his immediate attention ; and these things are unques- tionably a part of it. It is his undoubted duty to commence immediately the study of the Bible, and secret prayer ; not hypocritically, or from mere selfish fear of future punishment, but with honest sincerity, and from a heartfelt and holy desire to know and to do the will of God. " But," say you, " he has not such holy desires, his mind is only under the influence of selfish fear, and if he performs these external duties at all, it will be in such a manner as will only increase his guilt." True, I reply, I will allow it. I will allow that at the moment of your giving the advice, the heart of the sinner is unchanged, and that without thorough moral renewal, all his external duties will be merely superficial and hollow, an abomination in the sight of God ; though whether they would be a greater abomination than utterly neglecting them, may not be certain. Still, how and when are we to expect such a moral renewal as is necessary to take place ? How and when are we to expect new and holy desires to spring up in the darkened and obdurate heart ? What occasions are we to hope that the Spirit will make use of, to renew the soul, and awaken spiritual life there ? There can be but one 176 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Immediate action. Religious duties of the impenitent. answer. The right feeling is most reasonably to be expected to arise, in conjunction with an effort to perform the right act. If a hundred religious inquirers were to be told simply that it would be useless for them to attempt to do their duty, until their hearts are changed, they would imagine that they had nothing to do but to wait for this change, and the result would be, returning indifference and stupidity, or else a gloomy and settled discouragement, or despair. On the other hand, if the religious teacher should urge immediate action, pressing, at the same time, the indispensable necessity of holy motive, the very change desired would be most likely to take place simultaneously with the attempt to comply. We say to an impenitent sinner, " Go to your closet, and there spread out your sins before God, confessing and giving up every one, but be sure that you do it honestly. Hate and loathe them, while in the act of thus confessing them. Be sure to be hon- est with God." We say this, not with the idea that it is possible for a sinner, remaining impenitent in heart, to make an acceptable confession, but because we hope that the moment of falling upon his knees in solitude, or the mo- ment of determining to do so, or some other moment during the season of confession, may be the one chosen by the Holy Spirit to renew and sanctify the darkened and sinful soul. So we should say, " You ought to set apart a time every day for reading the Bible, attentively studying it, and praying at the same time for God's guidance and blessing in enabling you to understand and do his will." And this, not that we imagine that the reading of the Scriptures, while the heart remains hostile to God, can be a service at all acceptable to him, but because we hope that the first sincere and honest desire to do God's will, may be awakened by the renewing influences of the Spirit, while the sinner is in the attitude of studying to know it. So with all the other means of grace, and external, religious duties. The turning of the soul to- PROMOTION OP PERSONAL PIETY. 177 Instructions of the Bible. Paul's case. ward them are, and always have been, the occasions which God has most frequently seized upon, to renew and sanctify the soul. Inquire of your religious acquaintances and friends, and they will almost with one voice tell you so. One felt the first emotions of penitence arising in his heart, while he was uttering the language of penitence. Another first turned his soul to God while reading of his holiness, his majesty, his glory, in his Word. A third submitted, while on his knees in prayer. It is not indeed always so. We can assign no limits, nor prescribe any universal rule to the operation of the Spirit upon the heart ; but it is perfectly safe to say that it is gen- erally so. An immensely large proportion of the conversions which take place, take place while the soul is in such an at- titude as I have described. Our duty is, therefore, toward our impenitent friends, to endeavor to bring them into this attitude. We must lead them to commence immediately the performance of every known duty, charging them, how- ever, to be sure that they do it with right feelings of heart. We can not be too careful in leading them to see that if they should do these things with hearts still remaining hostile to God, instead of doing any thing to merit his favor, they only provoke his displeasure more and more. We shall find, on examination, that the instructions given in the Bible, correspond with these views. The direction given to religious inquirers, is, in a vast number of instances there, not the naked and simple direction to begin to feel right, but to begin to do right, in the exercise of right feel- ings. See, for example, John's preaching, our Savior's calls to his apostles, the whole tenor of the Sermon on the Mount, and, as a case peculiarly in point, the directions given by our Savior to Saul. " Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ?" " Arise," is the answer, " and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou shalt do." Here is a simple act to a* 178 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. General directions. Philosophy c'f human nature. be performed Not, in itself, at all of a religious nature ; but it was to be performed on a principle of obedience and faith. Paul obeyed ; and his 'rising to go into the city, in obedience to his Savior's commands, was perhaps the com- mencement of his submission and his love, and of that long- continued and most devoted attachment, which waters could not quench, nor floods drown. In many other instances, however, in the New Testa- ment, the direction is more general. Repentance, as a feeling of the heart, is directly enjoined, and we ought always to enjoin it, so that the inquirer may never, for a moment, imagine that any thing but a radical, moral renewal can ever make him a child of God, or a fit inheritor of heaven. It is interesting to observe how the operations of the Holy Spirit, in renewing the human heart, correspond with the phi- losophy of human nature, in respect to all other moral action ; for we can, in all other cases, best secure right feeling, by enjoining a corresponding right act. If the Samaritan had called back the Levite to the wounded traveler, and remon- strated with him on his unfeeling heart, and urged him to feel more kindly, and then to come and help him to relieve the sufferer, he would probably have remonstrated and urged in vain. And yet, if he had said, " Come help me raise this poor sufferer and carry him to the inn ; he will die if we leave him here," the Levite might perhaps have responded to the appeal, and kind feeling might have been awakened in his heart, by the very performance of a kind action. So wfyen Nehemiah said to his brethren, " Come, let us build again the wall of Jerusalem," he awoke more effectually the spirit of patriotism among his countrymen, by thus calling upon them to act, than he could have done by the most powerful appeal to the feelings alone. Such is human nature. Right sentiments, and right emotions, come most PROMOTION OF PERSONAL, PIETY. 179 Immediate duty. Promote a very thorough change. readily in conjunction with right action, and God, in the operations of his Spirit, conforms to those laws of the human heart which he has himself ordained. We never need fear, therefore, pressing upon sinners the claims of immediate duty in action, if we at the same time press the indispensable necessity that such duty should be performed under the impulse of renewed affections. Lead them to seek salvation diligently, in the use of the means which God has appointed. There can be no reasonable ground of hope for those who neglect them. 5. In all conversation with religious inquirers we ought to feel ourselves, and lead them to feel, that entering the service of God is a very great step, which changes the whole plan and object, and alters all the enjoyments and sufferings of life. The Christian who begins his new life with an idea that it is a slight thing, will never make a very efficient Christian. If we take any proper views of it, it is a very great thing, and we ought to take special care that all our influence over those who are seeking salvation, should be such as to lead them to a very thorough change. We must not heal the hurt of sin slightly, and thus make superficial, heartless and worldly Christians, to do nothing while they live but hover about the line between the friends and the enemies of God, and thus obliterate the distinction which God intended to have as strongly marked as possible. Let it be a pure, a devoted, a thorough- going piety which our efforts may help to spread. 6. At the same time we should be pleased with every approximation to what is right. If men will not actually do their duty, the nearer they come to doing it the better. And yet there is a very common impression that it is not so. It is very often said, for example, that there is more hope for an open enemy of religion, than of one who is upright, and moral, and regular in outward observances. But it is the 180 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Approximation desirable. It lessens danger, though not guilt. love of paradox which gives such a sentiment currency among mankind. Let any one look at the history of any church with which he has been connected, and inquire from what classes of the community, the greatest number of addi- tions to it have been made. It will be found, almost uni- versally, that though there may be many detached instances of the conversion of the infidel or the reviler, the profligate, the bold and open enemy of God, yet that these cases are comparatively few. The great majority of admissions to the Christian church are from the class of the moral, the thought- ful, the regular attendants upon Christian worship, and the readers of his Word. When religion is revived, numbers from this class arise, give up their sins, and enter the service of God ; and others are brought into their places to become themselves the subjects of renewing grace at a future time. Let no one infer from this, that a man is any the less guilty of neglecting and disobeying God, because he is regular and upright in the performance of his outward duties. I have not said that he is the less guilty, but only that he is in less danger. His danger is indeed appalling, if he could but see it, appalling in living even for a day in sin, when he is every moment liable to be called into eternity. Still it is less than if he were the open and avowed enemy of religion. So that if we really wish to save men, we shall desire to bring them as near as we can to salvation. Induce as many as possible to enter the narrow way, and then bring as many more as possible up near to the gate ; and those which are more remote, and will not come near to it, perhaps may be induced to approach a little. All approximation, while it does not diminish their sin, may diminish their danger. If, for instance, you have a neighbor who hates religion and its friends, and has walled himself in, so that you can gain no access to him with religious truth, you can do him a kindness, if opportunity offers, and thus connect in his mind PROMOTION OF PERSONAL PIETY. 181 Cases. Gradual progress. A family brought near. one pleasant association with a religious man. It is one step. A small one, I grant ; but its influence is, so far as it has any influence, to bring him a little more within the reach of a call which may ultimately awaken him. He remains quite as much the enemy of God, as before, quite as hostile, quite as inexcusable, but his case is not quite so hopeless. In the same manner, if there is near you a family living in heathen indifference and neglect of the ordinances of God, and you can bring them to his house, and aid them to find their regular seat there, and lend them suitable books for the Sabbath, and introduce the children into the Sabbath-school, you will have made important progress, though perhaps every member of that family may be as decidedly the enemy of God, and as fully obnoxious to his displeasure afterward, as before. You have made progress, for you have brought them fairly within that circle, over which the waters of salvation flow : and in years to come there will probably be found among the children and children's children of that family, many a Christian household, and many a saved soul, though your effort, in its immediate results, did not, in the least, diminish the moral distance which separated the ob- jects of it from God. And once more. If you have within the circle of your acquaintance, persons of upright and moral character, and you can induce them to read the Scriptures daily, and to establish family prayer, even if they continue unchanged, your labor is not lost. They are not indeed made half Christians. There is no such thing as a half Christian. They remain the enemies of God, while their hearts are alienated from him ; the more clearly the light of the gospel shines around them, the more evident and striking will appear their guilt, when God calls them to account. Still, though there may be no piety, there is a slight increase of hope. You bring them habitually under the influence of the truth, and tbis is the only means by 182 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Approximation to right opinions. The greatest error the most dangerous. which they can be saved ; and every approach to what is right, quickens the moral sensibilities, and makes the next step easier. In the same manner, approximation toward right opinions is always desirable. It is better to be a Deist, than an Atheist ; and a nominal Christian, however heartless, than either. It is better to receive the New Testament only, as a revelation, than to reject both old and new. He who ac- knowledges God, but rejects a Savior, is not in a condition so desperate as he who rejects both Maker and Savior too. Persons embracing a corrupted or defective form of Christi- anity, are more accessible, conscience is more easily awa- kened, conviction of sin and penitence are more readily felt, than under the deadening influence of paganism. Many of my readers may have been accustomed to think differently. The truth is that we have generally the most controversy with those who differ the least from us, and so we magnify and exaggerate the importance of the difference, and say in the ardor of our zeal, that our immediate opponents are doing more injury than those who reject a great deal more. But if we look at facts, we shall find that it is not so. If we take any community which is divided into various sects, holding every form and degree of error, from pure evangelical Christianity, down to open Atheism, we shall find that the spread of real piety among all these classes, will bear a pretty just proportion to the distance at which they respec- tively stand from the standard of scripture truth. Instead, therefore, of looking with a jealous and malignant eye upon those who differ least from us, we should be glad to have them as near us as they are ; and while we do every thing in our power to keep the standard of piety among the follow- ers of Jesus Christ elevated, and the standard of doctrine pure, we should rejoice at every approximation which we can effect, either toward the one or the other. PROMOTION OF PERSONAL PIETY. 183 Caution. Dependence on divine influences. It would be wrong to bring this chapter to a close, without reminding the reader once more, in the most distinct and emphatic manner, that his only hope of success in his efforts to save his fellow-men, is in divine influences exerted upon the heart, in connection with his endeavors. We have no new truths to present to the minds of men, and no new means to try. Our friends and neighbors who arc living in sin know all that we can tell them ; and in repeating efforts which have been made before, in vain, our only hope must be in the renewing agency of the Holy Spirit. Besides, if we were coming to our fellow-men with the first tidings which ever reached them of God, and duty, and judgment to come, we could expect, if unaided, nothing but unquali- fied and universal rejection of the claims of religious duty. Persuasion, which is often powerful in altering human con- duct, can never change the human heart. You may per- suade a proud, ambitious man, to take this or that course to gain his objects, but you can never persuade him to be humble. Men generally dislike and loathe the idea of hav- ing God present with them at all times, and you can never reason them into loving it. The experiment would be like that of the foolish nurse, who attempts to make the shrink- ing child believe that the medicine she offers him is pleasant to the taste. She argues, entreats, assures, but all in vain, the palate, whose revolting tendencies lie beyond the reach of such means, still rebels. And so with the unrenewed soul of man : the difficulty with him is not ignorance, it is not darkness, it is not mistake ; but it is that spiritual pleasures, growth in holiness, and the happiness of union with God, are exactly what he most dislikes, and most wishes to shun ; and the more distinctly and clearly you present salvation to him, for it is these things which salvation means, the moro plainly he understands what it is, and the more decidedly, if left to himself, will he reject it. It is, therefore, not enough 184 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Perfection of nature, and moral ruin of man. to say that the work to he done in saving men from sin is too great, in degree, for our powers, hut it is removed, hy its very nature, from the field in which we can exercise them ; and if we rightly understand this, if we see the subject in* the light in which both the Bible, and a sound philosophy exhibit it, we shall work humbly while we work diligently ; and when God gives success to our efforts, by the renewing agency of his Spirit, our hearts will glide spontaneously into the ascription, " Not unto us, not unto us, but unto God be all the glory." In a word, our efforts to do good in this world, in order to be successful, must be grounded on the fact that it is a world lost in sin. It is strange that even philosophers, not to say professed Christians, could ever have doubted this. It would seem that every one must be at once convinced of it, by contrasting the admirable success of all the other works of God, in answering their purposes, with the con- spicuous and universal failure of man, as a moral being, to answer his. Let the eye rove over this visible creation, and observe our fruitful fields, our splendid skies, our glorious sun. Watch the movements and the changes which the elements undergo, and see how admirably heat and cold, vapor, hail and snow, the rolling ocean, and the soaring cloud, do the bidding of God, and accomplish to perfection, their purposes. Whether you regard the grandeur of design, or the mightiness of execution, or the inconceivable perfec- tion in the finish of details, all will impress you with an idea of the lofty standard which the Great Architect has aimed at, and reached, in all his works. You may go into the forest and examine, as minutely as you please, the most un- known and concealed wild flower which grows there. Look at its form, its colors, the grace and beauty of its move- ments, as it waves in the wind, whose movements are ad- PROMOTION OF PERSONAL PIETY. 185 Man a moral wreck. THE WILD FLOWERS. justed to an exact equilibrium with the ^Pifeb. , , . . - vbMBSst- _ud& strength and pliancy of its stem. Observe the mechanism by which the seed is pro- duced, and the perfec- tion of its structure when formed and pack- ed with a hundred others, as perfect as itself, in its little cap- sule. Or look at the insect creeping upp/i its stalk, so minute that you must mag- nify it a hundred times to distinguish the brilliancy of its coloring and the perfection of its members. Or if you wish to take a specimen on a larger scale, look into the heavens, and study the arrange- ments and the motions of the solar system ; and consider the admirable success of these arrangements in producing here the change of day and night, summer and winter, and all the agreeable vicissitudes of the year. Study the movements of the great machine, and find if you can, the jar, or the friction, or the irregularity. It has been in ceaseless motion for forty centuries, time, one would think, to test the me- chanism. But when you come to look at man, considered as a moral and social being, gathered into communities here, to accom- plish those purposes of holiness and happiness which a benev- olent Deity must have intended, in calling moral and sen- tient beings into existence, you see a most conspicuous and terrible case of failure. The plans which God has formed 186 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Conclusion. for his social prosperity and happiness, are all deranged by his sins. The family, the home, the connection which binds parent to child, and child to parent, the social relations which link society together, all these intended foundations of happiness, are poisoned and spoiled by sin. Yes, all physical nature is great and glorious, but man is degraded and in ruins. Every thing else is right, but his heart is Avrong. The object of his being he does not accomplish ; the happi- ness which is within his reach, and which he was made to enjoy, he does not gain ; and he stands forth in the view of all the intelligent creation, a mournful spectacle of ruin. It would seem that no man who would candidly look at the facts, could ever for a moment imagine that the world is at all in the moral and social condition in which God intended it to be. No, it is a world in ruins, " a moral wreck, and our business is, while we live here, to save as many from it as we can." rustic MORALS 187 Influence of Christianity on the community. Christian and Pagan countries. CHAPTER VI. PUBLIC MORALS. ' By manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God." CHRISTIANITY has not only the power to secure eternal life to those who personally yield to her claims, she also exerts a vast influence in purifying and preserving the whole social community. She has, however, done less than Christian writers have often claimed for her. She has not yet infused moral principle into the mass of any extended populace, so as to prevent the necessity of governing them by physical force ; and it is actually difficult to ascertain, from the con- tradictory reports of intelligent travelers, whether life and property are safer, and the state of public morals less corrupt, in Paris or London, than they are at Constantinople, or on the banks of the Hoang-ho. We say it is difficult to ascertain, the difference is so much less than it ought to be. The inquiry, fairly made, however, gives a result greatly in favor of Christendom. Life and property are safer, and public morals are far, very far less corrupted in English villages, among the hills and valleys of Scotland, in Germany, France, Italy, and New England, than on the shores of the Caspian Sea, or on the plains of China, or in Syria or Java, or on the banks of the Niger and the Nile. And the difference is greater in reality, than in appearance, for we must consider, not only the actual 188 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Crime and punishment in Boston : in Constantinople. state of public order which prevails, but the comparative de- gree of governmental pressure, which is found necessary in the respective countries, to secure it. The quiet and peace which reign in the interior of Christian countries, are main- tained by a far lighter hand, than that which is necessary to control a community of Mohammedans or Pagans. A criminal in Boston has a remote and uncertain prospect of suffering before him, to deter him from crime. There is his hope of escaping detection, for there is no argus-eyed police or watchful spy taking note of his movements. Then there are the forms through which he must pass, the extreme scrupulousness with which every evidence against him, not strictly legal, will be rejected ; the ingenuity of his advocate ; the feelings or the doubts of his jury ; and, lastly, the calm impartiality of his judge, under the influence of no wish, but to make the punishment as light as justice will possibly allow. How different from the stern and unfeeling severity with which the criminal of Constantinople is taken to the nearest officer of justice, who is perhaps responsible for the order of his district with his head, and there, without ceremony or delay, bastinadoed, hung, drowned, strangled, or impaled. Yes ; to ascertain the power of Christianity upon the con- dition of the community, we must take into view, not only the degree of public order which Christian and unchristian countries secure, but the comparative amount of despotic pressure and severity which they find necessary in order to secure it; The truth is, that a certain degree of regard for life and property, and of public order, is necessary for the very exist- ence of society ; and governments insensibly assume the de- gree of power, be it more or less, which may be necessary to secure this. So that the influence of Christianity upon a na- tion will show itself, at first, not so much in lessening the amount of vice and sin, as in diminishing the pressure neces- PUBLIC MORALS. 189 Influence of Christianity. Design of this chapter. sary to keep it within bounds. It lightens the hand of gov- ernment and softens its asperities. For it is public opinion which supports even the strongest governments, an opinion based on the necessity of suppressing disorder and crime. Christianity, by diminishing the tendency to disorder, com- pels government to lighten its hand. We see, therefore, in the comparative mildness and gentleness of Christian govern- ments, a tribute to the salutary influence of Christianity. But when we make the influence which she has exerted as great as we honestly can, by this and other considerations, how far is it below what it ought to have been. How sad is the moral and social condition of the most highly christian- ized country on the globe. How much is yet to be done in England and America, in removing abuses, arresting the progress of public vice, and in carrying the light and the happy influence of the gospel into the great mass of society. How many wrongs are yet unredressed ; how many vices yet unrestrained ; how many unnecessary sorrows and suf- ferings reign everywhere, which Christianity, even in its in- direct influence, might easily remove. This chapter is to be devoted to a consideration of this subject ; the way by which Christianity is to produce its salutary effect upon the moral and social condition of the community. Of course, the reader will not expect a specific- plan of operations, for the removal of particular evils. These will vary with the nature of the evil to be remedied, and the extent of the moral means which may be brought to bear upon it. Our design will therefore be, not to lay down plans of proceeding for particular cases, but to bring to view such general considerations as ought to be kept in mind, and al- lowed to influence our measures, and regulate the feelings of the heart with which we attempt to carry our measures into effect. 1. It is a very serious question, and one which the Chris- 190 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. The Christian's appropriate work. tian community ought to consider well, how far we are to leave our appropriate work of directly building up the king- dom of Christ for the purpose of going forth into the world to correct evils and abuses which reign there. No one who understands at all the nature of sin and its remedy, can doubt that our great work here, is to bring as many individual souls as possible to actual repentance, and to raise the stan- dard of holiness among those thus changed, to the highest point. This is laboring directly to promote the kingdom of Christ, the extension of its walls, and the purification and spiritual prosperity of all within. This is the true way by which the remedy for sin is ultimately to reach the full ex- tent of the disease. The plan of Jesus Christ for saving the world, is not mainly that the indirect influence of Christi- anity upon the public conscience shall gradually meliorate the moral condition of unsanctified men in a mass, but that these men shall, one by one, be brought to conviction and thorough repentance, and made in succession his followers and friends ; not restrained a little, as a community, from their worst vices, by the indirect influence of the gospel, but changed thoroughly, as individuals, into new creatures in him. It is, therefore, to promote the spread of this individual, personal piety, that constitutes the great object at which we should aim. The other is secondary. It is occasional. Still, it has its claims. We are citizens of a community, as well as members of a church, and each relation gives rise to its appropriate duties. Cases often have occurred, in the history of Christendom, and are now continually occurring, in which religious men may go forth with advantage into the great community, and accomplish vast good by the power of a moral influence, more efficient in its appropriate sphere than legis- lative enactments, or military force. Generally, however, the province of Christian labor lies in a different region ; and the influence which piety is to exert upon the great unsanc- PUBLIC MORALS. 191 Relation to the community. tified mass of mind which envelops it, is indirect, spontaneous, collateral; an influence which follows of its own accord, while the Christian is intent upon his own proper work of extending pure and thorough personal piety. 2. When we go out to act thus upon society, we must re- memher that we act as members of a community which is under one common responsibility with us to God, and that those whom we are endeavoring to influence are not respon- sible to us. The evils which we attempt to prevent or miti- gate, are sins against God, and they who commit them, are accountable to him for their guilt, not to their fellow-men. Of course by the evils here referred to is meant only the acts or habits of men considered simply in the light of per- sonal sins. So far as the wicked acts of men disturb or en- danger the peace or safety of the community, so far, of course, society, as an organized power, has a right to repress them in self-protection, and Christian men as a portion of the state may rightfully jftin in the exercise of this coercion. In regard, however, to the personal sins of men, considered as sins against God, we must remember that men are ac- countable to God for them, and not to us ; and this should influence the tone and spirit with which we should ap- proach them. We are like children whose father is away, and if some do wrong the others are not clothed with any authority to arrest or punish it. The only remedy is the gentle moral influence which one child may properly exert upon another. A father sometimes, in such a case, returns, and finds an older child dictating with earnest gesticulations and impe- rious tone its duty to another. He stands before the little de- linquent, putting down his foot with an air of authoritative command, and insisting upon some supposed duty with the language, and tone, and manner which perhaps he has caught from some extreme exercise of authority, on the part of his father. 192 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. A common scene at home. Persuasion. ASSUMED AUTHORITY. The parent, coming in suddenly in the midst of thisscene, remon- strates. " Why," says the child. " I am only trying to make him do what you tell him. Is not that," describing what he was endeavor- ing to enforce, " what you tell him ?" " Yes," replied the parent, "that is what he ought to do, hut you have no authority to make him do it. Your power over your little brother is persuasion, not authority." Now there are many such scenes as these, acted among other children than those which play around the fireside. For human laws, restraining outward injury by man against man, there is, indeed, human authority. But for the divine law, as God is the sole avenger of it, so he alone may speak with the tone of authority and command. We are all, in icspect to those moral duties and relations which human laws do not cover, only children of one common Father, and the tone which we should assume toward our fellow-men, is that tone of gentle and unassuming, though clear and fear- less, and decided moral influence which one child may prop- erly assume toward another. 3. It follows as a necessary inference from the last head, or rather, as an expansion of it, that our work, when we at- tempt to act upon the community, is the work of persuasion. If we assume the air and tone of censorious authority, we fail PUBLIC MORALS. 193 Resistance of unauthorized power. Christians in the minority. entirely of our object with those whom we endeavor to influ- ence. Usurped authority always invites resistance. The little child will resist the unauthorized dominion of his older brother : and how seldom, in the history of nations, has an usurper maintained a permanent seat upon the throne. The dynasties of Cromwell and of Napoleon expired with their founders, as 'the dynasties of usurpers almost always will. Even where men have no special objection to the thing which is to be done, they will be led to resist it, sometimes by the mere air and tone of compulsion, coming from a quar- ter where they feel that there is no proper authority. Thus the human heart may, in a thousand cases, be easily led, when it can not be driven by those who have no right to drive. It results from that instinctive principle of human nature which leads man to arouse himself to the resistance of all unauthorized power. Now, although good men seldom endeavor actually to force a moral reform upon the community by physical com- pulsion, they do not unfrequently assume such a tone and air of authority, as produces, in a great degree, the same ill effects. We ought to guard against this ; and we may easily guard against it, by taking a correct view of our place and province, as individual members of God's great family. We, as well as others, and others as well as we, are independently responsible for our moral conduct to our common Father So that moral suasion, and influences analogous to it, are our only sources of power. 4. We must remember that the true servants of God in this world are in a very small minority, and consequently that they can do nothing by force. So that the view given under the last head is not only correct in theory, but it is the only one which can be successful in practice. We are in a very small minority, so that unless the case is a very extra ordinary one indeed, giving us an immense aid from the I 194 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Weakened by intestine divisions. Denominational jealousies. power of the public conscience, we can not conquer in open war. We can not know the numerical ratio which the friends of God in this world, bear to his enemies ; but every one who has any proper idea of what a life of penitence and faith is, a habitual preference of duties toward God and the interests of eternity, over the pursuits and pleasures of time and sense, will admit that this ratio is yet very small. We should have to make a very large deduction, from even the number of communicants in the churches, for hypocrites and worldly-minded Christians, who, in any open contest, will al- ways throw their influence with the world. Thus in the contest between right and wrong, as it is going on at the present time, even in the most favored nation in Christen- dom, the armies are very unequally matched in respect to numbers, and we therefore can expect little success in open war. 5. Our own internal divisions and jealousies make us weaker than the mere inspection of our numbers would indi- cate. How often is it that one denomination, or one theolog- ical party, shows itself far more afraid of the progress of the opposing one, than of the progress of sin. Thus many a measure originating in one quarter of the Christian commu- nity, finds hostility, or a feeling of jealousy equally fatal, in another ; and the Congregationalist joins with the infidel to thwart Episcopal plans, or Baptist and Deist combine to pre- vent Congregational ascendency. It is not always so. There is often a praiseworthy co-operation ; but while the different branches of the church place as much stress as they do now upon their distinctive forms of organization and discipline, questions of public morals will often become involved with questions of ecclesiastical strife. This danger we should con- sider. It certainly is a very important element to be taken into the account, in estimating the moral force which the PUBLIC MORALS. 195 Drawing lines, and Betting the battle in array. Christian community can command, in its contests with a wicked world on questions of public morals. 6. It follows from the preceding considerations, that we ought to be cautious how we get the community divided into parties, the church and the world arrayed one against another in open war. We are not strong enough for such contests, and if we were, victory would be hardly worth the gaining. First, I say, we are not strong enough. This is evident from the preceding heads ; and the moral history of all Chris- tian communities confirm it. Whenever, on any moral ques- tion, the lines have been drawn, and sides taken, and a con- test commenced, the success has been almost invariably on the wrong side. This has always been the case whether the arena of the conflict has been in the competition of business, or in the enforcement of laws unsupported by public opinion, or in balloting at the polls. The majority on the side of worldliness and sin is altogether too great yet, to be over- come in any such way. We can neither conquer the wicked in an open contest, or run them down in competition, or out- vote them at elections, or outnumber them in mustering our followers, or baffle them in maneuvering. We may exert an immense influence over them and over the whole com- munity, by the power of moral suasion, and by the gentle, unassuming influence of personal piety ; but when it comes to drawing lines and forming parties in array, setting one side against the other, there is scarcely any question in public morals which can stand the struggle. And yet we often take such a stand, and assume such a tone that the mass of the community feel themselves chal- lenged to a war. They begin to array themselves then against us. Watchwords and symbols are gradually adopted on both sides. On the one part, religious zeal, and on the other, enmity to God, is fanned and inflamed by mutual oppo- 196 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. A wrong spirit. Its effect*. sition. The lines of demarkation become continually more distinct, and defeat to the right is the almost invariable re- sult of the battle. There may be some few and rare excep- tions, but while the minority on the side of duty is as small as it is now, and while that small minority is so divided and weakened by intestine dissensions, the exceptions must be ex- ceedingly few and rare. Then, again, the victory in such a contest, if obtained, would be scarcely worth the gaining. To put down sin by superior force, is but putting a constraint upon human de- sires, whereas, the thing to be done is to change the nature of those desires. We do not mean to say that the former is never desirable, but that it is only by the latter that the real kingdom of Jesus Christ is to be extended in the world. What we wish is, to bring men to abandon sin themselves, as individuals, on their own individual, personal, single, free will. And it is only so far as this is done, that any rejil pro- gress is made, in bringing back this lost world to its Maker. Let us proceed, then, in all our efforts, with a proper under- standing of the true nature of the work which we have to do, and of the moral means which we possess of effecting it ; and avoid a course, when we can avoid it, which will awaken and concentrate hostility to our cause, and thus unite the enemies of piety and bring them to bay. 7. Our plans for promoting the moral improvement of the community are often impeded by this cause, namely, that we gradually connect with our efforts something wrong in the spirit which we exhibit, or in the measures that we adopt, and the result is that the attention of the community is turned away from the great moral evil itself, which we wish to cor- rect, and fixed upon the comparatively little evils which creep into our mode of correcting it. Just as in an argument, if one overstates a fact a very little, or presses a point a very little farther than it will bear, his antagonist will imme- PUBLIC MORALS. 197 The true tactics. Wrong feelings. diately seize upon that excess, and endeavor to transfer the contest to that part of the field where he has the advantage, drawing it away from the general merits of the question, where perhaps his cause could not be sustained. So when we call the attention of the community to their sins, eager as they will be to escape the subject, they will scrutinize our conduct and measures, and transfer the contest, if any inge- nuity can do it, to a dispute about something which we do that is indiscreet, or imprudent, or unguarded. Now a wise logician, in managing his argument, aware of the danger which I have above described, will state his facts a little less strongly than he is prepared to prove them, and in pressing his points, will stop a little short of the line to which they might legitimately be carried, so as to have every thing com- pletely protected and secure, and to expose no weak points to invite attack, and produce a diversion. These tactics, so unquestionably sound in the intellectual conflicts, are equally BO in the moral one. We must consider beforehand what will be the charges probably made, and must guard especially against affording the least ground for making them. 8. We are often actuated by feelings so inconsistent with the principles of the gospel, in attempting to act upon the moral condition of the community, that we can not hope for success. And yet these feelings, unhallowed as they are, con- ceal themselves from our view, or disguise themselves in the garb of holy emotions, and thus elude us. Perhaps those which most easily gain the ascendency in our hearts, when we think we are only honestly interested in the cause of God, are censoriousness, and party spirit. The one, the corrup- tion and perversion of the proper feelings toward the sin which we oppose, and the other, a similar corruption and perversion of the proper feelings toward the kingdom of Chst which we profess to promote. In other words, instead of a proper hostility to sin, which is always coupled with feelings 198 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Censoriousneaa. Party spirit Anger and irritation. of kindness and compassion toward sinners, our hearts become the prey of feelings of censoriousness toward the sins, and irritation against the sinners. And so, instead of that calm, quiet union of heart with all who love the Savior, and exem- plify his principles, united with a simple, honest desire that these principles should spread, we insensibly yield ourselves to the dominion of party spirit. We wish that our side should conquer in the conflict ; we enjoy the mortification of our enemies, when they receive a blow ; we struggle for the pleasure of victory, having so identified ourselves with our party that we consider its victories as, in some cases, triumphs of our own. Censoriousness and party spirit : they are the bane and the destruction of the Christian cause. And yet censorious- ness is not precisely the word to convey our meaning ; for that usually imports the habit of speaking with uncharitable severity of the faults of others, whereas the sin which we wish to characterize has its origin in the heart, and censori- ousness is one of its fruits. It is the feeling with which the unrenewed heart of man regards those sins and failings of others in which it fancies that it does not itself participate. It looks upon these faults and failings with a sort of malig- nant exultation, and upon the victim of them with a feeling of irritation or hostility ; and when he suffers the bitter fruits of them, it enjoys a secret satisfaction which is of the nature of revenge. True piety on the other hand mourns over sin, and mourns equally, with the tenderest compassion, over the sad prospects of the sinner. Censoriousness, which is the out- ward expression of the one, loves to talk of the faults which she condemns when the censured ones are away, and no end can be accomplished by it but the indulgence of her own malignant gratification. A bitter smile, or an affected look of concern is upon her countenance, and " I despise," or " I can not bear," is the language with which she expresses the PUBLIC MOEALS. 199 True sorrow for sin. Example of Jesus Christ. vexation and the impatience of her heart. But when sht- coraes into the presence of the object of her displeasure, he. countenance is clothed with heartless smiles, or she assume? an air of dignified and cold reserve ; the two most common rohes of disguise, oh, how frail and thin, with which the hatred of the human heart is covered. Piety, on the other hand, sorrows for sin ; the is not vexed and angry with it. She speaks of the guilt or the errors of the absent, very seldom, and then with no irrita- tion or secret satisfaction. And when she is in the presence of one whose sins or folh'es she mourns, the real spontaneous feelings of her heart give an expression of honest kindness and interest to her countenance, and a friendly tone to her voice. The sin which she laments, she does not look upon as an offense against her, that arouses hostility and hatred, but as a source of evil and danger which awakens compassion and benevolent regard. Jesus Christ expressed it exactly, when he saw before him the crowded city of Jerusalem, standing out upon its hills in beauty and grandeur, and then looking forward a few short years, beheld, with hi? prophetic eye, the flames bursting forth from its thousand dwellings, and roaring around the walls of the temple of God. He expressed exactly the feeling which I have been attempting to describe, when he said, with the most heart- felt sorrow, " Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how gladly would I have protected thee, but thou wouldst not." It was the city which had killed the prophets, and stoned the messen- gers from heaven ; and the time was drawing nigh, when he himself was to be led forth from the gates, condemned to death. But there was no malignant satisfaction in the Savior's heart, as he looked forward to its approaching overthrow. The just retribution of her awful crimes he mourned over, as a destruction which he would gladly hav* stay-d. 200 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Self-deception. The public conscience. Now the danger is, that the Christian, in his efforts to promote the moral welfare of the community, will some- times, while he retains the tone, and the language, and the appearance belonging to the latter of these feelings, gradu- ally allow his heart to come under the unhallowed dominion of the former. Baffled, perhaps, in some of our well-intended plans, by the ingenuity, or the superior power of wicked men, we find it hard to avoid the feelings of vexation and anger which opposition generally awakens in the human soul ; and the enterprise which began as an honest effort to do good to fellow-sinners, gradually becomes an imbittered con- test for victory over foes. We do not perceive the change. We are blind to the new feelings which have obtained the- mastery in our hearts. We do not much alter perhaps the language or appearances by which the spirit that actuates us is exhibited ; but the change, though superficially not very striking, is radical, and it is ruinous in regard to all hope of success. We lose by it, the only two means by which we can accomplish any thing here, the moral power of honest, simple-hearted piety, and the blessing of God. For a thousand instances have shown that he will abandon even his own cause, the moment that efforts to promote it degenerate into a contest for victory between man and man 9. Consider what is the real avenue by which Christian principle is to gain an access to thp great community, and an influence over its moral condition. It is the public con- science. There is a public conscience as well as a public opinion ; and this moral sense of the community is at once the great protector of public virtue, and the great ally and supporter of those who labor to promote it. It is the public conscience which we must arouse from her slumbers, it is she who can alone open to us the brazen doors of the great castle of public sin. She is our confederate, our only efficient aid. She only can speak so as to command attention, she PUBLIC MORALS. 201 A cruel master. Means of awakening moral sentiment. only, when Christian principle is wanting, can restrain, at all, the mighty struggles of human passion, or the deliberate excesses of hahitual sin. The sympathy of man with man is shown in nothing more strongly than in the moral sentiments. A cruel master, we will suppose, punishes his apprentice with undue severity, and a simple statement of the case is published in a news- paper, accompanied by an expression of just but calm indig- nation at the wrong. That statement, and that expression, though enforced perhaps by no argument, and exhibiting no new moral truths, awaken the moral sensibilities of the whole community around, in respect to the guilt of cruelty to a helpless boy, and though the whole story may perhaps soon be forgotten, the influence of it will hold back the hand of many a cruel master, for months or years. It is on the same principle, that so great efforts have been produced, within a few years, in curtailing the use of alco- hol, in its various form-, as an article of common consump- tion. It is not so much the power of the argument, it is not the result of the economical calculations, it is not the influence of self-interest, or of political management, or of popular declamation, that have produced the effect : it is, on the other hand, the simple exhibition of facts, and the expression of certain moral principles in their application to them, which have awakened the conscience and quickened moral sensibility, and spread by sympathy, from heart to heart. This has been the great source of the power whose effects have been so extensive ; it is the power of one conscience, acting strongly, and expressing its action, to awaken another, until the moral sensibilities of a whole community, closely united as they are by this mysterious sympathy, vibrate in unison, and pronounce one mighty sentence of condemnation against the sin which has awakened its voice. It was in the same way, that the great victory over the i* 202 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Excessive zeal. slave-trade was obtained in Great Britain a quarter of a century ago. The men who carried on that movement, would have heen weakness and helplessness itself without their mighty ally They knew where their great strength lay ; and they directed their efforts to awakening the moral sense of the community, to the end that it might pronounce a sentence of condemnation against the system ; not as a suffrage against an inexpedient political institution, hut as a moral condemnation of a great public wrong. This is one great secret of all moral power. The decisions of one conscience, freely and calmly made, and calmly and kindly, though decidedly expressed, will quicken the decisions of another ; and to awaken and cultivate, and concentrate this moral sense of the community, is the great work by which we are to preserve its general moral health, and undermine great public sins. In accomplishing this, every caution should be observed to avoid all which can interfere with this work. If by the excesses of our zeal, our exag- gerated statements, our censorious or dictatorial tone, our violence, our lukewarmness, our illogical reasoning, our over- bearing measures, or petty management, or any other errors, we give just ground for censure against ourselves, we defeat our own aim. The public mind, glad of an excuse for turn- ing away from its own guilt, makes a sally against our errors ; and the conscience which we were endeavoring to arouse, falls asleep again, while the ingenuity and the satire, or the more malignant hostility of the wicked, is occupied in dis- charging its arrows at us. We do not mean to imply by this, that such hostility can always, be avoided, but only, that so far as we excite it by what is really wrong in our spirit or measures, we close the door in the most effectual manner against the only influences by which our cause can be saved. 10. After all, however, it is comparatively little which the PUBLIC MORALS. 203 The true field of Christian labor. Political evils and their remedy. Christian community can do beyond its own bounds ; and our great work, therefore, is to expand those bounds as rap- idly as possible, and to purify and perfect all that is within them. True piety, consisting as it does in honest obedience to God, and heartfelt benevolence toward man, will do its work in securing human happiness as fast and far as it can go itself. It is but a penumbra, a twilight, of virtue and happiness, which can, by the best of efforts, be carried be- yond. We toil to alter human institutions, forms of gov- ernment, modes of religious organization, or systems of social economy, where we find them bearing heavily upon the welfare or the happiness of men. We forget that it is human depravity which gives to human institutions all their efficiency in evil, and while the depravity remains, it mat- ters little in what forms it tyrannizes over the rights and hap- piness of men. A despotic monarch can do no more mischief than a tyrannical democracy ; in fact, on the catalogue of human despots, arranged in the order of injustice and cruelty, a Republican Committee of Safety would come first, and Nero would have to follow. Where there is cold-blooded depravity in power at the head, and corruption in the mass below, no matter for the forms. So in the church, the worldly spirit which in England would make a bishop an ambitious politician, or a country pastor an idle profligate, would in America, under a more democratic organization, show itself in factious struggles between contending parties, or in the wild fanaticism of a religious demagogue. All this does not show that it is of no consequence how our ecclesias- tical or political forms are arranged, but only that we are in danger of overrating that consequence, and that our great work is to spread the influence of genuine individual piety everywhere. This alone can go to the root of the evil. The thing to be done, is, not to go on changing institutions, in the vain hope of finding some form which will work well, while 204 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Forms of government. Spread of individual virtue. depravity administers it, but to root out depravity, and then almost any one will work well. We should accordingly learn to look without jealousy and dislike upon the political institutions of other countries, even if they do not correspond with our own theoretical notions. The theories of the re- flecting portion of the community, have but little to do with molding their institutions ; they are regulated by circum- stances over which any one generation has but little control. Why, for example, should England contend with America for being a republic ? If she had wished to be a monarchy, where, I ask, could she have found a king ? It requires many centuries to lay any firm foundations for a throne. And why should America contend with England because she is a monarchy ? Her present constitution of government is an undesigned result of the growth of centuries, that no com- bination of human powers, which it is possible to effect in a single generation, can safely change. It is then the spread of individual virtue, and the cultiva tion of the moral sense of the community, which is to miti- gate the evils that now oppress mankind. This will alleviate individual sufferings, and soften the asperities of intercourse between man and man, and render more mild and gentle, the pressure of government and the necessary restraints of law. Public virtue must be the great means of extending free institutions, by relaxing everywhere the grasp of power ; for political power must be based on public opinion. As we have shown before, a certain degree of regard for life, and property, and of public order, is necessary to the very exist- ence of society, and the degree of power on the part of the sovereign, necessary to secure this, public opinion will always tolerate and support. Where there is, in any community, a vast amount of degradation and vice, there will be tolerated a sufficient degree of military power and of governmental restriction, to keep it under control. Where, on the other PUBLIC MORALS. 205 France and New England. hand, the community is virtuous and peaceful, government, whatever may be its form, must, insensibly, and by the in- fluence of moral causes more powerful than bayonets or can- non, gradually relax its hold. We see the exemplification of this everywhere In France, for example, where vita) MILITARY GOVERNMENT. piety scarcely lingers, what a machinery of power has been necessary to preserve the public order. What passports, what a police, what a gendarmerie ! How completely is thfc whole community, in all its ramifications, under the espionage and the grasp of governmental power ; by a sys- tem, which public opinion not only tolerates, but sustains, knowing that without it public tranquillity could perhaps not be preserved a day. And yet in New England a man may spend his days and scarcely perceive any signs of a government, and certainly not feel its pressure personally, 206 THE WAY TO DO GOOD The true support of despotism. The Christian citizen. from his cradle to his grave. It is the public conviction of its necessity, which sustains the system in the one case, and it is its manifest uselessness which dispenses with it in the other. It is thus, that public vice is always the origin and the supporter of despotism. It is the very foundation of its throne. Banditti upon the highways are invaluable auxilia- ries to its cause, and every insurrection in the provinces, or riot in the city, adds to the number of its bayonets, and sup- plies ammunition for its cannon. And when despotism is thus established, revolution is no remedy. It may shift the power to oppress from one hand to another, but there can be no effectual or permanent mitigation of it but virtue and self- control on the part of the governed. We ought also to remark, before concluding the discussion of this chapter, that it relates to measures adopted by Chris- tians, as such, that is, as members of the kingdom of Christ in a world in heart opposed to him. The duties of the Chris- tian as a citizen we do not wish here to discuss. He is a citizen of the state as well as others, and all the responsibilities and duties of citizenship belong to him fully. While he should most sedulously guard against an assuming or a dictatorial spirit, and avoid all manoeuvering and intrigue, and keep his heart free from party spirit, and lust of office and power, he should still be vigilant, and faithful, and punctual, in dis- charging all the duties which the constitution of his country imposes upon him. And whatever share of influence he may properly exert directly, in respect to the political administra- tion of his government, that he is bound to exert, in favor of such men and such measures as will promote the highest and most permanent public good. If all are faithful in the dis- charge of these obligations, then just so far as personal piety extends, so far will the social and political condition of man be improved, and this is the only sure and safe mode of pro- gress. This subject, however, we do not now propose to go PUBLIC MORALS. 207 Progress of Christianity. into, but only to consider the extent in which the Christian community, as such, may hope to exert a good influence upon the mass of mind around it. The work of the Christian, then, in this world, is mainly with individuals, his object is to promote the spread of per- sonal, individual piety, the highest in its standard, and the most extensive in its range. Then let this piety thoroughly inter-penetrate the whole mass of society, and mingle every- where with mind, so as to bring the insensible, unobtrusive, but most powerful influence of its presence, to act upon the whole mass by which it is surrounded. It must not stand aloof. It must be separate from the world in character, not in condition, it must sustain the most friendly business and social relations with all mankind, and by a sort of inter- fusion with the mass, carry its influence everywhere. While, however, piety goes thus, like the Savior, wherever there is sin, she must, like him, keep herself unspotted from its con- tamination, firm and unyielding in her lofty principles, and pure in her own heavenly spirit. While she is kind, she must be decided ; conciliatory and unobtrusive, while she is consistent and firm. Clothed in her own alluring garb, she must exhibit the moral beauty of obedience to God and benevolence toward man, and thus, while she wins multi- tudes to sincere repentance and eternal life, she will gently, but powerfully, restrain the guilt and assuage the sorrows of the vast multitudes which yet continue in their sins. 208 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. The plan of the Savior. He founded a church. CHAPTER VII. THE CHURCH AND CHRISTIAN UNION. NOTWITHSTANDING the vast importance which may justly be attached to private, individual effort, in the work of Doing Good, we must not pass slightly over another great and important topic, union and co-operation. Jesus Christ did not merely make arrangements for the spread of personal piety from heart to heart, lie founded a church. He took measures for concentrating the moral power which he intro- duced, and for linking together his followers by ties which formed at once their strength and their protection. But the human heart, always ready to find some door of escape where it may go astray, and especially always prone to slip away from what is spiritual to what is external, has per- verted our Savior's original design, until at length, after the lapse of eighteen centuries, the arrangement which was in- tended by him, to establish forever union and harmony, has resulted in the very extreme of separation and division. It is not, however, the number of distinct ecclesiastical organizations now existing, that constitutes the main evil, it is the spirit of dissension and jealousy, not to say hostility, which separates them from one another. For example, a comparatively small degree of inconvenience or injury would result, perhaps, from the arrangement by which the church of Scotland stands a different organization from the church THE CHURCH AND CHRISTIAN UNION. 209 Various branches. Dissensions among them. of England, each having its own officers, its own rules and its own usages, and thus each being independent of the other, provided the two would occupy their respective parts of the vineyard, as distinct, hut friendly divisions of the same great family, each enjoying the confidence and affection of the other. In the same manner, there might be little incon- venience or injury from having a Methodist and a Congre- gational church in the same city, in which case the respec- tive fields of the two organizations would be marked off, not indeed by territorial limits, but by the different tastes, or habits, or pursuits of different classes of the community. We do not say that it would be better to have two such organi- zations of the Savior's followers, rather than one, but only that it would not be much worse, were it not for a spirit of dissension and hostility between them. If the portions into which the church is divided were friendly families, nearly all the evils of the division would disappear, and there would be some great advantages to balance those which should remain. But instead of being friendly families, they are, in fact, too often hostile tribes, expending quite as much of their ammunition upon one another, as upon the common enemy ; so that the evil consists, not so much in the lines of demarkation by which the great body of believers are sepa- rated, as in the brazen walls of jealousy, mistrust, and excom- munication, which are erected on these lines. It is these last which make the mischief. The cause of our difficulty seems to be the tendency of mankind to run into an inordinate attachment to forms. Forms are something distinct and tangible, and associations of interest and attachment cling to them easily and strongly. Then again, the religious usages to which we are ourselves accustomed are the ones which are in our minds when we read the Scriptures, and we associate them with the direc- tions and descriptions given there, so strongly, as at length 210 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Religious party spirit insensibly to imbibe the belief, that these very usages were the ones referred to and practiced in those days ; each reader thus making his own accidental experience a part of his interpretation. Thus the officer or the ordi- nance which we read of, is always the officer or the ordinance which we are accustomed to ; just as every farmer's child when reading the story of the babe in the manger, al wayspictures to himself a scene from his own father's barn. Then, besides, there is party spirit, a form of human depravity, not slow to show itself in the most sacred re- lations of the soul. We love to have our party prosper, and so we are ardent and zealous for the interests of our own pale ; for thus, by the self-delusion which is the inveterate and perpetual characteristic of sin, we can have the satisfac- tion of thinking that our ardor is for the cause of God, while in fact we are only glorifying ourselves. And of all the in- accessible and impregnable fortresses of sin, this is certainly the worst. Human selfishness and pride are firm and im- movable enough, when open and undisguised ; and real, devoted love to God, too, will sometimes stand its ground well ; but when pride, and selfishness, and party zeal clothe themselves with the garb of pretended piety, and do it so adroitly as to deceive their very victim, you have head- strong, unmanageable and indomitable obstinacy personified. CHILDISH CONCEPTIONS. THE CHURCH AND CHRISTIAN UNION. 211 Two ways to make peace. The pride and selfishness of party spirit which constitute the real spring, are far within, protected by the superficial covering from all attack and all exposure. This kind of character is found in every denomination of Christians, and it is the spirit which this diffuses and creates, that gives all its acrimony to the division of the church ; which division might otherwise be considered as an amicable arrangement, intended to accommodate Christianity in its external forms to the changing events and tastes and habits of different ages and climes. There are two modes by which the Christian church may attempt to promote a state of greater harmony. One is, for each denomination to struggle to bring all the others upon its own ground, which plan has been for some time in the course of trial, and the result of the experiment thus far, is, that the opposing forces of the contending parties neutralize each other, and the only result which remains is a gradual thickening of the walls, and raising of the battlements, and strengthening of the bulwarks by which they are separated. I need not say that I have no intention, in this chapter, of engaging in this work. The other plan is, while we leave each of the great divi- sions of the Christian family in the peaceful occupancy of its own ground, to endeavor to diminish, and ultimately to de- stroy, the walls of jealousy and dislike which separate them. The way to do this is for us to learn to attach less importance to these differences. This we shall easily do, if we look into the Bible with an honest desire to understand the real place which forms and modes of organization occupy there. This question I now propose to examine. It was one of the most admirable provisions made to secure the spread of religion in such a world as this, that it was not left as a mere general principle to work its way itself among mankind Jesus Christ not only taught the principles of 212 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Union of Christians necessary. Subordinate place of forms. piety, but he took measures for the founding of a church. He provided for the embodying of his followers in united bands, and he showed by this arrangement his knowledge of a principle which the philosophers of those days were not shrewd enough to discover. And, as a distinguished writer has observed, if he had contented himself with merely teach- ing Christianity, without founding a church, the results of his labors could not have been expected, on human probabil- ities, to have survived his death by a single century. Yes ; the union, the regular organization of the disciples of Christ, is an essential part of the plan of Christianity. To make each individual Christian isolated and solitary in such a world as this, would be almost as ruinous as the disbanding of an army upon the field of battle. It is not, therefore, the neces- sity of an organization itself, but the precise form and method in which the organization is effected, that we are prone to over-estimate. While the latter, the mode and form of or- ganization, has been continually fluctuating from the days of Abraham to the present hour, the former, the necessity of or- ganized union itself, has remained during all these centuries unchanged, and must remain fixed and immovable as long as human nature continues as it is. He, however, who honestly wishes to know the will of God in respect to this subject, will find, in looking carefully into it, a great many very striking evidences that the particular modes and forms by which the organization of good men in this world is effected, assume, in the divine counsels, a very subordinate and secondary place. And let me remind the reader, before I proceed to mention some of these evidences, that we are all exposed to a very strong bias while looking at them. We have ourselves been educated in one Christian communion, accustomed for many years to one system, and the usages which have thus become so familiar to us, have entwined themselves around our hearts, and linked with THE CHURCH AND CHRISTIAN UNION. 213 Attachment to them. themselves all our most sacred associations. All this is well. It is perfectly right that we should cling with feelings of in- terest and attachment to what we have loved and venerated so long. But then it is hard for us to distinguish between, what is thus hallowed to us, as individuals, from the circum- stances of our past history, and what is absolutely enjoined by the word of God, and which we are accordingly to insist upon from others. But we ought to distinguish between them. While we cling, with as strong an attachment as we please, to the institutions whose happy influence we have enjoyed for so many years that our religious sentiments and feelings are inextricably interwoven with them, we should still be willing to open our eyes to the distinction between what we have thus ourselves justly learned to love, and what God has absolutely enjoined upon all. While, then, I bring forward the indications that God considers the particular mode by which his friends are organized, as of secondary and subordi- nate importance, give them, reader, a candid hearing : and remember that they are not intended to dimmish your attach- ment to the institutions which you love, but only to increase your indulgence for those who, by precisely the same causes, are led to love institutions somewhat different from yours. In the examination of this subject, then, we shall endeavor to throw some light upon the degree of importance which God attaches to the particular forms of government and dis- cipline under which his people are united, by the establish- ment of the following propositions. PROPOSITIONS. 1. Forms of ecclesiastical organization, while they were under the special direction of God, in ancient days were not fixed and permanent, but were changed continually, accord- ing to the exigencies of the times. These changes continued down to the close of the Scripture history. 214 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. The eight propositions. Changes. 2. The forms which were in use at th close of the Scrip ture history, were only usages incidentally introduced, from time to time, and not adopted as a system deliberately ar ranged and established once for all. 3. The description of these usages is very indistinct and incomplete. 4. The apostles were not strict and uniform in the observ- ance of them. 5. Their present authority rests on the mere practice of good men, in early times, which is nowhere in the Scriptures made binding. 6. The most complete system which can be drawn from these records of early practice, is not at all sufficient for the present wants of the church. 7. The union of Christians, under any one consolidated ecclesiastical government, must be highly dangerous, if not fatal to the cause of true piety. 8. God sanctions, by the influences of his Holy Spirit, the existence and the operations of all those denominations of Christians, whatever may be their forms, whose faith and practice coi^jespond with his Word. These propositions we now proceed to consider. I. Forms of ecclesiastical organization, while they con- tinued under the special direction of God in ancient days, were not fixed and permanent, but were continually changed, to meet the emergencies of the times. God has always had a body of true and -faithful friends in the world, and he might easily have adopted a plan for uniting them, from the beginning, in a church, with pre- scribed and permanent forms of government and worship. In fact, if he had entertained the views on this subject, which thft Christian church is prone to entertain at the present day, THE CHURCH AND CHRISTIAN UNION. 215 Times of Abraham, Moses, and David. he would have done so. Abraham and Melchisedec would have been joined into a regular church, with rules for gov- ernment and worship which should have been exactly pre- scribed and made the model for all succeeding generations. But instead of such a plan God has made the precise mode of union as changeable as the varying circumstances of every age. In Abraham's time, the faithful constituted simply a family, governed by patriarchal rules, and offering a very simple worship. In the time of Moses, circumstances change, and the whole ecclesiastical arrangements of his people change with them. We have the church and the state not merely united, but absolutely identified, governed by very peculiar rules and usages, which were evidently not only temporary, but from their very nature, limited and local. In the days of Joshua, the church, which was before a moving state, takes the new character of an invading army ; and military rules, military customs, and military movements, very seriously affect and modify all the arrangements of the government and worship of the church of God. The whole Levitical system, planned and minutely described by Jehovah himself, was local and temporary, confined necessarily to one small nation, occupying a spot scarcely discernible on the map of the world, and limited by the very termination which God himself intended for it, to a few hundred years. If the reader should say that there were peculiar reasons arising out of the circumstances of the occasion, why a local and a temporary ecclesiastical arrangement should be made for the Jews, he would be doubtless correct, and would come to what is, unquestionably, the true principle, namely, that in respect to ecclesiastical forms, it always has been God's design to regard the circumstances of the case in the regula- tion of them. With the view, which we are prone to enter- tain, we should have placed church government and the forms of worship on a fixed and permanent basis at the very 216 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Time of \Jie Savior. His ecclesiastical polity. beginning, making the system go on unchanged from gene- ration to generation, pursuing its steady and unalterable way over monarchies and republics, in civilized and savage life, still the same in every age, and among all nations, lan- guages, and realms. But God in the most systematic, and formal, and minutely detailed ecclesiastical arrangement which he ever made, only intended it for one single province, and for a few centuries ; and in effect, he swept it all away himself by a foreign invasion, long before the time arrived which was appointed for its close. We will not stop to notice how different the state of the church of God must have been in the time of the captivity, nor the changes which took place on the return, when the introduction 'of the synagogue modified the whole plan of public worship. We pass on to the Savior's day, when the constitution of the church was totally different from what it ever was before, or has been since. It may be given thus. 1. Twelve apostles. 2. Seventy itinerant ministers, traveling two and two. 3. One treasurer. 4. No local churches. 5. Meetings in the open air. 6. Ministry supported by the voluntary contributions and hospitality of its friends. 7. Funds of the ministry in common. 8. No lay organization whatever. And even these arrangements seem not to have been made as the result of any settled plan ; measures were adopted to suit emergencies, and the above was the result. If Jesus Christ had entertained the views which are very common now in every denomination of Christians, one of the first things which would have attracted his attention, would have been the work of settling the constitution of the Christian THE CHURCH AND CHRISTIAN UNION. 21 7 Ecclesiastical polity of the apostles. church. The forms of government, discipline, and worship, would have been, fixed and minutely described, for the guid- ance of his followers in all future time. But he could not have entertained such views ; for he took a totally different course. He adopted, for the time being, such measures as suited his own purposes, which were as peculiar as the circumstances in which he was placed ; and when he left the world, and the circumstances under which he acted were changed, the whole ecclesiastical polity which was founded on them, was changed too. For after the lapse of a very few years from the death of Christ, the reader of the New Testament finds himself sur- rounded by quite a different system of religious institutions. We have then, 1. A ministry, sometimes itinerant and sometimes station- ary. 2. Seven deacons. 3. Local churches. 4. Somewhat regular ordination. 5. Ecclesiastical councils. 6. An enumeration of four or five different officers, not including deacons, viz. apostles, prophets, evangelists, pas- tors, and teachers.* 7. In some sense, and to some extent, not however very distinctly defined, a community of goods. We will not follow the history of God's people any farther, to show that the forms of their organization have been con- tinually changing since then, for the reader might insist that all subsequent changes have been unauthorized and wrong. But, after looking at the facts which we have just stated, no one can deny that so long as God himself exercised a direct * Ephesians iv. 11. And he (i. e. Christ) gave some npostles; and some prophets; and some evangelists; and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, ic. K 218 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Apostolic arrangements provisional. control over the external arrangements make by his people, he changed them continually, according to the exigencies of the times. And this seems to show that while he may at- tach great importance to organized combination itself, he must regard the particular mode by which it is to be ef- fected, as of secondary and subordinate account. We come now to the second proposition. II. The forms which are introduced at the close of the scripture history, grew out of usages incidentally introduced, from time to time. They were not adopted as a system de- liberately arranged and established once for all. It is remarkable how entirely provisional, as statesmen term it, were all the ecclesiastical arrangements made by the apostles. That is, the most important parts of their sys- tem were introduced in succession, on emergencies, to an- swer particular and often temporary purposes, instead of having been framed as a whole, with a general view to the permanent and universal wants of the church. The disciples did not come together after the ascension, as we, in modern times, should very probably have done, to form a constitution for the church, wisely framed and adjusted, to cover the whole ground. No. They went to their work at once, giv- ing their whole souls to the preaching of the gospel ; and, as from time to time emergencies arose, requiring new arrange- ments, they met the cases as they occurred. For example, they did not make a general rule, that all important appoint- ments should be made by election, and provide by rule, for the contingency of two prominent candidates, in such elec- tions. But when they came together, to fill Judas's place, they concluded, in that case, to elect, and when they found that there were two principal candidates, they concluded, in that case, to decide by lot. Did they intend this to be a THE CHURCH AND CHRISTIAN UNION. 219 Election. Ordinations. The grand council. precedent, to govern the mode of Christian elections in all coming time ? After a while, an emergency occurred, requiring aid for the apostles in a certain business, altogether peculiar to that age and country, and they determined to appoint seven deacons, with special reference to that emergency. This was the origin of the appointment of deacons. In the same manner, the rules of ordination were not adopted as general rules ; but when the churches wished to send Paul and Barnabas on a foreign mission, they ordained them to that work ;* and when Paul left Titus in Crete, he gave him, Titus, directions about ordaining elders in that particular island, Crete. On one occasion, a question arose which it seemed difficult to settle, and a general consultation was agreed upon. This formed the first council. It was called, not as the first regular meeting of a body organized as a model for all coming times, but as a special assembly, re- sorted to for a temporary and single emergency. It will be found by reading the book of the Acts, that all the ecclesias- tical arrangements of the apostles were made in this way ; they were not adopted at once, as a whole ; they were not the results of a deliberate plan to frame a system for them- selves and posterity ; they were provisional, temporary ar- rangements, resorted to successively, at distant intervals of time, to aid in existing emergencies, and to remove difficul- ties as they occurred. This does not, indeed, prove that we have nothing in these days to do with the example of the early Christians, but it does prove, most certainly, that they entertained views very different from those which often pre- vail in this age of the world, in respect to the nature and province of ecclesiastical forms. * We shall hereafter see that they had both been regular and ac- knowledged ministers some time before this ordination. 220 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Description of usages. Levitical law. Fourth commandment. III. The description of these usages is very indistinct and incomplete. The knowledge which we gain of them is not given in any formal and methodical description, but in incidental allusions, scattered through the Acts and the Epistles. This is indicative of the degree of importance attached to them hy the sacred writers. Contrast it with the methodical and systematic manner, in which the various subjects con- nected with religious truth, are exhibited in the Epistle to the Romans, or that in which practical duty in all the rela- tions of life, is drawn out and enforced in other epistles ; and this, too, when it must be admitted by common consent, that forms of government, more than any thing else, if in- tended to be binding, must be precise, and minute, and exact in all their specifications. God has himself given us one example of this, in the statutes relating to ecclesiastical government and modes of worship among the Jews. There is a model. The Holy Spirit, in dictating the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, recognized the necessity of be- ing minute, and particular, and specific in the extreme, in a record of forms which were intended to be binding even upon one nation, and for a limited time. But when at length these forms came to be abrogated, and a spiritual religion came to take their place, we have instead of the methodical and well digested systems clearly described, only incidental allusions to the practice of individuals in the peculiar emergencies in which they were placed. There is the institution of the Sabbath too, which, in respect to the distinctness with which its enactment and observance is announced, shows us how specific and direct God's commands are, when they enjoin external observances on which he really lays a stress. Announced in general terms as universally binding, at the creation, and then, THE CHURCH AND CHRISTIAN UNION. 221 Not strictly observed. Ordination. as soon as the state of society made written records of value, placed upon stone, in language definite and exact, almost to legal technicality, it stands a model of legislative precision. Read the fourth commandment, and then collect together and read, all that is said of the mode of Christian ordination, or the orders of the ministry, and note the contrast. We do not here say how far this ought to influence us, but, certainly no candid man can deny that it is worthy of consideration, and should seriously affect, to some degree, at least, our views of the proper place of forms in the Christian system. IV. The apostles were not strict and uniform in the ob- servance of these usages. We might show this at length, if time and space would allow, by going into a full examination of the ecclesiastical arrangements of the early church, and showing, in detail, how changeable and fluctuating they were. It will, however, be sufficient to take a specimen, especially if we take some one so conspicuous and important in its character, that we may safely reason from that to the ottiers. There is, for example, ordination : for we might expect that if punctilious uniformity were to be insisted on, in any ecclesiastical forms, it would be in the mode of induction to the sacred office. And we find accordingly that a very prominent and important place is assigned to this rite, in our discussions at the present day. We select it, however, here, not with any reference to these discussions, but only as a conspicuous and proper specimen of the whole class of cere- monial observances to which it belongs. In the first place, we may safely infer a great deal, in respect to the importance attached to the mere mode of induction to the sacred office, from the manner in which 222 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Ordination of the twelve. the whole subject of the ordination of the twelve apostles is dismissed, with the words, " And he ordained twelve." Just think of the occasion, think of the men, their number, the position they occupied, conspicuous and important beyond all others, and then consider, how imposing and solemn would have been the ceremony, and how detailed a descrip- tion would have been given of it, if the views and feelings of modern times, on such a subject, had been entertained by our Savior. Instead of this, it is simply said, " And he ordained twelve ;" language, which, according to the opinion of the ablest commentators, means only that he appointed them, set them apart, without at all implying any ceremonial observance whatever, in inducting them into office. In the succeeding portions of the New Testament, the ordaining of the apostles and preachers, who were succes- sively added to the original number, is very seldom alluded to. Contrast this with the prominence given to the time and the place, and all the circumstances of the ordination of a Christian minister, in modern biography. The prominence given to this solemnity in modern times, we do not complain of as at all too great. A distinct and special preparation, a formal examination, and an induction into office, by appro- priate ceremonies, are altogether more necessary, to guard against improper admissions to it now, in a community where all are professedly Christian, than they were in apostolic days, when a simple desire to preach the gospel was almost of itself, proof of competence and honesty. The various ceremonial observances, by which different denominations have, in modern times, guarded the entrances to the gospel ministry, are thus highly necessary ; but we ought to under- stand, that the necessity arises out of the circumstances of modern times, and not out of any binding obligation in favor of the precise forms, which we respectively adopt, arising from apostolic practices. THE CHURCH AND CHRISTIAN UNION. 223 Ordination of Paul. Ceremony waved, and why. There is much light thrown upon this subject, by the case of the Apostle Paul. He seems not to have been ordained at all upon his first entrance into the ministry. Immediately upon his conversion, he went, at once, to preaching the gos- pel at Damascus, and it was three years before he had oppor- tunity even "to confer with flesh and blood," as he terms it, referring to the other apostles, from whom, according to our theories, he could alone have derived any proper authority to preach. But, the reader will say, that, as Paul had an interview with the Savior himself, he derived his authority directly from him, and that there was no need of ordination in his case. This is undoubtedly true, and it shows at once, without far- ther reasoning, exactly in what light the Founder of Chris- tianity regards forms ; as important indeed, but important as a means, not as an end. For here, where the spiritual title was so sure, the Savior was content to wave the ceremony. If now he had intended to enforce upon all succeeding times the indispensable necessity of any particular ceremonial con- ditions or induction into the ministry, what an admirable occasion offered itself, in the case of Paul, to show this, and to teach the lesson to all future ages. Instead of authoriz- ing him, at once, to preach the gospel, suppose he had enjoined him to wait until he should return to Jerusalem, and there be regularly inducted into office, according to the princi- ples of ordination which had been established for the church. This would have been, according to the known practice of our Savior in all cases of forms, really binding. The parents of the Savior, under divine direction, took him to the temple, when he was eight years old, and conformed exactly to all the Mosaic ceremonies of circumcision and sacrifice. Those cere- monial laws were then in force, and the exalted dignity of the Savior was made no plea of exemption. When he cured the 224 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Paul not ordained by Ananias. leper, he said to him,* " Go show thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing according as Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them." What ! shall the man whom Jesus Christ had cleansed, find it necessary to go and secure a ceremonial purification, according to the law of Moses? Yes. And why ? That he might show that the Son of God, ex- alted in rank and character as he is, will give the sanction of his example to conformity with even ceremonial law, when he comes within its jurisdiction. On this principle Jesus attended worship at the synagogues, he paid his taxes, he ate the passover, and his whole story shows that he would have been the last to have dispensed, on such an occasion as this, with any of the forms which he had really established as essential modes of regulation for the Christian church. Perhaps the reader may maintain, in order to avoid the force of the foregoing reasoning, that Paul's interview with Ananias, when the latter laid his hands upon him, immedi- ately after his conversion, was his ordination to the work of the ministry. The account is given in the 9th chapter of the Acts, but it is expressly stated, that the object of this laying on of hands, was not to induct him into the ministry, but that he might receive his sight. And then, besides, this ceremony took place actually before Paul's baptism. Can any contender for regularity hi forms suppose that Paul was ordained a minister of the gospel before he was baptized ? Besides, Paul was long after ordained, when he was sent forth as a missionary with Barnabas at Antioch, as recorded, Acts xiii. 2, 3 : " The Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barna- bas and Saul, for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away." This, it must be observed, was after both of them had been for a long time most active * Luke v. 14. THE CHURCH AND CHRISTIAN UNION. 225 Apollos. The ceremony of ordination, a specimen. and efficient preachers of the gospel, of universally acknowl- edged authority. With the views so often entertained in modern times, respecting ordination in a prescribed mode, as the only proper induction to the duties of the Christian min- istry, how can this case be explained ? The case of Apollos, too, is remarkable. He was born in Alexandria, and came to Ephesus, preaching repentance and a coming Savior. Eloquent and mighty in the Scriptures, his preaching had great power, but so far from having been regularly ordained by the apostles, " he knew only the bap- tism of John." While, however, he was thus preaching all that he had learned of the truth, Aquila and Priscilla met with him. And what did they do ? Did they censure him for pretending to preach without apostolic ordination ? Did they remonstrate, did they attempt to silence him ? No. They took him unto them, and " expounded the way of God more perfectly," and then bid him go on. They gave him letters of introduction to the churches in Achaia, exhorting the disciples to receive him.* And in the same manner, we shall find in regard to a large portion of the early preachers, that there is no record or account of their ordination as min- isters of the gospel, whatever. Whereas, if it had been in- tended that the church should, in all coming times, comply with certain conditions of ordination, as essential to the proper exercise of the duties of the Christian ministry, there certain- ly would have been good care taken to show that they were complied with then. We have taken the ceremony of ordination, only, as a con- spicuous specimen. Almost any of the other forms connected with the organization of the church might have been taken just as well. And, let me repeat here, that these consider- ations do not at all go to the undermining or disturbing cf the regular ordinances of the Christian church, as now ad- * See the whole account, in the close of the 18th chapter of tb Acts. K* 226 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Apostolic practice not infallible. ministered by the various denominations of our day. These views, if we adopt them, will not diminish our attachment to the forms of our own church, for the regular and appro- priate administration of its government ; they will only lead us to ;ase to look with jealousy and distrust upon the forms and principles adopted hy other denominations, varying some- what from ours. V. The present authority of these usages, rests only on the mere practice of good men in early times, which is no- where in the Scriptures made binding. It is evident, that apostolic practice was not always under divine direction, and, if we attempt to make it an infallible guide, we have no positive means of knowing when it was, and when it was not. In some cases, it is distinctly stated that the conduct of the Apostles was directed by the Holy Spirit. For instance, in the case of sending Paul and Barnabas on their first mission, " The Holy Ghost said, Separate me Bar- nabas and Saul," &c. And so in another case ; " They as- sayed to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit suffered them not." The interference of a divine influence seems to be mentioned in these cases, as special, extraordinary. At any rate, we know perfectly well that in many of the acts of their admin- istration these holy men were not under divine guidance Of this, the case of contention, which occurred between Bar- nabas and Saul is a melancholy proof. The question in that case was, it is true, only a question of private, individual ac- tion ; but then there were other cases where the apostleg were evidently left to their own judgment and discretion, in regard to the most important measures of the church. The case described in Galatians ii. 11 13,* is a very striking * But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. For before that certain came from THE CHURCH AND CHRISTIAN UNION. 227 Distinction between writings and acts. one of this sort. The question related to the course which should he taken with the Gentile converts, in regard to the obligations of the old Jewish law. It involved the vital sub- ject of the connection between the old dispensation and the' new, and the manner in which the latter should be engrafted upon the former. There could scarcely be named a subject connected with the external forms of Christianity, more fun- damental than this. Yet Peter, Peter himself, the very apostle to whom the gospel of circumcision was specially committed,* was left to err in regard to it, and to take an altogether wrong course. His error led Barnabas astray, and Paul comes in and sharply reproves him before them all. With such a case as this on record, we certainly can not maintain the infallibility of apostolic practice. We ought to make a clear distinction between the truths, which sacred writers have recorded, and the actions, which they perform. This distinction is not always made. We confound the inspiration of the writings contained in the Scriptures, with the inspiration of the conduct of those who penned them. Now it is the Scriptures, that is, the written records of truth, which are our only rule of faith and practice. The actual measures adopted in those days, are totally dis- tinct ; and it is, we believe, nowhere claimed by the sacred writers, that their actions, (whether in their private con- duct, or in their administration of the affairs of the church,) are an infallible guide for us. In fact, if we read the New Testament attentively, with a view to this point, we shall be satisfied that the apostles, in their administration of the church, acted for themselves, and for their own times, not James, he did eat with the Gentiles : but when they were come, he withdrew, and separated himself, fearing them which were of the cir- cumcision. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him ; inso- much that Barnabas, also, was carried away with their dissimulation. * GaL iL 7. 228 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. The Apostles left to act for themselves. expecting that their conduct would be regarded as a binding precedent for all future ages. In their record, whether of historical events, or of revealed religious truth, they were infallibly guided ; but in their actions, they were left to their own judgment and discretion, subject, of course, to the in- fluence of such general principles and truths as had been revealed to them. Consequently, they went on acting as occasion demanded ; adopting such plans and measures, or applying such remedies, as were called for by the peculiar emergencies in which they were placed. Sometimes they were right, sometimes they were wrong, sometimes they were checked in their proposed measures by a special inter- ference of the Holy Spirit, sometimes they disagreed and even contended ; and if we attempt to give to any of their meas- ures the authority of a precedent, binding upon the church in all ages, we can not possibly draw a line between what is thus authoritative and what is not. Still, we must not go to the other extreme, and disregard the examples which they have set us. The practices and usages of the early Christians constitute the very best model, no doubt, for us to study and to imitate. They enjoyed the most favorable opportunities of knowing what would be agreeable to the will of their Master, and their hearts were warm with a devotedness to his cause which must have led them to do his will, in the most strict and faithful manner. We ought therefore to study their acts, and to imitate the principles by which they were guided. But when we at- 'tempt to extend to their conduct the infallibility which be- longs only to their writings, when we give to their meas- ures and administration an authority to bind all succeeding times, we insist upon what they never claimed for themselves, and what can not, in theory, be supported, in the case of any scripture character whatever. Noah, David, Solomon, Dan- THE CHURCH AND CHRISTIAN UNION. 229 Apostolic example of great value. iel, Paul, Peter, and John, give abundant evidence that they were inspired as penmen alone. The disposition thus to exalt the measures and administra- tion adopted by the apostles, into precedents binding upon our forms of organization, as their writings are upon our be- lief and moral conduct, though it is thus utterly baseless and defenseless in theory, steals insensibly over our minds, and exerts a powerful influence. In fact we could not possi- bly attach infallibility to apostolic practice as an avowed theory. Such a doctrine could not be maintained for an hour ; but it insensibly creeps into our minds, and we find ourselves tacitly admitting, and silently acting upon that, which, as a distinctly stated proposition, we should immedi- ately reject. I repeat it, that apostolic example is of im- mense value and importance to us, but it is not authorita- tive precedent, so that we are to reduce it to system, and force it upon every company of Christians on the globe, upon pain of excommunication. And yet the attempt to do this is the true secret of the divisions and jealousies which prevail in the Christian world. The incidental, scattered, and im- perfect allusions, which the Apostles made, to the measures they thought called for in their days, in which there is no evidence whatever that they were infallibly guided, and which they probably never thought would be looked back upon as infallible precedents, these allusions we search out and bring together, we build up a great deal of meaning upon expressions very brief and few, and we mingle with the natural import of the record, the recollections and associa- tions with which our own peculiar religious history has stored our minds, and the complicated system which we thus form, we insist, is essential to Christianity. VI. The most complete system which can be drawn from 230 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Scripture system incomplete. Congregational additions ; Episcopal. these records of early practice, is not at all sufficient for the present wants of the Church. This is admitted by the fact, that every denomination in Christendom has found it necessary in practice to make many additions of their own, to what the Scriptures have taught, in order to complete their system. If any precise form of organization, under which the church was to exist in all ages had been intended to be prescribed, we should have expected that a complete and sufficient system would have been detailed, or at least exemplified, in the primitive model. Instead of this, the practice of every denomination in Chris- tendom admits that after all that the most persevering inge- nuity can draw from the Scriptures has been obtained, there must be many human additions to the edifice, to give it completion. The Congregationalist finds no authority in the Scriptures for his examining committee, nor for his articles of faith, nor for his system of licensing preachers, nor for his election of a pastor by concurrence of church and society, nor for his associations, or his consociations, or his conferences. And yet these things may all be right, they are the best modes which he can devise for accomplishing very important purposes, and for which the directions as to forms, left us in the New Testament, make no provision. And how can we account for their not having been provided for, if the precise regulation of forms had been considered by the sacred writers an object of very special importance. The Episcopalian, too, is in the same case. He can find no authority or precedent in the Scriptures, and so far as we know, he pretends to find none, for his rite of confirmation, his consecration of buildings and grounds, his church war- dens, his vestry, his liturgy, his saints' days, his archbishops and lords primate in one country, and his general conven- tions in another. We do not find fault with these arrange- THE CHURCH AND CHRISTIAN UNION. 231 The most essential points unprovided for. ments on account of there being no scripture authority foi them. Though they are all human institutions and arrange- ments, they are very admirably adapted, most of them, to the purposes intended. And as the Holy Spirit allowed the Bible to be brought to a close, without giving any directions in regard to the very important objects which they aim at securing, the church is necessarily left to frame institutions for itself, to cover this ground. Every denomination has virtually acknowledged this, by resorting to plans and meas- ures for which nothing like a prototype can be found in early ages. In fact, we are all compelled to do this, for many of the most immediate and imperious wants of the church, in respect to its government and discipline, seem to be left without any arrangements for supplying them in the sacred record. If the sacred writers had felt that the precise mode in which Christianity is embodied in organized forms was of as much importance as we are often inclined to sup- pose, and if they had intended to frame a system for this purpose, and hand it down as a model for all posterity, is it conceivable that they would have made no provision for the mode of supporting the gospel, or any of the temporalities of the church, nor for the mode of electing or appointing pastors, nor for the examination of candidates, nor for the admission of members, nor for the trial and deposition of false teachers, nor for the management of missionary opera- tions, nor for the erection and control of houses for public worship ? In the Jewish law, points analogous to these were most minutely and fully provided for by ample specifi- cations ; for there it was the intention to prescribe a form. The reader may, perhaps, endeavor to avoid the conclusion to which these undeniable facts would lead him, by saying that all essential arrangements are made, and that it is things of secondary importance only, which are left to human discretion. This is, however, not so. Some of the particu- 232 THE W.AY TO DO GOOD. Possible perversion of these views. lars enumerated above are of the very first importance, and yet provision for them is wholly omitted. Others, of very far less importance, are prescribed. Compare, for instance, the mode of baptism, whether by sprinkling or immersion, with the mode of examining candidates for admission into the church, or the mode of choosing pastors, or of collecting the support of the ministry. While we admit that the former, once prescribed, brings with it the most imperious obligation to conform to the prescription, yet certainly no one would imagine that that would be the thing selected as the one to be minutely fixed, while the others were to be left without any regulation. So that it is not the most important things which will be found, on examination, that modern Christians maintain to have been enjoined. Besides, we do not now make, in practice, any such dis- tinction between what was originally required by the Apos- tles, and the human additions which have since been made. We put the human and the divine parts of the building to- gether, and make one system out of the combination ; and this system we insist upon as a whole. The use of the liturgy is insisted upon as firmly, and considered a essential a con- dition of ministerial connection with the Episcopal church, as valid ordination. At least, according to the theory, no person canvbe a member of the true church of Christ, with- out adopting the one, as well as admitting the authority of the other ; and the Catholic is not less tenacious, to say the least, of homage to the host, than of the observance of the Sabbath-day. Though we can not but be fully satisfied of the truth of these views, we are aware that, like all other truths, they are liable to be perverted through the almost incurable propen- sities of many minds to run off into extremes. The con- siderations which we have adduced, show conclusively that the precise forms and modes of administering ecclesiastical THE CHURCH AND CHRISTIAN UNION. 233 The marriage ceremony. governments are not prescribed ; hence, some persons will go by one of those leaps of ratiocination to which a crazy in- tellect is fully adequate, to the conclusion that all ceremony is unscriptural, and that all steady forms of government and discipline are useless trammels upon spiritual freedom. And perhaps some may gravely insist that they can not perceive the distinction between giving up the necessity of regular or- ganization altogether, and denying that the precise forms under which it is to be effected are minutely prescribed. And yet there is the marriage relation to furnish us with a striking and clear illustration of this distinction. The neces- sity of a ceremony so arranged as to make sure the important points, such as the deliberate, settled intention of the parties, the voluntariness of it on both sides, and public opportunity for the presentation of valid objections, is admitted every- where. The principles enjoined in the Word of God vir- tually require this, and the practice of all Christian states rec- ognize it. And yet, while this necessity is almost every- where recognized, acknowledged, and acted upon, and these points almost everywhere secured, how endlessly various are the modes of securing them. Now these variations are of no great consequence, provided that the points are secured. It is, for example, of not very material consequence whether the intention of marriage is made public by the voice of the town clerk, or by a posted notice on the church door, or by the publishing of the bans in an interval of the service, or by advertising in a newspaper, provided that it is made public in some way or other ; and provided that some regular and prescribed form is adopted in every community for securing it. One uniform mode for all nations and ages is not pre- scribed in the gospel, but each nation and age is left to choose its own. It by no means follows from this, however, that any nation or age is at liberty to abandon marriage cere- monies altogether. There is an obligation to take some 234 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Rite of confirmation. proper ceremonial measures for securing certain essential points, but no obligation in respect to the precise form of the measures themselves. In the same manner, the principles of the gospel require that the church should, in all ages, make suitable ceremonial arrangements for the proper examination of candidates for admission to the church, and for the deliberate and solemn induction of pastors to the sacred office, and for the regular and orderly support of the Christian ministry ; but while the obligation to see that some proper provision for these points is made, is imperious, there seems to be no authoritative pre cedent as to the precise form which they shall assume. Thus, in respect to the candidate for admission to the communion of the church, the various branches of the church have made very different provisions. There is the Methodist class-leader in one case, the Episcopal bishop with the right of confirma tion in another, the Congregational examining committee, and the Presbyterian session ; all good and sufficient, but no scripture authority for any one of them. There are scripture principles requiring some one or other of them, or something equivalent, to guard the Christian church from universal cor- ruption, but there is no scripture precept specifying either of these modes or any other as the precise mode by which these objects should be secured. It is, therefore, no valid ground of objection to the Episcopal rite of confirmation, for example, that the service was drawn up in the middle ages, and it is thus a human contrivance of comparatively modern times. It is true that it was so drawn up ; it is true that that service is a human contrivance of comparatively modern times, but it is a contrivance to accomplish a purpose which the principles of Christianity require us to accomplish, namely, the deliberate, and cautious, and solemn admission of members to the communion of the church, while the in- spired records have left us no prescription of the mode by THE CHURCH AND CHRISTIAN UNION. 235 Danger of one consolidated government which we should accomplish it ; and we are consequently left to frame a service of confirmation, or to organize a church session, or appoint a committee, according to the circum- stances and character of our age or country, and our own best discretion. These remarks are necessary to show, that throughout the whole discussion contained in this chapter nothing is intended to be said to undervalue the importance of proper and steady ceremonial regulations, in every branch of the church. With- out these the objects which the general principles of organi- zation laid down in the gospel require, can not be secured. And as we have already remarked, the vie~v^f exhibited in this chapter will not, if we fully adopt them, diminish our attachment to the ceremonies of our own communion, nor weaken our conviction of the importance of regular and steady arrangements for the government and worship of the church. They will only convince us that it is only the general prin- ciples which the New Testament presses ; and that as one branch of the church has, in the exercise of its own discretion, arranged the details of its government and discipline with reference to the wants of its own country and times, it ought not to be jealous at the exercise of the same discretionary power on the part of another. VII. The union of Christians under any one consolidated ecclesiastical government must he highly dangerous, if not fatal, to the cause of true piety. When we conceive of one great Christian organization, ramifying into every country, involving itself with the politi- cal concerns of a hundred governments, forming one vast and united community, with its own rules and usages, and con- ditions of admission, and extending, even in the present state of Christianity, over two continents, it is easy to see 236 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. The church as it existed in the middle ages. what enormous abuses and evils must necessarily be involved in it. What avenues for ambition what a field for politi- cal intrigue would such a system present ! How impossible that the Author of the sermon on the mount, could have con- templated such a system for extending among mankind the meek and humble virtues of the gospel. But we are saved the necessity of speculating on the prob- able consequences of such a plan, for we have had the ex- periment. The church as it existed in the middle ages ex- hibits to us the scene ; clothed with power and splendor, in herself a continental empire, she opened the highest and broadest field for human ambition, and was the great cor- rupter and destroyer of souls. Christianity then felt the effects which such a system must inevitably bring. The church shone in courts, she rode in splendid processions, she pre- sided over the most august ceremonies in gorgeous cathedrals, c -- THE CATHEDBA.L. THE C1IURCH AND CHRISTIAN UNION. 237 Sanction of God's Spirit. she was a party to every political quarrel, and often led her own troops on to open war. She put her victims to the torture, buried true piety in dungeons, and burnt the inno- cent at the stake ; while true devotedness to the real gospel of Christ fled from her presence and her power, and hid itself in dens and caves of the earth, or escaped to the fastnesses of the mountains. These, too. were not accidental and ex- traordinary effects. They were the natural results ; they might easily have been foreseen as the inevitable consequences of presenting such a field to human ambition and intrigue, as one ecclesiastical organization, extending over fifty or a hundred nations, and governed by one central power. VIII. God sanctions by the influences of his Holy Spirit, the existence and the operations of all those denominations of Christians, whatever may be their forms, whose faith and practice correspond with his Word. This is evident from the success which has for the last century attended the efforts of the several great branches of the church, differing widely as they do in their modes of organization and worship. This arrangement, one would think, must have some influence upon all those who believe that the special influences of the Holy Spirit are necessary to the success of any of our efforts to spread the gospel. By giving triumphant success in so many instances to the preaching of the gospel, under Episcopalian, and Baptist, and Methodist, and Presbyterian, and Congregational forms, does not the Holy Spirit sanction the organizations under which these several branches of the church respectively act, at least, so far as to show that there is nothing in either which excludes them from being branches of the true church of Christ ? If the success of efforts to save souls was a result which human instrumentality could itself secure, unaided 238 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. The result. Present state of the church. and alone, we should not argue divine approbation from the mere fact that God would not interfere to prevent success. But when it is admitted that success can not be obtained without the special agency and co-operation of God, one would think its attainment would prove that the organization under which it is secured, could not be regarded by the Holy Spirit as very radically wrong. We can not suppose that he would habitually appear to give his influences to systems of government and discipline opposed to the directions of Scripture, and whose prevalence could only tend to under- mine and destroy the true church of God. The argument which Peter used, to prove that Gentiles, remaining such, might be admitted to the church of God, was, that " God bears them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us, and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith."* This argument seems to be as good and as applicable now, as then. Whom the Holy Spirit acknowledges, we ought not to disown. Now are not these considerations sufficient to show at least that the degree of importance now commonly attached to the distinctive peculiarities of the various denominations of Chris- tians, is greater than the real state of the case will justify? We believe that they do, and that the admission of this truth by the churches generally affords the only hope of the healing of our dissensions, which, perhaps, more than all other causes combined, hinder the progress of religion. The present state of things is certainly melancholy in the extreme. Each of the several great denominations considering its own peculiarities essential to the character of a true church, the members of one are suspicious and jealous of the others. They must necessarily be so, for they must regard all others as schismatics. They may, indeed, allow that many of the * Acts xv. 8, 9. THE CHURCH AND CHRISTIAN UNION. 239 Cities ; villages. The real difficulty members of other communions, as individuals, are good men, but, as organized into ecclesiastical bodies, they must deem them irregular and schismatical. Thus the members of each denomination excommunicate the others, and must do so as long as they maintain that their own peculiarities, though not necessary to personal salvation, are essential to the char- acter of a true church. There is, accordingly, between- these denominations, at the central points, in great cities, suspicion, jealousy, mistrust, maneuvering and counter-mano3uvering. And the evil influence spreads out to the remotest extremi- ties, among the remote and thinly peopled districts of the country. The evil is, in fact, aggravated here, for all the Christian strength which can be gathered from the thin and scattered population, is only sufficient to sustain and carry forward the cause of Christ, if united and at peace. But divided, and mutually jealous and hostile, its moral power is destroyed, and the community around slumbers hopelessly in its sins. And observe, that it is not the fact of division alone, which makes the case so desperate. It is the circumstance, that each branch in so many instances considers the others irregu- lar and spurious, so as to make it a matter of conscience to oppose them. It is the fact that each one is so sure that its own peculiarities are essential to such an organization as will be pleasing to the Savior, that it must utterly condemn all others. This makes each one hopelessly rigid and tenacious of its position. It gives to party spirit a perverted conscience for an ally, in the work of keeping up the walls which sepa- rate one branch from another. And of all alliances, that of party spirit with a perverted conscience is the most obstinate and indissoluble. Even the outpouring of the Spirit upon a Christian community thus situated, does not remove the evil. For if men honestly believe that the communion of Christians to which they do not belong, is not organized on principles 240 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Permanence of it. The disease an intermittent. acceptable to Christ, they must oppose it, secretly or openly, they must, if they are faithful, oppose it. And the more their hearts are stimulated to interest and fidelity in the Sa- vior's cause, the more decided will he their hostility. They may suppress or conceal it, hut it will still reign. It will keep its hold in every denomination, notwithstanding all pre- tensions to brotherly love, so long as the false idea is retained, that Jesus Christ meant to prescribe all the peculiarities which they respectively insist upon. While this idea re- mains there can not even be a plea for union offered, by any one who entertains it, which will amount to any thing more, in fact, than a call upon the members of other denominations to come and join his own. Such is the condition of the Christian church ; while, in the mean time, the world lies almost undisturbed in its sins. Nature, however, in this, as in other diseases, prompts to some struggles for relief. These spontaneous efforts are of two kinds. First come contentions by argument, each party attempting to prove that its own forms are according to the true apostolic model. An argument from one quar- ter arouses resistance and a counter-argument from another ; and all being equally in the wrong, in claiming exclusive validity for their own modes, the result of the contest depends upon the ability of the leaders, or upon the circumstances and the prejudices of the minds which they act upon. Things remain, however, in general, very much the same after the battle as before ; no extensive changes of opinion result, though each one clings, in consequence of the contest, more strongly to his own. At length, wearied out with the un- profitable warfare, the parties sink into a state of temporary repose. This fruitless struggle being over, it is succeeded, perhaps, after a short pause, by one of a different kind. A fit of love and co-operation comes on. Union in measures and plane is THE CHURCH AND CHRISTIAN UNION. 241 Hot fit and cold fit. The old texts. proposed, the parties each still thinking its own church is the only true one. They agree however to lay aside the dis- cussion of the theory, and see if they can not act together ; and they form a benevolent society, or arrange a union prayer- meeting, or a public lecture in common. But while each portion of the church considers its peculiarities essential, and all other organizations schismatic, what kind of a union can this be ? It is inevitable that each party will be watchful and jealous. If they mean to take a high-minded and honor- able course, they will be anxious and watchful lest they should themselves do something to offend their allies ; and if, on the other hand, they are narrow-minded, and envious, they will be on the watch lest the others should do some- thing unjust toward them. The very nature of the case shows, what all experience confirms, that such alliances between the denominations, while each one considers itself the only true church, will always be of the nature, not of a peace among friends, but of a temporary aud jealous truce between foes. Accordingly, after this plan has been tried a little while, the lurking alienation creeps in again. The public lecture ends in a general heart-burning among the branches of the church, instead of conviction among the impenitent ; the great benevolent society resolves itself into its sectarian ele- ments ; and the union prayer-meeting, perhaps, breaks up in an open explosion. Then, perhaps, comes on another controversy, in which the same old arguments, the same old texts, the same old quoting of precedents, and straining of words, and emphasiz- ing of particles, are brought forward against one another for the thousandth time, to prove what never can be proved. Thus the disease alternates. It is an intermittent. There is the cold stage and the hot stage ; the chilly fit of con- troversy, and the fever fit of forced and pretended love. In L 242 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. The only remedy for the evil. the mean time, the church moans in increased weakness and suffering, and sin and Satan rejoice that an enemy which they could not have conquered in battle, is conquered for them by a pestilential and destructive disease. What remedy now can there possibly be for these evils but for Christians to cease to attach so much importance to the differences of form which separate them ? Is it not plain that it is this over-rated importance which each denomination attaches to its own form of organization, or to its own modes of performing the ceremonies of Christian- ity, that constitutes the repellancy between the branches ? Is it not plain, too, that it is this refusal to acknowledge one another, and not simply the division, which makes the trou- ble ? For if this spirit of hostility and exclusion were removed, the obstacle to coalescence would be removed ; and though the present great denominations might remain, they would live together as sister branches, and individual Chris- tians would consider it of comparatively little importance to which they might belong. The man whose mind is so con- stituted that his devotion is aided by forms of prayer, would not be jealous of his neighbor because he preferred an extemporaneous petition ; and a devoted servant of Jesus Christ, going to reside among an ignorant and vicious popu- lation, might perhaps hesitate whether a Methodist or a Congregational mode of government would afford him great- est facilities for the successful prosecution of his Master's work. Thus each grand division of the church would wish well to the others, considering them all as branches of the true church of Christ. This they never can do now, for not- withstanding all attempts at union, and all pretended love, it is plain that one branch can never really wish well to another, while they consider it only an irregular association of good men ; pious, but deceived ; and hanging like an ex- crescence and a burden about the true church of Christ. THE CHURCH AND CHRISTIAN UNION. 243 Prospect of a change. Summing up the case. Thus the giving up the essential importance of any par- ticular modes of church government and worship, would pro- duce a right state of feeling among the great denominations of Christians. The members of each would undoubtedly feel a special interest, as they ought to do, in the prosperity of their own branch of the church, but the bitterness of dis- sension would all disappear. The simple admission of the other denominations to the rank of sister branches of the true church, would change the whole aspect of their relations to one another. Where the population was large and dense, the tastes and habits of different classes might be accommo- dated by arrangements suited to all ; and where it was scat- tered and thin, the question among Christians would simply be, which of the several equally regular branches of the church of Christ shall \ve build up here ; and it seems as if it would be impossible to keep true Christians from coming together, on such a question. I am, however, far from being so sanguine, as to suppose that any very sudden change is to take place in the church, in respect to her internal dissensions. All that we can now hope to do, is, to find the direction in which the path to future peace and happiness lies. This has been the object of this chapter. To sum up the case, then, in. conclusion, if we wish to do all we can toward giving the Christian church that efficiency and moral power, which she is designed to exercise, we must heal her divisions ; and the first step toward this, is to banish from our own bosoms those suspicions and jealousies which so often separate the several branches of the great family. It is idle to hope that either of these branches will ever conquer and swallow up the rest. A struggle for this end only thickens the walls, and strengthens the defenses, and animates the hostility which separates the contending parties. 244 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Spiritual integrity of the church. It is time for the church to take a different ground, to take those views of the place and province of modes and forms, which is, most evidently, when we come to consider the sub- ject, everywhere taken of them by the Holy Scriptures. We may cling to our own institutions as strongly as we please, and zealously endeavor to promote their prosperity. But when we reflect how much there is that is confessedly human in the structure, let us cease attempting to compel all others to give up their attachments for the sake of embracing ours. We should show a great ignorance of human nature, and of the state of opinion in the various branches of the church, if we did not expect that the views advanced in this chapter would meet with opposition. The best of men, the most devoted of Christians, who have long been accus- tomed to look forward to a consolidation of the church, and whose imaginations have painted in very glowing colors the magnificence and beauty, but have concealed the fatal dan- gers of such a result, will shrink from the doctrines which we have attempted to maintain. Others will have lived too many years under the feeling of an exclusive attachment to their own forms, to think for a moment of admitting others to a theoretical equality, and they will consider the prevalence of these views as fatal to the integrity of the Church. But the true church of Christ is a spiritual edifice, ITS INTEGRITY is A SPIRITUAL INTEGRITY ; and that integrity, these views, if admitted, will establish, not destroy. They will make the church one, as Christ was one with his disciples, that is, in heart, and feeling, and desires, and not merely in the frail bonds of official connection. We are convinced that the prevalence of these views affords the only hope of the pacifi- cation of the Christian Church ; and it is this conviction of their vital importance as a means of enabling the Church to accomplish the full work of doing good, which God has THE CHURCH AND CHRISTIAN UNION. 245 Conclusion. assigned her, that has compelled us to introduce the discussion here. We believe too, that the Church is already beginning extensively to receive these views, and the effect which we expect from this chapter, upon a vast majority of its readers, is, not to teach any thing new, but to reduce to form, and to establish, views which they have long been insensibly im- bibing. Let us extend them, and the pacification of the Church is accomplished forever. They can be extended without disturbing the plans or the progress of any branch of the church of Christ. They will go from heart to heart, from closet to closet, and from prayer-meeting to prayer- meeting, and it will not be long before their fruits will be seen in the establishment of a friendly intercourse between all the branches of the great family of the Savior. Then shall Episcopacy, venerable with age, and strong in the moral power of the hallowed associations which cluster around her ; and Congregationalism, active and vigorous in its simplicity, finding its ready way to the new and ever- changing scenes of human life ; and Methodism, warm with emotion, penetrating into the mightiest masses of society, and changing the excitements of sin into the warm, happy emotions of piety ; and Presbyterianism, with its steady and efficient government, its faithful standards, and its devoted ministry ; these and all other branches of the great army of God, shall all move forward, side by side, against the one great enemy of their common Master. The world will no longer point to our contentions, and quiet themselves in sin, but they will see, though our forms and usages may differ, that still, in heart and purpose, WE ARE ONE. 246 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Plan of this work. CHAPTER VIII. THE SICK. "Sick, and ye visited me." AN inspection of our table of contents would not lead the reader to suppose that any very logical plan was pursued in the arrangement of the topics discussed in this work. The work is, in fact, to be considered as a connected train of thought, rather than a systematic arrangement of several in- dependent subjects of discussion. Accordingly, after two or three preliminary chapters, we took up the first and most ob- vious source of suffering which obtrudes itself upon our no- tice, in this valley of tears. This subject was poverty ; and, as in the consideration of it, we saw that poverty admitted of no effectual remedy but the removal of its moral causes, we were led at once to the discussion of the great moral remedy for all moral evils, the gospel of Jesus Christ ; and the modes by which this remedy is to be most effectually ap- plied. Having in the three last chapters considered this subject in its three most important aspects, we now return to the other great branch of physical evil. Sickness ; the twin sister and companion of want, and the sharer with her of the empire of human suffering. Like poverty, she is the daughter of sin, but is farther sepa- rated from her mother. Sin moves on, and sickness lingers often behind ; so that you may deal with sickness separately, THE SICK. 247 Sickness and want. Safe to do good to the sick. Want, on the other hand, clings closely to her parent ; they make common cause, and stand or fall together. But to drop the metaphor, although, as the Bible teaches us, all sickness and pain are to be considered as the conse- quence of sin, yet they sometimes come from it so indirectly, and are separated from it so far, by lapse of time, and are sometimes in so slight a degree connected with personal trans- gression, that we may apply our remedy directly to it, with comparatively little danger. In fact, there are several con- siderations making our duty toward the sick a very important part of the field of benevolent action. 1. We can very easily afford a great deal of relief and even of happiness to the sick ; and that safely. To bestow relief even if it is only temporary relief is an object worth securing, provided that it can be secured without danger. When we relieve the distresses of poverty by our friendly in- terposition, we are always solicitous lest we may, in the end, make more unhappiness than we remove. The distress may be feigned, or it may be in some way connected with deception, and our aid, in such a case, will only encourage and embolden fraud. Or aman may have neglected to make provision for coming wants, when he might have provided for them, and then, when he begins to feel their pressure, we may cut off the influence of a salutary lesson for the future, by the relief which we can not find it in our hearts to deny. It sometimes seems almost cruel to admit such suspicions, but it is only the extreme of inexperience or of folly that can be blind to them. In cases of sickness, however, they do not apply. All the good that we can do in the chamber of actual disease or suf- fering, is, with exceptions very few and rare, a work at least of safety. And then, besides the safety of it, doing good in a sick room, is a very effectual way of doing good. We work there to great advantage. A very little effort gives a great deal 248 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. The sick laborer. Good easily and safely done. of relief, or a great deal of pleasure. Perhaps it is owing to the feelings of helplessness and dependence, which sickness brings, or perhaps to the effect of disease in awakening the susceptibilities of the mind, and rendering the sufferer more sensitive to kindness, as we know he is to sounds, and light, and pain. The sternest man will be softened, if you ap- proach him with relief, or even with sympathy, when he is in sickness or pain. Thus, if there are within the reach of our walks, a num ber of cases of sickness among the poor, and unfortunate, and neglected, there is no way in which you can spend a few hours in each week in doing more immediate and effectual good, than in seeking out the cases, and carrying to them your relief, or at least your sympathy. There is, for ex- ample, in one lowly home, a poor man laid upon his hard, uncomfortable bed, by an accidental injury received in his work, and the want, it required, while he was in health his unremitting and constant exertion to keep at bay, begins to take advantage of his helplessness, and to press its iron grasp upon the mother and children. Now you may visit him, your words of sympathy and encouragement may save them all from despair. Your aid may find a little employ- ment for the wife, or for a child, or a little medical advice for the patient, so as to hasten his release ; and thus with a strict economy of your means of doing good, you may, by a small expenditure of time, and money, and care, give at once great immediate relief, and save a whole family from much future sufferiug. And while you are doing tt, the light of Christian example and character which you will cause to shine into that dark home, may allure some of its inmates, in the end, to the banner under which you are serving. Then, again, here is another case. An incurable disease of a limb is wasting away a little patient, and carrying him The child. THE SICK. Happiness. 249 Old ago. slowly and surely to the grave. Without pain, and with very little general disease, he is confined by the apparatus of the surgeon in one position, which there is only the faintest possible hope that he will ever leave, till he is released from it to be laid in the last position of mortality. Till then, how- ever, his arms and eyes are at liberty, and his soul is free ; and contented, cheerful, and happy, he welcomes you day after day with a smile, as you come to admire the little windmills, and boxes that he makes with his penknife and glue, or to give him new drawings to copy, or a new book to read, or to sit at his bedside, with your hand upon his brow, wish- ing that all the suffering and the wretched could be as happy as he. THE CRIPPLE. Again, there is age, decrepit old age, sitting helplessly by the fireside, in his ancient chair. His generation has gone off and left him, and he is alone. He feels like a stranger 250 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Consumption and her victims. among the beings that have sprung up all around him, as it were in a day, and his thoughts and his memory run hack spontaneously to times, and men, and events that now are gone ; and which, though they are every thing to him, are nothing now to any body beside. It is painful to him to find that the knowledge and recollection to which alone his mind runs back with interest and pleasure, are insignificant and worthless to all around him. Now you may look in upon him a few minutes, as he sits in his armed chair in a winter evening, or stop to talk with him a moment under the trees, before his door, at sunset, in June ; and by your tone of kind ness and interest, and the air of respectful consideration al- ways due to age, you revive the heart of the aged pilgrim to sensations of happiness, which beam over his soul brightly, while you are with him, and linger there long after you are gone. The enjoyment is but little, I admit, but then the expense is very little, by which it is secured. Then besides all these sources of sickness and suffering, there is often near us, and sometimes at our very firesides, a visitor whom we scarcely know whether to call an enemy or a friend. New England, if not her native land, is at least her loved and chosen home. She thrives in the refreshing cool- ness of our northern clime. The air of the sea-breeze, of the cool autumnal evening, and of the wintry storm, constitute her very vital breath. Her form is slender and delicate, a little too delicate and feeble for gracefulness ; and her cheek, though it blooms, does not bloom exactly with beauty ; but then her eye is bright, and her forehead is of marble. Her name is Consumption. She loves New England, and lingers unobserved among us in a thousand scenes. She is always busy here, selecting her victims among the sensitive and the fair, and commencing secretly that mysterious process of entanglement, by which they are to become at last her hopeless prey. She loves the THE SICK. 251 The family and friends of the sick. slow moonlight walk, the winter sleigh-ride, and the return in the chilly coach at midnight from the crowded city assem- bly. She helps make up the party in the summer evening sail, uninvited, unwelcome, and unobserved, but still there, taking her choice from all the lovely forms before her. She knows too well how to choose. She can appreciate intelli- gence, beauty, sensibility, and even moral worth, and in the collected assembly of her victims, you would find some of the brightest and loveliest specimens of humanity. Now, perhaps, you may find some one of these victims in the circle of your walks, and you may easily do a great deal to relieve weariness, and restlessness, and pain, during the long months of decline, and to soothe the sufferings of the last hours. The good which the Christian visitor may do in the sick chamber is not confined to the suffering patient. The family and friends are comforted, and sustained, and strengthened, by the influence of your presence. No one who has not ex- perienced it can tell how valuable is the spontaneous and heartfelt sympathy of a friend, to a family suffering, in one of its members, the invasion of alarming or fatal disease. The heart of the wife sinking within her in anxiety and ter- ror at her husband's sufferings or delirium, is refreshed and strengthened as by a cordial, when a kind neighbor comes in to share her watch and her anxious care. And so the hearts of parents, distressed and filled with anguish at witnessing the last struggles of an infant child, are cheered, and sus- tained, and comforted, by the presence and the silent sym- pathy of the friend, who watches with them till midnight brings the last breath and the last pulsation, and gives the little sufferer repose. There is in fact no end to the variety of modes by which kindness to the sick is effectual in reliev- ing pain and promoting happiness. Sickness seems to soften the heart and awaken all its susceptibilities of gratitude and 252 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Cases. Influence to be gained. A family changed. happiness. Kindness and sympathy are never so longed for and so welcome as here ; and never touch the heart more effectually, or awaken stronger feelings of gratitude and affec- tion. It may be all merely temporary pleasure which is thus communicated ; but it is real and great, if it is temporary, and it can be all accomplished with little effort and little danger. 2. By kind attention to the sick, we may gam an influence in favor of piety over the sick themselves, and over the fam- ilies to which they belong. Piety is, in respect to mankind, love ; and in no way, perhaps, can its true character be more fairly shown than in the sick-room. The colors, too, in which it appears there, are all alluring. In ordinary intercourse with mankind the pressure of business, or the forms and usages of social life, repress, in a great degree, those moral manifes- tations which shine out spontaneously in the sick-room, and exhibit clearly there the character of that submission to God and that kind interest in man, which the Savior commands us to let shine as a light in this dark world of sin. Thus, in many, many instances, a cold, heartless, unbeliev- ing, and perhaps vicious father, has been led to see the real- ity of religion by his intercourse with the Christian friend who has come to visit his sick child. In fact, sickness seems often sent, as it were, to open a door of admission to an un- godly family, by which the gospel may enter in. The family are first grateful for the kindness, then they see the moral beauty of the character which exhibits it. The religious con- versation which is offered in a kind, conciliating, and unas- suming tone, in the sick chamber, or around the fireside in an adjoining room, is listened to with a respectful attention, though, perhaps, under no other circumstances could it have found an access to those ears. These first steps may not be very important ones, but it is something to bring the soul which is utterly hostile to God, to a parley. The reading of proper THE SICK. 253 A danger pointed out. religious books, an occasional, and at length a regular at- tendance at the house of God, are perhaps the succeeding steps ; and when a family is brought thus far, by the gentle and unassuming moral influence which may without great difficulty be exerted over them, it is safe to expect that the change will go farther. It is into such a family that the Holy Spirit loves to enter and complete the work which, without his aid, could not even have been begun. Reader, is there not within your reach a family of unhappy wanderers from God, into which sickness has gone and opened a door of easy and pleasant access to you ? Inquire and ascertain ; and if there is, find your way there without delay, and by kind, unceasing, and delicate attentions, fasten a silken cord of gratitude and affection to their hearts, by which you may draw the inmates to the Savior and to happiness. Or if the family, to which you show Christian kindness in sickness, is cultivated and refined, though worldly, the light of Christian character is brought to their minds more dis- tinctly than before, and it comes in a more alluring form. They are your neighbors or acquaintances, but as you have been mutually conscious of the great difference between you and them, in respect to your religious sentiments and hopes, each party has imagined feelings of coldness and reserve to exist in the other ; nothing is more common than this state of feeling between religious and irreligious acquaintances or friends. Now the sickness which gives you the opportunity of showing kindness, breaks down the barrier, and changes the look and tone of cold reserve, which each party imagined that he was adopting in self-defense, to the open, and cor- dial, and honest expressions of good- will. It is, however, somewhat dangerous to point out these in- direct results which come from kindness to the sick, lest they should lead our deceiving and deceitful hearts to an affecta- tion of benevolence, or of solemnity, for the purpose of secur- 254 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Spiritual good of the patient. ing them. But there is no disguise so slim, at least there is none more easily seen through by the intelligent observer, than affectation of piety ; the solemn look, assumed to suit the supposed proprieties of an occasion, the affected tone, a clumsy counterfeit of the inflections of real feeling, the forced conversation, constrained, unnatural, indirect, and the prayer, in which the speaker pretends to be addressing the Supreme, when you perceive at once, from the rhetorical structure of his sentences, and the clumsy insinuations and allusions, that the bystanders only are in his mind. If this is the kind of Christian light which these paragraphs tend to kindle in the sick-rooms which the readers may visit, they had better never have been written. No, let us be honest, open, direct in all we say or do. If we feel no emotion, let us never feign any ; never. Let us see that our hearts are right toward God and man, and then let our words and looks freely follow the impulses which they receive from within, It is only honest, frank, open-hearted, unaffected piety which can gain any great or permanent ascendency in such a world as ours. 3. By kindness to the sick we have also some hope of pro- moting the spiritual good of the patient, though we confess that this hope must be faint and feeble. The good that is done is mainly that specified under the preceding heads ; either the present relief and comfort, amounting sometimes to positive enjoyment, which results directly from the effort, or the influence in favor of the cause of piety, resulting from the exhibition of its true character in its own appropriate sphere. These are often overlooked, and the chief hopes of the Christian visitor are directed to the spiritual benefit of the patient himself, which we have melancholy evidence is very seldom in any great degree attained. This evidence, however, though it is melancholy, we ought to see. It is best for us to understand what hopes there are of preparation THE SICK. 255 Natural effect of sickness. Dangers. for death on a sick-bed, both for our own guidance in respect to others, and also that we may know what to calculate upon, ourselves, in respect to our own last hours. " But why," the reader will ask, who is accustomed to think that sickness brings with it peculiar opportunities for repentance, " why is it that we may not hope to promote the spiritual good of the sick ? They are then withdrawn from the world. The power of its temptations is destroyed, eternity, if not actually near, is at least seen more distinctly, and more fully realized. There are many long hours favor- able to reflection, and every thing seems to invite to repent- ance for sin and reconciliation with God." This is all true, and if nothing but an invitation to the favor of God, and urgent, alarming necessity for reconciliation with him were wanting, every sick man conscious of sick- ness, would be sure to be saved. But unhappily it is not all. There is a heart to be changed. A heart which shrinks from God, dislikes communion with him, and loves sin, is to be so entirely altered in its very fundamental desires as to seek God eagerly and spontaneously, as its refuge, its home, its happiness, to delight in his presence and communion, and to hate and shrink from sin. Now the natural effect of sickness is simply to awaken uneasiness or anxiety, and we can see no special tendency in uneasiness or anxiety to produce such a change in the very desires and affections of the soul as this. But let us look at the facts a little more in detail. There are several distinct conditions in which the dangerously sick may be found, and most of them are such as to preclude the possibility of deriving any spiritual benefit from the supposed facilities afforded by their situation. We will consider some of these. (1.) A large class never know their danger, or at least have no time to think of it until they are too far gone to be 256 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Various classes. Deceptions of friends. sensible of it. Thus for all purposes of reflection they know nothing of their sickness till they are convalescent, or until they awake in eternity. For example a man in the midst of his business is suddenly attacked by severe acute disease. The shooting pains, the chills, the fever alarm him, and anticipating a fit of sickness, he is busy to the last moment of his ability to act, in making arrangements and giving di- rections ; and when he can do no more there follows the bustle of preparation in his room, the visit of the physician, the bath, or the friction, or the venesection. An hour or two spent thus is succeeded by a disturbed slumber, from which he awakes in delirium. Perhaps a fortnight after- ward God raises for a single hour the mysterious pressure under which the soul had been imprisoned, and the unhappy man has barely time to see the grave open at his feet, before clouds and darkness shut in again over his soul, and he sinks forever. Precisely this would be, indeed, a case of uncommonly sudden and severe disease, but many such occur, and very many occur which are precisely like it in the essential point, that is, that the patient never knows his danger, nor reflects seriously upon his sickness, till it is too late for him to under- stand it at all. These cases are rendered more numerous by the almost universal tendency, on the part of family and friends, to present to the patient the brightest side of his case. This arises not always from a deliberate intention to deceive, in fact, the parent, or the friend, standing by the bedside, cherishes himself the hope which he wishes to present to the patient ; and he unconsciously overrates the grounds of it, in his desire to give the sick one the advantage of its exhilara- ting and sustaining power. At other times, the truth, too plain to the physician and the friends, is suppressed, and concealed from the deceived sufferer ; and the grave grasps him while the words are actually on the lips of his attend- THE SICK. 257 Indifference and stupor. ants that assure him that he shall soon be well. Oh, how often have parents thus deceived their dying children. How can they do it ? How can they bear to allow one who looks up to them with entire confidence and affection, to go from them suddenly into eternity, and have there to reflect that the last words which he heard his father and his mother speak to him were words of falsehood and deception ? Still, nothing is more common than this, and from these and other similar cases it comes that a very large number of human beings finish their pilgrimage without a warning. Of course, the sick-bed affords no facilities for a preparation for death, to them. (2.) Then there is another large class whose disease or state of mind is such that they can not safely be addressed on the subject. That is, the probability that any good will be done, by religious conversation with them, is smaller, than that if left to mental quiet, they may recover, and be brought to repentance by future opportunities for enjoying the means of grace. There are many cases where the most faithful Christian physician would require perfect quiet and repose ; and we are not obstinately to insist on pressing the guilt and danger of the sinner upon his attention, where the probable result would be only to aggravate disease, and hasten death, and thus secure, at once, the ruin from which we were en- deavoring to save him. The cases, however, where a kind and judicious religious influence over one in a state of dan- gerous disease, would really be unsafe, are not very common : but those where the patient or the friends think .it would be unsafe, so as to feel obliged to preclude it, are numberless. They form a second large class of patients who can not be expected to be much benefited by the opportunities which sickness affords them. (3.) Then there are a great number who sink, in sickness, into a state of indifference and stupor from which nothing 258 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Alarm. Agitation, anxiety, and unhappiness. can arouse them. Whether this is one of the innumerable forms of the infatuation of sin, or some peculiar mental torpidity resulting from the disease, the effect is certain, and the instances innumerable. Sometimes the patient shrinks from, and shuns, the conversation that would awaken him, and sometimes he welcomes it, and listens to it, as if he wished that it might produce its proper effect, and then he complains, with stupid despair, that he can see his guilt and danger, but can not feel them. Hardness of heart does not arise from such causes as that approaching death will certainly remove it. It is a moral insensibility which has its existence within itself, and is slightly affected by mere external causes. If the habits of life have formed and fixed it, it will sometimes maintain its hold, even to the last hour. (4.) Then, besides, of those who are led to feel some alarm a very large proportion never go farther than alarm. They are agitated, and anxious, and unhappy ; but agitation is not piety, and anxiety about death, is not preparation for it. In fact, the feeling of restless suffering is, probably, in many cases, only a manifestation of actual hostility to God. The soul finds itself brought up, as it were, to meet its Maker. It sees that it is approaching the close of its connection with the world, and that the course of time is drawing it directly on toward God. It looks this way and that way for escape, but finds none ; and its restless, anxious uneasiness is only a shrinking, with instinctive dislike, from the great Being to whom it ought to fly eagerly as to its refuge and home. If this is its condition then, the more restless are its alarms, the greater is its hostility ; and it goes at last into the pres- ence of its Maker, like the terrified child into the arms of a stranger whom it dislikes and dreads. These four classes constitute, undoubtedly, a very large por- THE SICK. 259 The deceived. Nervous influences of sickness. tion of the sick, but we must thin the number that is left, a little more ; for (5.) There are the deceived. One would think, that on a sick and dying bed the heart would abandon its subterfuges and deception, and be honest with itself at last, before it goes into eternity. Instead of this, however, self-deception maintains its hold here, as in its last intrenchment. In fact, a little reflection would convince us at once, that the circumstances of a sick-bed are such as to create very great danger of self-deception. That loss of interest in the world, which is the result of confinement, weakness, and pain, how easily may it be mistaken for a heartfelt and volun- tary renunciation of it. Death, too, may seem near, bring- ing with it all its terrors, and under its threatening aspect the spirit sinks. Now how easy it is for the soul to welcome the idea of reconciliation with God, simply as a relief from anxiety and suffering, and then to imagine that to be the chosen object of its love, to which in fact it only flies as a refuge from fear. Then again, sickness, though it sometimes inflames and irritates the spirit, perhaps often softens and soothes it, by some mysterious physical influence exerted by it upon the nervous system. The selfish, turbulent, and un- governable child often lies subdued and quieted under its hand, and gladdens his mother's heart by his unlocked for manifestations of submission and gratitude ; the nurse wel- comes returning irritability as a sign of returning health. This morbid loveliness of spirit, like the unnatural brightness of the eye, or hectic bloom upon the cheek, is often the com- panion of disease, and not unfrequently the immediate pre- cursor of death. It calms all the passions of the soul, it lulls the sensorium into rest, and disarms temptation of its power, by taking away the very fuel it feeds upon. It gives the kindest and gentlest intonations to the voice, and spreads over the countenance an expression of benevolence and submission. 260 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. The attendant of piety ; its counterfeit. It often mingles with piety, and clothes it, in its last hours, with a most fascinating loveliness ; but alas, it also often takes its place, its most successful and yet most superficial counterfeit. It deceives death, meeting him with a smile ; but convalescence is its certain detection and exposure. For when health is returning, its colors soon fade, and its moral loveliness turns to irritability, fretfulness, and selfish, sus- picious jealousy. How far the movements of a soul, thus so directly modified, either favorably or unfavorably, by the nervous influences of disease, are to be considered as affected, in respect to moral character and accountability, is a ques- tion too deep for us to enter into here. One thing, however, is certain, that if we make allowances on this account, as by common consent we do, for wha,t is wrong, we must also make some deductions of credit for what is right. But we ought to repeat that the state of mind and heart which we have been describing, though sometimes the coun- terfeit of piety, is often its attendant, so that the graces of character which are exhibited in the sick-chamber, where there is evidence of a stable foundation on which they rest, are not to be considered as unsubstantial and transitory. Every visitor among the sick will call to mind cases where the solid characteristics of real piety shone with a heavenly beauty and splendor, imparted to them apparently by these mysterious influences of lingering disease. While saying this, there rises to my mind the recollection of one sick-room which exhibited, before all others that I have seen, the most striking example of it. It was that of the child Nathan Dickerman,* whose chamber during the last months of his life, beamed with an expression of loveliness and peace, which no pen can describe. Those grim tyrants, disease and death, seemed in his case, to relax from their sternness and cruelty, that they might * Memoir of Nathan W. Dickermaa THE SICK. 261 Little Nathan Dickerman. vary their work of oppression, as other tyrants have done, by showing for once what they could do in lavishing kindness and decorations upon a favorite. It is true that they insisted that he should he their prey, and so they maintained with inflexible determination their own destructive hold upon the organs of life ; though he was their favorite, he must wear their chain. For the rest, all was kindness. They bright- ened his intellect, they expanded, almost beyond maturity, his embryo powers, they smoothed the features of his counte- nance into an almost heavenly expression, and breathed into his soul an atmosphere of indescribable sweetness, and peace, and enjoyment. These stern and uncompromising, and usu- ally pitiless masters, appeared disposed, in his case, to lay aside their terrors. For once they seemed to love their victim ; they smiled upon him where he lay. The enchanting expression, however, which beamed from the whole scene which his little room exhibited, was indebted for its chief lineaments to a most sincere and unaffected piety. There was abundant evidence, of this, evidence too of the most undoubted character. But piety, in such a case as this substantial and sure, is softened and beautified by the influ- ence of disease. It is the corporeal and the animal only which fails ; all that is pure, and lovely, and beautiful in the spirit, in the intellect, in the soul, rises the more free and the more resplendent for being released from its ordinary burdens. But to return ; this mysterious effect produced by disease, in subduing and softening all the asperities of the character, which sometimes accompanies piety, perhaps oftener merely assumes the guise of it. This therefore forms one of the im- mense variety of modes by which the soul deceives, and is it- self deceived. When, now, we come to consider all these numerous cases in which no spiritual benefit is derived from the opportunities 262 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Practical rules. Imposture. afforded by a sick-bed, those who are cut off too suddenly to know their situation, those who are rendered inaccessible by the nature and violence of their disease, those who are indifferent and stupid, those who are only alarmed, and those who are deceived, we shall have but few remaining who can be considered as making any effectual preparation for death, when sickness comes with its warnings. The good, therefore, which we are to expect to effect by our visits to the sick and the suffering, is chiefly in other ways than in the preparation of the individual sufferer for his approach- ing account. There is, however, some hope, even of this. It is one of the objects at which we have to aim. Having thus brought to the view of the reader the nature of the good which he must expect to do, we proceed in the remainder of this chapter, to enumerate some of the more plain and important directions necessary to enable him most successfuly to effect it. 1. In your arrangements for visiting and relieving cases oT sickness among the poor, be always on your guard against im- posture. Go forward freely and openly to the relief of suffer- ing, wherever you find it, but be constantly awake to the probability that you may in any case be deceived. Nothing surpasses the readiness with which the vicious poor resort to a feigning of sickness and suffering in order to procure undeserved charity, unless it be the adroitness with which they carry their wicked schemes into effect. Sometimes the disease is entirely a fabrication, and sometimes a little reality is made the basis of long-continued indications of suffering. In fact, we often, by our own indiscreet and profuse benefactions to a sick family, actually produce such a state of things that recovery would be a calamity. We place them under a strong temp- tation to dissemble, and the lesson once learned is not soon forgotten. These remarks may seem rather severe and even cruel. THE SICK. 263 Necessity of caution. Quietness and delicacy. They are severe, I admit, and I assure my readers that I ex- ceedingly regret the necessity of making them. It is far easier for us, and pleasanter at first, to give the reins to sen- timent, and follow on wherever she leads the way. But cool, calculating, intelligent principle is a better leader in the end. We need warm feeling as a companion in the voyage, but the understanding does better at the helm. What I have stated above, and similar views exhibited in the chapter on the Poor, are unquestionably the truth, and whoever is not willing to know the truth, even where it is unpleasant, will never be very efficient or persevering in doing good. His benevolence rests on delusion, a very unsubstantial basis. However, we ought not to be always suspicious, and above all, we ought never, without good cause, to indicate suspicions. We want the art, and it is one of the last and most difficult of the intellectual arts to be acquired, of sus- pending judgment. We must be able to look at a case of alledged sickness and suffering, and to take effectual, though cautious measures for its relief, while all the time we keep it a question whether the suffering be real or not. We do not suppose it to be pretended, nor do we believe it to be real. We have no evidence on one side or the other, and we act very cautiously and prudently, though kindly, until we have valid ground for a decision. 2. Be still and delicate and gentle in all your intercourse with the sick. In fact, the same principle in this respect applies to moral and physical treatment. That attendant will do most toward promoting recovery, who can carry the required measures into the most regular and complete effect, and yet in the easiest and gentlest manner, the one who can open and shut the door most quietly, and manage so as to have occasion least frequently to do it at all ; the one who can replenish the fire so as least to attract the patient's at- tention, and give the fewest directions in his hearing, and 264 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Stillness and gentleness. have the medicine or the drink at his lips at the proper time, with the least bustle of preparation ; the one who walks softly, whose tones are gentle, whose touch is delicate, and whose countenance exhibits an expression of cheerful repose. Such an one is most successful in soothing and quieting the sensitive susceptibilities of acute disease, and facilitating the sanative influences which medical skill, conjoined with the spontaneous efforts of nature, have diffused through the frame. " iifc THE SICK-CHAMBER. Now it is not the sensorium merely that must be defended against the rude and rough approaches which it could safely sustain in health. The organs of the mind are as sensitive as the optic or the auditory nerves. This is shown by the fact that all the stillness and gentleness of the attendant must be easy and natural, or it is unavailing. Evident and labori- ous effort to walk on tiptoe, or to renew the fuel in the grate THE SICK. 265 Honesty. Manoeuvring. A case of it in silence, or to suppress the directions which it is plain are given, will disturb the mind of the patient even more perhaps than the sounds which they avoid would disturb the ear. Now we may learn from these unquestionable facts, a lesson in regard to the whole manner in which we are to approach the sick with the moral influences which we attempt to bring before them. We must remember that even the moral powers upon which we propose to act are in a state of mor- bid sensitiveness ; at least that the corporeal and mental faculties through which we propose to reach them are so. Even the moral powers themselves may be morbidly sensi- tive, while yet they may be in a state, as we have before maintained, altogether unfavorable to receiving any perma- nently salutary impression. We must therefore be most gentle, and delicate, and tender, both in respect to the aspects in which we bring religious truth before the patient, and in the tone and manner in which we present it. And we must be thus delicate and gentle, without the parade of an effort to be so. 3. Be frank and open with the sick. Gentleness and delicacy must never be allowed to degenerate into indirect- ness and artifice. Be open and frank, and honest in all that you do. This is the only safe principle, in fact, in all modes of religious influence. If you desire to pursue a course which shall do the least good, and give the greatest offense, your wisest way is to adopt a system of manoeuvring and hints and inuendoes. When we attempt to convey secret reproof or instruction, by the language of indirectness flt in- sinuation, in order to save offense, we lose our labor, if we are not understood, and we give offense in the most awkward and unpleasant manner possible, if we are. For example a man has lived an irregular life, sheltered by his belief that there is to be no future judgment. He is taken sick ; he feels uneasy, and consents that his wife should M 266 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. The conversation. The prayer. Effect?. send for you. Now we will suppose that you think it best to gain access to him by stratagem. A very common plan would be something like this. You find in your little pocket Bible some strong and decided passage which asserts a future retribution, and put a mark in it at the place. Perhaps you adroitly adjust the mark so that it protrudes but a little from the lower edges of the leaves, so as to be observable only by your own eye. Thus provided, you make your appearance at his bedside, and after a little preliminary conversation, you propose to read to him a few verses from the Bible, and open, as if by accident, to the chapter which you have privately selected with reference to his own case. You make a few remarks on other verses of it, but read very distinctly the passage which you are most desirous that he should hear. Then you kneel to offer prayer, and, perhaps, to carry out your strata- gem, you use expressions which are aimed all the time against his errors, while you profess to be offering supplications to God. After some farther conversation, in which you cau- tiously abstain from all direct allusion to what has been, during the whole time, uppermost in your mind, you leave your patient, thinking that you have managed the delicate case very adroitly. But what now has probably been the effect on the mind of your patient 1 Probably his thoughts have been occupied all the time with the question, whether your selection of that chapter was accidental or designed, and his speculations upon this -have diverted his mind from every serious reflection ; if indeed he has not seen entirely through your thin disguise, and is not secretly hurt and displeased at your pursuing a policy of artifice and reserve which chills and discourages and distresses him. The truth is, this spiritual chicanery does not do. Management, artifice, manoeuver is always dan- gerous, whether between Christian and sinner, teacher and THE SICK. 267 Plain dealing safer. Frankness. Privileged persons. pupil, parent and child, or friend and friend. The chance that any person will understand a hint or covert allusion so far as to take its force, and yet stop short of perceiving that it was intended, is very small. So that such mo4es of* accomplishing the object, greatly diminish the hope of doing good, and vastly increase the probability of doing in- jury. On the other hand, frank and open-hearted honesty and plain-dealing, scarcely ever give offense, provided that they are under the control of real benevolence, and are not dic- tatorial and assuming. In the case of the sick man last described, how much more easily and pleasantly, both to yourself and to him, would you gain access to his heart, by saying at once, with a tone of frank and cheerful kindness, " I have understood, sir, that you have not been accustomed to believe in a state of future retribution ;" and then leading the conversation directly and openly to the point which both you and he have most prominently in view. You thus open at once a plain and honest understanding with him. He feels that he is treated frankly and openly, and if you take the friendly, unassuming attitude before him, which man ought always to take with his fellow-man, you will find that whether you succeed or fail in bringing him to receive the truth, you will not fail in securing his respect and attach- ment. In fact, plain, honest, open-hearted men are noted for giving no offense, even to a proverb. They are called privileged persons ; so much are they allowed to say without awakening resentment. But this their freedom is not by any means their own personal prerogative ; it is the universal privilege of frankness, honesty, and unaffected good- will, all the world over. 4. While we are plain and direct in dealing with the sick, we must remember their weakness, and not exhaust 268 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Quiet for the sick. them by such a course as shall force them to active effort in our intercourse with them. So far as intercourse with us is concerned, the more passive we leave them, the better. Every exertion, mental or bodily, fatigues them. Forming a mental conclusion on the most simple point, is often a bur- den. If the question is only whether you shall bring them one beverage or another, to moisten their parched lips, both being upon the table, they would rather generally that you would decide, than put the question to them. The act of considering, fatigues, the simplest question rouses them from the state of repose ; and framing an answer to any inquiry requires an effort which it is better to save them. Thus even the visit of a friend, who barely comes to the bedside, and speaks scarcely a word, produces restlessness which is slow to subside again. The simple presence of the stranger disturbs, and imposes a feeling of restraint and a necessity of attention ; a sort of feeling that something ought to be said, while yet the patient has nothing to say Even to look at a sick child, makes him restless in his cradle. And yet that same sick child would perhaps enjoy your visit if you would pay no apparent attention to him, but sit and talk a short time with his mother. In that case his mind follows on easily and gently in the train of your narra- tive or dialogue, without being aroused to the necessity of actively participating in it. The mind loves, under the feebleness of disease, to be passive and still. It often enjoys a gentle action exerted upon it, while any thing that arouses it to any action in return, destroys its rest, and makes it suffer uneasiness and fatigue. Now there are many cases where these facts must be kept fully in view, in efforts to promote the spiritual benefit of the sick, and where we must avoid arousing them to the neces- sity of active intellectual effort. The direct question, the train of argument, interlocutory conversation which keeps THE SICK. 269 Real object to be accomplished. the mind of the patient intent to follow you and to frame his replies, all these fatigue and exhaust, if the bodily weak ness is extreme. And they are not necessary, as will be seen at once, if we consider what the nature of the change is which we wish to effect. Whatever may be the character of the patient, it is a moral change, not an intellectual one, which we desire to produce. We do not wish to cultivate his intellect, to carry him forward in theology, or to try his strength in an argument. We wish simply to produce a change of action in the moral movements of his soul. We wish that those affections which now vibrate in unison with the world and sin, should change their character into a unison with holiness and love. It is indeed evident that the truth is the only means of promoting this change ; or rather, that a degree of truth must be admitted by the mind or there can be no hope. But then in a vast majority of cases this truth is known and admitted beforehand. In fact, far less is necessary to make the way of penitence and faith plain and open before the feet of the sinner, than is generally supposed. Besides, it is not so much the truth, in the shape of prop- ositions which are to be maintained by argument, and received as theological theorems forced upon the mind by the severity of the logic which sustains them, which is the means of conversion. It is truth, as a view, a moral pic- ture, formed by the spiritual conception, and contemplated in all its beauty and loveliness ; it is this that touches the heart, and is the means of awakening new spiritual life in the soul. It is such truth as is presented to the mind, not proved to it. Instead, therefore, of a labored argument, or a formal exhortation to the sufferer, on the duty of submitting to God, an address to which he only listens with painful, wearisome effort, and which only leaves him restless and uneasy when 270 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Truth to be presented quietly. you fipish it, because he has nothing to reply, you take from your pocket a little hymn-book, and say to him, " I must not talk with you. I know you are too feeble to talk, but I will read to you a few verses of a hymn, and then bid you good-bye." You then read as follows : " 'My times are in thy hand,' My God, I wish them there ; My life, my friends, my soul I leave Entirely to thy care. ' My times are in thy hand,' Whatever they may be, Pleasing or painful, dark or bright, As best may seem to thee. 1 My times are in thy hand,' Why should I doubt or fear I My Father's hand will never cause Hia child a needless tear." Now I am well aware that a cold, hardened lover of the world, interested in religious conversation only because he is alarmed at the approach of death, can not certainly be expected to yield himself at once with filial submission into the hands of his Maker, merely by hearing the language of submission used by another, even if the reading of it is pre- faced by words of kindness and sympathy on the part of his visitor. The change from dislike, and fear, and shrinking, in respect to God, to entire self-devotion, confidence and love, is altogether too great, and also altogether too far beyond all mere human instrumentality, for us to depend upon this. Yet still, no person who has observed human nature with attention can doubt that the state of mind produced by such circumstances as those here described, is most favorable for THE SICK. 271 A change of heart. The Savior. John Randolph. Remorse. the promotion of this change. Such a presentation of truth, furnishes the occasion on which new spiritual life is awaken- ed. The idea of filial submission, fairly and distinctly brought before the mind, takes a stronger hold upon the conscience than the most conclusive argument for submission. The latter calls the intellect mainly into action ; the former goes directly to the heart. We must remember that it is not alarm or agitation, or the giving up of theological errors, or perceiving new theo- logical truth, which can prepare the soul for death ; but a change of heart. This alarm or agitation, or this change of theological opinion, may often be, especially in cases of health, the antecedent step ; and the labors of the preacher may often be directed to the production of them. But they are only means to an end, and there are some peculiar rea- sons why, in sickness, the attempt to produce them should be avoided. In sickness the enemy is as it were disarmed. He lies defenseless and helpless in the hands of God, and our policy is to come to him in the gentlest manner possible, out of regard to his physical feebleness, and just lay before him the bread of life, in hopes that the Holy Spirit will dispose him to eat of it and live. I need scarcely say that the mercy of God in Jesus Christ, is the main truth to be thus presented to the mind of the sick or dying sinner. The need of a Savior is felt then, though it may have been denied and disbelieved before. John Randolph, when he gazed upon the word REMORSE, shown to him at his direction, upon his dying bed, and re- peated it with such an emphasis of suffering, and then turned to an atoning Savior for a refuge from the terrifying specter, acted as the representative of thousands. The soul, distress- ed, burdened, struggling in vain to escape its load by mere confession, finds a refuge in a Mediator, which it can not elsewhere find. "God so loved the world, that he gave hia 272 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. An atonement. The hymn. only begotten Son, that whosoever would believe in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" comes home like cool water to the thirsty soul. There is no substitute for it Nothing else will soothe and calm the troubled spirit under the anguish of bitter recollections of the past, and dark fore- bodings for the future. But even this cup of comfort and peace must be presented properly, or the presentation of it will be in vain. At least, it is far more likely to be received, if brought forward in accordance with the directions already given. You may, for instance, here, as before, simply read a few verses of a hymn, in the patient's hearing, thus : " Heart-broken, friendless, poor, cast down, Where shall the chief of sinners fly, Almighty Vengeance, from thy frown ? Eternal Justice, from thine eye ? Lo, through the gloom of guilty fears, My faith discerns a dawn of grace ; The Sun of Righteousness appears In Jesus' reconciling face. My suffering, slain, and risen Lord, In sore distress I turn to thee ; I claim acceptance in thy word ; Jesus, my Savior, ransom me. ' Prostrate before the mercy-seat, I dare not, if I would, despair ; None ever perished at thy feet, And I will lie forever there.' " Or you may read a narrative, or you may address direct conversation on the subject, or read and comment upon a passage of Scripture ; but in all that you do, keep con- stantly in mind the patient's weakness, and the state of hi a THE SICK. 273 Questioning the patient. disease, and do not go beyond his powers. This you will easily avoid, if you leave him as much as possible in a pas- sive state, so far as intercourse with you is concerned. Let him lie quiet and undisturbed, so that the whole physical and intellectual man may be as completely as possible in a state of repose, while you gain a gentle access directly to the soul, and hold up there those exhibitions of truth which may awaken the moral powers to new spiritual life. 6. Never attempt to ascertain the effect of your instruc- tions to the sick. Do what you can, but leave the result to be unfolded at a future day. The reasons for this direction, are two. First, you can not ascertain if you try, and secondly, you will generally do injury by the attempt. First, you can not ascertain if you try. The indications of piety, and also of impenitence, upon a sick-bed, are both exceedingly delusive. So much depends upon character, temperament, constitution, habits of expression, and other individual peculiarities, that the most dissimilar appearances may be exhibited in cases where the spiritual state is sub- stantially the same. In one case, the heart is really changed, but the subject of the change dares not believe it, and still less dares he express any hope of it ; and his darkness and despondency would be mistaken, almost universally, for com- tinued impenitence and insubmission. Another, deceived by the illusions which we have already explained, finds a false peace, which, the more baseless it is, the more confidently he expresses it ; and Christians very rarely question the sincerity of professions, unless they are compelled to do it by gross in- consistency of conduct. These difficulties exist, it is true, in other cases besides those of sickness, and they should teach us to be less eager to ascertain the immediate results of our efforts than we usu- ally are ; and less credulous in trusting to them. But they apply with tenfold force to sickness, whether it be in the suf- M* 274 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Difficulty of judging. ferings of acute disease, or in the slow lingerings of decline. The world is shut out, and the ordinary test, the only safe one, the fruit, is here excluded. Then, secondly, we do injury hy endeavoring to ascertain what effects are produced. We harass and fatigue the pa- tient by pressing him to give MS an answer to the claims which we present to him. If we lay truth and duty before him, and, as it were, leave it there, his health will suffer far less, than if we follow it with a sort of inquisition into its effects. To bear an examination is very hard work, when the subject is strong and well, it is exhausting and irritating, to the last degree, in sickness, especially when the patient would hardly know how to express his feelings, even if they were distinctly developed and mature, and he is, in fact, only beginning to experience new states of mind which he scarcely understands himself, and certainly can not de- scribe. It is far better, therefore, both for ourselves, and for the soul which we wish to save, that we should not make much effort to remove the vail which hangs over its future condi- tion. We shall go on with our work in a more humble manner, and in a better spirit, if we feel that the duty only is ours, and the result of it, God's ; and the sinner who has postponed repentance till summoned to his sick-chamber, will be most sure of being safe at last, if he does not think him- self safe too soon. Some degree of uncertainty in respect to the genuineness of a change which has been produced under such circumstances, will be the best for him whether he is to live or die. 7. Do not confidently expect much good effect. This, however, ought not to be said in an unqualified manner, for in all our efforts, a degree of expectation and hope is justly warranted, both by the word of God and by common obser- vation, and this degree we ought to entertain as a means THE SICK. 275 Faint hope of success. The sick Christian. of enabling us to work with ease and pleasure, and with a prospect of success. But in our intercourse with the sick, we must not so depend upon leading them to repentance at the late hour to which they have postponed their duty, as to be disappointed and discouraged if we see no decided evidence of a change. Preparation for death in sickness is made far less frequently than is generally supposed. It is surprising that it is ever made at all. But the faintest hope that an immortal soul may be saved, justifies the most earnest efforts and the most heartfelt prayer. This effort must by all means be made, but it would be well for mankind if they could, by any means, be undeceived about the nature of the spiritual influences which will surround them in their dying hours. In each particular instance that occurs, our sympathy with sur- viving friends leads us to hope against hope, and to encourage expectations which do not indeed affect the dead, but which raise a false light to lure and destroy the living. We ought to do all in our power to make known the melancholy truth, sad, but unquestionable, that when the last hours of life come, it is generally too late to make preparation, if it has been delayed, and too late even to finish it, if it has only been begun. It is too late, not because repentance would not even then be availing, but because it is the tendency of that last sad occasion, if it disturbs the stupor of sin at all, not to bring penitence, but only agitation, anxiety, and alarm. 8. The preceding heads have related chiefly to those whom the invasion of sickness, or the approach of death, has found unprepared. We are often, however, called to the bedside of the dying Christian, whose life has exhibited evidence of his reconciliation with God. Our duty with these, is to go on with them as far as we may, into the dark valley, to cheer, and sustain, and help them. God has himself prom- ised to be their stay and support, and the means which he uses to accomplish this promise, are often, to a great extent, 276 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. How decline. the kindness and sympathy of a Christian friend. These cases are, in some important respects, different from the pre- ceding. In those, the work of life has heen neglected, and is crowded into the last melancholy hours : in these, that work is done already, and nothing remains for the subject of it but to go through the last sickness and suffering to the home an- ticipated and provided for. In the other case, therefore, though there was need of the greatest delicacy and quiet in the mode of calling the patient's attention to what was to be done, there was yet a great deal to do. In the latter, we have only to smooth the path of the sufferer, and speak to him in tones of sympathy and affection, and walk along by his side. Whatever influence the degree of holiness which the Christian may have attained to during his life, may have upon his happiness and glory in eternity, we have very little evidence that any progress which he can make in a few days of severe sickness will materially affect it. Our wisest course, therefore, in such a case, is, to bring occasionally before the mind, as our interviews may give us opportunity, such pre- sentations of divine truth as may reawaken holy feeling, and cheer and sustain the heart. One of David's short and simple petitions, or a scriptural promise, or a verse or two of a hymn, not didactic, but expressive of feeling, or a few words in a gentle tone, so framed as not to admit of a reply, will be all, in many cases, that the patient can bear. I speak now of cases of somewhat severe disease. In these, if we have good evidence that the preparation for death is really made, we must, as much as possible leave the sufferer in repose. We must bring religious truth before the mind chiefly to strengthen and sustain it, and to keep there an assurance of the unfailing kindness and continued presence of the Savior, who has promised to love and to keep his children to the end. We err often in such cases, by endeavoring to draw from THE SICK. 277 Expressions of piety by the rick. the dying Christian, the assurances of his unwavering hope, or his last testimony to the reality of religion. We do this partly to procure subjects of pleasant recollection for friends, and partly to furnish new and corroborating evidence to the truth of Christianity. But it is wrong to make any such efforts. We may safely listen to and receive whatever the patient may spontaneously say ; in fact, some of the most striking and most powerful evidences of the power of re- ligion have been furnished by the testimony which has been recorded from the lips of the dying. But if it is extorted, or even drawn out though in the most delicate manner, it is of little worth. Besides, it is sometimes even cruel to attempt to do this. It is painful and fatiguing in the extreme for the patient to be examined, or to be drawn into a conversation so con- ducted as to have all the inquisitorial effects of an exami- nation. Then the results, in such a case, are no safe cri- terion. The mind is so extensively and mysteriously affected by the complicated influences of disease, and nervous exhila- ration or depression will so mingle with, and modify the re- ligious feelings and hopes, that the language and expressions of sickness can be, in many cases, only faintly relied upon as real evidences of the spiritual state. In cases of long-continued and lingering disease, a greater latitude of religious conversation and intercourse with a Christian patient, may be allowed than would be useful in a rapid and fatal disorder. In fact, in such a case, the patient may, in the course of several months of slow decline, make a very considerable progress in piety ; and the Christian visitor may have such a progress in mind, and act with special ref- erence to it in all his intercourse. In this case, however, there is one great danger ; especially where the subject is young. The visitor insensibly allows the object before his mind to change from a simple desire to promote the spiritual 278 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Professions. Authority of physician. progress of his charge, into a desire to gratify himself with the indications of this progress. His conversations gradually assume a tendency to elicit expressions of piety, rather than to promote the silent progress of piety within. The conse- quence is, that after a time, some action or expression on the part of the patient betrays lurking vanity or spiritual pride, which astonishes and grieves his visitor, and he opens his eyes to the sad fact, that he has been all the time cherishing affectation and love of display. I do not mean that it has been all affectation and love of display. These feelings have insensibly and slowly mingled with, and poisoned the piety which existed at first, and it is these which the deceived visitor has been, with far different intentions, steadily de- veloping. As the human heart is, we can not be too cautious, in all cases and under all circumstances, how we encourage or appear to be pleased with professions of any sort. The step is so short and so easily taken, from a profession springing spontaneously and honestly out of the feeling it represents, to a profession arising from a self-complacency in the credit of that feeling, that the latter comes very readily after the former. And this consideration mingles with those others which have been already adduced, to urge us to be content when we have faithfully endeavored to do the good, without being too solicitous to ascertain exactly whether the good is done. 9. We close this series of directions with one which might very properly have been placed at the commencement of it. In all our intercourse with the sick, we must acknowledge and submit to the authority of the physician and the friends, in respect to the extent to which we may go in regard to a spiritual influence upon them. We ought not to violate by stealth or otherwise, the wishes of those upon whom Provi- dence has placed the responsibility, and to whom he has THE SICK. 279 Limits and restrictions. given the control. I will not say that there may not be some rare exceptions, but certainly no one can doubt that where parental authority, in a case fairly within parental jurisdiction, or the orders of a physician who has the respon- sibility of life and death resting upon him, rise up like a wall in our way, there Providence does not intend that we shall go. Whatever good we might fancy that we could do by violating these sacred powers, we have no right to violate them. In fact we should do no good to violate them, for we should create a suspicion and jealousy which would close many more doors than we should thus unjustifiably open. It is well for the spiritual friend of the patient to have an under- standing with the physician, and obtain some knowledge of the nature of the disease, especially in respect to its influence upon the mind ; and then endeavor to fall in with the plan of cure pursued, at least to do nothing to interfere with, or thwart it. We are bound to do this, even in a religious point of view, for the hope of salvation in the case of a sick sinner, lies generally more in a hope of recovery, than in any reasonable expectation of benefit from spiritual instructions given upon a dying bed. Besides, God has surrounded us in every direction, in this world, with limits and' restrictions in our efforts to do good. We must keep ourselves fairly within these limits. What we can not do without trespassing be- yond them, we must be willing to leave undone. Thus, in order to accomplish our benevolent plans, we must never violate the rights of conscience, or of property, or invade the just and proper liberty to which every man has an inde- feasible title, or be guilty of artifice or of unworthy subter- fuge, or infringe upon any sacred relations which God has established, and which he justly requires us to respect. We must go forward to our work, not so anxious to effect our object, as to do any thing in any degree wrong in the attempt to effect it. We must conform most strictly and invariably 280 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Conclusion. to all those principles which we are endeavoring to promote, and never transgress them ourselves, in our eagerness to extend them to others. In a word, we must be upright, pure, honest, open and incorruptible in all we do. What we can not effect in this way, we must suppose that God does not intend that we shall effect at all, always remem- bering that a pure and an unspotted example of piety, is more efficacious in promoting the spread of the gospel, than any measures whatever which we have to carry into effect by the sacrifice of principle. CHILDREN. 281 A supposition. The infanta. CHAPTER IX. CHILDREN. "Ills not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should perish." SUPPOSE that a hundred healthy infants, each a few weeks old, were taken from the city of Constantinople, and arranged under the care of nurses, in a suite of apart- ments, in some public hospital. In an adjoining range of rooms, let another hundred, taken from the most virtuous families in Scotland, be placed. Take another hundred from the haunts of smugglers, or of the pirates which infest the West India Seas ; another from the high nobility of the families of England, and another from the lowest and most degraded haunts of vice, in the faubourg St. Antoine, in Paris. Now, if such an infantile representation were made, of some of the most marked and most dissimilar of the classes, into which the Caucasian race has been divided by the progress of time, and the doors of the various apart- ment thrown open, the question is, whether the most minute and thorough scrutiny could distinguish between the classes, and assign each to its origin. They are to be under one common system of arrangement and attendance, and we have supposed all the subjects to be healthy, in order to cut off grounds of distinction, which an intelligent physician might observe in hereditary tendencies to disease. Under these circumstances, if the several collections be sub- jected to the most thorough examination, would any inge- 282 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Effect of education. nuity or science be able to establish a distinction between them ? Probably not. There would be the same forms and the same color ; the same instincts, the same cries. The cradles which would lull the inmates of one apartment to repose, would be equally lulling to the others, and the same bright objects, or distinct sounds, which would awaken the senses, and give the first gentle stimulus to mind, in one case, would do the same in all. Thus inspection alone of these specimens would not enable us to label them ; and if they were to remain for months, or even for years under our care, for concealed and embryo differences to be developed, we should probably wait in vain. But, instead of thus waiting, let us suppose that the five hundred children are dismissed, each to its mother and its home, and that they all pass through the years of childhood and youth, exposed to the various influences which surround them in the dwellings and neighborhoods to which they respectively belong ; among the bazars and mosques of the Turkish city, or the glens and hillsides of Scotland, or in the home of noise and violence, whether forecastle or hut, of the bucaniers, or in the nurseries and drawing-rooms of Grosvenor Square, or the dark crowded alleys of the Parisian faubourg. Distribute them thus to the places to which they respectively belong, and leave them there, till the lapse of time has brought them to maturity ; then bring them all together, for examination again. How widely will they be found to have separated now ! Though they commenced life alike and together, their paths began at once to diverge, and now, when we compare them, how totally dissimilar. Contrast the Turk with the Scot, the hardened pirate, with the effeminate nobleman. Examine their characters thoroughly, their feelings, their opinions, their principles of conduct, their plans of life, their pursuits, their hopes, their fears. Almost every thing is dissimilar CHILDREN. 283 Education of circumstances. There is, indeed, a common humanity in all, but every thing not essential to the very nature of man is changed ; and characters are formed, so totally dissimilar, that we might almost doubt the identity of the species. There is another thing to be observed, too, that every individual of each class, with scarcely a single exception, goes with his class, and forms a character true to the influ- ences which have operated upon him in his own home. You will look in vain for a single example of luxurious effemi- nacy among the pirates' sons, or of virtuous principle among children brought up in a community of thieves. You can find cases enough of this kind, it is true, in works of fiction, but few in real life ; and those few are not real exceptions. They are accounted for by the mixed influences, which, on account of some peculiar circumstances, bear upon some in- dividuals, and modify the character which they might have been expected to form. The Turkish children are all Turks, unless there may be one here and there, among a million, whose course may have been deflected a little by some ex- traordinary circumstances in his history. So the Parisian children all become Frenchmen in their feelings and opinions, and principles of action ; the children of nobles all become aristocratic ; and those who in London or Paris find their homes in the crowded quarters of vice, if they are brought up thieves and beggars, thieves and beggars they will live. And yet it is not education, in the common sense of that term, which produces these effects upon human character ; that is, they are not produced by the influence of formal efforts, on the part of parents and friends, to instruct the young, and to train them up to walk in their own footsteps. In respect to the acquisition of knowledge, and of accom- plishments, great effort would be made to give formal in- struction by some of the classes enumerated above ; but in regard to almost all that relates to the formation of character, 284 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Instructions not exclusively for parents. principles of action, the sentiments and the feelings, the work is done by the thousand nameless influences' which surround every child, and which constitute the moral atmos- phere in which he spends his youthful years. Now this kind of moral atmosphere, which is so effectual in determining the character which the children who grow up in the midst of it form, every one does a great deal to produce, altogether more than he would at first suppose possible. So that our influence upon the young, is an ex- ceedingly important department of our opportunity for doing good. In fact, God has assigned us a double duty to perform, while we remain here. First, to use the world well, while we continue in it ; and, secondly, to prepare a generation to receive the trust, when we shall pass away from the scene. We are not only to occupy well ourselves, but to train up and qualify our successors. Now the reader may perhaps think that these remarks, and what remains in this chapter, on the subject of the young, must be intended principally for parents. Far from it ; for there are many relations in life which give us a very free access to the young, and an influence over them as an inevitable result. One person is a parent, and consequently exercises a very controlling influence over the whole char- acter and future prospects of his children. Another is a brother or sister, and enjoys opportunities of influence, almost as great as those of a father or mother. Another, who lives, perhaps, in a family where there are no children, is intimate in the families of neighbors or friends, and is thus thrown into frequent intercourse for years, with cousins and nephews and nieces, who are all the time catching his spirit and im- bibing his principles. Uncle and aunt in such a case are very apt to imagine that they have nothing to do but to keep in the good graces of their little relatives by an occasional picture-book or sugar toy. They forget the vast effects CHILDREN. 285 Influence of relatives. The worsted pocket book. which ten years of almost constant and yet unguarded inter- course must have, and still more, the very powerful influ- ence which it might have, in giving a right moral turn to the sentiments and the feelings, and the whole cast of char- acter, if the opportunity were properly improved. In fact, if we look back to our own early days, we shall remember in how many instances our opinions and sentiments and feel- ings, and perhaps our whole cast of character, received a turn from the influence of an uncle, or an aunt, or a neigh- bor. In my father's family there was an antique pocket- book, of party-colored worsted, the admiration of our childish eyes, which contained a collection of the college composi- tions, and journals, and letters, of an amiable uncle, who died so early that his nephews could never know him, except through these remains. And many a rainy day, and many a winter evening, was this pocket-book explored, as a mine of instruction and enjoyment. Moral principle was awakened and cultivated by the sentiments of an essay, and literary interest or ambition aroused by the spirit of a forensic discus- sion, or by the various memorials of a college life ; and feel- ings of kindness and good- will were cherished by the amiable and gentle spirit which were breathed in the letters or the journal. The whole undoubtedly exerted a vast influence, in giving form to the character and sentiments of the boys who had access to it ; and yet how vastly greater would have been the influence of a constant intercourse with the living man. Or, if the reader has neither of the above means of influ- ence, he is or may be, perhaps, a Sabbath-school teacher, or he may have boys in his employment, or he may, in his business, have frequent intercourse with many whtf come to him as messengers, or who stand by, unnoticed but very attentive listeners to his directions or conversation. We thus, in a thousand other ways, have a connection with the 286 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Plan of the chapter. Characteristics of childhood. young, which, though we may consider it slight, yet exerts a powerful influence in impressing our own characters upon the plastic material which it reaches. Hence, all who wish to do good should understand something of the character and susceptibilities of children, and make it a part of their con- stant care to exert as happy and as salutary an influence upon them, as they can. I proceed to give some practical directions by which this must be done. They are not intend- ed particularly for parents, but for all who have any inter- course with the young. They who have made this subject a particular subject of reflection, will find nothing new in these suggestions. The principles here advanced are those which common sense, and the results of common observation establish ; they are presented here, not as new discoveries, but as old and obvious truths, to be kept in mind by those who would accomplish the most extensive and the most unmixed good, in this part of the widely extended vineyard of God. The plan of discussion which we shall pursue will be, I. To consider some of the prominent characteristics of childhood, in accordance with which, an influence over the young, can alone be secured. II. Deduce from them some general rules. I. PROMINENT CHARACTERISTICS OP CHILDHOOD. To understand the course which must be taken, in order to secure an influence over children, we must first understand the leading principles and characteristics of childhood, for it is these which we are to act upon. In a summary ex- pression of them, we may say that to exercise upon every object their dawning faculties, both of body and mind, to learn all that they can about the world into which they are ushered, presenting, as it does, so strange and imposing a spectacle to their senses, to love those who sympathize with CHILDREN. 287 Case. Sensation of whiteness. and aid them in these objects, and to catch the spirit, and imitate the actions of those whom they thus love, these, we should say, are the great leading principles, hy which the moral and intellectual nature of childhood is governed. These we shall consider in detail. 1. To exercise their opening faculties. The infant's first pleasure of this kind is the employment of the senses, beginning with gazing at the fire, .or listening with quiet pleasure to the sound of his mother's voice sing- ing in his ear. While the little being just ushered into ex- istence, lies still in his cradle, gazing upon the wall, or with his chin upon his nurse's shoulder, listens almost breathlessly to the song which is lulling him to sleep, how often does the mother say, " I should like to know exactly what he is think- ing of, what state of mind he is in." It is not very difficult, probably, to tell. Imagine yourself in his situation ; look up upon the white wall, and banish all thought and reflec- tion, as far as you can, or rather conceive of yourself as having done it entirely, so as in imagination to arrest all operations of the mind, and retain nothing but vision. Let the light come in to the eye, and produce the sensation of whiteness, and nothing more. Let it awaken no thought, no reflection, no inquiry. Imagine yourself never to have seen any white before, so as to make the impression a novel one, and also imagine yourself never to have seen any thing, or heard any thing, before, so as to cut off all ground for wonder or surprise. In a word, conceive of a mind, in the state of simple sensation, with none of those thousand feel- ings and thoughts, which sensation awakens in the spirit that is mature, and you have probably the exact state of the infan- tile intellect, when the first avenues are opened by which the external world is brought to act upon its embryo mind. Can it be surprising, then, under such circumstances, that even mere sensation should be pleaaure ? 288 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Mental processes. Pleasure ol action. As the child advances through the first months of exist- ence, the mental pajt of the processes which the sensations awaken are more and more developed ; for we are not to consider the powers of mind as called at once into existence, complete and independent at the beginning, and then joined to the corporeal frame, but as gradually developed in the progress of years, and that too, in a great measure, through the instrumentality of the senses. After some months have passed away, the impressions from without penetrate, as it were, farther within, and awaken new susceptibilities which gradually develop themselves. Now each new faculty is a new possession, and the simple exercise of it, without end or aim, is and must be a great positive pleasure. First comes the power to walk. We are always sur- prised at seeing how much delight the child, when he first finds that he has strength and steadiness to go upright across the room, expe- riences in going across again and again from table to table, and from chair to sofa, as long as his strength remains. But why should we be surprised at it ? Sup- pose the inhabitants of any town should find themselves suddenly possessed of the power of flying ; we should find them for hours and days filling the air flitting from tree to tree, and from house top to steeple, with no end or aim but the pleasure enjoyed in the FIRST STEPS. CHILDREN. 289 Understanding language. Stories. simple exercise of a new power. The crowds which press to the ticket-office of a new railroad, or the multitudes of delighted citizens brought out by an unexpected fall of snow in a warm climate, jingling about in every sort of vehicle that can be made to slide, show that man has not outgrown the principle. Now this love of the exercise of the new power is obvious enough in the cases which I have referred to, as seeing, hear- ing, walking, and in many other cases, as using the limbs, pro- ducing sounds by striking hard bodies, breaking, upsetting, piling up blocks, or dragging about footstools and chairs. It is precisely the same feeling which would lead a man to go about uprooting trees, or breaking enormous rocks, if he should suddenly find himself endued with the power of doing so. It is obvious enough in these common physical operations, but we forget how many thousand mental processes there are, and others complicated, partly mental and partly physical, which possess the same charm in their incipient exercise, and which, in fact, make up a large portion of the occupations and enjoyments of childhood. One of the earliest examples of a mental process, or rathei power, which the child is always pleased to exercise, is un~ derstanding language, or, to describe it more accurately, the susceptibility of having pleasant images awakened in the mind, by means of the magical power of certain sounds strik- ing upon the ear. There are thousands who have observed the indications of this pleasure, who do not understand the nature and sound of it. Every mother, for example, observes that children love to be talked to, long before they can talk themselves ; and they imagine that what pleases the listener is his interest in the particular thing said, whereas, it is probably only his interest in finding himself possessed of the new and strange power of understanding sounds. The mother says, "Where's father?" ""Where's father ?" and N 290 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Stories for children. imagines that the child is pleased with the inquiry, whereas it is only pleased that that sound, " Father," striking upon its ear, can produce so strange an effect, as to call up to its conception a faint mental image of the man. It is this magic power of a word to produce a new and pecu- liar mental state, which is probably the source of pleasure. Hence the interest which the little auditor will take, will not be in proportion to the connection, or the point, of the story ; but to the frequency of the words contained in it which call up familiar and vivid ideas. Thus a talk like this. " Fire, fire ; pussy runs ; tongs, tongs fall down ; walk, run ; Mary walk, Mary run," will be listened to by the child, who is just learning to listen to language, with as much pleasure as the most connected or pointed little story. It is not, there- fore, what is understood, but the mere power of understand- ing, the first development of a new mental faculty, which pleases the possessor. The reader may, perhaps, think at first that this is rather a dim distinction. That it is, however, in reality, a broad and important one may be made obvious, thus. Suppose we should suddenly become possessed of the power of understand- ing the language of signs, used by the deaf and dumb, and should meet a mute, and observe him talking to his com- panion. How much interest we should take in watching his gesticulations, simply from the pleasure which the first exer- cise of the new power of understanding their meaning would give. It would be of no consequence what was the subject of the conversation. We should take as great an interest in the most common questions and replies, as in the most inter- esting narrative ; for the source of our enjoyment would not be our interest in what was said, but the pleasure of first enjoying the power of understanding this new mode of saying it. So the very little child is pleased, not with the point or connectedness of your story, but by the strange production in CHILDREN. 291 Source of pleasure. Love of employment. An offer and the choice. his mind of conceptions and images, by the magic influ- ence of sounds, conceptions and images, which heretofore have only been produced by the actual presence of their prototypes. This is one of the simplest cases of the pleasure arising from the first exercise of a mental power. There are a thousand others which come forth, one after another, all through the years of childhood and youth, and keep the young mind supplied with new, and still new sources of en- joyment. The amusements of children almost all derive their charm from their calling into exercise these dawning powers, and enabling them to realize their possession. Dig- ging in the ground, making little gardens, dressing, and undressing, and disciplining a doll, playing store, and meet- ing, and company, and soldier, and a thousand other such things, call into play the memory, the imagination, the use of the limbs and senses, and thus exercise all the powers which have not yet lost their novelty. In fact, these powers are so rapidly progressive that they are always new. This love of action now, this pleasure in trying the new powers is among the strongest of the propensities of childhood. It is certainly stronger than the appetites. At least my ob- servation has led me to think so, and to put the question to the test, in one case, I have addressed a boy, five years old, and at least as great a lover of sugar and of sugar dogs as other boys of his years, who has come into my study while I am penning these remarks, thus : " Suppose, now, I should tell you that you might either have four large lumps of sugar, or go and get some sticks and paper, and help me make my fire ; which should you rather do ?" " Why, I think I had rather help you make the fire." 1 Well, suppose I should tell you that I was going to cut some paper into small pieces, and do up a little of my black 292 THE WAY TO DO GOOD Another offer. Counting. An experiment. sand in each piece ; and that you might have your choice, either to sit up to the table and help me, or have a large piece of apple pie, or three sugar dogs, and one handsome sugar rabbit ?" The countenance of the child showed for an instant that it was a very serious question, but he said, " I should rather help do up the sand, if there are scis- sors enough," glancing an eye at the single pair of slender paper shears which lay upon the table. I have no doubt that a vast majority of children, from three to five years of age, would answer similar questions in a similar manner. What time and money are spent in sweet- meats and expensive toys, to win an access for the donors to children's hearts, or to make them happy, while all the time the path to childish affection and enjoyment lies in so totally different a direction ! In fact the charm of a toy, for children, consists generally much more in what they can do with it, than in the thing itself, however curious and beautiful it may be. Any one who will make childhood a study, by observing its peculiarities, and making experiments upon its feelings and tendencies, will find innumerable examples of the grati- fication that children derive from the mere exercise of their nascent powers without end or aim. There is enumeration, for example, the power of conceiving of numbers, and of their relations to one another. You may try this experiment upon it ; take a young child, from three to four years of age, just old enough to begin to count, and sit up with him to a table with ten wafers, or kernels of corn, or coffee, before you. Let him look at the objects, until his interest in them simply as objects is satisfied, and then begin to count them and reckon them in various ways, so as gently to exercise his dawning powers of calculation. First count them all. Then CHILDREN 293 Steps minute and simple. count two of them, and two more, and then the whole four. Go on perhaps thus : " There is one, and there is another, that makes two ; now there is another. How many do two and anoth- er, counted together, make ? Let us see. One, two, three. They make three. Two things, and then an- other thing put with them, make three COUNTING. things. " Now we will put them in a row, and begin at this end and count them. It makes ten. Now we will hegin at the other end, and see if it makes the same. Yes, it makes ten. It is the same. If we count them from this end to that it makes ten, and if we count them from that end to this, it makes ten. Now we will begin in the middle," &c. I give this, in order to show how extremely short and simple are the steps which must be taken, in order to enable the child to follow, when the reckoning powers are just be- ginning to be formed. Such steps may be indefinitely varied, by a little ingenuity, while yet they keep the mind of the child all the time occupied with simply reckoning numbers, that is, exercising a power which he then, almost for the first time, finds that he possesses. In fact, he can hardly be said to have possessed it before. The exercise not merely calls them into play ; it almost calls them into being. Go on, then, with the work, for the purpose of seeing how long he 294 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Make work for children. Second principle. will continue to be interested. Unless at the time of the ex- periment some other object of excitement has possession of his mind, your patience will be exhausted, long before he will be ready to get down. Such examples are numberless. In fact, let an intelligent observer, when he sees children busily engaged in some scheme of amusement or occupation, pause a moment and look over them, and ask, " What now is the secret source of pleasure here ? What constitutes the charm ? What power of body or mind is it, the exercise of which gives the enjoy- ment ?" Such inquiries, and the analysis to which they lead, will give one a deep insight into the character and feelings of childhood, and the great springs of its action. He who would gain an ascendency over children must thus study them, and in his plans for amusing them he must aid them in this their leading desire. Make work for them, lay be- fore them objects and occupations which shall make them ac- quainted with their powers by calling these powers out into action ; being careful always to lead them to modes of ac- tion which will not interfere with the comforts or rights of others. No one can really understand children in this re- spect, and sympathize with them, and aid them, without finding their hearts bound soon to him by the strongest ties of gratitude and affection. But we must pass on to the other leading impulses of childhood as above enumerated 2. To learn all that they can about the world into which they find themselves ushered. Next to their desire to act, their strongest impulse is a de- sire to know. This, like the other, has been universally ob- served ; but, like the other, its true nature is not very exactly understood. It is not so much a desire to know what is re- markable or curious, as to know what is ; it is the interest of knotting, rather than an interest in the extraordinariness of what is known With them, the distinction between what CHILDREN. 295 More stories." Subjects for talk. Every thing new. is common and what is extraordinary is lost, or rather it has never been acquired. All things are new to them, and con- sequently if you tell them something, or explain to them something, it is of but little consequence what it is. " My child is continually asking for stories, more stories, until my powers of imagination or invention are exhausted, what shall I do?" This has been the exclamation a thou- sand times. It shows that the mother who makes it does not distinctly understand the nature of the intellectual want which she is called on to supply. The word " stories" means talk, or at least any talk about what is new will satisfy the appetite for stories. Set off, then, on any track, and talk. Suppose you could yourself meet a man who had been in the moon, and he should sit down and describe accurately and viv- idly what he saw there any day ; how he took a walk, and what objects he saw, and what incidents he met with : or suppose he should describe the interior of a room, any room whatever there, the furniture, the instruments, their uses and construction ; why, there would not be an hour of his resi- dence in the planet that would not afford abundant materials for a conversation to which we should listen with the deep- est interest and pleasure. Now we must remember that this world is all moon to children, and we can scarcely go amiss in describing it. There is no hour in your day, and no ob- ject that you see, which is not full of subjects of interest to them. For instance, suppose a child comes to his mother's side while she is sitting at her work, and asks for a story. The mother casts her eyes about her for a subject, and as my sand-box is the object that presents itself first to my attention, I will suppose it to be the one that arrests hers. " Come," she says, " I will tell you about my sand-box." She then shows it to him, unscrews the top, points out the various parts, and explains them. It is a little broader at the bottom than in 296 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. The sand-box. Talk about it. the middle, that it may stand steady, and at the top, that it may receive the sand more easily from the paper. She shows why there are many small holes, instead of one large one, what the sand is used for, how it adheres to the wet ink and not to the dry, why black, rather than white sand is used, and why the box is formed into a sort of basin at the top. And each one of these particulars is a subject of itself, as copious as the whole box which suggested them. The first, for instance, the broadness of the bottom, to secure steadiness of support, may lead to other similar cases ; the bottom of the lamp, or the inkstand, or a hundred other things similarly constructed, and the principles by which steadiness is given to chairs, tables, &c. by the position of the legs. In the same manner each of the other parts of the article is of itself an independent topic. A pin, a wafer, a key, a stick of wood, there is nothing which is not full of interest to children, if you will only be minute enough. Take a stick of wood. Tell how the tree it came from sprang up out of the ground, years ago ; how it grew every summer by the sap ; how this stick was first a little bud, next year a shoot, and by-and-by a strong branch ; how a bird perhaps built her nest on it ; how squirrels ran up and down, and ants crept over it ; how the woodman cut down the tree, &c. &c., expanding all the particulars into the most minute narrative. It is surprising that any mother can ever find herself at a loss for subjects of conversation with her child. All the explanations in these cases should be accom- panied by the exhibition of the article referred to, und by experiments with it. Such simple experiments and illustra- tions, relating to the most common occupations and occur- rences of life, will occupy the embryo powers of little chil- dren with as intense an interest as would be excited in CHILDREN. 297 A thousand subjects. T.l~ ".VLLOON. maturer minds by imposing philosophical spectacles, exhib- ited, with all the appliances of modern science, in the most splendid lecture-room. Every object, in fact, in the mother's parlor, may be made the subject of a lecture or a story, as the little auditors will consider it, for half an hour. And besides this whole class of subjects, that is, descrip- tions of the common things that the child sees, there is not a half-hour in any day, the history of which would not furnish a highly interesting narrative to a child. Take for instance your first half-hour in the morning ; describe how the room looked when you awoke, what you first thought of, how you proceeded in dressing, the little difficulties which you met with, and their remedies; what you first saw when you came down stairs, and what you did, when you N* 298 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Describe any thing to children. first met your little auditor, what you thought, and did, and said. The whole would naturally suggest and include much which would be new information to the child ; although this would not be the principal source of its interest. The pleas- ure which the hearer will derive from the discourse, is "the gratification of the mysterious appetite of the human mind for language. If you describe nothing which the child did not know before, he still enjoys the description. Our readers will not dispute this if they call to mind the fact that the most interesting passages they read in books, are graphic accounts of scenes or events which they have witnessed themselves. The charm of all good description consists in its presenting to the reader, in spirited, graphic language, that, with which, as a reality, he is most perfectly familiar. Hence it happens that if we take up a traveler's account of our country we turn first to read the description which he has given of our own town ; partly, perhaps, from curiosity to know his opinion of us, but still in a great degree for the simple pleasure of seeing, through the medium of language, that with which we are perfectly already familiar by the eye. Our object, then, in talking to children, is not to find things new and strange and wonderful. We have only to clothe in language such conceptions and truths as they can understand, without racking our invention to produce continual novelty. Conversation conducted thus, though at first view it might seem mere amusement, will be, in fact, very highly useful. The child will rapidly acquire familiarity with language by it, which, is one of the most important acquisitions he can make. Then you will insensibly say a great deal which will be new to your auditor, though it may seem commonplace to you ; and though you may not aim always at moral instruction, the narratives and descriptions which you give will spontaneously take from your own mind a moral expres- sion which will have great influence upon his. CHILDREN. The way to tell stories. A specimen. Subjects. Any half-hour of any day will furnish you, on the princi- ples above explained, with abundant materials for a long narrative. Any walk which you have taken, or piece of work which you have done, or any plan that you have in mind, if properly described, will abundantly feed and satisfy, for the time being, your child's desire to know ; for you must always remember it is not necessary that what you say should be particularly interesting to you, in order to interest him. Or, if you wish occasionally for something more strictly a story, set off at once with any hero, and in any direction ; you can not go amiss. " A boy once thought he would go out and take a walk, so he put on his hat, and took a little cane, and went down by a brook behind his father's house." Say so much without any idea of what you are going to say next, and give the reins to the imagination and follow on. Do not task your powers to find something new and strange ; every thing is new and strange to childhood. You may therefore save youself the trouble of research, and take what comes. Let your hero see something on a tree, and wonder what it is, and find that it is a knot, and then see some- thing else, and find it is a bird's nest, and make various efforts to get up to it. Let him meet other boys, and sit down on a log to rest, or find a spring of water and try various ways to drink, or throw little stones into a brook, the size and shape of each, the kind of place they fall into, and the various noises made by them, to be specified ; and when you are tired of talking, leave your hero in the woods, with the promise to finish the account of his adventures and his return, the next time. A walk in a village, an imaginary history of a man's bringing a load of wood to market, or an account of a boy's making a collection of playthings in a cabinet, what he had and how he arranged them ; or the common every-day 300 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Fiction. Conscientious scruples. A danger. adventures of a cat about house, now sleeping in the corner, now watching at a mouse's hole in the dark cellar, and now ascending on the house-top, and walking along on the edge of the roof, looking down to the boys in the yard below. I mention these, not to propose them, particularly, but to show how wide is the field, and how endless the number and the variety of the topics which are open before you. I ought to remark here, however, that the distinction between what is true, and what is only imaginary in its details, ought to be clearly explained to the child, and he ought to know when you are narrating real, and when fictitious incidents. Parents sometimes entertain some fears that there may be danger in narrating any thing to children which is not his- torically true, lest it should lead them first to undervalue strict truth, and finally to form the habit of falsehood. Their fears are not without some grounds, for it does re- quire careful watch and constant effort, in any case, to form and preserve a habit of veracity, in children. Whether you relate fictitious stories to them or not, you will often find propensities to deceit or falsehood in their hearts, which it will require all your moral power to withstand. We can not, therefore, avoid the danger of children's falling into the sin of falsehood. The only question is how we can most advan- tageously meet and overcome it. Now it seems to me that we can not most easily do it by confounding fictitious narration with falsehood, and con- demning both. For no one pretends that the narration of fictitious incidents, is, in itself, criminal. It is objected to only as having a tendency* to lead to what is criminal, the intention to deceive being essential to the guilt of falsehood. The question is, then, where, in attempting to guard children from falsehood, we can most advantageously take our stand. Shall we assume the position that all narration not his- torically true, is wrong ? or shall we show them that inten- CHILDREN. 301 Is fiction allowable at all? tion to deceive is the essence of the guilt of falsehood, and contend only against that. My own opinion is that it is easier and better, in every respect, to do the latter. If the distinction which you make with them, is between what is historically true on one side, and all that is imaginary on the other, they can get but a shadowy idea of its being reaDy a distinction between right and wrong. If, however, you bring them at once to the line between honesty and decep- tion, they can see easily and readily that you have brought them to the boundaries of guilt. In maintaining this dis- tinction you will have reason and conscience clearly assenting, and here, consequently, you can raise the strongest fortifica- tion against sin. On the other hand, if you extend your lines of defense so as to include what you admit is not wrong, but only supposed to be dangerous, you extend greatly your circle of defense, you increase the difficulty of drawing a line of demarcation, and, notwithstanding all you can do or say, your theory condemns the mode of instruction adopted by the Savior. We may, therefore, indulge the imagination freely in chil- dren, but we must raise an impassable wall on the first con- fines of intention to deceive, and guard it with the greatest vigilance and decision. I would, therefore, for example, if a little child should ask for a story, say, perhaps, " Shall I tell you something real or something imaginary ?" " What is ' imaginary ?' " " Why, if I should make up a story about a squirrel named Chipperee, that lived in the woods, and tell you what he did all day ; how he came out of his hole in the morning, and what he saw, and what he found to eat, and what other squirrels he met ; and about his going down to a little brook to drink, and carrying home nuts for the winter, &c. when 302 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Truo line to be drawn. all the time, there never was any such squirrel, but I made up the whole story, that would be imaginary." " But, father, that would not be true. Is it not wrong to say any thing that is not true ?" " No, it is not always wrong to say what is not strictly true. If I were to say any thing that was not true, in order to deceive you, that would be wrong. For example, if I had some bitter medicine to give you, and should cover it up with sugar, and tell you it was all sweet sugar, that would be to deceive you, and that would be wrong. But if I invent a story about a squirrel, just to amuse you, and teach you in a pleasanter way how squirrels ' live, when I tell you plainly, that it is not a true account of any particular squir rel, should you think that there would be any thing wrong in that ?" Thus it seems that in this case, as in most others, it will be easiest, safest, and most expedient, as well as most philo- sophical, to draw the line at the real point where wrong begins. Here only is there a tangible moral distinction which children can appreciate, and though the work of keeping them off the forbidden grounds of deception and falsehood will require, in any case, much effort and care, it seems as if this was the most proper place to take the stand. If, however, after mature reflection, any parents think differ- ently, and still consider all fiction dangerous, they ought undoubtedly to be controlled by their own conscientious convictions, and abstain from it altogether. We have mentioned three great classes of subjects which may supply mothers with means of conversation with their children so as to gratify their almost insatiable appetite for knowledge. We have gone thus fully into this part of the subject on account of the universality of the complaint on the part of those who have the care of young children, that they do not know what to tell them. The difficulty arises CHILDREN. 303 The senses the avenue. Example. from having a standard too high, striving after something new and striking, or possessing peculiar poetic or dramatic interest, and forgetting that every thing is new and striking to children ; and that consequently there is scarcely any thing which can be seen, or heard of, or conceived, which, properly expressed in language suited to their powers, will not possess a charm. But how shall it be expressed in proper language ? For having thus attempted to show to those interested in children what to tell them, we may perhaps devote a few paragraphs to considering the best way in which to tell it. (1.) Address the mind of the child through the senses, or through those faculties of the mind by which the impressions of the senses are recognized or recalled. In other words present every thing in such a way that it may convey vivid pictures to the mind. The senses are emphatically the great avenues to knowledge, in childhood, and it is consequently through them, or through images formed by means of them, that we can have the easiest access. I can best illustrate what I mean by contrasting two modes of telling the same story. " A man had a fine dog, and he was very fond of him. He used to take a great deal of care of him, and to give him all he wanted ; and in fact he did all he could to make him comfortable, so that he should enjoy a happy life. Thus he loved his dog very much, and took great pleasure in seeing him comfortable and happy." This now presents very few sensible images to the mind of the child. In the following form, the narrative would convey the same general ideas, but far more distinctly and vividly. - , " There was once a man who had a large, black and white 304 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Generalization and abstraction. dog beautifully spotted. He made a little house for him out in a sunny corner of the yard, and used to give him as much meat as he wanted. He would go and see him sometimes, and pat his head, while he was lying upon his straw in his little house. He loved his dog." No one at all acquainted with children need be told how much stronger an interest the latter style of narration would excite. And the difference is, in a philosophical point of view, that the former is expressed in abstract terms, which the mind comes to appreciate fully only after long habits of generalization ; in the latter the meaning comes through sensible images which the child can picture to himself with ease and pleasure, by means of those faculties of the mind, whatever they may be, by which the images presented by the senses are perceived at first, and afterward renewed through the magical stimulus of language. This is the key to one of the great secrets of interesting children, and of teaching the young generally. Approach their minds through the senses. Describe every thing as it presents itself to the eye and to the ear. A different course is, indeed, often wise ; as for example, when you wish to exercise and develop the power of generalization and abstraction, but generally, when your wish is merely to interest, or to convey knowl- edge ; that is, where you wish to gain the readiest and most complete access to the heart, these are the doors. You use others after a time, occasionally, for the sake mainly of having them opened and in use. The intelligent reader will be able to apply this rule to all the classes of subjects mentioned under the preceding head, and" will see at once how much additional interest may be thrown over the conversations and narratives described, by following this rule. We might well follow out the -prin- ciple, and illustrate the application of it to the various stages CHILDREN. 305 Minute details. An example. The boat. of childhood and youth, and the proper limits of it ; for ita limits must be observed, or else we shall make the pupil the helpless dependent upon his senses for life. There is how- ever little danger of passing these limits in early years. The great difficulty with instructions and addresses to childhood, and with the books written for them, is not want of sim- plicity, as is commonly supposed, but generality, abstract- ness, a mode of exhibiting a subject or a train of thought, which presents no distinct conceptions to a mind which is unaccustomed to any elements of thought which have not form or color. So that that which is precise, and striking, and clear to the mind of the speaker, is vague, and unde- fined, and inappreciable to the unformed minds to which it is addressed. Persons addressing children, or writing for them, in en- deavoring to adapt their mode and style of speaking to the capacity of their auditors, aim sometimes only at a simplifica- tion of their language. They use short and easy words, and affect great simplicity and childishness in the structure of their sentences. A great deal more, however, in such cases, depends upon the thought, and upon the aspects in which the thought is viewed, than upon the language. But we must pass on. (2.) Be exceedingly minute in the details of what you de- scribe. Take very short steps,, and take each one very dis- tinctly. If, for instance, you are narrating to a man, you may simply say, if such an incident occurs in the course of the narrative, that your hero " went down to the shore and got into a boat and pushed off." Your hearer has probably got into a boat often enough to understand it. But if you are talking to a child, he will be more interested if you say, " He went down to the shore and found a boat there. One end of the boat, the front part, which they call the bows, was up against the shore, a little in the sand. The other end was out on the water, and moved up and down gently 306 TIIE WAY TO DO GOOD. Explain minutely. THE BOAT. with the waves. There were seats across the hoat, and two oars ly- ing along upon the seats. The man step- ped upon the bows of the boat. It was fast in the sand, so that it did not sink under him. Then he took up one of the oars, and began to push against the shore to push himself off. But as he was standing upon the bows his weight pressed the bows down hard upon the sand, and so he could not push the boat off. Then he went to the other end of the boat, stepping over the seats. The other end of the boat is the stern. The stern sank a little, and the boat rocked from one side to the other, and made the oar which was on the seats rattle. There was nothing but water under the stern of the boat, and that was what made it unsteady. The man stepped carefully, and when he was fairly in the stern, he reached his oar out again, and now he could push it off. The bows rubbed slowly back, off of the sand, and in a minute the whole boat was floating on the water." We have giveriMihis thus minutely, to show what almost infinite expansion the most common incidents, which are passed over usually by a word, in narratives addressed to men, are capable of, when described to children. And it is in this minute arid particular way that they wish to have every thing detailed which they have not become absolutely CHILDREN. 307 The black sand. familiar with. In fact, in writing even for the mature, the success of the composition depends much upon the degree of fidelity with which those most minute circumstances which gave to any scene its expression, are described to the mind. But in addressing children, this is altogether more necessary. For the complicated steps with which long acquaintance with the world have familiarized men, so as to make them the simple elements of higher combinations, retain with children all their original complicatedness, and must be expanded and exhibited in minute detail. It would be well, for example, when talking of the sand-box, in addressing men, to say, " The sand is black rather than white, that it may corres- pond in color with the ink that it covers, and preserve a con- trast with the paper." This would not do for a child. " No : the words would not be understood," you say. True, but if we alter the words it would then not be much better. Thus, " It is black rather than white, that it may be like the ink, and different from the paper." A boy four or five years old, in hearing that, will probably ask why you want the sand dif- ferent from the paper, or else pause and reflect, trying to take, himself, the intermediate mental steps necessary to a full understanding of the explanation. The reason given to him in full would be, " Suppose the sand was white, like flour, and we pour it on. It would stick on the letters when the ink was wet and make them look white. Now the paper is white, too, and you would hardly see that there were any letters there. But by having the sand black, the letters continue to look black after the sand is on them, and of course are plainly to be seen on the white paper." This, which would be a tedious explanation to a man, even if he had never heard of sand, would be just satisfactory to a small boy. Thus, every thing should be related and explained minute- ly ; arid any persons who will pause a little upon this princi- 308 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Style abrupt. Tones. Gesticulations. ciple, and consider it in its application to common subjects, and to the common conversation which they hold with chil- dren, will see that every event, every incident, every fact, every phenomenon, however common, and every object of sight or hearing, is connected with a thousand associations and trains of thought, which may thus be expanded, and they will wonder that they could ever be at a loss for ma- terials for conversation with the young. (3.) Let your style be abrupt and striking, and give the reins entirely to the imagination. Aim at the utmost free- dom of form and manner, and let your tones and inflections be highly varied. The tones expressive of emotion are in- stinctive, not acquired ; as is proved by their universal simi- larity among all nations, and by the fact that children have them in greater, not less perfection than men. The style, too, should be abrupt and pointed, and every thing illustrated with action. At least, this is one element of interest, to be used in a greater or less degree at discretion. We find that we are dwelling too much on these details and must hasten forward, though this particular topic might well occupy a dozen pages. We will, however, take one example. It may be our old story of the man who was kind to his dog. We have given two modes of commencing it, the second add- ing very much to the interest which the child would take in it. But by our present rule of giving abruptness and point, and striking transition to the style, we can give it a still greater power. Suppose the narrator, with a child on each knee, begins thus : " A man one pleasant morning was standing upon the steps of the door, and he said, ' I think I will go and see my dog Towser.' " Now, where do you think his dog Towser lived ?" " I don't know," will be the reply of each listener, with a face full of curiosity and interest. CHILDREN. 309 The man and his dog again. " Why old Towser was out in a little square house which his master had made for him in a corner of the yard. So he took some meat in his hand for Towser's breakfast. Do you think he took out a plate, and a knife, and fork ? " This man was very kind to Towser ; his beautiful, spot- ted, black and white Towser ; and when he got to his house he opened the door and. said, " ' Towser, Towser, come out here, -Towser.' " So Towser came running out, and stood there wagging his tail. His master patted him on the head. You may jump down on your hands and feet, and I will tell you ex- actly how it was. You shall be Towser. Here, you may get under the table, which will do for his house. Then I will come and call you out and pat you on the head ;" &c. &c. We go into these minute details with no little hesitation, as some of our readers may perhaps consider them beneath the dignity of a moral treatise. But when, as we have oc- casionally paused, on this account, while penning the pre- ceding paragraphs,' and hesitated whether it was best to pro- ceed, we have thought how many children there are to be made happy through these simple principles, and how many mothers there are, and older brothers and sisters, who, never having philosophized upon the subject, may be considerably aided by these suggestions, obvious as they may be, and how many, many hours of intercourse between parent and child, may be changed from times of weariness and tedium, to those of profit and pleasure, by a knowledge of these simple avenues to the childish heart, we have taken courage and gone on. To know how to make a single child happy for half an hour is indeed a little thing ; but the knowledge acquires importance and dignity, when we consider how many millions of children there are to be affected by it, and how many half-hours in the life of each, may be rescued by these means, 310 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Third characteristic of childhood. from listless uneasiness, and given to improvement and hap- piness. Thus the objects though comparatively trifling, when regarded in severalty and detail, rise to dignity and importance, when we consider their vast aggregation. But to return. An abrupt and pointed style, and varied modes of illus- tration mingled with action, will give spirit and interest, even to many moral instructions. But we must not dwell on this point ; and we pass on to the third great character- istic of childhood. The reader will, we hope, keep in mind the plan of our discussion. We are considering some of the great characteristics of childhood, preparatory to some prac- tical directions for gaining, through them, an access to the heart; and having examined, 1. Love of action, and 2. Love of acquiring knowledge, we now pass to the third, namely, 3. Affection for those from whom they receive aid and sympathy in their desires. Gratitude in the young partakes of the general childishness of their character ; and it is not perhaps very surprising that it should be most strongly awakened by such kindness as they can most sensibly ap- preciate. In fact the conditions of affection on the part of children seem to be two. The first is that the kindness intended to awaken it should be on their level, as it were, that is, that it should show itself in favors which they can understand and appreciate. If in a case of dangerous sickness an aunt comes and watches over the child day after day, and by means of this incessant watchfulness and care preserves his life, maintaining, however, during his sickness and conva- lescence, a cold and reserved look and demeanor, there will be but a slight awakening of gratitude and affection in the heart of the patient. He sees his indefatigable nurse mov- CHILDREN. 311 Conditions of gratitude. ing in a region of thought and feeling which is far away from him, and inapproachable. She does not come near to him, and he can not go near to her. Under these circumstances it is impossible for him to realize that the unwearied care which he sees bestowed upon him can arise from affection to him personally. He considers it as a sort of thing of course, and it awakens little gratitude or affection. This tendency in the heart of a child is in perfect keeping with the general laws of human nature in respect to grati- tude and love. For these feelings are awakened, not by the deeds of kindness which we experience from others, but by the feelings of kindness of which we consider the deeds an indication. It is a sympathetic action of heart upon heart, through actions, or words, or looks, as the medium ; and consequently the effect is not in proportion to the greatness of the favors, but to the distinctness with which they conduct the mind of the receiver to the love which originated them. Hence it is, that unless the kindness which you render to children is such as they can fully appreciate, it will not produce its proper effects ; but if it is such as they can appre- ciate, that is, if it is within their sphere, it will produce these effects. Many persons are often surprised to see how easily some of their acquaintances will gain the affection of children and acquire an ascendency over them. But this is the secret of it. They come down, I do not mean in the actions and demeanor, but in the nature of the favors which they show to them, to their level. They excite or employ their men- tal powers ; they speak a kind word indicating interest in their plays or pursuits ; they aid them in their own little schemes, or at least regard them with looks and words of kindness. These are indications of a feeling of kindness which the child can understand ; and as we have before seen, it is in proportion to the distinctness with which the 312 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. The way to a child's heart. feeling of kindness is perceived in one heart, that gratitude and affection are awakened in another. The second condition on which the affection and gratitude of children is to he secured, is, that the favors which call for it should be sincere ; or at least that the child should have sufficient evidence of sincerity. A splendid toy, however adapted to interest the child, if sent to him by a relative or an acquaintance of his parents who really cares little about him, will be received with selfish gratification, perhaps, but with little gratitude toward the donor. In fact this condi- tion stands on the same foundation with the other. The child must see, through the favor bestowed, a feeling of real kindness in the one who bestowed it, for it is this emotion in one heart, which, by a kind of sympathy, awakens the corresponding emotion in another. The present or the favor aids only as the medium by which the inter-communication is made, and if the feeling is seen without it, it will produce its effects. Thus one person may make the most valuable and costly presents to children, and another will produce a stronger impression upon their hearts, and awaken a more friendly feeling, and connect himself with them by more pleasant and permanent associations by the mere manner in which he looks at them, as he passes by, while they are play- ing in the street. 4. The fourth great characteristic of children is their dis- position to catch the spirit, and imitate the actions of those whom they thus love. Probably this imitative or rather sympathetic principle has more influence in the formation of early character than any other ; nay, perhaps, than all others conjoined. Associations and sympathy have far more influence with children than argument or reasoning. Or, rather, we might almost say, associations and sympathy have all the influence, and argument none at all. How often do parents attempt to reason with children in respect to some CHILDREN. 313 Reasoning with children. The baby's name. duty or command, by way of facilitating the performance of it ; whereas the effect is directly the reverse. The discussion unsettles the subject, and throws a doubt about the duty ; for all argument of course presupposes a question in respect to the subject of it, and therefore almost always makes it harder for the child to obey than it was before. Reasoning upon the general principles of duty, at proper times, when the mind of the pupil is in a state of repose, is highly im- portant as a branch of instruction, as will hereafter more fully be shown. But after all it has comparatively little effect upon the formation of the habits and character. The cause of this is that the powers of ratiocination are among the last that are developed, certainly among the last to come in for a share in the government of the conduct and character. If the reader has the disposition and the skill to experiment a little upon childhood in this respect, he will be astonished to find how feeble and unformed are the powers necessary for perceiving a logical sequence, and how entirely a pleasant association will usurp the place and exercise the control belonging legitimately to sound deduction. Hence the numerous prejudices and prepossessions of childhood, as for instance, the preference for the small silver coin over the large bank note ; argument and explanation being often entirely insufficient to overcome the associations of value connected with the appearance of the former. On a question of a name for an infant brother, a boy three or four years old expressed and persisted in a preference for George over Francis, which last was generally voted for by the family. To see how great and unquestioned the control of mere association might be, in his mind, I said to him, " If his name is Francis, you can by and by, when he grows up, say, 'Mother, may I take Francis out to ride?' and mother will say, ' Yes.' Then you can take Francis up and carry him out and put him in your little wagon, and O 314 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. The logic of childhood. Power of association. take hold of the handle, and then say, ' Francis, are you all ready ?' and Francis will say ' Yes.' Then you can draw him about a little way, and after a little while bring him back and say, ' Here, mother, I have brought Francis back safe.' Do you not think, then, that his name had better be Francis ?" " Yes, I do," said he, cordially ; convinced and converted completely, by this precious specimen of logic. Thus the reader will find, on scrutinizing the conduct of children, that pleasant associations have more influence in determining their preferences and habits, moral, intellectual, and physical, than any other cause. The reasoning powers ought to be cultivated, and to cultivate them successfully children must be led to employ them on the various subjects which daily come before them ; but while this process is going on, we must take care that the other great avenue to the soul, which is opened so early, and which affords so easy an access, should be occupied well. If, then, in accordance with the previous heads of this dis- cussion, you take such an interest in the children around you, as to secure their gratitude and love, you have formed in their minds strong and pleasant associations with your char- acter and conduct and feelings, whatever they may be. You will find, consequently, that you will have an immense ascendency over them. They will think as you think, and feel as you feel. They will catch your expressions, and the tone of your voice ; your looks, your attitudes ; your habits and peculiarities, good and bad, the very same things which, if they disliked you, they would mimic and ridicule. So that he who associates freely with children, and by his sympathy and regard for them acquires their love, will leave an impress of his own character upon theirs which all the years of after life will never remove. This will be more peculiarly the case with those higher sentiments and opinions and principles CHILDREN. 315 Common failure. The father. Power of affectlou. of action, which are formed in the more advanced years of youth ; they are caught by sympathy from the mind and heart of some friend whom the pupil loves. Judicious rea- soning may help to give permanence to their throne, but its foundation is in this sympathetic influence, which argument will be utterly insufficient to withstand. In the same man- ner bad principles, bad sentiments, and bad feelings, are com- municated to the youthful heart, not mainly by sophistical reasonings, nor by formal efforts on the part of the corrupt to instruct their pupils in the principles of depravity. False reasoning and deliberate attempts to corrupt are undoubtedly often employed with fatal effect, but the great prevailing principle of the spread of vice is moral contagion ; the pro- duction of a diseased moral state in one, by the proximity of its like in another. Here is the failure of many parents. They stand aloof from their children, occupied by business and cares, or else having no sympathy with their peculiar feelings and child- like propensities. The heart of the father, therefore, does not keep so near to that of the child, that there may be commu- nicated to the one the healthy, virtuous action of the other. This place of influence is left to be taken possession of by any body, a servant, a neighbor, or a boy in the streets ; and the father aims at forming the character of his son by ad- dressing to him from time to time, as his occupations may give him opportunity, plenty of sound argument and good advice ! The boy receives these counsels in silence, and the father hopes that they produce an impression. The down- ward progress which his heart is making, by his intimacy with sin, is not perceived, but at last when he is twenty years of age, it can be no longer concealed, and the father perceives to his astonishment that all his good instructions have been utterly thrown away. It is the ascendency of affection, and that founded on such evidences of interest and 316 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Practical directions. The field. Influence to be sought. good- will as the child can himself appreciate, which will alone give us any considerable power ; and if we secure the affection we shall inevitably wield the power. Having thus considered the first general division of this chapter according to our plan, we pass to the second. II. PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS. 1. It will be well for the reader, if he desires to accom- plish as much as he may through his influence over the young, to explore the ground first distinctly, that is, to look around him, and call to mind the youthful individuals over whom he must or can exert an influence. In fact, we should often do this in our hours of meditation, when looking over our plans of usefulness and the manner in which we are carrying them forward. By this means we shall keep before our minds a distinct idea of the extent and boundaries of our field, and preserve a more steady interest in it. A general survey like this, of what we have to do, is in all departments of duty necessary, in order to give system, and steadiness, and thoroughness to our work. 2. Make it a special object of attention and effort, to gain such an influence and ascendency as has been already de- scribed, over the minds of the children whom you shall find thus within your reach ; the influence of interest and attach- ment. Parents often pay too little attention to this. Their intercourse with children is only the necessary intercourse of command and obedience. A father who devotes some time daily to interesting himself in the pursuits and pleasures of his children, talking with them, playing with them, or read- ing or telling them stories, will gain an ascendency over them which, as they grow up, will be found to be immensely power- ful. They are bound together by common feelings, and by ties of affection and companionship, which have a most con- trolling moral influence upon the heart. The duty of acquir- CHILDREN. 317 The parent disappointed. Brothers and sisters. ing this ascendency is, however, often neglected. The man, overwhelmed with business or burdened with cares, does not descend to the level of the child. He sees that his boys are trained up according to rule, confined by proper restraints, and supplied with proper instruction ; but no strong ties of interest or affection reconcile the little pupil to the restraints, or give allurement to the instruction ; and at length, when he is passing from twelve to fifteen, or from fifteen to twenty, the parent gradually finds, as we have before explained, that though all has been to his eye right, his child has been in heart and inward character going on in a course totally different from the one he intended. The alarmed and disap- pointed parent tries to bring back his son, but he finds, to his surprise and sorrow, that he has no hold upon him. They are, in heart, strangers to each other. Though they have breakfasted, dined, and supped together, for fifteen years, they have been in fact strangers to each other all the time. They have moved in different circles, have had different pleasures, different pains, different hopes, and differ- ent fears. The son could not ascend to the region occupied by the father, and the father would not descend to that of the son. Thus they have been sundered, and the father finds that he has no hold over the heart of his child only when it is too late to acquire it. But perhaps you are not a parent. You are an older brother or sister still, yourself, under your father's roof. If now you really wish to do good, your most important sphere of duty is that little circle of children who, next to their parents, look up to you. In this case it should be your first concern to gain an ascendency over their minds ; an ascend- ency based on their regard for your moral worth, and an affection inspired by your kindness and interest in them. In the same manner, whatever may be your connection with children, whether you are their teacher in a common 318 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Indulgence. Presents. Dicision and firmness. or a Sabbath-school, or their father or mother, or their gov- erness or guardian, or their neighbor, or their brother or sister, you must first secure their interest and affection, or you can do them little good. If they dislike you personally, they will instinctively repel the moral influence which you may endeavor to exert upon them. If you have no sympathy with their childish feelings, you can gain no sympathy in their hearts for the sentiments and principles that you may endeavor to inculcate upon them. If, however, you can se- cure their affection and sympathy, your power over them is almost unbounded. They will believe whatever you tell them, and adopt the principles and feelings which you ex- press, simply because they are yours. They will catch the very tone of your voice and expression of your countenance, and reflect spontaneously the moral image, whatever it may be, which your character may hold up before them. 3. Never attempt to acquire an ascendency over children by improper indulgence. It is one of the mysteries of human nature, that indulgence never awakens gratitude or love in the heart of a child. The boy or girl who is most yielded to, most indulged, is always the most ungrateful, the most self- ish, and the most utterly unconcerned about the happiness or the suffering of father and mother. Pursue then a straight- forward, firm, and decided course ; calm, yet determined ; kind, yet adhering inflexibly to what is right. This is the way to secure affection and respect, whether it be in the in- tercourse of parent with child, brother with sister, teacher with pupil, general with soldier, or magistrate with citizen. Yes, the youngest child, when allowed to conquer, though, perhaps, gratified at his success, has sagacity enough to de- spise the weakness and want of principle which yielded to him. He can not feel either respect or affection. In the same manner, you can not depend upon presents. Unreasonable in- dulgence and profusion of presents, are the two most common CHILDREN. 319 Tho way to gain an influence. Way to use it. modes of endeavoring to buy the good-will of the young. But the slightest knowledge of human nature ought to teach us that love can not be bought, and if we were without even this little knowledge, a few trials would be sufficient, one would think, to convince us that these things at least can not buy it. Just so far as they are indications of your sym- pathy and affection for the child who receives them, so far they will tend to win his love in return. But other indica- tions of this sympathy and affection on your part will answer just as well. Presents alone have far less influence in awa- kening the affection and gratitude of children, than kind words ; and the most valuable gift, coldly given, will not win a boy's heart half so effectually, as sitting down with him for a few minutes on the bank, and helping him make his whistle. 4. The ascendency and the influence thus described, being once gained over the children with whom you are connected, the rest of the work is easy. You have only to exhibit right conduct, and exemplify and express right feelings, and they will spontaneously imitate the one, and insensibly, but surely, imbibe the other. This they will inevitably do, whether the expectation of it be a part of your plan or not. Whatever principles they see that you habitually cherish, they will themselves adopt, and they will catch the language, and tone, and manner, and even the very look with which you main- tain them. And this, too, whether the principles are good or bad. If you are fond of dress, or applause, or admiration, or money, the children who hear your conversation, if they love you, will learn to be fond of them too. If they see that you love duty and your Savior, and are living in the habitual fear of sin, and in steady efforts to prepare for a fu- ture world, they will feel a stronger influence leading them to the same choice, than any other human means can exert. 320 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Expression of the truth. In a word, if they love you, there will he a very strong ten- dency in their hearts to vihrate in unison with yours. 5. But this simple possession of the right feelings and principles is not enough. That is, though it will alone ac- complish a great deal, it will not alone effect all that may he effected. You must distinctly express good sentiments in their hearing, as well as exemplify them in your conduct In the school-room, on the Sahhath, by the fireside, in your walks, take occasion to express what is right. I do not mean hereto prove it, or explain it, or illustrate it, I mean, to express it. Clothe it in language. Give truth utterance. There is more in this than mankind generally suppose. In many cases, when an argument on a moral subject is successfully presented to a popular audience, the logical force of the argument is not the secret of the effect. The work is done by the various enun- ciations of the proposition directly or indirectly contained in the train of reasoning, enunciations which produce their effect as simple expressions of the truth. There is something in man which enables him to seize, as it were, by direct pre- hension, what is true, and right, and proper, when it is distinctly presented to him. He sees its moral fitness, by a sort of direct moral vision ; he has an appetite for it, as for food, which is only to be presented, in order to be received. This is specially true of children, for in them, the powers of reasoning are not developed, and consequently the suscep- tibility of being influenced by reasoning, is smaller in propor- tion than with the mature. For example, you are walking with a little child, on a pleasant morning in the last of February, on the crust of the snow, and some little snow-birds hop along before you, pick- ing the seeds from the stems of the herbage which the wintry storms have not entirely covered. Now the soundest and most intelligent argument that you can offer the child in CHILDREN. 321 The winter walk and the snow-bird. favor of kindness to animals, would not have half as much power over its mind as some such soliloquy as this. THE SNOW-BIRDS. " Oh, see that little hird. Shall I throw my cane at him ? Oh, no indeed ! it would hurt him very much, or if it did not hit him, it would frighten him very much. I am sure I would not hurt that little bird. He is picking up the seeds. I am glad he can find those little seeds. They taste very sweet to him, I suppose. I wish I had some crumbs of bread to give him. Do you think he is cold ? No, he is all covered with warm feathers ; I do not think he is cold. Only his feet are not covered with feathers. I hope they are not cold." Or if your companion is a boy of ten or twelve years of age, you may speak in a different manner, while still you utter nothing but a simple expression of your kindness and 322 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. The expression of kindness or of cruelty. interest, and you will by it awaken kindness and interest in him. You say, perhaps, " See that snow-bird. Stop, do not let us frighten him. Poor little thing ! I should think he would find it hard work to get a living in these fields of snow. He is picking the seeds out of the tops of last year's plants. Let him have all he can find. There is a fine large weed hy the side of that rock, I wish he could see it. We will move around this way, and then perhaps he will hop toward the rock. There he goes. He has found it ; now stop and see him feast himself." Suppose, now, on the other hand, you say, " Stop, there's a snow-bird ; stand back a minute and see how quick I will knock him down with my cane. If I once hit him, I will warrant he will never hop again." Now these are all mere expressions of your own feeling, and in nine cases out of ten, the child who should listen to them, would find his heart gliding spontaneously into the same state with your own, whether it were that of kindness or cruelty. This mere utterance of the sentiment or feeling of your heart, would, except where some peculiar counteract- ing causes prevent it, awaken the like in him. Hence, be always ready not only to exhibit in your conduct the influ- ence of right principle, but to express that principle in lan- guage. Many persons imagine that unless they explain, or illustrate, or prove the truth, they can have nothing to say. But they mistake ; it is the simple expression of it, pleasantly and clearly, as it may be expressed in a thousand various ways, and on a thousand different occasions, which will do more than either explanation, illustration, or proof. 6. But, still, though the former is what produces compara- tively the greatest effect, the latter must receive attention too. Correct moral principle must not only be exhibited in your conduct and expressed in your conversation ; it is also CHILDREN. 323 Formal Instruction. N Solitude. of the utmost importance that it should be, from time to time, formally illustrated and proved. The admission of moral principle to the minds of the young, and the formation of right habits of feeling, may perhaps be most easily received at first, by means of these moral sympathies ; but it is only in the calm and intelligent conviction of the reason, that rectitude can have any firm and lasting foundation for its throne. If your habitual conduct does not exhibit, and your conversation express right principles, you can never bring your children to adopt them by any arguments for their truth ; but if your habitual conduct and conversation is right, formal and logical instruction is necessary to secure permanently, the conquests which these influences will cer- tainly make. 7. One more practical direction remains. It does not arise very directly from the general views advanced in this chapter, and has in fact, no special connection with them. It relates also more particularly to the duty of parents ; but it is so fundamentally important that it ought to be appended here. It is, keep children as much as possible by themselves, away from evil influences, separate, alone. Keep them from bad company, is very common advice. We may go much farther, and almost say, keep them from company, good or bad. Of course, this is to be understood with proper limits and restrictions ; for to a certain extent associating with others is of high advantage to them, both intellectually and morally. But this extent is almost universally far ex- ceeded, and it will be generally found that the most virtuous and the most intellectual, are those who have been brought up most by themselves and alone. In fact, all history and experieuce shows, and it is rather a dark sign in respect to poor human nature, that the mutual influence of man upon man is an influence of deterioration and corruption. Where men congregate in masses, there 324 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Influence of man upon man. Solitude. depravity thrives, and they can keep near to innocence only by being remote from one another. Thus densely populated cities are always most immoral ; an army, a ship, a factory, a crowded prison, and great gangs of laborers working in common, always exhibit peculiar tendencies to vice. So with the young. Boys learn more evil than good of their playmates at school ; a college student who is regular, quiet and docile at home in his vacations, is often wild, dissipated, idle and insubordinate in term-time at college ; and how often has the mother found that either one of two trouble- some children, appears subdued and softened and dutiful when the other is away. It seems as if human nature can be safe only in a state of segregation ; in a mass, it runs at once to corruption and ruin. So far, then, as promiscuous intercommunication among the children of a town or a neighborhood is impeded, so far, within proper restrictions, will the moral welfare of the whole be advanced. The principle of few companions and fewer intimacies, and many hours of solitary occupation and enjoyment, will lead to the development of the highest intellectual and moral traits of character ; in fact his men- tal resources may be considered as entirely unknown and un- explored, who can not spend his best and happiest hours alone. It is often said that the young must be exposed to the temptations and bad influences of the world, in order to know what they are by experience, and learn how to resist them. " They must be exposed to them," say these advo- cates of early temptation, " at some time or other, and they may as well begin in season, so as to get the mastery over them the sooner." But this is not so. The exposure, if avoided in youth, is avoided principally forever. A virtuous man in any honest pursuit of life comes very little into contact or connection with vice. He sees and hears more or less of it, it is true, every day, but his virtuous habits and associates CHILDREN. 325 Learning by experience. Recapitulation. and principles are such, that it is kept, as it were, at a sort of moral distance from him. It does not possess that power of contamination which a corrupt school-boy exercises over his comparatively innocent companion. A vast proportion of the vicious and immoral are made so hefore they are of age, and accordingly, he who goes on safely through the years of his minority will generally go safely for the rest of the way. It is not best therefore to expose children to temptation while they are young, in order to accustom them to the ex- posure. Keep them away from it as much and as long as possible. Preserve them from every occasion of contamina- tion, and keep the atmosphere around them pure as long as they remain under your care. Their future safety will be far better secured by this course, than by any other. The principles which we have been inculcating in this chapter, may, then, in conclusion, be summed up thus. Children are eager to exercise continually their opening faculties, and to learn all they can about the world into which they are ushered. Those who aid and sympathize with them in these, their childlike feelings, they will love, and their principles and conduct they will adopt and imitate. This being so, we have, by rendering them this aid and sympathy, an easy way of gaining over them a powerful ascendency. This once gained, we must exemplify in our conduct, and express in our daily conversation, and enforce by formal instructions the principles which we wish them to imbibe, and they will readily imbibe them. Then, to make our work sure, we must shelter their tender minds from those rude blasts of moral exposure which howl everywhere in this wilderness of sin. Any Christian who will act faithfully on these principles toward the children who are within his 326 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Conclusion. reach, will probably save many of them from vice and misery, and he will certainly elevate the temporal virtue and happiness of them all. And if he acts in these duties as the humble, but devoted follower of Jesus Christ, sincere, un- affected, honest and childlike himself, there are no labors in. which he can engage for which he may with greater con- fidence invoke the interposition of the Holy Spirit, to bless them to the salvation of souls. INSTRUCTION. 327 Instruction. Plan of the chapter. CHAPTER X. INSTRUCTION, Apt to teach, patient." IT might perhaps have been expected by the reader, that the subject of religious instruction of the young would have formed a subordinate topic of the last chapter, but it is so extensive and important in its bearings, that it seemed better to give it a more full discussion, and to confine that chapter simply to the character of early childhood, and to the mode of gaining an ascendency over it. Besides, it is not merely to the young that the principles to be elucidated now, will apply. It is the whole question of approaching the human intellect with religious truth, that we shall here consider, whether the subjects be old or young, a class in the Sab- bath-school, or a circle of children around the fireside on a winter evening, or a younger sister listening to the conversa- tion of an older one while walking in the fields ; and even the pastor will find these principles and methods, such as in spirit guide him in his course of instruction to the adult congregation, which he leads forward from week to week in religioug knowledge. The following propositions exhibit the view which we shall take of the subject in this chapter. 1. Our success depends upon the fullness and force with which the details of truth and duty are presented, and not 328 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Fire propositions. Mode of divine instruction. upon the scientific accuracy with which they are condensed into systems of theology. 2. The Bible must be resorted to as the great storehouse of moral and religious truth. 3. The field of observation and experience must be ex- plored, for the means of applying and enforcing it. 4. Its hold upon the soul is to be secured mainly by wa- kening up a testimony in its favor from within. 5. Attempts to remove error by argument and personal controversy, are almost always in vain. These propositions we proceed to consider in their order. 1. Our success depends upon the fullness and force with which the details of truth and duty are presented, and not upon the scientific accuracy with which they are condensed into systems of theology. We are in the first place struck, when we look at this subject, at a very remarkable difference between the mode which God has taken to instruct mankind in religious truth and duty, and that which, in modern times, we almost spontaneously fall upon. His mode and order of instruction are totally different from ours : I mean are totally different in one respect. He exhibits the principles of truth and duty, one by one, as they occur in connection with the ordinary incidents and events of life. We give them in the order of a well-digested and logical system, in fact we may almost say that we teach the system rather than the truths them- selves by whose arrangement the system is constituted. God's INSTRUCTION. 329 Our methods. The contrast. Reason for it first lesson to the human race was the first five books of Moses ; the simple story of the Patriarchs and of the children of Israel, and the institution of the moral and ceremonial law. Our first lesson would very likely have been an abridged," systematized, severe treatise, on the science of moral and religious philosophy. He simply tells the story of Cain and Abel. We, perhaps, should have given a disquisition on the nature of murder ; proved that human life is sacred, and analyzed malice. He narrates the history of Abraham, per- haps not using the word faith at all, and certainly not mak- ing a single remark concerning its nature, from one end of the story to the other. We discuss the theory of faith, sepa- rate its essence, point out all the distinctions in its varieties, some real, others imaginary. Religious duty, as he pre- sents it, is a living and active reality, moving about among men, developing its character by its conduct. In our hands, it lies upon a table, as some writer has justly said, and we are demonstrating, by means of the scalpel and forceps, its inward structure. The dissection is most ingenious and skillful, and the demonstration, though sometimes lost in minute details, is still very scientific and complete ; but then the poor subject is often murdered and mutilated under the operation. And yet we ought scarcely to say that, for we do not mean to condemn altogether the tendency to analysis and system- making, so prevalent in modern days. Times have changed ; the human mind has altered ; not, indeed, in its native characteristics, but in its habits and modes of thought ; and instruction now has somewhat different objects, and must pursue somewhat different means, when addressed to individual infancy, by one of us, from those adopted, when, three thousand years ago, it was addressed by Jehovah to the infancy of the human race. We do not, therefore, com- pare the two methods in order to condemn, altogether, ours. 330 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Illustration. Botany. The two students. We wish to look at both, for we may learn a good deal from either ; and especially as it is undoubtedly true that in our efforts with the young, and, in fact, with the mass of man- kind, it will be best for us to incline strongly to the example which God has set us in his own communications. The two methods of instruction have different advantages. One addresses itself to the thinking and reasoning powers ; the other more directly to the conscience. One reaches the intellect. The other touches the heart. Both are good, each for its own ends. But a word or two more before we proceed, in respect to the nature of the difference above referred to. We can illus- trate it by describing the modes by which two individuals may pursue the study of botany. One takes books of scien- tific arrangement, and begins with classes, and orders, and genera, and looks upon the whole vegetable kingdom as a scientific system. He goes into the field to collect specimens, simply as partial illustrations of the great artificial edifice which the labors of the botanist have gradually formed. The system, the arrangement, the classification, is all in all to him, the observed facts are only subsidiary and illustra- tive. It was not so with the botanists themselves, when they formed the system. The observed facts were the fore- most with them, and stood out prominent in their concep- tions of the vegetable world. The system, the arrangement came last, and was subsidiary and illustrative in respect to the facts. But our student has reversed this process. He begins where the botanists end, and works back to where they began. Because he is studying their works, he imagines that he is treading in their footsteps. And so he is, but he is retracing them. The track of his foot is reversed upon theirs all the way. He looks in the opposite direction ; he begins where they ended, though he seldom gets to where they began INSTRUCTION. 331 The thistle. The rose. THE BOTANIST. Our other pupil now lakes a different course. He goes out into the field looking for plants, and he first sees, we will suppose, along un- der the fences and by the road-side, a profu- sion of thistles. He examines the structure of this individual plant, notices the leaf, the flower, the seed. By means of books, or through his teacher, he learns to what degree the plant is extended over the earth, that is, what portion of the earth it occupies ; whether it is spreading still, and if so, where and how : whether it is useful for any purposes, or injurious; and what methods are in use by agriculturists for its extermina- tion. So he examines minutely its structure ; its leaves, its flower, its seed, and studies its habits. In a word, he be- 3omes thoroughly acquainted with this one plant, a plant that is all around him, which he sees every day, and is very often made, in his hearing, a subject of remark or conversa- tion. While he has been doing this, the pupil who began at the other end has, perhaps, nearly finished committing to memory the names of the Linnsean classes. Our second pupil, however, having mastered the thistle, takes next perhaps the rose, or some other common plant, and after having studied it thoroughly in its individuality, as he did the thistle, the teacher calls his attention to the points of resemblance, in resoect to structure, which it may 332 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. The right end. System. bear to the thistle. Here now is his beginning of system and arrangement. Connecting together by observed simi- larities, and discriminating by observed differences, the objects with which, individually, he has become fully ac- quainted. This is beginning at the right end. This is really following on in the footsteps of the botanists, his masters. As he proceeds he arranges and classifies his knowledge, just as fast as he acquires it. System is thus the handmaid and preserver of knowledge, as she ought to be, and not the mere substitute for it. He builds up in his own mind the edifice of scientific system, just as fast as the substantial materials are furnished him ; and comes out at the end, as the great masters did before him, with that magnificent temple of science, which, like all other substantial edifices, must be built from bottom to top, and not from top to bottom. To make this case clear and distinct, I have represented the two modes, each pure in its kind, the extreme cases on the two plans. In point of fact, however, there is ordinarily some mixture of the two, or rather an adoption in general of the one course, with some tendency toward the other. In lact, intelligent teachers who may read this chapter, will probably perceive that the principle of the latter mode, though really most philosophical in its nature, ought not, for the common purposes of instruction, to be pressed too far. The results arrived at by the original investigators of the science may aid the pupil very much in his efforts to follow them : and the system, and the principles of arrangement, might very advantageously be explained in general, and carried along with him, as he goes on. Many teachers have erred in carrying the principle which I have been endeavor- ing to illustrate, to extremes : in the mathematics, for ex- ample, and in the natural sciences. They have thus, some- times pressed the plan of making the pupils pursue this natural course of induction so far as to deprive them of the INSTRUCTION. 333 Nature and MSB of science and system. The theologians. aid of those who have preceded them. In fact, carrying out the principle to its full extent, would almost make every pupil an independent investigator and discoverer, whereas a life would not suffice for the most common attainments, in any one science, in this way. The true principle seems to be to lead the pupil over the ground in the natural track, acquiring knowledge first in detail, and arranging and classi- fying it as he proceeds. The worth and utility of what he learns, will depend upon the fullness, and freshness, and vitality of his individual acquisitions, and scientific system should be gradually developed as the apartments of it can be occupied. The building is beautiful in itself, it is true, but it is valuable chiefly as a means of securing and preserving from derangement and loss, the valuables which it contains. And now to apply these considerations to the subject before us. Three thousand years ago, Jehovah began to communi- cate by slow and simple steps, moral and religious truth, and instruction in moral and religious duty, to man. He brought forward these truths, not in the order of scientific system, but in that of commonness, every-day importance, moral prox- imity. It is the thistle first, and then the rose. These revela- tions were slowly continued for many centuries. The pro- foundest intellects, and the purest moral sensibilities, have been in all ages of the world employed upon these truths, examining and arranging them, and observing and noting the points of resemblance or of diversity. They have examined them synthetically and analytically ; they have made nice distinctions, dissecting out truth into all its ramifications, and they have explored things most diverse and distinct in appear- ance, and traced them to a common origin. These intellec- tual processes have been going on for ages, and we have now before us, as the result, the same truth, indeed, which the prophets and the apostles taught, but arranged and classified, and formed into a scientific system. 334 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Province and value of theological science. Let now the reader not suppose that we mean to condemn this. Not at all. If any thing is plain, it is that God in- tended that the minds of men should exercise themselves strongly and continually upon what he has revealed. The field of moral and religious truth, as his Word and the uni- versal dictates of conscience lay it open, affords the finest scope for the exercise of the highest human powers ; and the nature of the case, and especially the very condition in which the close of his revelation has left the whole ground, shows plainly that he intended that we should explore and cultivate it. The object of these remarks is not at all to condemn theological science, but only to point out the facts in the case, with reference to their influence upon the course which we ought to pursue, in endeavoring to initiate the young in re- ligious knowledge. The great mass of religious and moral truth, which the Bible and the human conscience bring be- fore the mind, in slow detail and minute applications, has been, by the patient theological labor and acumen of many centuries, at last elaborated into 'scientific systems. Now we must not, in guiding the young, commence with the science and the system, and work back to the elements ; we must go round back to the beginning, and give them truth and explain to them duty, substantially in the order and manner in which God has done it, and come to the science and the system at last. We shall explain more particularly how this is to be done, as we proceed. But this general view of the subject, if properly appreciated, will at once throw open a very wide field of religious instruction, and make the work comparatively easy. Persons very often feel timid and con- strained in their efforts at instruction in the Bible-class, or Sabbath-school, or even with their own children at home, because they feel that their own attainments are not of a Biifficiently logical and systematic character. They know vastly more than their pupils, they admit, but they are not INSTRUCTION. 335 Systematic education. scholars enough to teach what they know. Their own edu- cation has not been regular and systematic enough, they imagine. That is, they have not gone through the whole theological course, and come out with that complete system of truth, by which, as by a framework, they imagine that all subordinate teaching should be regulated. But this is not the work to be done. Your simple business is to look at once around you, and take any thing that is moral or reli- gious truth, and explain, and expand, and exhibit it in its sim- plicity, and in its individuality, to the minds of the young. It is no matter whether your knowledge exists in the form of systematized theology or not. In either case, your business is to bring before your pupils the elements, as individual ele- ments, in all their freshness and particularity and their end- less application to the circumstances and wants of common life. The science which you feel the need of, though it would be of immense value to you, as a means of giving clearness to your conceptions, and vigor and confidence to all your mental operations, is not, after all, what you want to present, as such, to the minds of children. Teach them all the details of truth and duty, and in any order. Study and present the principles of piety in their ordinary applica- tions to the circumstances of life. Dwell on what is obvious, important, and of every-day utility, rather than on what is metaphysical, or far-fetched, or refined, and thus store the minds of your pupils with the materials which their riper studies may classify and arrange. This is the wisest course for them, whether they form a Bible-class of youth, or a crowded congregation of adults, or a little circle of children at the fireside. 2. The Bible must be resorted to, as the great storehouse of moral and religious truth. 336 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. The Bible the storehouse. Korah. The doctrinal and preceptive portions of the Bible deserve a prominent place, undoubtedly, as the source from which re- ligious instruction is to be drawn, but perhaps they ought not to occupy a share of attention so nearly exclusive, as they often do. The narratives of the Old Testament, and of the New, are full of materials, if read and explained with a view to bringing out their moral expression. The Bible may be studied, in fact, with many totally different objects and aims, each of which is valuable in its place. We may carry a class rapidly over the books of Kings and Chronicles, for ex- ample, with a view to obtaining a general knowledge of their literary contents ; and by collating them, and comparing pas- sage with passage, reduce to system, and to a clear, connected view, their chronological and historical details. This now would be totally different from taking up in detail the several narratives which these books contain, for the purpose of bring- ing out to view the moral lessons which each one was intend- ed to teach. Now it is this latter mode that I refer to here. The Scriptures are an inexhaustible storehouse from which moral truth may be drawn in every form of its development, and in all the innumerable varieties of its ap- plication. Let us take a case at random, to illustrate how full the narratives of the Scriptures are of moral truth, which needs only to be brought out to view, in order strongly to interest and to benefit the young. We will take Korah's mutiny, for example. We select this case, because it is one of those narratives which, on account of the terrible catastrophe in which it ended, is generally somewhat known fto children, and therefore it is the more suitable to our purpose of show- ing how much may be brought out to view by a little atten- tion, which otherwise would be passed by unnoticed and unknown. The teacher in his class, or the parent at his fireside, or INSTRUCTION. 337 Korah's mutiny. The parties. Their designs. even the minister in his pulpit, opens the subject with the first verse of the passage, thus : " Now Kurah, the son of Eohatb, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men ; And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown." Now, in order to have the moral bearings of the narrative clearly appreciated, the first thing is to consider distinctly the several parties in the transaction ; Korah, one of the Levites, and Dathan and Abiram, and On, of the people, with their respective adherents. In all such cases, we must observe, first, who are the persons brought upon the stage of action, and what their situation and characters are, so. as to appreciate their words and actions, and to observe whether they are in keeping with their respective circumstances. In order to do this, in this case, we must recall to mind the ar- rangement which God had made with the Israelites in the wilderness. Aaron was the priest, holding the highest ec- clesiastical dignity. The family of Levi came next, and the duties connected with all the ordinary services of worship devolved upon them. The people generally were, of course, devoted to other occupations. If the pupils now distinctly conceive of the vast assembly encamping in the wilderness, Moses, the military commander, Aaron holding the supreme sacerdotal dignity, and the Levite Korah, uniting with the princes Dathan, Abiram, and On, in a mutiny, they will be prepared to understand what follows. " And they gathered themselves together against Moses, and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them ; wherefore then, lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord ?" P 338 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Conversation with Koran. A coincidence. Now, how much of human nature is to be seen in this ad- dress, when we come to examine it. The real feeling in the mind of the speaker was, " I can not bear to be second. I mean to stand as high in official dignity as Aaron." Am- bition, pride, a spirit of insubmission to God, was the stim- ulus. But how is the direct expression of it withheld, or rather covered up and concealed, under an accusation against Moses and Aaron, and a pretended vindication of the rights of the mass of the people, the universal pretext of the spirit of disorganization and rebellion in every age. " You take too much upon you ;" when they were themselves go- ing to take, and that by usurpation, the very same thing. And, " all the congregation are holy." They did not mean morally pure, by this, but ceremonially competent in the eye of God, to offer worship for themselves. This was said just as similar things are said now, to gain partisans. The aspir- ing demagogue, in order to carry on his schemes, always flatters the great mass which he wishes to move, telling them that they deserve an equality with the government which he wishes them to help him overthrow. Observe, now, an apparently undesigned, but very inter- esting coincidence which testifies strongly to the truth and faithfulness of the narrative. Who was the speaker in this case ? There were two parties in the rebellion, Korah, the Levite, on the one hand, and Dathan, Abiram, and On from the people, on the other. Now, which was the speaker in this case ? The narrative does not tell us directly, but the speech itself betrays the feelings of the Levite. " Ye take too much upon you, for all the people are holy ;" referring evidently to the ecclesiastical aspects of the arrangement which they opposed. The reply of Moses corresponds. He spake unto Korah and all his company ; and below, we find that the lay leaders, as we may perhaps call them, were not present. INSTRUCTION. 339 Datban and Abiram. Their reply. How appropriate, now, is the reply of Moses to Korah and his adherents, how exactly what it ought to be in such a case, to set in a clear light their ingratitude and wickedness. After proposing a test by which he was on the morrow to submit the question to the decision of God himself, he re- minds them of the high station to which they had been as- signed, and of the ingratitude and criminal ambition of aspir- ing to a higher one. " Seemeth it but a small thing unto you, that the God of Israel hath separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do the service of the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand be- fore the congregation to minister unto them ? And he hath brought thee near to him, and all thy brethren, the sons of Levi with thee ; and seek ye the priesthood also I" His reply thus, is not at all a reply to what Korah had said. Moses disregards his speech entirely, and comes at once to his feelings, to the real source of the difficulty, in the pride and ambition in his heart. Then he sent to call Dathan and Abiram. They would not come, but sent a disrespectful message, one, however, entirely different, in respect to the grounds of the complaint, from the speech of Korah, and in exact keeping with the characters of the men. Korah's pretense was the natural one coming from an ambitious priest. That of Dathan and Abiram was just as natural from a discontented and rebel- lious people. "Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land that floweth with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, except thou make thyself altogether a prince over us ? Moreover, thou hast not brought us into a land that floweth with milk and honey, or given us inheritance of fields and vineyards ; wilt thou put out the eyes of these men ! We will not come up." We will not go on any farther with the narrative. But 340 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Various questions. the following questions, most of which, even the youngest child, who had once read and appreciated the story, would readily answer, shows how much moral truth such a narra- tive, when fully appreciated, may be the means of developing in the mind. . What did the sin of these men chiefly consist in, the feelings, or the words, or the actions ? Did Korah commit any wicked act ? Did Dathan and Abiram ? Did they not all commit sin in feeling ? What is the name for the kind of feelings they had ? A rebellious spirit. Do children ever feel a rebellious spirit ? Against whom ? Do they ever feel the rebellious spirit when they do not manifest it in actions ? When they do not express it in words ? What reasons are there that prevent their expressing or acting it, when they have the feeling ? Can a rebellious spirit be expressed by looks as well as by actions ? Do children ever express it so ? By what sort of looks ? Is the rebellious spirit a pleasant or a painful feeling ? Were Korah, Dathan, and Abiram happy probably, while rebelling ? Would they have been happy if they had suc- ceeded in what they wished to do ? The proposing of questions like these, might be the best way of bringing out the truth contained in the narrative, or suggested by it, if the pupils are children, whether they are gathered in numbers around their teacher at the Sabbath- school, or sit upon their father's knees, to look over while he reads the story from the great family Bible, at the chimney corner. If the audience is mature, the same points would INSTRUCTION. 341 Moral lessons to be deduced. be brought to view, the same moral analysis of the story, though the results would receive an expression in language in a somewhat different manner. The questions which we have given above, have by no means exhausted the subject. There are many other moral instructions to be deduced from the narrative. Moses, for example, in verse 11, considers the rebellion as against the Lord. This naturally leads the mind to the consideration, that Moses and Aaron, being ap- pointed by God, were clothed with his authority, and that opposition against them was rebellion against him. This, properly illustrated and explained, will set in a very striking light before children, why a rebellious spirit against their parents, even if shown only by looks, or not expressed out- wardly at all, is a sin, not merely against their parents, but against God. Then there is the subject of punishment, too ; the evil and the danger resulting from such conduct making punishment of it necessary, and the great guilt of it, making a severe punishment of it just ; and so with a great many other subjects of inquiry and reflection, so numerous and full, that the space allotted to this whole chapter would scarcely afford room for a brief enumeration of them. It is not that such a passage directly teaches all these truths, or that they can be logically deduced from them, nor that they merely suggest them as principles to be proved. The narrative calls up the principles to the mind, as principles intiiitively perceived to be true. They are to be expressed by the voice of the teacher, knowing that the expression of them will be re-echoed and confirmed to the pupil, by a voice within. There are indeed moral and religious truths which must be proved, but we do not speak of them here. We speak now of a thousand principles of right and wrong that are brought to view in the narratives of the Scriptures, and which need no proof. Apprehension of them is conviction. Some are found by the mind in the 342 THE WAY TO DO GOOE. Two kinds of interest in a story. narrative, others, the narrative draws forth out of the mind. So that in some respects the story is the storehouse which the mind explores for moral treasures ; in others, the store- house is the mind, and the book the instrument of admis- sion. We have taken this single case, and dwelt upon it to show how minutely and fully the individual passages of Scripture should he explored as mines of moral and religious truth. I need not say that the whole Bible, examined thus, would furnish an inexhaustible store. All persons, both old and young, will take a far greater interest in the moral aspects and bearings of the Scripture histories, than they do in the mere incidents of the narra- tive ; or rather the incidents of the narrative itself will excite interest just in proportion as the moral meaning is seen through them. Teachers of the young often overlook this, they bring Scripture narrative before their pupils, sim- ply as a history of occurrences, and a great portion of the force and point and beauty lying beneath the surface, is not seen. For example take the story of Job. We may present it in two totally different ways to a class of little children. Suppose, for the first experiment, that we gather the little pupils around us, and read them the account of Job's pros- perity, accompanying it with familiar explanations. We tell them how many sheep, and oxen, and camels he had, and help them to picture to their minds some idea of his mode of life, and of the appearance of his vast herds and numerous household. They are highly interested, Their curiosity and imagination and wonder are strongly excited. Then you read to them the account of his successive losses. You describe the incursions of the enemy, and the effects of the lightning, and bring home clearly to the minds of the pupils the terrific scenes alluded to in the description. The INSTRUCTION. 343 Example. Patience and submission. children are all intensely interested in it, as in a dreadful tragedy. At the close, perhaps, you say that Job did not repine against God, notwithstanding all these calamities ; that he was patient and submissive, and we ought all to fol- low his example. Thus the interest awakened in the minds of the children, is an interest in the story, as a narration of wonderful inci- dents. The moral bearing of it, is but slightly alluded to, and the whole impression made by it, is an impression upon the imagination, and not upon the heart. We turn now to the opposite course, namely, passing lightly over the incidents, and bringing out fully to view the moral meaning of the story. With the same or a similar little auditory around you, you begin by telling them of Job's vast possessions, in general terms, and then saying that God determined to take them all away, in order to try him, and see whether he would bear it submissively and patiently. "Do you know what submissively and patiently means?" "Yes, sir." " No, sir." " Why, suppose one of you should have a beautiful pic- ture-book, and when you were sitting down by the fire to read it, your mother would say, ' Come, I must put that book away now ; I want you to go to bed ;' what do you think you should do or say ?" A pause. " Perhaps you do not know exactly what you would do or say, but you may tell me what a bad child might do or say, in such a case. Any one may tell me." " He might begin to cry." " He might say, ' I want to sit up a little longer, very much.' " " He might say, ' I won't.' " " Yes, and a boy who was patient and submissive would shut up the book pleasantly, and bring it to his mother, and 344 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Job. The dramatic interest. The moral interest. say, ' Very well.' Now, do you all understand what patient and submissive means." " Yes, sir." " Well, then, we will go on with the story of Job. God took away all his property, to try him, and see whether he would be patient and submissive, or not. He wished to see what he would say." Then read and explain the accounts of the calamities by which Job was reduced to poverty and wretchedness, in such a way as to awaken their sympathy for him, and their curiosity in respect to its effect upon his mind. " Thus," you say in conclusion, " all his flocks and herds were carried away, and his children were killed, and his servants taken captive or destroyed ," " All excepting the men who escaped to tell him." " Yes, they were saved, it is true. Now, what do you think Job said ? do you know ?" " No, sir." " It was something very remarkable. It showed at once, whether he was patient and submissive, or not. It was something very remarkable, indeed. People have repeated it a great many times since, when they have lost something which they valued very much. It was this, " ' The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away : blessed be the name of the Lord.' " A pause. " It was just as if the child whose mother had taken away his beautiful book, should say, as he was going up stairs with the candle in his hand ; " My mother gave me the book, and my mother has taken it away, I will not complain of my mother.' Should you not think that would be a patient and submissive boy ?" Now, in this case, it is plain that the great effort has been INSTRUCTION. 345 Both combined. Third general head. Observation. to bring out the moral expression of the story, so that children can see and appreciate it. But we have not detailed these two modes of explaining the same story, to condemn the for- mer ; but only to show how completely distinct in its nature, an interest in the moral bearing of a narrative is from an interest in the incidents, considered simply as a story. Both these kinds of interest ought to be awakened ; but the latter especially, by all means. For it is the latter alone which can give to the study of thw Bible any influence on the affections of the soul. Thus the Bible is the great magazine to be explored. And it is to be explored in this way, so as to bring out to view the moral and religious truth taught in every page of it. Excite in your pupils as strong a dramatic interest in the narrative as you can, but let all this interest be concentrated upon the moral principles of which the narrative is intended to be an expression. 3. The field of observation and experience is to be ex- plored for the means of enforcing and applying religious truth in the most effectual manner. The habit of observing and analyzing human conduct and character, and reflecting upon it, is absolutely necessary to enable us to command the avenues to the heart. We must be in the habit of noting the most common occurrences, and of tracing them back to the springs of action from which they rise. Observe the moral truths which they will illustrate, or the moral principles they exemplify, and reflect upon them in this light in your hours of meditation. There is a vast diversity in different minds in this respect, produced by habit or by different degrees of intellectual culture. One, in look- ing upon the scenes of daily life which are exhibited before him, perceives only what comes to the eye or the ear. AD p* 346 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Effect of a habit of observation. other traces back the most common occurrences to their origin ; and the exercise, which was perhaps at first a study, becomes ere long a habit, and at length the whole panorama of life seems, to such a mind, alive with the expression of those moral principles and laws of which it is, in fact, the acting out, though not seen to be so by the common observer. The ordinary exhibitions of human action, though opaque and tame and spiritless to others, are bright and transparent to him. He sees a spiritual world through the external one, and the spectacle which thus exhibits itself all around him is clothed thus with a double interest and splendor. This habit once formed, every thing becomes expressive to the mind that has formed it. The attitude and manner of a man says something of his character. A conversation in a stage-coach, on any ordinary topic, brings to the view of the observer the operation of many principles of human nature, and the actions of a group of children at play will reveal to him their respective dispositions, or exhibit in interesting lights the various propensities of childhood ; while another, looking upon the same scene, would see nothing in it but un- meaning frolicsomeness and confusion. In the same manner the events, and incidents, and indi- vidual history which exhibit themselves in our progress through life, as well as the various phases which human con- duct presents to us from day to day, ought to be studied with reference to the moral principles which lie at the foundation of them. All human character and conduct is but the acting out of inward principle, and the events and occurrences of life are determined by a combination of movements in the moral and intellectual world, from which they derive all their interest to us, as rational beings. It is in the develop- ment of these that we should be most interested. It is the common, and the universal, too, not the extraordinary, which should interest us most strongly. A vulgar eye stares at the INSTRUCTION. 347 Refined and vulgar taste. strange, the monstrous, the wonderful. A trunk of a tree, twisted into the rude resemblance of a man, pleases it more than if it grows into its own proper form, and exhibits its own proper expression : and it loves the gaudy deformities of ex- cessive cultivation, rather than the simple elegance of the natural flower. Carrying the same principle into its obser- vations upon human life, it sees nothing to interest it in the beautiful operations of ordinary cause and effect, the health- ful, quiet, natural expression with which all the movements of society beam. It is only the extraordinary development, the complicated plot, the catastrophe, the escape, the won- derful, the horrible, which can arrest its attention ; the true philosopher derives a far higher pleasure in reading the meaning of every thing around him. The latter is pleased with discerning, in common events, the operation of an Uni- versal Cause ; and in an accidental interruption he is inter- ested chiefly in observing the new influence, whose interven- tion produced it. The former is pleased only with accidents, and with them, only because they are strange. The less he understands them, the greater his delight, for the very essence of his delight is surprise and wonder. Now do not study the varied scene of life, which exhibits itself around you, in this way. Make it your aim not merely to see what is visible to the eye, but to read its hidden mean- ing ; and take pleasure, not in novelty and strangeness, but in the clearness with which you understand and appreciate every common phenomenon. Be intimately conversant thus with a moral and spiritual world, using the external one around you as the medium of access to it. He who does this, will find his mind filled with a thousand recollections and associations which, by means of a power that is neither im- agination or memory but something between, will furnish him with illustrations of all which he wishes to teach ; illus- trations true in spirit, though imaginary in form. 348 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. The evidence for moral truth. The study of man on these principles will give the Chris- tian who pursues it immense facilities for instructing and in- teresting his pupils in religious truth. For he will, hy such means, greatly extend his knowledge of this truth, in all its thousand ramifications, and in its endless connections with the circumstances of life ; and then this complete familiarity with the field, will give him an independent and original freedom of hand in the discussion and illustration of truth, which nothing else can supply. Thoroughly furnished thus with knowledge of the Scriptures, considered as a great store- house of moral truth, and with knowledge of man, his feel- ings, his hahits, his principles of action, and the thousand changing hues which human character assumes, he may go freely and boldly forward, and will be prepared to labor in this field with the greatest success. His study of the Bible will give him the truth which he is to present, and his study of man will open to him the avenues by which he is to present it 4. The admission of moral truth to the soul is to be se- / cured mainly by means of a testimony awakened in its favor from within. In several instances in the course of this work we have had occasion to refer to the readiness with which moral and re- ligious truth is received by the human mind, when properly presented to it. It seems to carry its evidence within itself, or rather, it finds faculties in the human soul so well quali- fied to judge almost instinctively of its claims, and so predis- posed to admit them, that the single presentation of it seems generally to secure its admission. There is a sort of moral intuition, by which moral beauty and excellence are appre- hended, and moral truth received. That this should be so, follows from the very nature of moral truth. It does not consist of a series of propositions, INSTRUCTION. 349 Mathematical truth. constructed with subject, predicate, and copula, and following one another in order, like the successive theorems of the sci- ence of astronomy. In fact, this way of considering the mathematical sciences is altogether artificial, and the neces- sity of it results from the feebleness of our intellectual powers. To a mind that could look upon the whole planetary system, with powers sufficient really to comprehend the mathemati- cal bearings and relations of the whole, the tendencies, the movements, the variations, the limits, the laws, and the forces, in their combination or opposition or results, would appear as one magnificent and harmonious whole, and would be seen by the intellectual eye directly and together. Those few de- tached and separate principles which mathematicians have drawn out, and expressed as laws, would be combined in the view with those thousand others with which they are in reality blended, and the mind would survey the whole com- plicated system, (we do not mean the system of visible mo- tions, but of mathematical laws,) as the eye would take in an extended landscape spread out before it. Thus the vast and complicated results which we have to deduce one by one, by means of our laborious computation, would be directly perceived, and would be looked upon by the mind as one great and connected reality, and not as a few detached and artificial propositions. Our intellectual vision is not strong enough thus to grasp the higher sciences ; and so we grope our way from one detached and isolated principle expressed in formal language, to another, wherever we can find the shortest and simplest steps ; like a blind man in a palace, groping along by the aid of chairs and banisters, and know- ing nothing certainly, excepting the few separate objects he has touched ; which, few and scattered as they are, prove to him, from their position and character, that he is in the midst of a scene of magnificence and splendor which he can never fully realize. 350 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. A difference between moral and intellectual science. It is so with all other sciences. The properties of a tri- angle are all involved in the very nature of the figure. If our minds could comprehend that nature as a whole, we should see all these properties as readily and directly as we now perceive that there must be three angles if there are three sides. Unable, however, thus to grasp the whole at a single view, we grope our way to a few detached and separ- ate principles, by a toilsome, and slow, and cautious ratioci- nation. Reasoning, therefore, step by step, from premises to conclusion, is the resort of a limited mind when its higher powers fail, and the detached and limited results thus obtain- ed are but substitutes for more comprehensive knowledge. Still, the exercise of these reasoning powers may be, as in- deed it is, an exhibition of the noblest and greatest efforts of the human mind ; as the highest effort of the sagacity of a blind man, may be exhibited, in the dexterity with which he makes his way in a crowded city, by his hearing and touch ; and yet, after all, hearing and touch, however highly cultivated, are, in such a case, but an imperfect sub- stitute for vision. Now, we must, in the intellectual sciences, with minds circumscribed as ours are, be content to penetrate the bound- less field before us, only in a narrow path like this, passing on in it from step to step by cautious ratiocination. And we can bring our pupil to any point which we have ourselves attained, only by leading him cautiously over all the previ- ous steps by which we had attained it. But it is not so with moral truth. Each subordinate portion seems to bring with it its own testimony, and to stand independent of the rest. There are a thousand connections, it is true, by which all the parts are blended into one harmonious whole, but each carries its own evidence within itself, and needs only to be appre- hended, in order to be believed. This would be true without limitation or exception, were INSTRUCTION. 351 Apparent exceptions. Proof of Christianity. it not for the influence of passion and sin which produce moral blindness, and cut off the view of moral truth from the soul. The very way, however, by which these operate, in shutting any moral principles from the mind, illustrates what we have said ; for they produce these effects, not by incapaci- tating the mind from following any trains of reasoning by which the principles might be sustained, but by rendering it insensible to their intrinsic excellence and beauty. Our great work, therefore, is, as we have said often before, to present truth, rather than to prove it to man. We are to gain ac- cess for it, around, or under, or over, or through, the prejudices and sins which oppose its admission ; then we are to pre- sent it in its own intrinsic excellence and beauty, and exhibit it in its details and in its applications, confident that if it is perceived, it will commend itself, and be established by its own intrinsic character, rather than by any train of ratioci- nation by which it may be shown to result logically from established principles. This is true in regard to a great many cases which might, at first, appear as exceptions. There is, for example, the evidence of the truth of Christianity. We are accustomed to see it presented in a well-connected train of argument, which proceeds from what is admitted as a system of prem- ises, to the result finally arrived at as conclusion. But in point of fact, we shall generally find, that though such an argument may be constructed, it is not the force which such a train of reasoning exercises that generally determines the faith of Christians, nor does it materially affect that faith. The true ground on which Christianity is received, where it is really received, is a perception of its moral features, by a mind spiritually sensible of them. It commends itself to the moral wants of the soul, and where these moral wants are felt, Christianity is received by a process much shorter than Lardner's. In other cases, Christianity is not really be- 352 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Proof by experiment. Illustrations. lieved. The education or the habits of the individual may be such that he does not choose to deny its truth, but he does not really receive it. The argument, at any rate, does not convince him. If, in any case, it seems to have some effect, it is mainly by its moral influence in bringing the claims of religion in their true character, fairly before the mind. It is in accordance with this view of the subject, that the various illustrations with which this work and its predeces- sors abound, are given to the reader. They are offered, not as arguments, but simply as aids to apprehension, in cases where the thought, if apprehended, will commend itself. Facts may be sometimes stated as evidence ; as for example, when a chemist informs us that he subjected silex to a cer- tain degree of heat, and it was fused. If we believe his testimony, we learn, from his statement of the fact, that silex is fusible at the specified temperature. In such a case every thing depends on the authority of the observer, and this on the accuracy and faithfulness of his observations. We know nothing about the subject, except what he informs us. There is no intrinsic evidence in the case ; and all the value of the chemist's information depends upon the fusion having actual- ly taken place in that particular instance, and under the circumstances describedi But an illustration of any moral principle, though in the form of a reported fact, is altogether different in its nature. Take, for instance, the story of the boys on the ice, to illustrate the nature and effects of sin and confession, in the first chapter of the Young Christian. Its object is not to prove that sin will burden the mind, and confession relieve it, from the result of the experiment in that one case. Its object is not to prove the truth, but only to make a clear exhibition of it. For its reception, we rely on a testimony in its favor in the mind of every reader. So that the appeal is not to the authority of experiment, but to the authority of every man's consciousness, in respect to the INSTRUCTION. 35S Difficulty of sound induction. operation of moral causes upon the human mind. It fol- lows, therefore, that while in the chemical example, we must have the most unquestionable evidence that the experiment was actually performed, and performed as exactly reported, in the moral one, it is of no consequence whether it was or was not ever performed at all. An illustration of a moral principle or truth, intended only to exhibit something which is to prove itself when exhibited, if it is true to human na- ture, may be as well imaginary as real ; for it is evidently of no consequence, whether the occurrence described ever took place or not, provided that its only object is to bring before the mind, the elements or materials upon which the mind is afterward left at liberty to judge. Moral truth may, indeed, sometimes be proved by the adduction of facts, results of experiment. But this is a very slow and toilsome process. " Facts," it is said, by a common proverb, " are stubborn things :" to this, it has been very properly replied, that they are the most pliant, flexible, uncertain things that the human intellect has to deal with. Even in the physical world it is far more difficult than is ordinarily imagined, to establish any truth by a legitimate induction. Do the various positions of the moon, in her monthly revolution, affect the changes of the weather ? To settle such a question, by a series of observations made with such accuracy, and perseverance, and care as really to settle it, will require a vigilance and a labor which those who are not accustomed to philosophical inquiries would be slow to anticipate. But in the moral world the difficulty is incomparably greater ; and though it is very often the case that writers attempt to prove the wisdom of plans, or the efficacy of measures, for the promotion of piety, by an induc- tion of facts, to prove their success on experiment, yet these facts are seldom sufficient to establish the point, according to the principles of philosophical induction. 354 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Truth accessible. Arguing with error. First case. It is pleasant to reflect how close at hand, God has placed all the moral and religious truth necessary for human salva- tion. If labored reasoning had been necessary to establish it, how many millions, even in a civilized and Christian land, must have lived and died in hopeless ignorance ; but God has provided better for the wants and dangers of humanity. He has so adapted the constitution of the human mind to the immutable and eternal principles of right and wrong, that our great work is simply to manifest them, in order to have them received ; and where they are rejected, it is sin, not in- tellectual incapacity, that causes their exclusion. 5. Attempts to remove error by argument or personal con- troversy, aje almost always in vain. Sometimes when we argue, we are not arguing with error at all. We aim directly at the establishment of the truth, and that without supposing in our hearer any tendency to error. As when, for example, one young man presents to another, in a walk, the evidence in favor of the immortality of the soul which he may have collected ; not as a means of combating his companion's errors, but of confirming and establishing his belief of the truth. Parents often thus ar- gue with their children, and pastors with their people. They attempt to prove the truth, feeling all the time that their hearers go along with them easily, wishing to have it proved. It is obvious that there are few dangers or difficulties here. The speakers and hearers are agreed. They are traveling a road which they all wish to travel ; the followers looking up to the leader as a guide. Under such circumstances, there must be some extraordinary clumsiness or infelicity, to create any difficulty by the way. Again, in other cases, we argue not for the truth, but against error, our hearers, however, being, as before, unbi- INSTRUCTION. Second case. Third case. ased, and willing to be led wherever our arguments may carry them. Here there is a little greater danger than in the other case, for error is dangerous to meddle with in any way. First, there is danger that our mere statement of the error will introduce it ; in accordance with the principle that we have often alluded to, in the course of this work, that state- ments have more influence generally upon the human mind than reasoning. An idea presented will often enter and re- main, bidding defiance to all the exorcisms of argument and appeal, by which the introducer of it in vain attempts to get it out again. Then, also, by the violence with which we assail an opinion and its advocates, we may create a sym- pathy in their favor, and lead our hearers to take their side ; on the principle which leads us often to take part with the absent and undefended, whether right or wrong. Thus, while we imagine that our hearers are admiring the havoc which our intellectual cannon is making in the battlements of the enemy, they are in fact, secretly stealing over to the aid of the fortress assailed. In these and in similar ways, we may, while combating error, enlist some of the feelings of human nature in its favor, feelings stronger than allegi- ance to logic and reasoning. These dangers, however, serious as they are, we must not now dwell upon, but pass to a third case. We sometimes argue directly with those holding erroneous opinions. This is what we intended by the phrase, " at- tempting to remove error by argument," placed at the head of this part of the chapter. Here lies the great difficulty and danger. The attempt to convince man of error in the most delicate and hazardous of all the modes of action of mind upon mind. By saying it is delicate, I do not mean that it is a nice operation. The forces are not small and weak, requiring nice attention and adjustment to develop them. They are, on the contrary, great and uncontrollable. 356 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Great forces to be overcome. Dangers. There is the mighty power of truth, on. one side, and the still mightier power of error, on the other. There is habit with its iron chain, and prejudice and passion with their swift current, and pride with its strong walls, and falsehood and inconsistency like heaps of ruhhish. These you have to over- come and remove. You have indeed, on your side, the clear and silent light of reason, and the voice of conscience, powerful enough to conquer any thing else ; but pride, and passion, and habit will conquer them. When the speaker has a willing auditor his work is easy ; but when he has one to lead along in a way in which he does not wish to go, the work is all but hopeless. Estab- lished opinions are, indeed, sometimes changed, but not often by reasoning. New associations, the slow influence of altered circumstances, the change effected in the whole character of the soul, by real conviction of sin, these and similar causes, affecting the feelings more than the reasoning powers, often subdue pride, and break down obstinacy and undermine long-established errors. And so does, sometimes, it must be acknowledged, the power of naked reasoning ; sometimes, but yet seldom. Still, there are many cases where argument helps and hastens the abandonment of error. Perhaps, however, it as often only confirms its dominion. And yet many persons, especially the young, are eager to engage in it. Experience generally gives us more sober expectations of success from it, but in early life we are always ready for the combat. By faithfully studying and understanding and adopting the fol- lowing principles, our readers will avoid many of the dangers of such conflicts, and will somewhat increase the faint hopes of success. (1.) Understand fully the position taken by the friend whose errors you wish to correct. You must, to do this, go to him as it were, and see with his eyes. Remember that INSTRUCTION. 357 Practical directions. The strange light. error appears reasonable to all who embrace it. It is a fal- lacious reasonableness, I grant, but it appears real. Now you must see this fallacious reasonableness yourself, or you can not understand the light in which the subject stands, in the mind which you are endeavoring to reach. If, instead of this, we keep at a distance, and fulminate expressions of reprobation at a man's errors, and of astonishment at his inconsistency and wickedness in holding them, we may grat- ify our own censoriousness and spiritual pride, but can do him no good. " Father," says a little child sitting on his footstool by the fireside, on a winter evening : " Father, I see a light, a strange light out the window, over across the road." " Nonsense, you silly child, there is no house across the road, and there can be no light there at this time of night." 358 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Two ways of combating error. " But I certainly see one, father, a large bright light." " No such thing," insists the father. " It can not be so. There is nothing over there that can burn. I can see out of the window myself, and it is all a white field of snow." This is one way of combating error. The boy is silenced, not convinced ; and were he not awed by parental authority, he would not even be silenced. "Where?" says another father, in a similar case. And though from his own chair, he can see the field, across the road, he goes to the child, and putting his eye close to hia son's, says, " Where ? let me see ?" " Ah, I see it : well, now, walk slowly with me, up to the window." Thus he leads the boy up and shows him the grounds of his illusion, in a reflection of the fire from a pane of glass. Now, this is the proper way of correcting error. You must first see it, as the friend whose opinions you wish to correct, sees it. It has its specious appearances. There are positions toward which it presents reasonable, though falla- cious aspects. Now you can do your friend no good, you can not sympathize with him, you can not understand him, you can not advance a step in reasoning with him, unless you first go and put your intellectual eye where his is. It is no matter what the opinions are against which you contend, you can not contend against them to advantage, unless you understand them, and you can not really under- stand them unless you perceive them as they are perceived by the mind which they possess. If you do not perceive them thus, it is in fact something else that you perceive. If any opinion seems to you preposterous and absurd, and only such, the probability is that you could do no good to the individual who holds it, by discussion ; for it is plain that it does not appear preposterous and absurd to him, and, there- fore, the perception which you attack is not the one which INSTRUCTION. 359 Collisions. Misunderstandings. Sympathy. he maintains. It may be the same in name, and somewhat the same in substance ; but in all those aspects and relations of it which constitute its life, and give it its hold upon him, it is different to you from what it is to him ; and your dis- cussion will be an angry dispute, in which neither will understand the other. If, therefore, a young man, in referring to any error, as Atheism, or Deism, or disbelief in a judgment to come, says, " It seems utterly astonishing to me, that any one can believe such an error. I do not see what he can possibly say. I should like to meet with one, holding it ; it seems to me I could show him his mistake :" if, I say, he speaks thus! it is pretty safe to infer that he would act most wisely by letting the error alone. He does not understand it. In a discussion he would not make the slightest progress. There would be a violent collision between him and his unbelieving opponent, from which he would recoil in a sort of maze, like a moth from a candle-. If he says, however, " I do not think it surprising that such a man should be a Deist. Considering his education, his associates, and the position which he occupies, I can see easily how the subject of revealed religion should present itself in such a way to his mind as to lead him to disbelieve it ;" if he says that, there is a little more hope. There is some ground for sympathy between himself and his opponent. The discussion can have a beginning ; and if there can ever be hope of any progress, it is in such a case. No one, therefore, can be qualified to attempt to lead any soul out of its errors, but by first going to it, in them. You must understand and appreciate the subject on which men err, as it presents itself to their minds. Perhaps you will shrink from doing this. It requires you, you will say, for the time being, to go over to the side of error, and look upon it with favorable eyes, and this is dangerous. It is, 360 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Effects of disputation. Exaggeration. perhaps, the most dangerous work which we can engage in ; and if the reader should consider his hope of bringing any persons out of the wilds of error, too feeble to justify his incurring the hazard of going there after them, to be lost, perhaps, himself, I should most sincerely approve of his caution. But then, if he is deterred by this danger from qualifying himself suitably for the work, he must not under- take it. He can do nothing but exhaust and irritate him- self, and fix his friend in his delusions by attempting to argue without this qualification. (2.) You must not only go to the intellectual position, which your friend occupies, in order to begin the discussion, but you must keep with him all the way. You draw him out, as the magnet draws out the iron, by keeping in contact, the moment you break from him, you lose him. You can do nothing at a distance, for arguments have little weight, unless the heart is open to receive them ; and candor, good- humor, and intellectual sympathy are necessary in order to keep the heart open. Now it is very hard to avoid an immediate rupture, the moment you enter into conversation with a friend upon a subject on which you disagree. The course of things gene- rally, is, that as soon as any thing like discussion is com- menced, each party recedes as far as possible from the other, and by exaggeration, and over-statement, and pressing to ex- tremes, they get to as great a distance from each other as they can, and from these positions which they have respectively taken, they cannonade one another with merciless violence, each gravely expecting to drive the other over to himself. In some cases of moral intercourse between mind and mind there may properly be a separation, a want of sympathy ; as where a man is rebuked for a known and admitted sin, or denounced for opinions which carry on the face of them their own condemnation, and are, in fact, only pretended INSTRUCTION. 361 Defending error, and its effects. opinions, assumed for selfish purposes. But where there is real error, where the mind is really deceived, you must go to it, and lead it out ; you must keep with it all the way. If you break from it, it falls back again into a worse position than before. To avoid this losing of your hold upon the mind which you are attempting to convince of its errors, you must not overstate any fact, or exaggerate the force of any considera- tion which is in your favor, nor underrate any thing which your antagonist may advance. Be honest and candid. Ad- mit the force of his objections and difficulties ; listen atten- tively to what he says, not as a mere matter of civility, but from an honest desire to know exactly how the subject stands in his mind. Bo not be in haste to reply to what he says, but admit its force, and take it into consideration. Thus he will perceive that your object is not victory, but truth ; and as you show yourself willing to look candidly at the whole subject, he will, by sympathy, catch the same spirit, and you will thus go on together. As long as you can thus keep together, you may perhaps advance, but the moment you separate from each other he falls back, and your hold over him is gone. (3.) Avoid arousing your friend, by opposition, to take ground in defense of his opinions. If you wish to fix a man most firmly on either side of any question, the surest way is to give him that side to defend. Hence the great danger and evil of discussions ; they become disputes, and make each party more fixed and obstinate than before. Avoid, therefore, putting your friend upon his defense, or making an antagonist of him. You can do nothing with an antagonist. If he adduces an argument or states a fact, do not reply to it, or contradict it ; but on the other hand, by an honest ques- tion or two draw it out more fully, so as completely to pos- sess yourself of it, as it stands in his mind. If it is weak, dn a 362 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Deal in great arguments, not in minute details. not make him think it strong by putting him on the defense of it. If it is strong, do not impress it upon his memory, and . give it an undue importance, by arguing about it. In either case, trust to the great leading considerations which you have to adduce on the other side, as the means of over- coming its influence. With the greatest circumspection, you will find it all but impossible to prevent your conversa- tion degenerating into a dispute. You may read and under- stand these principles now, and admit their reasonableness. But when you come to apply them, you will find an almost insurmountable difficulty. In fact the reader will be very likely to say, while reading these paragraphs, that the rules are very good in theory, but impossible to be followed in practice. I grant it. Or at least, I allow that it is almost impossible to follow them, it is certainly almost impossible, in endeavoring to convince a friend of the erroneousness of his opinions, or avoid arousing him to a resolute defense of them. This is true, no doubt, and it is only saying that it is almost impossible to do any good by reasoning with people about their errors. (4.) Make it your great object to present to your friend, and to keep before his mind, the few great leading consider- ations on which the evidence of the truth must rest, and not to discuss with him the details, and diificulties and objec- tions which cluster- around every great subject. It is the influence of a few great considerations which determine the conviction of the mind in all cases. The truth of Chris- tianity, for instance, rests in the mass of minds, on its great, visible, moral effects, and not on the details of that com- plicated argument which researches into' its history have furnished, nor on the possession of satisfactory answers to the thousand objections which have been advanced. It is, indeed, very important to possess these answers. There are certain occasions and certain purposes, for which they are INSTRUCTION. 363 Difficulties. Course to pursue. essentially important. But in such discussions as we are speaking of here, the more exclusively the mind that is wrong is brought to look upon the great leading considerations which establish the truth, the better. We are very prone to overrate the extent to which it is necessary that the many difficulties and objections which can be raised against the truth, should be met and answered. They must, to some extent, remain. The mind is full of them on every subject. All truth, whether believed or dis- believed, is connected with difficulties which we can not remove. The most common doctrines of philosophy, such as that sound is produced by aerial vibrations, and that the blood circulates, and that cold is mere absence of heat, and many other most unquestionable truths, are embarrassed with difficulties which it is very difficult to solve. The course, now, for a wise instructor to take with his class, is not to call their attention too much to these, in vain attempts to offer satisfactory solutions. This would be the way to spread doubt and uncertainty over their minds in respect to the whole subject. It will be better, when first attempting to inculcate the truth, to admit these difficulties, and ac- knowledge their force, and then to present the great leading evidence which is sufficient to establish the truth, notwith- standing them. In religious discussion we should do the same. Our great object is to bring forward the leading con- siderations which balance the scale and determine conviction ; and then to present these to the mind, and make as little reply as possible to the counter considerations adduced in disproof. Thus you gain a double advantage ; you secure the presentation of what must be the basis of conviction, if it is established at all, and you avoid that most imminent of all dangers, putting your friend upon the defense of his opinions, which would inevitably confirm him in them. These principles, if understood and practiced, will perhaps 364 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Faint hopes of success. Classes of reasonera. aid a little, but after all, we can promise the private Chris- tian very little success in his efforts to do good by reasoning with error. There are a thousand difficulties and obstructions in the way of gaining such an access to the human soul. There are some minds that can not argue nor appreciate argument. They seem to have no powers of perception for a logical sequence. They go by authority, so far as they are influenced by others, and by mere notions, so far as they influence themselves. Then there are others who will not attend to you. While you are speaking, they are conning a reply, not to what you are saying, but to what they have heard said by others before. Then there is a third class, so loose, and illogical, and irrational in all their ideas, that in one single sentence you hear uttered or implied errors enough to lay you out work for an hour, in taking them up one by one, for examination and exposure. You, however, begin with one ; but the first sentence which you hear from your interlocutor in regard to it, is another shoot at random over the field of prejudice and error, and you give up at once, in despair. Another person is so entirely away from you in sentiment and feeling that you can get no common ground to start from. His ideas, and feelings, and habits of reason- ing are all diverse from yours. He lives in a different moral and intellectual world, and you can not understand one another at all. He takes principles for granted that you would deny, and if you turn aside to discuss one of them, you take for granted, immediately, what he does not admit, and thus you have no footing. Then there is pride, and the power of habit, and the influence of association, and author- ity, and interest, and the bias of feelings averse to the sacri- fices which sound moral principle requires. When we consider the nature of these elements, we shall moderate our ideas in respect to the immediate effects which we can hope to produce upon them. Truth and logic, with all their INSTRUCTION. 366 Way in which human opinions are formed. power, are proved to be frail instruments among such mora] forces as these. The force of authority and personal influence have a fai greater control over men's opinions, and reason far less, than is generally imagined. Suppose, for example, that for the sake of trying an experiment upon human mind, and testing the real strength of truth, the philosophers of England should divide themselves into two parties, equal in talents and num- bers, and enter into a controversy, making a question, for this purpose, of some undoubted truth. Let one party maintain, for example, the truth that the earth is in motion, and the other, the falsehood, that it is at rest. The latter would, of course, pretend that recent discoveries and calculations had overturned the long-received opinions, and that, after all, it was proved that it was the sun, not the earth that revolved. We must suppose that this latter party are equal in talents and standing and influence with the others, and that they are believed to be honest and sincere, and that they main- tain their cause with the same industry in arraying the facts which seem to favor their theory, and in fabricating inge- nious arguments which should exhibit the appearance of mathematical reasoning. Suppose the discussion to go on for half a century, what would be the result ? " Why, every man," you would at once reply, "of any intelligence and understanding, who would devote any proper attention to the subject, would be brought to the, right side. The evidence for the truth in this case, is overwhelming." Admit it. But what percentage of the whole mass of any people are men of intelligence and understanding ? and what percentage of those would have paid such attention to the subject, as to separate for themselves truth from falsehood, and to form an independent judgment of the case, and see distinctly the solidity of the arguments for the truth, and the fallacy of those for the error ? A very small one. The result would 366 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Result of the discussion. Grounds of human belief. probably be, that the mass of the people would be divided between the contending parties, pretty nearly in proportion to the numbers and standing and personal influence and popularity of the respective leaders ; and the termination of the experiment would show that the opinions of mankind on almost any subject which they hear discussed, and on whicli they seem to form a judgment independently, rest, after all, upon the weight of authority, and not upon the perceived conclusiveness of the reasonings. It is true, that on subjects of mathematical and physical science, where there is, in a general view of the great mass of mind, no leading bias one way or the other, there can not be, for a long time, any such division of authority, as we have supposed in this imaginary case. The force of the argument will compel unanimity among leaders, and then the influence of authority will secure the unanimity of the rest. But in moral subjects, this is not so. Take such a question as the- true character and desert of Napoleon Buon- aparte. The moral argument here will not enforce una- nimity among the leaders of mind, and the followers, swayed by the opinions, or the representations, or the personal influ- ence of those to whom they are accustomed to defer, will be divided too. We can not trust, then, in the expectation that truth will, in a world like this, necessarily make her way by our simply arming her with intellectual weapons, and sending her out to fight against error. The result of such conflicts will generally depend more upon the ability of the advocate, or rather upon his personal influence, than upon the goodness of the cause. I ought, however, perhaps, to say in conclusion, though it may be scarcely necessary, that this chapter relates mainly to personal discussion between private Christians in the ordinary walks of life, and not to controversy among leading minds INSTRUCTION. 367 The way to spread the truth. Infidelity. advocating diverse opinions before the public, for the purpose of eliciting truth by discussion, or placing on record argu- ments to sustain it. This public controversy has its difficul- ties and dangers, immense and great, but this is not the place to exhibit them. The sphere of influence in which this book is intended to move, is a different one altogether. In that sphere there can be no question that disputation should hold but a very low rank among the means of doing good. Our means of promoting the spread of Christianity is not to effect triumphs for it in debate, but to spread its gentle and noise- less influence. We are to exhibit it in our lives, we are to explain, and enforce, and exemplify its duties. We are to express its principles, and gain, by every means in our power, an influence for them among our fellow-men. Thus the rigidity of argumentative disputation will be relaxed, and the moral influence of an alluring exhibition of the principles and duties of piety, will find an easy way where the most severe and scientific theological arguments for the truth, and refu- tations the most triumphant of error, would find every access barred and impregnable. These remarks apply with peculiar force to infidelity. It prevails to a vast extent in the world, and must, for some time to come, continue to prevail ; and although the proof of the truth ought to be constantly before the community, so as to be accessible to every mind, yet to rely upon the logical force of arguments, as the main instrument for the expulsion of infidelity, is to mistake altogether the nature of its power. Infidelity, as it has generally shown itself in this world, is not candid philosophical doubting of the mind ; it is rejection by the heart. Its strength is not in its reasonings, but in its spirit. It is dislike to God, to penitence, humility, communion with heaven. It is love of this world, and of sin, ;md a determination to go on in its own way, without fear of a judgment to come. It is a spirit of hostility to God, and to 368 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Spirit of infidelity. Voltaire. his reign, and a determination not to submit to it. Now such a spirit, logic and reasoning can never change, they do not even tend to change it. The spirit of infidelity ; the lofty genius of Voltaire has embalmed and preserved its deformed and malignant visage, for all time, and we fear that his wretched soul will find that he has done it for all eternity too, by his famous watchword, " Crush the wretch," applied to Jesus of Nazareth. Read the Savior's life, consider his character, his mild unoffend- ing, gentle spirit, his labors for the good of his race, his patience, his forgiveness, his cruel wrongs, and the submis- sive, quiet, and unruffled spirit, with which he bore them. Read the whole story, and think of such words as " Crush the wretch" applied to him. Oh, Voltaire, Voltaire, sad in- deed must have been the moral state of the heart which could have been aroused to anger, by the story of Jesus of Nazareth ; sad the heart which could call that homeless vic- tim of toil, and of patient suffering for others, a wretch, and which could meet his kind invitations, by a cry uttered forth to the whole civilized world, to arise and crush him. Do these malignant passions still burn in thy bosom, against him who would fain have saved thy soul ? We fear that they do, for the strength of angry passion which sent forth that defiance, could carry it but a little way toward the eter- nal throne of the J3on of God. The lapse of years shows that throne standing firmer than ever, and thy malediction has fallen back upon thine own head, and thou thyself art the crushed wretch now, forever. PROPERTY AS A MEANS OP DOING GOOD. 369 A false impression. Scriptural authority. CHAPTER XL PROPERTY AS A MEANS OF DOING GOOD. "The hand of the diligent maketh rich." How far those who may desire to devote their lives to the work of doing good, will have power to carry into effect their benevolent wishes and plans, will depend very much upon their having right conceptions of the nature and use of prop- erty as a means of influence and usefulness. There seems to he, in some instances, an impression, more or less distinct upon the minds of Christians, that the desire to possess property, and the vigorous prosecution of plans and efforts to ohtain it, are wrong. This impression would ap- pear to he derived in part from passages and expressions in the New Testament, intended to warn us against the danger of an inordinate love of money, and in part, perhaps, from the example of the apostles and the early Christians, who mani fested certainly a great indifference in respect to the acquisi- tion of property. But however this impression originates, it is unquestionably a wrong one. In the first place, so far as scriptural authority goes, an overwhelming argument may be adduced in favor of the de- sirableness of the possession of wealth. The immediate dis- ciples of our Savior, whose vocation was, by special appoint- ment from him, that of religious teachers, did not indeed seek to acquire property ; and it is unquestionably best, as a gene- ral rule, that religious teachers should in all ages of the Q* 370 TUB WAY TO DO GOOD. The patriarchs. Scriptural view of wealth and poverty. world follow their example in this respect. Other holy men, however, who are described in the Scriptures, men who lived in other ages of the world, and who presented different rela- tions to their fellow-men, acquired in many instances great possessions. Abraham was a man of great wealth, and the efficiency and power of the efforts which he made in the ser- vice of God, were due in a very considerable degree to the influence and consideration which his wealth gave him among his fellow-men. In the same manner, Boaz, Job, David, and in fact all the prominent characters in the early history of the church, were men of great wealth, and of high social positions. Sol- omon was the wealthiest man of his age ; and the wise, and prudent, and effective measures which he adopted to increase and preserve his property, are recorded by the sacred penman with high commendation. Then, besides these historical examples, we find that in the didactic and preceptive portions of the sacred volume, the possession of wealth and honor is invariably spoken of as a good, and not as an evil. They are the rewards promised to the righteous, rewards which are to inure to the benefit both of themselves and of all who are connected with them, - -while poverty is invariably spoken of as something wholly undesirable. It is described, sometimes indeed as a calamity brought upon men in the inscrutable providence of God, but generally as the result of improvidence and sin, and always as an evil. Men are exhorted to be industrious, diligent, and frugal, in order to avoid it ; and the encouragement and aid of Divine Providence is promised to them in the efforts which th-y make, if they make them in the right spirit, to rise to wealth and honor. In consideration of these things, we are compelled to conclude that when in the New Testament the lo v e of money seems to be condemned, it is an inordinate and ej 'essive love of money that is intended ; and that the prac- PROPERTY AS A MEANS OF DOING GOOD. 371 Wan creates property. Property produced by the practice of virtue. tice of the apostles, in leading lives of privation and poverty, was not intended as an example for mankind in general, binding upon them in all subsequent times. If, however, there were no instructions on this subject in the Scriptures, it would be plain from the very nature of the case, that it is every man's duty to pursue such a course as shall in ordinary cases result in the accumulation of property. Property is something that is created by man. In a state of nature there is no property. There would be land indeed, then, as now, but it would not possess the attributes of prop- erty. It would be in this respect as water and air are now, which being common to all, and having no value imparted to them by human labors and improvements, do not possess the characteristics of property. Man then creates property. And how does he create it ? By the practice of virtues. The qualities of character and action by which property is produced are industry, frugality, prudence, temperance, wisdom. In hoarding property once produced, and in obtaining it unjustly from others who have produced it, men are impelled often by vicious propensities ; but in the production of property, it is a general rule that only those qualities of character and action are involved, which both reason and revelation continually inculcate upon all men. It is the duty, therefore, of all men to pursue such a course as shall bring property into their possession ; and as it is equally plain that they must not recklessly dissipate and waste it, when it is acquired, the doing of their duty will make them wealthy. These views are greatly enforced by a consideration of the immensity of the power which is exercised by capital in pro- moting the civilization, the comfort, and the general welfare of the human race. If it was doing good for Dorcas to make a dozen garments for the poor who lived in her neighborhood, it is certainly doing good for a Manchester or a Lowell manu- 372 THE WAT TO DO GOOD. An illustration. Cose of Dorcas. Operations of business. facturer to make fifty millions of such garments, and send them to clothe whole nations and tribes half round the world. The fact that Dorcas gave her garments away as a matter of mere charity, while the manufacturer and mer- chant induce those whom they clothe to work industriously, that they may make a return for theirs, and that this return is brought home by the merchant, and goes, in some form or other, to disseminate new and additional comforts among the population of his native land, only shows, in another point, the immense superiority of the operations of business as a means of doing good over those of charity. The reader will perhaps say that Dorcas is impelled by a kind and charitable motive in what she does, while the mer- chant is actuated by a selfish one. He sends comfort and relief it is true, to many millions, but he does it, not for the sake of doing good to them, but for the sake of making money for himself. Let us suppose this to be true ; it still shows only a fault in the motive, and not in the method. The highest and noblest benevolence obviously consists in pursuing the most effectual measures, with the purest and most sincere designs. If the motives are wrong we must make them right, always retaining the methods which are most effectual, and which operate on the grandest scale. We can imagine such a case as this. A merchant in a great city owns fifty ships, which he employs continually in sailing to and from place to place among the various nations of the earth, whenever he finds a want in one region which he can supply by means of a surplus which he obtains in another. The great function which he fulfills is the trans- ferring of what is surplusage and useless in one place, to another, where it gives relief and comfort to want. This is essentially the very nature of all mercantile transactions. Now suppose that overlooking the real results which his operations accomplish, and the immensity of the scale on PROPERTY AS A MEANS OF DOING GOOD. 373 Operations of charity. Forming plans of life. Case supposed. which he accomplishes them, and weary with what he calls such incessant devotion to worldly affairs, our merchant were to determine that he would wind up his business, with- draw from the world, and devote his time for the remainder of his days to what he would call doing good among his neighbors, and to the sick and poor of his native town. The result would be that he would leave thousands to suffer inconvenience and privation abroad, for every ten that he would supply and sustain at home. The wise counsel to be given to a man in such a situation as this, would be, that he should not change his mode of action at all, but endeavor instead to infuse a Christian spirit into the principles and rftotives with which he pursued it. The case is much the same, if we go back to ftie time when the merchant was a young man, and in forming his plans of life was considering whether or not he should aim at the acquisition of property. Suppose it had then been his desire to devote his life to the service of God, in promoting the welfare and happiness of his fellow-men, and that the question before his mind had been whether he should engage in active business, acquire capital, and devote himself ener- getically to the fulfillment of some great function of social life, or aim merely at acquiring a simple livelihood from day to day, in order that he might devote his chief time and attention to the individual cases of charity. How immeas- urably less efficient, in promoting the welfare of man, would the latter course of procedure be than the former. To illustrate these principles in still another form, we may suppose that in a certain family there are a husband and a wife, both truly benevolent, and both having hearts devoted to the work of doing good. The husband is a banker, and his business is to furnish funds to merchants to buy wheat in the western states of America, and send it by sea to those quarters of the world where it is most needed. To simplify the 374 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Husband and wife. The manufactory and the sewing-circle. supposition we may imagine that all his capital is employed in this particular operation. His wife is one of the managers of a benevolent society, the object of which is to furnish food and clothing to the destitute in the immediate neighbor- hood where they dwell. This now is a very worthy object. The duty of providing for these wants ought on no account to be neglected. The wife is accordingly very deeply interested in it. She comes now to her husband some morning, asking that he will contribute a sum of money to aid in the objects .of the society. He will doubtless gladly do it. Men of busi- ness are almost always ready to join in and aid any- judicious plans for the alleviation of present and immediate suffering. He withdraws a portion of his capital from his business, and employs it for the purposes of the society. This is right. The thing to be observed however in the transaction, is, that we are not to consider such a change in the employment of funds as rescuing them from mere worldly and selfish pur- poses, and devoting them to those that are charitable and good. It is on the other hand only changing them from one mode of doing good to another mode of doing good. It is depriving merchants to some extent of the means of sending food where it is needed, in one place, for the sake of sup- plying a society of ladies with the means of sending it where it is needed in another. It is a change which to a certain extent, and under certain circumstances, ought un- doubtedly to- be made ; but in making it, it is best that all concerned should understand distinctly what the true nature of it is. Such changes may be made injudiciously. We can conceive of circumstances under which a manufacturer might stop one of his looms, for the sake of employing the funds in aid of a sewing-circle for the poor, and by so doing prevent the clothing of a great many for the sake of making garments for the few. PROPERTY AS A MEANS OF DOING GOOD. 376 Motives in business. Motives in acts of charity. The two carpenters. Giving money, or food, or clothing to the poor, seems, it is true, at first view, a more kind and benevolent species of action than any of the ordinary operations of business ; but, as will be clearly seen by the foregoing remarks, the former is far less efficient and comprehensive in its results upon the welfare of man than the latter ; and even in respect to the motives and designs of the actors, the advantage will not prove on careful examination to be as decisive in favor of the former, as it might at first thought seem. A man may indeed be actuated solely by worldly and selfish motives and by love of money, in his business, but then, on the other hand, he may be actuated by ostentation, vanity, and love of display, in his charity. In fact the danger is perhaps quite as great of one of these temptations as of the other. Besides we are not at liberty to devote ourselves to an inferior and subordinate method of doing good, one in which we act at a disadvan- tage, and waste a great portion of our time and labor, because we imagine that in that way we can more easily govern our- selves by the right feelings of heart. On the contrary, we must aim at the highest, most extensive and most efficient mode of action which Providence has placed within the reach of our powers, and see to it, that in going forward in that course our motives are right, that is, that we are really seeking in all that we do the glory of God, and the highest welfare of our fellow-men. It will be seen, in fact, by the considerations presented above, that doing business is in itself doing good ; and this is true, whatever may be the branch or department of busi- ness in which a man is engaged, provided that it is a legiti- mate and an honest one. Of two young mechanics, car- penters, we will suppose, residing in two different villages, let us imagine that one devotes himself with all his energies to the business of his calling. He studies carefully the prin- ciples of science involved in his occupation, makes himself 376 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Their plans of life. an excellent workman, provides himself with the best of tools and implements, lays up his earnings that he may have the capital necessary for extended operations, striving all the time to accumulate this capital more and more, in order that with it he may do more and more. He goes on through life acting upon these principles, and in consequence of this course of action he is the builder, in the course of his life, of some hundred dwellings, to b a the abodes of peace and comfort and happiness for as many families. When he leaves the world, he leaves behind him these memorials of his industry, his pro- vidence and his thrift, to adorn his native vil- lage, and furnish shel- ter and homes for suc- ceeding generations. The other, we will suppose, concluded that he would not aim at getting rich. He would A HOME. work moderately, ex- pend freely, and employ his surplus time in seeking out the poor and the destitute, and relieving them by direct charity. Now how much higher and more far-sighted, and more effectual in accom plishing their end, are the efforts of the former than the lat- ter. The poor and the destitute whom the latter relieved sparingly, imperfectly, and one by one, the other supplied effectually, fully, and in the mass, by affording them the means of self-support and independence through their own industry. PROPERTY AS A MEANS OF DOING GOOD. 377 Various functions to be performed. Uses of capital. Gaming. ' Nor must it be supposed that these beneficial effects on the general welfare of man, produced by the vigorous and successful transaction of business, are confined to such cases as we have referred to, in which only the production of food and clothing and dwellings are concerned. It is necessary that all the great functions of life, whatever they may be, should go on, and all branches of business, each in its own way, if it is a legitimate and honest one, combine together to promote the general good. There must be some men to manufacture, others to transport, others to buy and to sell, others to keep the accounts. Some purchase merchandise when it is low, and furnish to the owners of it money, which they need more than the goods, and then retaining the goods till the price rises again, they supply the demand at an advance. Such a function as this, though it is sometimes considered a useless one, is in fact one of those most essential to the general well- being of society. The plan of having capital at hand, ready to take the custody of the products of human industry when they are cheap and plentiful, and keep them safely until they are less so, constitutes the great regulator of social life. It corresponds with what is called the fly-wheel in a machine, a ponderous reservoir of momentum, which absorbs the moving force when it is in excess, and redelivers it again when there is a deficiency. There are, it is true, some pursuits among mankind, which, like gaming, produce no value, but only seek to gain without an equivalent, that which others have produced. These, however, are few : while all the legitimate and honest occu- pations of men, by which property is acquired, either actually create value, or do something to facilitate the creation of it, or increase it after it is created, and thus add to the sum total of the means of comfort and enjoyment at the command of the race. This being true, the most effectual mode which any person can adopt for promoting the general welfare, is to 378 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Honest pursuits. Doing business is doing good. engage at once, and with all his energies, in co-operating with the rest of the community in carrying forward, in the most rapid manner, and on the most extended scale, those great industrial pursuits on which the capacity of the earth to sustain its population so immediately depends. He who operates extensively and perseveringly in this work, is not only employing his own energies in the most effectual manner, for adding to the means of human comfort and enjoyment, hut is also aiding in the work of making employment for others. He promotes the general industry as well as the general wealth. It is curious to ohserve that not only is it true, as has heen shown ahove, that doing business is in itself doing good, hut it is also true, within certain limits and under certain restric- tions, that the amount of business which a man has accom- plished, and the amount of property which he has conse- quently acquired, is in some sense a measure of the good which he has done. These limits and restrictions are that the business is a legitimate and proper one, that it has been properly conducted, and that the avaiK. of it have been prop- erly husbanded and preserved. There is an impression prevailing among a certain class of minds, that he who ac- quires a fortune acquires it in some sense from the commu- nity, in such a way that the community must be so much the poorer, in consequence of his having become richer. The reverse of this is however generally true. A man can not introduce a new business into a village or town, and acquire a fortune by means of it, without at the same time enriching in a great measure the village or town itself; or at least without adding a great deal to the means, and consequently to the comforts of the inhabitants. The reason of this will be obvious on an analysis of the operation in a particular case. Let us suppose, for instance, that a wheelwright an industrious and enterprising young man, commences the prosecution of his trade in a new country. He opens his PROPERTY AS A MEANS OP DOING GOOD. 379 The wagon-maker. Transactions analyzed. Buyer and seller. THE WAGON. shop and makes a wag- on. He offers his wagon for sale for forty dollars. A neighbor- ing farmer, after con- sideration of the case, determines to buy it. He deems it for his advantage to buy it. He pays forty dollars for it. He prefers it to the forty dollars. That is to say, in ex- change for his money he gets, besides the wagon, an additional advantage, the hope of which additional advantage is his inducement to make the purchase. After he has bought the wagon, if the wagon- maker were to die, or remove from the place, so that he could not obtain another, he would not sell his wagon we will say for fifty dollars ; that is, we will suppose, for the purpose of this illustration, that in exchanging his money for the wagon, he has obtained something which i^ worth to him ten dollars more than the amount that he paid for it. And then, on the other hand, it has been an advantage to the wagoner to sell his wagon. It cost him to make it, in time, money, and labor, thirty dollars, we will suppose ; so that the transaction is an advantage to him of ten dollars. We suppose the advantage gained by the two parties to this transaction to be equal, for though they might not be pre- cisely equal in any single case like the one supposed, yet viewing the subject on a great scale, and considering all human transactions in the mass, the advantage may fairly 380 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Advantage gained by the purchaser. Proof that it is great. and properly be taken to be equal between the buyer and the seller. Consequently the wagon-maker, for every ten dollars of profit that he himself receives, must be considered as having conferred upon some farmer, or teamster, or traveler, a corres- ponding benefit over and above the price paid for the wagons that he makes for them. These benefits all added together will make an amount equal to the total of his profits, so that at the end of his life the fortune which he has acquired is a measure, in some sense, of the benefit he has conferred upon others in acquiring it. He makes two fortunes in fact, in making one. The one is for himself. The other is dis- tributed through the community, and adds, to that extent, to the general posperity. It may perhaps be supposed by the reader, that the advan- tage which the purchaser of an article ordinarily derives from it, over and above the money which he pays, is overrated in the reasoning above ; and it may be said that people are ordinarily careful not to pay any thing more for an article than it is worth, and that very often, after they have made a purchase, they feel discontented and dissatisfied, fearing or imagining that they have paid more than they ought to have done. This is doubtless true, but what they mean by the worth of the article, in such a case, is, what they could have obtained it for else where,. not its real value to them as an article of use. If when a person has made a purchase, he has reason to think that he might have obtained the article for a less sum, he is discontented ; and this hot because it was not of great advantage to him to have bought it as he did, but because it would have been of greater advantage still, if he had bought it cheaper. That men do gain an advantage over and above the price that they pay for their purchases, is evident from the fact that they make purchases. They would not give up the money for the article unless they supposed that the article was better for them. That PROPERTY AS A MEANS OF DOING GOOD. 381 The argument from theory. Argument from observation. the advantage thus gained is very considerable, is proved from this fact, that were the means of procuring any particu- lar article whatever suddenly to fail, so that no more could be made and sold, every existing article of that kind would immediately rise very greatly in value. If in any region of country, for example, where a wagon-maker had lived for many years, and had supplied the people with wagons at forty dollars apiece, there should come, in some way or other, a total interruption to the supply, so that no more vehicles could be procured in any way, those already made would immediately command double or treble the price which had been paid for them. That is to say, the actual benefit which the purchasers derived from the use of the wagons was very much above the price paid for them, and the nominal and market value had been kept down to that sum, only because of the continuance of the supply. This great truth, then, that he who acquires property by any legitimate and honest business, instead of taking the amount which he acquires from, the community, actually confers upon the community itself a benefit equal to that which he himself receives, and makes them richer, while he enriches himself, is not only sustained by the theoretical considerations above adduced, but is abundantly confirmed by practical observation. Where an enterprising and active man, with talents, industry and capital, goes into any com- munity and commences his operations there, he generally not only prospers himself, but he diffuses a general prosperity all around him. Dwellings multiply, the comforts and con- veniences of life are increased, industry increases, schools improve, and children are better clothed and better fed. However selfish the man may be whose enterprise and ac- tivity produces this general improvement, and however far from his thoughts all desire or intention to produce it may have been, the effect will inevitably follow, through the 382 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Benefits conferred upon society. Influence of capital. operation of inflexible and universal laws, which no manage- ment on his part can counteract, or essentially impede. In a word, the true state of the case may be summed up thus : a man can not prosper in any honest business without benefiting the community as well as himself, for he can not induce men to deal with him without offering them an advantage ; and taking all the transactions of life together, the advantages which men offer to others must, on the whole, be equal to those which they receive themselves. Doing business, therefore, is a very effectual and extended mode of doing good ; and the fortune which is acquired in doing it, is, in a very important sense, the measure and index of the good done. Besides these incidental benefits necessarily conferred upon society in the very process of acquiring property, there are the uses which may be made of it as an engine of power, when it is acquired. How vast is the influence of capital, and how prodigious is the power that is wielded by means of it, in carrying forward the great movements of the present age. The bankers, the builders and owners of steamships, the great associations of capitalists organized for the purpose of effecting the vast constructions of the present age, are wielding an influence among mankind, which is beginning to be superior to that of governments and kings. How im- portant is it now, that for the next century this influence and power should be, as far as possible, in the hands of the good. Suppose that men of high moral and Christian principle were generally to withdraw from this field. Suppose that under some mistaken views of religious duty they were to impose limits, beyond which they would not allow their property, that is, their power, to increase, and that in consequence of such determinations the control and direction of the great industrial operations of the social state, were to devolve upon PROPERTY AS A MEANS OF DOING GOOD. 383 Practical considerations. Duty of young men. Present age of the world. the unprincipled and the evil, what extended and disastrous effects on the future welfare of the race might be expected to follow. The considerations in respect to the nature and use of property which have been advanced in the preceding dis- cussion, seem to lead directly to the following practical re- sults. 1 . It is the duty of every young man who is forming his plans of life to consider capital as power, and to see that under the general obligation which rests upon him to increase his power to do good as much as he can, he is bound to aim at the acquisition of property. In fact, a man in any of the ordinary pursuits of life, is under precisely the same obliga- tion to endeavor to increase his capital, that he is to endeavor to improve his mind and increase his stores of useful knowl- edge. Progress in each of those respects increases his power, and he is bound not only to use well the power that he has, but to increase it as much as possible, so as to add to his future efficiency. Whatever his profession or occupation may be, he is bound to work on as extended a scale, and iu as efficient a manner as possible, in order that he may con- tribute as much to the general good, as the nature of the case will possibly allow. It must be remembered too that the duty of which we are speaking is greater and more imperative at the present day than at any former period, and it is growing greater and more imperative every year. This results from the fact that on account of the immense improvements which have recent- ly been made, and which are now making, in the art of systematizing labor, and employing expensive machinery and great constructions in accomplishing the purposes of life, capital is far more indispensable as an engine of business' power now than it was half a century ago ; and it will be 384 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. These principles of universal application. Four effects. still more indispensable in the next half-century than it is in this. The destinies of the world are, in a word, passing into the hands of those who wield the money power of the world ; and every man who is placed in a situation, in the provi- dence of God, which enables him to gain possession of and to exercise any portion of this power, will most assuredly he held accountable for the manner in which he has availed himself of the opportunity. 2. These principles apply with the same force to those who are engaged in the more humble pursuits of life, as to those who are engaged in the highest. The merchant or navigator who transacts business on an extensive scale, in a great commercial emporium, is bound by them ; and so is the mechanic or the laborer, in the quiet village, or in the most retired hamlet among the mountains. For in its due measure and proportion, the advantage is just as great in the one case as in the other. The great city merchant doubles his influence and his power by doubling his large capital. The village laborer produces the same enlargement of his means of influence by doubling his small capital. The effect is the same in the two cases, though the scale on which the operation is performed is greater in the one case than in the other. 3. There are four distinct points of view in which we are to consider that a man, whatever his position in life may be, enlarges his means of doing good by pursuing a prudent and thrifty policy in the management of his affairs. That is, in addition to the indirect and general influence which he exerts upon the community around him in acquiring property, there are four ways in which his course of management, and the thrifty condition which results from it, operate directly to place him in a better position for doing good than he would , otherwise enjoy. Let us consider these four points in detail. In the first place, the very fact that a man manages hia PEOPERTY AS A MEANS OF DOING GOOD. 385 Firet effect of worldly prosperity. Evil effects of laxity. affairs in a prudent, careful, and sagacious manner, and that he is consequently thrifty and forehanded in all his affairs, gives him a great influence among his neighbors, independent- ly of any actual accumulation of property. If a young man, commencing life in any retired country town, is industrious and frugal, and resolutely keeps his expenses and those of his family so far below his income, that he always has money at his command, if all claims against him are always promptly paid, if he buys for cash, and keeps all his accounts in an exact and methodical manner, he immediately assumes a position in the estimation of the community around him, which at once gives him a great influence. It imparts weight and importance to all that he says and does. He is more highly respected, and his example, whether it be on the side of piety and virtue, or of irreligion and vice, has far greater power to win others to the imitation of it. Even if the property which he acquires by this wise and prudent policy were to be sunk in the sea as fast as he should acquire it, there would still remain a great good done, by the in- creased weight and influence which his example and influ- ence would have among his neighbors and friends, by the character which he would exhibit in. his mode of acquiring it. I do not refer in this to his Christian character ; that will be considered under another head, but only to his business character ; his thrift, his industry, his trustworthiness, and his success. The exhibition of these qualities gives great weight and influence to him who exemplifies them. On the other hand, where a man, however sincere and honest a Christian he may be, is lax and negligent in the management of his affairs, behindhand in his payments, and accustomed to disappoint those who depend upon his promises, he undermines by his business habits the influence which he endeavors to exert as a servant of God. His voice, in the consultation of his friends and neighbors, is not regarded R 386 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Use of capital. The widow and her son. Charity. His recommendations have no weight. They whom he deceives and disappoints, in their vexation condemn and despise religion itself in the person of its professor, and his example, if it is regarded at all, is pointed at only to be shunned. In the second place, there is, as has already been shown, the capital itself which would be accumulated by a thrifty course of management, to be employed subsequently in wid- ening one's sphere of usefulness. If a case occurs where any good project demanding the use of money is proposed, a pros- perous man can at once co-operate in carrying it into effect. He can aid it too, not merely by the amount of his own con- tribution ; his contribution will carry in the contribution of others. Money seems to be subject to a species of sympathy, and one sum goes easily where another has gone before it. A good man, heading a subscription for the establishment of a library in his native town, will induce his friends and neigh- bors to join with him in the enterprise, and all will readily put down their names in behalf of it ; while, if he had been a bad man, and his subscription had been for opening a race-course, a great portion of the same men would have perhaps subscribed the same money, for that object. The good man, therefore, may not only use his own money for good purposes, but the very possession of the money gives him in some sense the power of using his neighbors' money too. It is very interesting to observe how many ways occur by which a man may use money for the purposes of doing good, without alienating it. For example, a widowed mother is left in destitute circumstances by the death of her husband, and the neighbors feel a strong interest in aiding her. Among the children, there is a son just come of age, an industrious, prudent, and intelligent young man. He is such a man as can use capital in business safely and to great advantage. Now while the neighbors, in the use of such scanty means as PROPERTY AS A MEANS OF DOING GOOD. 387 Building houses. The wool merchant. are at their command, are sending in little presents of food and clothing to cheer the widow's heart, and render her a little temporary aid, a wealthy Christian merchant who lives near, knowing the character of the son, and understanding all the circumstances of the case, sees that it will be safe for him to advance a sum of money to establish the young man in business at once. The plan succeeds. The family are immediately raised to a position of independence and comfort. The young man in due time repays the money, with the in- terest ; the merchant returning it to his coffers, holding it ready there for some new work of usefulness when the way shall appear. Such self-sustaining ways of doing good are the best ways. He who buys wool on a large scale, paying a fair price for it promptly at the farmers' doors, so as to encourage the popu- lation of the surrounding mountains to raise more sheep than THE WOOL MERCHANT. 388 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Contributions to charity. they otherwise would have done, is engaged more effectually in clothing the destitute, than if he gave the money to the poor. His heing able afterward to sell the wool at an ad- vance, is what gives life and effectiveness and perpetuity to this mode of action ; for it gives him the means in each fol- lowing year to do more good than he could in the one pre- ceding. So a man who huilds a house and lets it to a poor man, encouraging him, in the mean time, in his efforts to earn money by his industry, and aiding him in obtaining work, so that the tenant can pay back a rent for his dwel- ling, does good in a much more wholesome, safe, and effect- ual way, than if he gave the rent of the house as a deed of charity, besides keeping his resources good for future operations. Thus, if a man's great object and aim is the promotion of human happiness, the most effectual and most perma- nent means is to use his property right, without alienating it, to consider it, in a word, an engine to be employed, not a stock to be expended. The best test, in fact, in many cases, of the actual good which is done by money expended or em- ployed, is the return which is made ; provided always that the business is an honest one, and is conducted in an honor- able manner. For the return is in some sense a measure of the benefit which the community has received, In the third place, among the ways by which the posses- sion of property will aid in doing good, is the ordinary mode of giving money, commonly so called, for there undoubtedly are cases in which the good can only be done by an aliena- tion of the money. I do not propose to dwell upon this point, as it is very often explained and enforced. What is strictly called charity, that is, the appropriating of money to the re- lief of the sick and of the poor, to the sending of the gospel to the heathen, to the dissemination of the Scriptures and other religious writings, to the maintenance of the gospel in PROPERTY AS A MEANS OF DOING GOOD. 389 Piety in high stations. False views of some Christiana. remote and destitute districts, and other similar objects, is a duty which the Christian church is bound to discharge, with a free and generous hand. The fact that they who are wealthy can help forward these works in so much more effectual a manner than others, is a reason why every Chris- tian should be enterprising, industrious, and frugal, in order that he may acquire the wealth necessary for promoting them. And then, in the fourth place, the possession of property, in- dependently of any use that is made of it, gives a weight and momentum to the personal religious character of the Chris- tian, that is of the highest value. We have a great many instances of the power of consistent religious example in the case of poor men. The power is, however, immensely greater in the case of men of wealth and high standing. If in any village, the principal inhabitants in respect to property and station, are humble, honest, and devoted Christians, their example exerts a most powerful influence down through all the gradations of society. Their regard for the Sabbath and for all religious institutions, their habits of prayer, their hon- est, unaffected good-will for all, their conscientious sense of duty, when these principles are possessed and acted upon, make an impression upon the public mind far more ex- tensive and more permanent than would be produced by the same number of individuals in obscure and humble stations. Every man, therefore, who wishes that his influence in favor of the cause of Christ should be felt widely, must look to his pecuniary condition, and take such a course as shall, in this respect, place him in the right position in the eyes of his fellow-men. There are thus four entirely distinct and independent modes in which the possession of property places a man on higher ground than he would otherwise occupy as a laborer in the cause of God Instead therefore of the feeling, which many persons seem to entertain, that the acquisition of prop- 390 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. Cautions. Accumulation of property. erty is an evil or a danger, and that Christians ought reso- lutely to confine it within certain prescribed and definite limits, we ought to consider it as the road to the greatest Christian efficiency and influence, and every faithful servant of God ought to advance as far and as rapidly on the road as he can. His motives, ends and aims in doing this ought in- deed to he high and noble ; and he must be upright and honorable and conscientious too, in all his means and meas- ures. He must not be covetous. He must not love money for its own sake, or make it his idol. He must not make haste to be rich, and so fall into temptation and a snare, but he must press forward calmly, quietly, energetically and perse veringly, hand in hand with Christian brethren of every name and degree, in the great work which, in the course of the next half-century ought to be done throughout the Chris- tian world, of getting possession of the silver and gold of the earth, for its rightful owner, the Lord. 4. Parents should keep these considerations in mind far more fully than they generally do, in the education of their children, and train children more carefully to habits of fru- gality and economy. Many Christian parents seem to be afraid that their children will love money too much, and show too great a disposition to save it. But the danger is almost universally the other way. Parsimony is the fault of age, the tendency of youth is to profusion and extravagance. The danger from this source is greater too in America than in almost any other country. The young begin life here on too high a scale. The time between twenty and thirty is the time for laying the foundation of a fortune. A thousand dollars, laid up at twenty years of age in safe modes of in- vestment, becomes ten thousand dollars when the possessor is sixty ; and in the mean time may have been employed over and over again as a means of influence and usefulness, having grown to ten times its original magnitude by the very use to PROPEETY AS A MEANS OF DOING GOOD. 391 Importance of beginning early. which it has been devoted. Children should therefore early be taught the difference between investing money and ex- pending it. Lead them to see that money invested remains in their control, to be employed as a means of influence and usefulness, and as an engine of doing good, and to grow con- tinually under their hands by being so employed ; while money that is expended is lost and gone. Lead them thus to entertain such ideas of the nature and value of money, and to form such habits in the use of it, that they shall at the outset of life bring down their expenses to such a point that there shall begin to be at once an accumulation of income. They will thus soon be placed above the condition of dependence, embarrassment and anxiety. Their influence over their fellow-men will be greatly increased ; their Chris- tian example will have far greater power ; and their means of usefulp'^s will be in all respects very greatly extended. 392 THE WAY TO DO GOOu. Plan completed. Recapitulation. CHAPTER XII. CONCLUSION. THE plan which I had marked out for myself in. the volumes of which this is the conclusion, being now accom- plished, nothing remains hut for me simply to recapitulate some of the fundamental principles on which the views maintained in these works are based, and then to bid my readers farewell. These principles may be briefly enumerated thus. 1 . Lofty and expanded views of the character and govern- ment of God. I have endeavored to lead the reader to look upon Jehovah as the Universal Spirit, pervading and sustaining all things ; and to draw him away from the absurd image of ivory and gold, which the imagination of childhood paints, out into the mighty universe which spreads itself inimitably all around us, and shows us God's doings and character in all the physical phenomena of nature, and in all the social and economical relations of man. Such views of the great Jehovah, will alone free the mind from virtual idolatry. They alone will light up all nature with an expression from God, and enable us to realize, in the most complete and thorough manner, his continual presence and agency. I ought, however, to warn my readers very distinctly of one danger arising from this view, and that is, that by considering God as the universal agency, operating through- out the universe, they may lose sight of his personality. CONCLUSION. 393 Views of God. Pantheism. Another design of this work. We may feel that God is the great Universal Cause, and forget that he is a watchful, moral governor over every one of us. This is Pantheism. It makes every thing God, and while it extends everywhere his presence, it destroys his personality. It has been a very common way by which men have escaped from the moral control of their Maker. Philosophers discovered it, and it has been, in every age, considered a very adroit and beautiful mode of escaping from the claims of repentance and faith in Christ. It is the way chosen by the philosophers, the educated, the re- fined. They change Jehovah from a person to a principle, they lose all sense of his moral watchfulness over them, and of their accountability to him. In fact his very indi- viduality is gone, and all the pressure of accountability to him, on their part, goes with it, and yet they pride themselves upon the loftiness of^jtheir religious position, and retain and pervert all the phraseology of piety to help them in the deception. They admire nature, and call it adoring God. Now we must beware of this danger, and as we expand our views of the divine character, and begin to conceive of him as the ETERNAL AND OMNIPRESENT SPIRIT, we must not 'destroy his personality, nor lose sight, for a moment, of that strict and solemn accountability, to which he holds every intelligent creature that he has formed. 2. It has been another design of this work, to lead the reader to a deep conviction of his own moral helplessness, as a sinner against God, and of the necessity of a radical change in his heart by the influences of the Holy Spirit. The degree of hopelessness and helplessness of a confirmed bad character, of any kind, is something which men feel, and understand, but which they do not like to express in language ; for they can not express it, without encroaching upon their theories of free agency. The strength and the weight of the chain R* 394 THE WAY TO DO GOOD. The slavery of sin. Freedom. Bondage. with which any established habit or besetting sin binds the victim, is a great restriction to the boundless freedom which we love to attribute to the human soul. One kind of free- dom is indeed boundless, in man, the freedom with which the mental acts flow from the reigning desires. There is no outward restraint. The band which enthralls the human soul, is an iron rigidity within, and they who have ever really undertaken to grapple with any one sin, and to root it out from its place in the heart, will feel that sin is, after all, a slavery, a bitter, helpless, hopeless slavery. Hopeless, that is, if the poor victim is left unaided, in his struggles to get free. We may restrain the outward transgression by such considerations as we may force before our minds, but how shall we compel these deceitful and corrupt hearts to cease from loving transgression, and wish- ing that it might be safely indulged. A case of confirmed intemperance illustrates the difficulty. I have known such a victim, of kind feelings, of honesty, uprightness, intelligence, made the slave of the great destroyer of men, and in his days of reflection he would mourn and weep over his ruin, his broken-hearted wife, his suffering children, and resolve, and promise, and fix himself in the utmost firmness of human determination, that he would never yield to temptation again. But the hour of temptation came, and his decision and firm- ness would melt away. With all his struggles it would seem to him that he -could not resist. Could he or could he not ? Was he free, or was he not free ? Ah ! he was free, and that very liberty was his destruction ; for it was freedom to act according to the reigning desires of his heart, and those desires had been hopelessly corrupted by long habits of sin. So with the soul in its attitude toward its Maker. With feelings averse to God, and to holy happiness, and they steady, permanent, and tending to perpetuate themselves, and then with en- CONCLUSION. 393 Unlimited freedom. The difficulty. Suffering. tire and unlimited freedom to act according to those desires, its case is hopeless. If a moral restraint from without could intervene, there might be a hope of salvation ; but when the desires are wrong, to be left to perfect freedom, is to make destruction sure. So that the entire, unconditional liberty of the sinner who is left to his own ways, is the very key-stone of his dungeon ; it makes his moral ruin perpetual and hopeless. A thorough understanding of this will lead to a self-abandonment, and a surrender to the Savior, so com- plete and unconditional, as to give real peace and happiness to the most wounded soul. It is this only which lays the proper foundation for happy piety. That this view of the lost and helpless condition of man is the true one, the study of our own hearts, observation of mankind, and the Word of God, combine to furnish a triple proof ; and there is nothing to oppose to it but theoretical diffi- culty. " For how," asks the unbeliever, " can you reconcile such views of the hope- less ruin of an immor- tal being, with the power, and benevo- lence, and holiness of God?" I can not reconcile them, and so the squir- rel, whose limb a sports- man has shot away for his amusement, crawl- ing into his hole in agony, presents a spec- tacle which it is equal- ly impossible to recon- cile with the power, THE FOUNTAIN. 396 THE WAY TO BO GOOD. Existence of suffering inexplicable. and benevolence, and holiness of God. You can not take a step toward the solution of either one of these difficulties, not a single step. Men have talked and reasoned about the existence of sin and suffering, and attempted to explain them ; and there is no impropriety in such speculations ; but they make no progress whatever, in making it plain to the human mind how a single instance of sin and suffering can possibly exist in a world governed by spotless holiness, and by bound- less power. But when you have explained how there can be one hour of sin and suffering, the difficulty is all over, for .the explanation will answer as well for the second hour as the first, and for every succeeding one. Just as when you have explained the formation of one drop, you have explained the whole shower, and not only that one, but all other showers that ever have fallen, or will fall forever. Vast and insuperable, therefore, as are the difficulties which hang over the prospect of the utter and perpetual moral ruin of any man, they are all removed by explaining any single instance of sin and suffering. Tell me how Judas could have betrayed his Master, and suffered such remorse and anguish for it, while on earth, and I will tell you how it can be, that he is sinning and suffering now ; and I will repeat the explanation, for any other hour of his future existence, whenever you may call for it. The theoretical difficulty, then, while we acknowledge its force, ought not to operate as a presumption against what our own experience, and the Word of God, unite to maintain, for the difficulty applies equally to what we know to exist, and therefore, though it appears insuperable to us, we are compelled to believe that there is a solution for it ; and the solution which will cover one case, will cover all. The dif- ficulty is not increased by multiplying the cases to which it will apply. Every separate portion of the existence of a fal- len angel, or of a fallen man, may be considered a distinct CONCLUSION. 397 Christ the atoning sacrifice. example of the existence of sin and suffering, and whenever we are able to see the compatibility of one of them with the boundless power and love of the Supreme, we shall under- stand the compatibility of all. The doctrine of the Bible, then, is, that sin perpetuates itself; and we see and feel this, its essential tendency, in all our experience of its nature. It does it, however, not by any compulsion from without, forcing man to sin, contrary to his desires, but by changing and corrupting those desires, and setting them permanently in the wrong direction. The de- sires and the heart thus corrupted, and alienated from God, freedom, of itself, becomes ruin, and any one who looks into his soul, with careful self-examination, to study its feelings toward God, and to make them what they ought to be, will find, after a few hard and weary struggles, that the repre- sentations of the Bible in respect to the deathlike helpless- ness of the sinner, are too true. I have wished to draw the reader to these views. They are, I am convinced, funda- mentally necessary. They, and they only, will lead to that humble attitude before God, and that simple reliance on his Spirit, which will secure any proper progress in piety. 4. It has been the intention of this work to lead the sinner to trust in the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ, as the atoning sacrifice, by which it becomes just and safe to for- give his sins. We escape a great many philosophical diffi- culties, I admit, by rejecting this view, and considering Jesus Christ as only a human teacher of moral and religious truth ; but with the difficulties, we lose all the life and spirit of piety. The human soul has always, in every country and in every age, hungered and thirsted for a sacrifice for its sins, and it always will. The mind of man is so constituted, that it must instinctively feel that there is something incomplete