?iit' f/'./'r':' ■ ^s- ^ si "^* £ <^ 3 M 1-9 M ^ M -^ CO . _i O Q h -— ^ ^ o H • WO — f^ ^ ^ ;25 • ^H — • o :s 5^- U* e ^ .£^ "»^ M J\ Digitized by tlie Internet Arcliive in 2010 witli funding from Princeton Tlieological Seminary Library littp://www.archive.org/details/josepliormodelyouOOspra JOSEPH: OR, THE FFR R mS. II Y iiiu BY 1^ WILLIAM B. SPRAGUE, D.D. NEW-YORK: ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH, 683 BROADWAY. 1860. PREFACE. This book, though it has passed through several editions, has been out of print for some years past, and is now reproduced under a different title, and in a cheaper form, in the hope that it may be found suit- ' able especially for Sabbath-school libraries. CONTENTS Page. Outline op the history of Joseph, 7 PART I. SOURCES OF DANGER TO YOUNG MEN. LETTER 1. Danger from excessive parentat, mnuLOENCE, . . 2" Joseph's character seem less attractive to you fo his having forgiven his brethren even the sin oi fratricide toward him? Rather, is it not the greatness of the injury that throws such superla- tive lustre around the forgiving act? Imitate 174 FORGIVENESS OF INJURIES. Joseph in forgiving great injuries ; and if there are those who sneer at this as indicating lameness or servility, you will have nothing to fear ; for it is a light thing to bear the sneers, either of base hypocrites or of miserable fools. It was an aggravating circumstance in the case of Joseph, that the injuries which he received were from his own brethren — children of the same father — the nearest relatives that he had on earth. You may observe, as a general rule, that quarrels in families are the bitterest quarrels that ever occur ; and where two brothers become alienated from each other — no matter from what cause — reconciliation becomes exceedingly diffi- cult, if not absolutely hopeless. It would seem that, where an alienation is once effected in such a case, its intensity is generally proportioned to the strength of the affection which it has displaced. It may result from various causes ; but probably it originates more frequently in the distribution of the parental inheritance than any thing else. Let those who sustain to each other this endearing relation, be careful that it never becomes poisoned by dissension and crimination. Rather submit in silence to what you may deem great injustice, FORGIVENESS OF INJURIES. 175 than run the hazard of opening a domestic quarrel. Or, if you are so unhappy as to be ah'eady engaged in one, resolve, before reading another sentence of this letter, that you will instantly drop it. It is at too great expense that you quarrel with your own brother. Let the breach be continued a little longer, and it may be impossible ever to repair it ; and you may be obliged to carry with you to the grave the reflection that he who should have been a chief mourner at your funeral, if he is there at all, will be there only as a matter of decency and constraint. It is worthy of remark that Joseph forgave his brethren, when he had them entirely in his power — just as entirely as they had him, when they inflicted the injury. However weak and defence- less he was when they met him at Dothan, he was surrounded with the insignia of office when they found him in Egypt — the little unprotected boy had become the governour of the land ; and he could do with them whatsoever he listed without being called in question for any course that he might adopt. He might have banished them instantly from his dominion, or he might 176 rORGIVENESS OF INJURIES. have consigned them to perpetual imprisonment, or he might have served them as the poor baker was served, whose dream he had occasion to interpret ; but, instead of adopting any such rigorous and retaliatory measures, he freely forgave them the injury. Perhaps, in certain cases, where you consider yourself aggrieved, you will seem ready enough to forgive — particu- larly in cases where the offender may be useful to you, and you can anticipate no advantage from persisting in your resentment; — but are you equally disposed to reconciliation, Avhere you have him entirely in your power, and can do him a serious injury, perhaps without incurring the odium of it before the world ? While a case of this kind involves great temptation to cultivate an implacable spirit, it furnishes a fine opportunity to display a magnanimous one. If you forgive only where your own personal interest would manifestly be promoted by it, and where you have little or no power to inflict an injury, it may be worth while for you to inquire whether you have really exercised the forgiving spirit at all. If your enemy is in your power, let him feel, so far as any act of injustice is concerned, that he is FORGIVENESS OF INJURIES. 177 safe in your power. Never take any advantage in respect to him. that you would not feel justified in taking, if he were your friend. It is not only unjust, but mean and cowardly, to do him an injury, because you can do it — perhaps without detection. Joseph manifested a forgiving spirit by a corresponding course of action. He ultimately took from his brethren every ground of suspicion in regard to his sincerity, by performing towards them a succession of the most fraternal and generous acts. He not only relieved their imme- diate necessities, but made provision for their permanent subsistence in circumstances in every way the most agreeable to them. Here again, I commend him to you as a model. I have known cases, not a kw^ in which individuals have deceived themselves in supposing that they had forgiven an enemy, when they had reached the point of being willing not to attempt to injure him — willing to let him alone ; and yet I have generally remarked that, where this negative course was professed, a more positive course was practised ; and that, on some occasions at least, the individual supposed to be forgiven, would be 12 178 FORGIVENESS OF INJURIES. the object, if not of direct attacks, yet of offensive anusions. The truth is, you utterly mistake, if you imagine that you have forgiven an enemy wnen you have only got so far as to pass him in silence and neglect. You must be able to meet hmi with feelings and demonstrations of good will. And the more decisive these demonstra- tions are, the better — the better for him — the better for yourself. If, after a professed recon- ciliation, your conduct toAvards him savours of shyness, and is at best of an equivocal character, he will have no confidence in your professions, and you will have no comfort in his society ; and you will both probably settle down with the conviction that, though you have gone through the form of reconciliation, the old grudge holds good. But if, on the contrary, you meet him in the spirit of good will and generosity, and espe- cially, if you avail yourself of the firet opportunity to show him some substantial act of kindness, he will give you full credit for sincerity, and will probably meet you with a corresponding spirit, and thus a real and permanent reconciliation will be secured. It is really one of the noblest attri- butes of a noble soul, to be able to render good FORGIVENESS OF INJURIES. 179 for evil — especially to confer great benefits upon one from whom great injuries have been received. Joseph forgave his brethren in a way that was fitted to exert the happiest influence upon theii tempers. He might indeed, as soon as they appeared before him in Egypt, and he recognized them as the brethren who had sold him as a slave — he might have revealed to them at once the astounding fact that he was their brother, and have given them free and immediate access to a brother's heart. But, though his first feelings might have prompted to this, it instantly occurred to him that those brethren had committed a great offence, not only against himself, but against their father, and against God : and that it was fitting that they should be made sensible of it, and should be brought to contemplate it with a truly repentant spirit. And with a view to secure this end, and not because he desired to see them even temporarily unhappy, he instituted that singular course of measures by which they were so severely tried, up to the time that he made himself known to them. Their being imprisoned as spies, Simeon being detained as an hostage, the affair of the silver cup, and that whole series of events, which 180 FORGIVENESS OF INJURIES. kept them so long in anxiety and distress, and sometimes even consternation, were designed — fraternally and mercifully designed, to make them hearty penitents in view of their misconduct, and to prepare them for the blessings which were yet in store for them. And the desired effect was produced — conscience was stirred up to do its office; and in the fearful punishment which they apprehended, as well as in the extremity to which they were actually brought, they saw the enormity of the crime of which they had been guilty. And in this respect also Joseph is an example for you. It is one important part of the duty you owe to the person who has injured you, to make him sensible, if possible, of the evil of his conduct, and lead him to cultivate such a temper that he shall at once be worthy of your forgiveness, and able rightly to appreciate it, and suitably to profit by it. The considerations which urge you to the culti- vation of a forgiving spirit, I shall only hint at in a single word. It is in itself one of the noblest exercises of a virtuous temper, and one of the greatest triumphs over a corrupt and grovelling selfishness. It blesses both him who forgives and FILIAL REGARD. 181 him who is forgiven, and operates like a charm to allay the withering strifes of society. It is one of the prescribed conditions on which we may hope for the forgiveness of our offences here, and our open acquittal at the judgment. It is the spirit which animated the Saviour of the world; — which manifested itself in his doctrines and precepts and example, and which breathed in all its fulness and vigour amidst the scenes of Calvary. Ponder each of these considerations till it shall have exerted its full influence upon you ; and like Joseph, and like a greater than Joseph, ever exemplify the forgiving spirit. LETTER XIV. FILIAL REGARD. I DESIGN, in this letter, to address you in respect tO' the feelmgs and conduct appropriate to the filial' relation. It might seem as if nature herself had made such provision for the development of the filial 182 FILIAI. REGARD. principle, that little need be said to give it the right direction, or secure its legitimate end ; and yet the fact turns out to be, that there is scarcely a principle belonging to our constitution, that requires more vigilant attention, or more careful culture, than this. I fear that truth constrains to the acknowledgment that the period on which you have fallen, is distin- guished above any preceding period in modern times, for the want of filial respect ; and happy indeed shall I be, if, by holding up Joseph before you as a model, I shall succeed in reviving in your minds the ancient spirit of reverence towards parents, and of leading you to feel that, if jrou will be true to one of the noblest instincts of your nature, you must honour your father and your mother. I had occasion to remark to you in the preceding letter that Joseph's forgiving spirit had impressed itself upon his whole history ; and the same is true of his filial regard — it is so inter- woven with all the important events of his life, that an attempt to separate it from them, would be nothing less than an attempt completely to falsify the narrative. Joseph was too yo"ng when his mother died, to know the strength of maternal FILIAL REGARD. 183 love or the value of maternal care ; but towards his father, who lived till after the son had reached his maturity, he showed himself one of the most perfect models in the filial relation that history can furnish. The earliest development of the filial principle that comes within our knowledge is affection : the very first exercises of feeling vi^hich the child discovers, that are in any d, gree independent of its physical nature — certainly the first feelings of an amiable character, may be read in the tenacity with which it clings to its mother, and in the smile into which a mother's love works its infantile features. And, doubtless, the feeling of aflTection towards both parents, has the precedence, in the order of nature, above any other. Joseph, from his earliest years, evidently manifested toward his father a devoted attachment ; and probably the great strength of his filial affection was one circumstance that made him so much an object of parental partiality, and was finally the occasion of bringing upon him such severe trials. But it was in his later years that his affection had an opportunity to manifest itself in the most decided demonstrations. Notice the affectionate 184 FILIAL REGARD. inquiry which he made of his brethren concerning their father's health, while yet they had not begun to suspect that their father was also his. Notice the charge Avhich he gave them to bring their father — the old man, down, that he might set eyes upon him. And after he had revealed to them the secret that he Avas Joseph, observe that the very first question which he asked them was, "Doth my father yet live?" — and forthwith he renews with still greater earnestness the charge which he had previously given — " Haste you, and go up to my father, and say unto him, thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt : come down unto me — tarry not." And above all, notice the account of the first meeting between him and his father in the land of Goshen, and see him dissolved in tears, hanging upon his father's neck ; and say whether you can imagine a scene in which the very sublimity of filial affection should be more strikingly mani- fested. And then you remember what provision he made for his father's comfort; — how carefully and tenderly he watched over his old age ; how he hastened to his dying bed to minister to his last wants and receive his final blessing; — how, FILIAL REGARD. 185 even after the patriarch had yielded up the ghost, the dutiful, affectionate son still " fell upon his father's face, and wept upon him, and kissed him;" and how, finally, after a public lamenta- tion had been made for him, he obeyed his dying command in having him removed for burial to the spot which he had designated in the land of Canaan. You see that Joseph's affection for his father was far enough from being an inactive principle: it discovered itself in every act of obedience and kindness which his own ability permitted, or his father's necessities required. Joseph, you perceive, treated his father with the greatest respect and reverence. And this was not a constrained feeling — it was the legit- imate working of that strong filial affection, which was inwrought among the deepest sensi- bilities of his nature. But this is nothing more than is due to the parental relation. You are to reverence your parents as those whom Providence has constituted your superiors and guardians : and you are to give expression to this spirit by every appropriate means. Especially, you should beware that you do not pervert the affectionate familiarity to which tliey may admit vou, to 186 FILIAL RKGARD. purposes of disrespect : j-ou should not too hastily call in question their opinions, and if 3'ou have occasion to dissent from them, should do it in a spirit of becoming modesty: you should not show yourself disposed to monopolize or direct the conversation in which they are taking a part, but should rather give place to theiTi, and remember that, on such occasions especially, one important part of your duty is to listen — in short, you should let it appear, on every occasion, both in publick and private, that you cherish toward them a profound respect, and that you are ready to defer to them in every thing that shall not interfere with the sober convictions of your judgment and conscience. I am aware that there are cases to which these remarks, in all their extent, cannot apply ; for, unhappily, there are some children who have parents whose characters are such as to forbid and repel even filial respect. The child who sees his father fall down drunk, and hears him deal out vulgarity and blasphemy, and dreads his return home, lest it should be the harbinger of a night of terror and weeping to his mother, cannot, ought not, to reverence that father, as if FILIAL REGARD. 187 he were a pattern of the domestick virtues. StiJl, however, even in this case, there is something due to the parental relation. It is, to say the least, exceedingly offensive to ail good taste, and I may add, contrary to the dictates of nature, for a child in these circumstances to seem willing, as is sometimes the case, to expose a father's vices. You may not indeed be forbidden in all circum- stances to speak of them — that may sometimes be necessary ; but let it always be in a manner that shall show that you have not forgotten that the offender is your father, and that you earnestly desire to render him a full share of filial respect. There may be cases in which it is proper for you, even to address him directly in regard to his evil doings, and to put forth a vigorous effort to recover him to virtue and usefulness. But this is perhaps the most delicate office which a child ever has to perform ; for, in this case, he seems to change places with the father; and however well intended and well performed may be the duty which he takes upon himself, there is always danger that it will be met with irritation and disgust. If you are ever providentially called to the discharge of this painful duty towards a 188 FILIAL REGARD. parent, be careful that you select the most favourable time — a time when his mind is most free from unnatural excitement and most open to conviction ; and if you can select some moment when he is suffering immediately the effect of his vices, or when some calamitous dispensation hath overtaken him. that will probably be the most favoured moment of all. And let there be every thing in your manner to evince that you approach the duty with the utmost reluctance and pain, and that it is because you love your father with strong affection that you cannot look upon his ruin and remain silent. Let what you say be considerately and discreetly weighed, before you say it; and, in ordinary cases, if you will secure the best impression, better not have the conver- sation a very protracted one. What you must rely upon chiefly, under the blessing of Heaven, is the spirit of filial affection coming out in such a way as to keep down resentment, to disarm parental authority, and to open a way to the heart for a solemn, affectionate, earnest expostu- lation. But you are to obey your parents as well as reverence them — indeed you cannot reverence FILIAL KEGARD. 189 them as you ought, but that obedience is secured as a matter of .course. Whatever command Joseph received from his father, he obeyed cordially and promptly. If his father directed him, when a child, to go and visit his brethren who were keeping their flocks, he went without oflering a single objection. If his father directed him, when governour of Egypt, to convey his mortal remains back to the land of Canaan for burial, here again there was no time lost in obey- ing this command. And we have no reason to believe that his father ever addressed to him either a command or a request, but it was complied with at the very earliest moment possible. What a beautiful exemplification was this of the filial spirit I My young friend " go thou and do likewise." But remember that you do not come up fully to the spirit of the duty that is here required of you, merely by doing sooner or later, and in some way or other, the external act, which parental authority may enjoin. You must not only obey, but you must obey promptly. Suppose the service required of you be not exactly that which is most in accordance with your taste, or inclination, or 190 FILIAL REGARD. even judgment — I do not say that you are not at liberty, in such a case, respectfully to state your opinion, or offer a suggestion, but it ill becomes you to take the attitude of an objector or a caviller, and virtually tell your father that you must at least have an argument with him, before you shall do the thing which he requires. As a general rule, the intimation of a parent's desire should be enough to determine your conduct; and none but a parent who has had experience, can know how great is the difference between that obedience which is thus promptly and cordially rendered, and that which waits for a repetition of the parental mandate, and which after all is of a constrained and stinted character. You will anticipate me when 1 say that, as vicious qualities in parents are not to be reve- renced, so neither are their commands to do evil, to be obeyed. But here it cften becomes an exceedingly delicate question how far you may go in what may seem doubtful compliances, rather than take the attitude of opposition to parental authority. In cases of this kind, you must judge by the best lights that you can command ; and it will generally be discreet in you to refer such FILIAL REGARD. 191 questions to some maturer wisdom and experience than your own. But when the thing that is required of you is manifestly and palpably wrong, — no matter by what considerations it may be urged, — you need not even ask yourself the question whether you shall obey, for God has already settled that question at your hands. You must not even connive at evil, though the conse- quence should be that you are cut ofl^ from the paternal inheritance, or turned out of the paternal dwelling. Such extreme cases, however, rarely occur ; and even when a parent thus perverts his authority by requiring at the hands of his child what cannot be rendered in consistency with a good conscience, the child will, very often at least, by respectfully stating his convictions and remon- strating against the thing required of him, relieve himself from the alternative of either violating his conscience or disobeying his father. 1 will only add that the filial spirit properly brought into exercise, will, if necessary, and if possible, provide for the comfort of parents in the decline of life. It was worth all that Joseph had suffered from the persecution of his brethren, and even being exiled so long from his beloved 192 FILIAL KEGARD. father, to be able to act the father towards him in his latter years: indeed, for the pleasure of that one meeting- — the welcome, the embrace, the paternal benediction, what generous minded son would not stand ready to make any sacrifice? Possibly your parents may have been unfortunate in life ; and, after having supplied your enrly wants, and educated you to some useful pursuit, they may have themselves become poor ; and now, as old age is advancing upon them, they may be without the means of procuring even the comforts of life. If you have a spark of filial sensibility, you will never see them sufTer — you will not oblige them even to ask your aid — your generous interposition will at least be as quick as their own thoughts; and you will not rest till their wants are provided for, even though your own lot may not rise above an humble mediocrity. But, admitting that they stand in no need of pecuniary aid, there are other things besides money that can minister to the comfort of old age. Your filial attentions — your frequent visits, if you are separated from them — your delicate expressions of respect and veneration, will all operate as a cordial to their spirits ; and these FILIAL REGARD. 193 will be more precious to them than any comforts that opulence could bring within their reach. Especially if they are sick, you should hasten, with filial tenderness, to their bed' side ; and let them see that you are vigilant in respect to every thing that can promote their comfort ; and even, when they come to be in the twilight of life, let ihem reflect, if it may be so, that their beloved children are among the last objects of their mortal vision. I can hardly forbear e.nvying that son who has at once the disposition and the opportunity of smoothing the path of his aged parents to the grave. I had intended to say something in the conclu- sion o-f this letter, to urge to the cultivation of this spirit ; but it so obviously appeals to whatever is generous and noble in human nature, that I am willing to leave the whole subject with you without another word. I will, however, just add, that the absence of this spirit in a young man marks him as an object at once to be pitied and to be avoided ; and that its existence is regarded, and justly regarded, as one of the best pledges of a virtuous and useful character. 194 DEPENDANCE ON GOD. LETTER XV. DEPENDANCE ON GOD. Every thing that has been said in the preced- ing letters has taken for granted that Joseph was a truly reh'gious man. You have seen how his most ordinary actions were evidently dictated by a regard to principle and conscience ; how sincerity and benevolence breathed in all his social intercourse, and stern integrity marked every step of his course as a man of business. But I design, in the present letter, to bring him before you more immediately in the relations which he sustained to God ; or rather to show you how the sentiment of dependance on Go 1 operated as the controlling principle of his life. I might point to various facts in his history — such as his recognition of divine aid in his inter- pretation of the dreams, or rather his referring the whole matter to the direct agency of Heaven, — his commending his brethren to the mercy of DEPENDANCE ON GOD. 195 Almighty God, when he sent them back to his father, and other similar circumstances ; but it is enough to say that this attribute of his character manifests itself, directly or indirectly, at every point of his history. He evidently acted, habitu- ally, under a deep impression of an all-seeing, all-controlling God. And this same spirit I would urge you to cultivate, as the leading element of true piety — as the germ of Christian character. By the spirit of dependance, I mean that spirit which recognizes your own weakness, and which relies, in a suitable manner, on help from on high. It has reference both to your temporal and spiritual needs. I hardly need say that its appropriate expression is prayer. In every thing that relates to the present life you are to cherish a due sense of dependance on God. Trivial as the interests of this life may seem, compared with those of another, it still has its importance ; and when considered in its relation to a future life, an importance that outruns all calculation. In respect to these interests — no matter whether they be the higher or the lower interests of life. — infinite power, wisdom, good- ness, are to be acknowledged. For instance, you 196 DEPENDANCE ON GOD. are to watch carefully the indications of Provi- dence, and to seek the higher aids of God's Spirit, m regard to the choice of your profession or occupation for life ; for, if you happen to mistake here, and make a choice which your talents and circumstances do not justify, you may bring upon yourself calamities from which no subsequent effort will be able to deliver you. You are to trust in God, not only for guidance in respect to the field which you are to occupy, but for the ability to occupy it with success, and for a blessing to crown your labours. You are liable sometimes to be placed in circumstances of difficulty and embarrassment — to vSee your worldly prospects clouded, and your path apparently hedged up — here again, you are to direct your eye upward ; — you are to seek relief from the power that rules the world. In a word, you are to trust God for every needed temporal blessing — you are to trust his wisdom to decide what blessings are best for you, and his power and goodness, to bestow them. But there is a nobler life than this — there is an inward spiritual life which developes itself in holy exercises and actions : there is a future immortal life, that is to be the theatre of the endless OTowth A. DEPENDANCE ON GOD. 197 and glory of the spirit, and for which the present is chiefly important as constituting the scene of preparation. And in all that respects these nobler forms of existence and action, your dependance on God is specially to be acknowledged. First of all, you are to cast yourself upon him as an ofTending creature. Deeply sensible of youl unworthiness, you are to rely on his mercy, through the mediation of Christ, for the pardon of your sins, and his grace for the cleansing and renovation of your soul. In all your spiritual difficulties, you are to look to him for direction ; in all your temptations, for succour ; in all your sorrows, for comfort ; in all your weakness, for strength, Even though you may have been the subject of a true renovation, you will probably often find yourself at a distance from God, and perhaps your progress in the Christian life may be so slow and equivocal, that you may be ready to doubt whether what you called Christian expe- rience was not gross delusion. In all these cir- cumstances, what you have to do is to bring to your aid, by living faith, the resources of bound- less grace. Thus making God your refuge and strength, you will be enabled to forget the things 198 DEPENDANCE ON GOD. that are behindj and press forward ; and your path will shine brighter and brighter unto the per- fect day. The great importance of cultivating this principle of dependance on God, will be obvious from two considerations. It is itself the primary element of religious character, and it is that which, in its legitimate operation, gathers around it some other of the loveliest graces and virtues of the Christian. A moment's reflection Avill show you that it I recedes, in the order of nature, all the other graces. Indeed, if it may not be said to .precede the formation of Christian character, it is at least associated with the very earliest exercises of true piety ; for it is not till the soul feels its absolute dependance on God for salvation, that it is brought to yield itself up to him in acts of repentance and faith. Without this spirit, no one ever offers up acceptable prayer : the publican could not have exclaimed with sincerity — "God be merciful to me a sinner !" — if he had not felt that he was entirely dependant on God for the blessing that he supplicated. Remember then, if you have not had such views of your own weakness and guilt and unworthiness, as DEPENDANCL ON GOD. 199 to make you deeply realize that salvation, if it comes to you at all, must come from God, — 3'ou have never been the subject of a genuine conver- sion — you have never ofTered to God acceptable homage. But j^ou are to view this spirit also in its relation to other Christian qualities, particularly humility, submission, gratitude, and activity. What is there that can make you humble, if it be not a sense of your dependance on God? If you feel that you are indebted entirely to your own industry or skill for your temporal blessings, and that you may safely trust to your own merit for all the spiritual blessings that you need, the consequence will necessarily be that you will be full of pride and self confidence; — you will never come to take lessons from the cross; — you will scorn the humbling provision — the only provision which the gospel makes — for your salvation. But if, on the other hand, you feel that you are at best short-sighted and impotent — that you are liable to be deceived where you are most sure of being right, and liable to fail where you are most confident of success ; if you are deeply sensible that you owe a debt to divine 200 DEPENDANCE ON GOD. justice that you can never pay, and that, if you are finally saved, it must be by a special divine and gracious interposition ; if, in short, you feel that you are a debtor to God's abounding mercy for every thing temporal and every thing spiritual — for all that you enjoy and all that you hope for, — then I ask, how you can avoid being humble ? If it is God who makes you to differ from others whose lot is less favoured — if God is the bountiful bestower, and you the unworthy recipient, and you sensibly feel this, you are humble as a matter of course — you walk humbly with God — you walk humbly before the world. And I need not explain to you the difference between that proud spirit which goeth before a fall, and that humble spirit which is the signal for being exalted. So also a suitable dependance on God is a security for submission to the divine will. If you trust to your own wisdom, or that of your fellow creatures, to order your lot, scorning the idea that you stand in need of any superhuman guid- ance, you will be ill prepared for disappointment; and when it comes, you will indulge in unavailing regrets, and equally unavailing reproaches. You DEPENDANCE ON GOD, 201 will blame the eye that was so blind, or the hand that was so feeble, or the heart that was so base, as to frustrate your favourite purposes ; or possibly you may fall upon yourself in bitter accusations for having negligently betrayed your own inte- rests. But, if you cast all your cares upon God, and confide all your interests to his providence and grace, recognizing his hand not only in the blessings that cheer you but in the sorrows that make your heart desolate, — then you will be prepared for scenes of trial — prepared to submit to them without repining, because that wisdom in which you are accustomed to exercise an implicit confidence has ordained them. It was but the other day that I received a letter from a young female, informing me that her father, who has long been known as one of the greatest and best men of the age, had been suddenly — in the twinkling of an eye — stricken down by death. It was the greatest affliction that she could have experienced; for not only was she hereby deprived of one of the best of fathers, but was now, for the first time, thrown upon her own resources in respect to the general direction of the interests of her family. But, in the days of 202 DEPENDANCE ON GOD. prosperity, she had been accustomed to cultivate a constant feeling of trust in God ; and every sentence in her sad letter showed that, now that the day of adversity had come, she was not taken by surprize — that her spirit had already been disciplined for the trial, and that she was reposing in humble submission in the perfect wisdom and goodness of her Heavenly Father. You too must expect days of trial ; and, as you would desire to be calm when the storm rages, to be resigned when earthly comforts fly away, let me exhort you to an habitual feeling of dependance on God. Gratitude too is another of the graces that cluster about this primary form of religious feeling. It must be so ; for if you feel that you depend on God for every thing — on his providence for protection — on his spirit for sanctification, you also recognize his har^. in these blessings when they are actually b stowed ; and what else is thinking of him ii> this way as your Benefactor, but being gratp ul for his goodness? Moreover, how natural font, as you look forward in the spirit of dependance to the future, you should connect with you; anticipations a review of the past; that, with thfc supplications which this spirit prompts DEPENDANCE ON GOD. 203 for the blessings that you need, thanksgivings should also mingle for the mercies which you have received. Only take care that you feel sufficiently your dependance on God, and you may leave the spirit of gratitude to take care of itself — the one can not thrive but the other will thrive with it. I will only add that this temper which I have been recommending, is really the spirit of all true Christian activity. I well know that the doctrine of dependance is often perverted to purposes of negligence and sloth. The sinner perverts it to the neglect of his salvation — for he reasons thus with himself — "If I depend entirely for salvation on God's grace, then I have nothing to do but to wait till that grace is communicated ; and if it never comes, and I am lost in consequence, who shall say that I am my own destroyer ?" The professed Christian often perverts it to the neglect of the most obvious duties of the religious life ; " for," saj^s he, " if God's work is to be carried forward in the world by his own agency, — if the church cannot be revived except by his quickening influence, — if the heathen cannot be saved unless his arm is revealed for their deliverance, then what 204 DEPENDANCE ON GOD. have I to do, but sit still till God does his own work, and then give him the glory ?" Need I say that this is the most egregious sophistry, or rather the most miserable trifling ? God has made you a moral agent ; and he requires you to act according to the laws of your moral nature ; and it is only as you obey this requisition, that you have a right to expect his blessing. He will give you your food and raiment, but you must work for it. He will give you grace to help in every time of need : but he will communicate it to you through the medium of your own activity. And if you do not comply with the terms on which the blessing is offered, blame not God — blame only yourself — if it be withheld. But I have said that this doctrine of depen- dance, when viewed aright, instead of being an encouragement to sloth, is a stimulant to effort. For it carries you out of your own feebleness, and brings you into communion with everlasting strength. If you were required to discharge the duties of the spiritual life especially, in reliance on your own resources alone, you might well yield to despondency, and attempt nothing ; for, if you viewed the matter aright, you could not but fee] DEPENDANCE ON GOD. 205 that, in relation to such duties, your own strength is weakness. But, since you are privileged to bring to yourself by faith and prayer a portion of that energy which made the world — since, when you are oppressed with a sense of your weakness, you can hang on that arm on which the whole creation hangs, you have nothing to fear — you may go forward with confidence and alacrity ; and not a believing and well directed effort that you put forth will ultimately miss its object. And let me say, this accords with individual experience. The most efficient labourers in the cause of truth and righteousness have always been those who have believed the doctrine of dependance without perverting it ; who have laboured as diligently as if all depended on themselves ; who have depended as absolutely as if their labours were in no way requisite to the blessing. Xx PART III. REWARDS THAT CROWN A VIRTUOUS COURSE. LETTER XVI. VIRTUE CROWNED WITH SAFETY. If I have accomplished the end which I proposed in the preceding letters, I have given you some idea of the dangers which you are to meet, and of the spirit in which you are to meet them. I have shown you the amiable and exemplary Joseph cast into a furnace of temptation and affliction, and coming out of it like gold seven times purified ; and have endeavoured to hold him up to you, not only as an illustration of the difficulties and trials which you may expect, but as an example of 208 VIRTUE CROWNED WITH SAFETY. the virtues and graces at which you are to aim It only remains that, in the letters which follow, I should ask you to contemplate the bright rewards with which his course was crowned, as exempli- fying, in some degree, the rewards which every young man has a right to look for, who walks in his steps. In a world of danger like this, it is much to say that an individual is safe ; notwithstanding the idea which this involves is rather negative than positive. I will endeavour to show you how virtue ensures safety — safety both in respect to temporal and spiritual evils. I do not undertake to say that virtue will be an absolute security against all temporal evils; — for we know that this is contradicted by experience. Nor do I mean to intimate that the virtuous man will always escape injury from his fellow man ; — for this idea is refuted by the experience of Joseph himself; and we all know that we are to look for the history of some of the best men that the world has seen, in the records of martyrdom. The truth which Joseph's history illustrates, and to which 1 wish now to direct your attention, is, that the good man is safe, even when dang-ers seem to threateo VIRTUE CROWNED WITH SAFETY. 209 — safe in any circumstances in which he can be placed. If you look into the world, you will find that a large portion of the evils which individuals suffer from their fellow men, are not altogether unpro- voked — they have their origin in some previous neglect or positive wrong, of which they have themselves been guilty. You may indeed have received a much greater wrong than you have inflicted ; but if you had inflicted none at all, neither, perhaps, would you have received any. Now, against this whole class of evils virtue secures you, by leading you to forbear all provo- cation. And when an unprovoked injury has been inflicted, virtue may not improbably prevent the repetition of it, by leading you to meet the offender in the spirit of a generous conciliation. Let a man who has been injured by another, show himself, not indeed insensible to the injury or lacking in self respect, but, with a high magnani- mous bearing, ready to return good for evil ; and if he is not henceforth secure against all injury from the same source, it is evidence that he has fallen into the hands of a fiend and not of a man. Besides, there is something in the dignity with 12* 210 VIRTUE CROWNED WITH SAFETY. which virtue surrounds its possessor, to repel every improper freedom — much more every injurious assault. There are indeed some who cannot be restrained even by this — some who are so debased and malignant, that the loftier the virtue, the more ready they are to insult and tarnish ; but, in most cases, even malignity itself will quail before the majesty of exalted principle. Moreover, if such an individual be unjustly assailed, there are many around who are ready to come to his aid. His excellent character, as in the case of Joseph, secures to him excellent friends ; and they are ever at hand to throw themselves as a shield between him and any meditated harm of which they may be apprized. Even those with whom he may have had no particular intimacy, if they see that he is likely to suffer, will throng about him for his defence ; and perhaps, in the end, he may have no occa- sion personally to regret that the injury was attempted, as the effect of it has been only to show him how much strength he has, in the good will of the community at large, as well as in the attachment of his personal friends. But suppose the very worst that can happen to a VIRTUE CROWNED WITH SAFETY. 211 good man — suppose that, like some of our modern missionaries, he be surrounded with those who are not only thirsting for his blood but literally- hungering for his flesh, and he sees the fearful preparation going forward for taking his life in the most barbarous manner — it is possible that God may interpose, even then, for his deliverance. He who would not suffer Joseph to be left in the pit to die, nor to remain in prison for a crime of which he was not guilty — He who would not suffer the lions to harm Daniel, when he was thrown among them, nor the furnace to burn the young men when they were cast into it — He may find means — and that without resorting to a miraculous agency — for effecting the delive- rance of an individual, even in the circumstances which I have supposed. Be it, however, that no such signal interposition occurs, and that he who has fallen into the hands of cannibals, actually falls a victim to their barbarity — is there any safety here? Yes, safety in the best sense — the immortal spirit is safe — the faggots that set the body on fire, or the sharp instrument that pierces the seat of life, only liberates the great imprisoned soul, so that it can fly off to its glorious home. 212 VIRTUE CROAVNED WITH SAFETY. The martyr, with his head upon the block, is safe. Lyman and Munson and Williams were safe, when they felt that the next moment they were to be the subjects of a violent and horrible death. I have attempted to show you, in some preced- ing letters, that those evils which aflfect your earthly condition merely, are not the evils from which you have most to fear, and, in relation to which chiefly, safety is to be regarded as a blessing. There are spiritual evils — evils that have their seat in the soul, and, if not removed, must affect its permanent well-being — nay, entail upon it an everlasting death. Let me say, virtue — I here and all along use the word in the higher and evangelical sense, as including what- ever is essential to religious character — virtue is an effectual security against these greatest of evils. Consider its influence in regard to the tempta- tions by which you are surrounded. If you habitually manifest the spirit of true religion — especially if you are a shining example of it — there is a large class of temptations v/hich you will, by this means, keep at a distance from you ViRTUE CROWNED WITH SAFETY. 213 • — I refer particularly to the direct attempts of evil companions to draw you into sin. It is true that men of corrupt principles and profligate lives are always glad enough to seduce the young Christian into forbidden paths ; and where they can bring such an one to make shipwreck of his religious character, they never fail to chronicle it as a victory. But those on whom they are most likely to try their wiles, because most likely to succeed, are persons who have already betrayed to them some symptoms of backsliding' — who have furnished them evidence that their principles are more easy and accomroodating, than those of professed christians generally. Persons of this description — observe it where you will — are courted by the gay, the worldly, and sometimes even the profligate; and alas! the result too often shows that the judgment which was formed respecting their susceptibility to temptation was but too correct. Whereas, on the other hand, let an individual stand forth the consistent, decided Christian, inquiring only what he ouglbt to do in order to decide what he shall do, — and he will not be regarded as a good subject for the wiles of the wicked to operate upon; — and there 214 VIRTUE CKOAVNED WITH SAFETY. will be so little confidence of success in respect to him, that the effort to tempt and destroy will be likely to take some different direction. The men who make it their business to ruin others, are generally wary enough in selecting those whom they intend to make their victims ; and they must either be excessively presuming, or greatly lacking in discernment, to fasten upon those who are models of integrity and virtue. But we will suppose that a person of this high moral and religious character actually is assailed by the enemies of virtue — or, if you please, we will view him .as brought in contact with the various temptations incident to our present condi- tion, and growing out of the circumstances in which we are placed — temptations which even the most vigilant care and the most seraphic piety cannot always avert — his advantage now is, that he is armed for a conflict with the tempter. Toseph could not avoid the criminal solicitations of Potiphar's wife ; but his eminent goodness made him proof against them. You cannot avoid temptations from the various objects with which vou are conversant ; the various pursuits to which vou are devoted. Pleasure, honour, wealth, VIRTUE CROWNED WITH SAFETY. 215 may come and court your affections, and try to draw your heart away from your higher inter- ests j but, if you have Joseph's spirit, you will meet them all with a resolute resistance ; and every conflict that occurs in your experience, will be ihe signal for a fresh victory. You will not do this in your own strength ; but God's gracious Spirit will come to your aid, and work in you and by you, to defeat the powers of evil. It is not merely from enemies without, however, that your best interests are in jeopardy — you have within you existing in connection with a partially sanctified nature, a formidable host of corruptions ; and these continue to operate with more or less vigour to the close of life. But even these enemies shall not ultimately harm you. They may temporarily assert their power, and you may be ready sometimes to imagine that they will bring you into complete captivity. But here again, if you can rely on the testimony of God, you may feel sure that you will come off more than conqueror. The new principle in your soul will live in spite of them ; and every inward conflict in which you are engaged, will render it 216 VIRTUE CROWNED WITH SAFETY. more vigorous in its operations. Yes, I repeat, you are safe ; because you have the promise of God — the everlasting arm, to sustain you. Say then, my young friends, whether there be not much implied in that safety which crowns a virtuous course. To be safe amidst temporal dangers and amidst spiritual dangers, from enemies without and from enemies within, in all actual and in all possible circumstances — surely you cannot estimate such a privilege too highly. The irreligious man is safe never, — not even when no cloud lowers in the sky, and every thing seems to speak of promise and hope : the good man is safe always, — though a death-like gloom may seem to have gathered over his horizon, and the last of his earthly joys may be upon the wing. Virtue, thou art indeed rich in thy rewards — but as yet we have only seen the beginning. VIRTUE CROWNED WITH PEACE. 217 LETTER XVII. VIRTUE CROWNED WITH PEACE. It is a great blessing to live in peace with our fellow men ; to be able to reflect, either that we have no enemies in the world, or that, if we have them, it is not our own fault. Peace in the domestic circle — peace in the neighbourhood — peace in the more extended community, — while it is in itself a rich blessing, is the source of many other blessings which enter largely into the scene of human enjoyment. The universal prevalence of peace in the world is predicted in scripture as one of the brightest glories of Messiah's reign. But the peace of which 1 propose to treat in the present letter, differs from this chiefly as a cause differs from an effect. It is the inward peace of the soul — that serene and yet fearless state of mind, which philosophy indeed may counterfeit, but which Christianity alone can really produce. Let this spirit prevail through 218 VIRTUE CROWNED WITH PEACE. an entire community, and the members of that community will be at peace with each other, furnishing a beautiful resemblance to the harmony of Heaven. Let it reign in the breast of a solitary individual, and though there may be the wildest tempest raging around him, it Avill never penetrate the sanctuary of his own bosom. How beautifully is this inward peace exemplified in the history which I have laid before you ! We have seen that Joseph was sometimes placed in circumstances of peculiar trial : he was cruelly exiled from the paternal home ; he was sold as a slave ; he was imprisoned as a felon ; and yet there is not an intimation in the history, that he manifested the semblance of a complaining spirit in any of the trying situations in which he was placed ; and the only instance in which we hear of his making an effort, or saying a word, with a view to bring about any melioration of his condi- tion, was that in which he hinted to the king's butler, whose dream he had interpreted, that, after he (the butler) should be released from prison, a good word spoken to the king in his behalf, would be very acceptable. But there was no evidence that Joseph was ruffled by the ingratitude of his VIRTUE CROWNED WITH PEACE. 219 fellow prisoner in not heeding his request ; nor, indeed, by any other of the adverse circumstances which occurred to him. He seems always to have maintained a delightful equanimity of temper, — no matter what burdens may have oppressed, or what dangers may have threatened j and this was at once one of the exercises and the rewards of his exemplary virtue. Let me call your attention, for a little, to the manner in which virtue — religion — operates to produce this inward peace. 1 hardly need say that this is a point of great importance ; for not only is this peace an important element in our earthly happiness, but it is that emphatically which constitutes earthly happiness. Without it, all the good which the world has to bestow, will leave a man miserable : with it, all the evil which the world can inflict, cannot render him so. In the strong language of scripture, -it is a "peace that passeth understanding." Let me say then, that virtue operates to secure this richest of all blessings, first of all. by its effect upon the conscience. Man, as a sinn^ir, is alienated from God, his righteous lawgiver and final judge ; and conscienje is the faculty that 220 VIRTUE CROWNED WITH PEACE. gives him notice of this alienation, and forces upon him the inquiry how he shall be able to stand in the judgment. He may indeed be so sunk in stupidity, that he may sin for a time, and even with a high hand, without remorse ; but let him awake to the actual reality of his condition, and then begins the controversy between his inclina- tions on the one hand, and his conscience on the other. His sinful propensities prompt to evil — his conscience points to a future reckoning ; and though, so long as he retains his character as an habitual sinner, his evil propensities prevail, yet, so long as his conscience remains in any degree awake, it will at least occasion an inward disquiet- ude, if it does not haunt him with absolute horror. Now, it is the province of true virtue to bring these different faculties of our nature into harmony — to give the inclinations a right direction, and to draw from conscience an approving testimony. But the difficulty lies yet deeper, and reaches farther back ; for even the renovating work of the Holy Spirit leaves man in only a partially sanctified state — he is still, in a degree, the servant of sin ; and conscience notifies him that every sin of which he is guilty deserves punish- VIRTUE CROV\^NED WITH PEACE. 221 nient — notifies him, moreover, that he can do nothing to atone for the sins that are past. But here comes in the life giving assurance, that there is redemption from sin through the blood of Christ. Faith in Christ applies this blood to the con- science, thus furnishing it with an answer toward God ; and the consequence is, that the clamours of guilt are hushed, and the joy which the confidence of a free forgiveness inspires, diffuses itself through the soul. Many of you, I trust, who will read these pages, have a knowledge on this subject, which experience alone can impart. You have felt — still feel — what no language can render intelligible to a mind that is a stranger to the exercises of living faith : and as for those who have had no such experience, they have not only the testimony of multitudes that is worthy of all acceptation, but they may form some conception of the joy of forgiveness by what they themselves sometimes suffer from the terrours of remorse. If you cannot fully appreciate the blessing of a pacified conscience through the blood of Christ, so far as respects its positive character, you surely have had experience enough 222 VIRTUE CROWNED WITH PEACE. of an opposite kind, to realize that it is no light thing to gain a deliverance from a sense of guilt. But, while virtue produces inward peace, by thus reversing the testimony of conscience, it contributes to the same result also, by rooting out from the soul those evil afTections and desires which perpetually minister to its disquietude. Look at the revengeful man. He has received, or supposes he has received, some injury; and he imagines that his honour is tarnished ; and he cannot rest till he has made provision to brighten it up by some revengeful act — ^^perhaps by attacking his adversary in the street — perhaps by calling him into the field, in the hope of shedding his blood. Rely on it, there is, in all these cases, not only mental excitement but mental agony ; the spirit which can prompt to such an act or such a project, is worthy of a fiend ; and it cannot have possession of a human bosom without being a tormentor. And even, where, from considerations of timidity or of policy, there may be no external demonstration of the revengeful spirit, — though it may never be felt in any offensive act, nor heard even in a whisper, yet it will be nothing better in the soul VIRTUE CROWNED WITH PEACE. 223 than an imprisoned fury; or, if you please, a serpent holding the whole inner man continually in his deadly coils. Look, next, at the covetous man, who is forever grasping for great posses- sions ; at the envious man, who cannot be happy while he sees others more favoured than himself; at the complaining man, who can never be satisfied with his own lot ; at the sensualist, whose appetites are always in a feverish excite- ment, and whether gratified or ungratified, leave him with no rest to his spirit ; and, in each of these cases, if you could know the secret history of the soul, you would know that there is an amount of unhappiness, of which the outer man gives but little indication. To all these evils, virtue, in proportion as she prevails, fur- nishes an effectual antidote : and how much such an antidote is worth, they best can judge, who have felt the corroding influence of these evil tempers, and have afterwards had them cured by those powerful influences from on high which religion supplies. It is not, however, the whole triumph of virtue that she eradicates bad dispositions — she brings goods ones in their place. She not only drives out 224 VIRTUE CROWNED WITH PEACE. from the bosom the spirit of revenge, but she introduces the spirit of forgiveness and benevo- lence. She not only casts out the spirit of envy and repining, but she brings in generosity and contentment. She not only cures the vices of the sensualist, but, by bringing his appetites into a healthful subjection to his reason, she ministers to his direct and innocent enjoyment. Indeed, all the various emotions which virtue awakens, are in their nature pleasurable. Let her have the entire dominion of the soul, and you have the model of a Heaven upon earth. I may say too, that virtue opens yet another source of enjoyment, in the sweet hopes and anticipations which she inspires. It is not in man, constituted as he is, to be always absorbed with the present — the mind will run forward, to see what the future may have treasured up for it ; and no small part of its happiness or misery is found in the result of these excursions into futurity. The wicked man, if he exercises his faculties on this subject in a rational manner, will find nothing to minister to his joy — much, on the contrary, to fill him with anxiety and alarm. But the truly good man gathers from his anticipations of the VIRTUE CROWNED WITH PEACE. 225 future some of his most substantial and elevated enjoyment. What may await him in this world, he knows not — for aught that he can tell, his whole future life may be a scene of painful vicissitude; but there is another thought that more than sustains him under this — viz. thai God's paternal care and faithfulness are pledged to him in all circumstances, and that nothing can occur, so adverse to his present comfort, but that it will serve to increase his future joy. And then, when he looks beyond this momentary existence, and throws his thoughts along the eternal future, here there rise to his view scenes of light and glory, which the most glowing imagination cannot fully overtake. Heaven, free from every thing that can awaken sorrow — Heaven, full of every thing that can entrance the spirit, opens upon the eye of faith ; and while he is employed in analy- zing the eternal weight of glory, his mind is quickened into a still higher exultation by the thought that this is his own glorious inheritance. What matters it how much of trouble there may be in my path through the world, if I have the assurance that that path shall open into a world whose glor>e? vvill cast into the shade even the 226 VIRTUE CROWNED WITH PEACE. brightest forms of life and beauty that my imagi- nation hath ever conceived. I must not omit to add that the good man is at peace, inasmuch as he enjoys the special presence and favour of God. He has a right to expect this at all times, provided he lives in the faithful discharge of duty; but especially in those dark seasons of life, when earthly comforts fail, and he has the deepest sense of the poverty of the world. Above all, has he a right to expect it, when the earthly tabernacle totters, and the grave is opening beneath his feet. Believe me, the Lord our Shepherd does not forget his people, when they walk through the dark valley. As truly as they are there. He is there also, with his rod and his staff. Oh, is not this a glorious reward of a virtuous life? Is it not more than a compensation for all the toils and struggles which it may have occasioned, that it should render the last struggle easy to be borne, inasmuch as it is endured within sight of the world of glory — within hearing of the songs of seraphs ? VIRTUE CROWNED WITH RICHES. 227 LETTER XVIII. VIRTUE CRO\VNED WITH RICHES, You may perhaps think it a somewhat violeni transition, to pass from a consideration of that inward peace which is so immediately identified with the happiness of the good man, and which is the germ of that more expanded and elevated enjoyment that he anticipates in Heaven, to a suh- ject that seems so earthly and grovelling as that of riches. You may be ready to ask whether I have forgotten that riches are alike uncertain and unsatisfying; that, while they often take to themselves wings and fly away, they are inade- quate, while they are possessed, to meet the soul's noblest desires — nay, that they drown multitudes in destruction and perdition. No, I have not forgotten this, or any part of it; and yet I am prepared to maintain that riches may, in themselves, justly be considered a blessing ; for it is the province of virtue to transmute the 228 VIRTUE CROWNED WITH RICHES. earthly into the heavenly — the perishable into the imperishable. Nay further, I am ready also to vindicate the joining together in the same category the wealth that palls and perishes and the peace that satisfies and endures ; for wealth has only to be used for the purposes for which it was intended, to become an auxiliary to that inward quietude which constitutes the soul's richest possession. In one point of view, you cannot say too much derogatory of riches — in another, you are in little danger of over-rating fi^eir value. Considered as the supreme portion of the soul, they are stamped with insignificance and worthlessness ; but, considered as a means of doing good and thus securing treasure in Heaven, they possess a value which outruns all human powers of calculation. You have already seen that Joseph, in the course of events, became the possessor of great riches. And how did he obtain them? Not surely by dishonest or even doubtful speculations, nor by any questionable means which, for his own credit's sake, he would have chosen not have divulged ; but simply by fulfilling with fidelity the duties belonging to the various stations in VIRTUE CROWNED WITH RICHES. 229 which Providence placed him. There is not the shadow of evidence from the history, that he was inordinately fond of riches, or that he yielded to any of the temptations which riches bring with them, or even that he ever made any special effort to obtain them ; but it was the ordinance of Heaven that, without his own seeking, he should have the control of great wealth. That it was really a great blessing to him, because he used it in such a manner as to be a blessing to others, there can be no doubt. Wealth is altogether a relative term ; as we denominate a man rich or poor, according to the standard by which he is judged. We, however, ordinarily consider a man rich, who has consider- able means at his command above what he needs for the support of himself and his family. If an individual has an income that barely supports him. and that with rigid economy, the utmost we say of him is, that he is in a state of respectable mediocrity ; but, if his income be so great that the reasonable expenses of himself and those who are immediately dependant upon him, consume but an inconsiderable part of it, then, by common consent, he is reo-arded a rich man. 230 VIRTUE CROWNED WITH RICHES, It has sometimes been questioned whether weahh is a legitimate object of human pursuit ; but, under certain limitations, I marvel that any one should ever doubt that it is so. As a means of nourishing extravagance, of gratifying pride, or of ruining children, no sober man would defend the pursuit of it ; but, as a means of ministering to the wants of others, of advancing the great interests of man- kind, and thus securing the blessing that rests upon the charitable, it may be pursued even diligently and earnestly, and neither reason nor religion will have any thing to say but in the way of approval. It is the spirit with which, and the end for which, it is pursued, that justify— I may say, sanctify the pursuit. Having thus vindicated wealth from the charge of worthlessness, and the proper pursuit of it from the suspicion of criminality or unreasonableness, let me now attempt to show you that the practice of virtue is favourable to acquiring and retaining this world's goods. When I speak of retaining them, of course I do not refer to their being kept in the hand of a miser, but to their being preserved from a premature and calamitous dispersion. Wealth is ordinarily the fruit of labour, either VIRTUE CROWNED WITH RICHES. 231 of body or mind, or both ; for successful labour, health is an essential requisite ; virtue is friendly to health, and therefore is favourable to the attainment of riches. Do you ask how virtue promotes health ? It promotes it by preventing that numerous tribe of diseases consequent on sensuality, which benumb the physical faculties, becloud the intellect, and brutalize the Avhole man. And even, when sensual indulgences are kept within what may be called a moderate limit, so that the individual shall not be marked for excess, still their effect is gradually to impair the energies of the system, as well as to render it unfit for immediate exertion. It promotes it still farther, by keeping the mind free, in a great measure, from agitating and corroding passions. Let an individual be subjected habitually to the goadings of a guilty conscience ; let him accustom himself to violent ebullitions of anger without any attempt at self control ; let him meet some morti- fication at every step by reason of his unsubdued pride ; let the sight of a condition more eligible than his own be a signal for the workings of a hateful envy ; and you may rest assured there is a process, however imperceptible, going forward, to 232 VIRTUE CROWNED WITH RICHES. impair, if not ultimately destroy, his physical' energies. God has constituted the different parts of our nature with such a dependance on each other, that, under the influence of the same causes, they are found to rejoice or to suffer together ; and especially is it true that a wound which has its seat in the moral, extends, in a degree at least, both to the intellectual and the physical. Whereas, on the other hand, let the moral faculties receive that direction which virtue secures to them; let the conscience bear witness for good, and let the passions occupy their proper place as servants, not as masters, in the soul, and you may rely on it that much has been gained towards securing an unclouded, vigorous mind, and a healthful bodJ^ I do not undertake to say that every good man is, of course, a man of active intellect, or of robust bodily health ; and, on the other hand, 1 am well aware that some monsters in vice have possessed and retained, not only gigantic powers of mind, but uninterrupted health of body, through a long life. But these latter cases especially, are evi- dently exceptions to a general rule ; and are to be accounted for, sometimes from some peculiarity of original constitution, and sometimes from the VIRTUE CKOWNED ^V1TII RICHES. 233 overpowering influence of circumstances. The ordinary course of human experience fully con- firms my position, that a well balanced state of the afTections and passions, which it is the appro- priate office of virtue to bring about, is highly favourable to that state of both mind and body which is essential to continued and successful effort. I am sure you will not think I have taken too much for granted in saying that health is an abso- lute requisite to effective labour; for no doubt your own experience has already taught you some lessons on this subject which you cannot forget. Suppose your occupation be that of a merchant, or a mechanic, or a farmer ; and you go to your counting-room, or to your work-shop, or upon your farm, with an enervated, or perhaps inflamed, physical system: you look around you and see that there is much to be done ; and, it may be, actually put your hand to the work ; but, in the weakness that oppresses, or the fever that burns, or the pain that agonizes, you find a reason for speedily returning to your dwelling, and possibly sending for medical aid. Or, it may be, you are engaged in one of the liberal professions, or per- is* 234 VIRTUE CROWNED WITH RICHES. haps have devoted yourself to Hterature and authorship — here again, you go with an enfeebled frame into your office or study, and gird yourself for a conflict with some knotty point in the law, or set yourself to ponder and digest some of the fine passages from the ancient classics — but oh how inadequate you are to the work you have undertaken, and how glad you are to get back to your chamber, where you can sink down into an attitude of comfortable repose ! And the saddest illustration of this point is, that labour persevered in, in spite of disease, not unfrequently brings death. Not a year passes but that numbers many a youthful genius among the dead, who, but for acting in defiance of the laws of his physical constitution, might have continued to shine for years with increasing biilliancy. Virtue tends to the same result also, by prompt- ing to a habit of industry. Without such a habit, no one can ever expect to acquire wealth, unless, by some fortunate accident, it may be thrown into his possession ; nor, in the ordinary course of things, will one be likely to retain it long, if he actually does possess it. For where there is not industry, you will rarely find economy : indolence VIRTUE CROWNED WITH RICHES. 235 and prodigality usually go hand in hand ; and it matters not how much property may be committed to such an agency as this, it will almost certainlj'-, at no distant period, go to the winds. But, on the contrary, an industrious habit will usually be found associated with an economical habit ; and the man whose faculties are kept in vigorous operation for the attainment of any object, will be likely to take good care that the object docs not needlessly slip through his hands. But how does it appear that it is the tendency of virtue to make one industrious ? She teaches every man that those faculties which qualify him for action, are the gift of his Creator, and that, as a re- sponsible agent, he is bound to use them for the purposes for which they are given. She teaches him that the sphere of his activity is designated by the circumstances in which he is placed : and that, if he is called to labour t'l a worldly vocation, he is to labour diligently, with a vie.v to the accomplishment of the greatest good. And finally, by the influence that she exerts in pro- ducing and preserving a healthful state of the faculties, she not only increases the ability to labour, but renders labour pleasant ; so that 236 VIRTUE CROWNED WITH RICHES. industry carries with it its own reward. If then weahh is ordinarily to be expected only from industry, and industry is the legitimate product of virtue, we have a right to say that virtue is favourable to this kind of worldly prosperity. It is another important consideration which jrou are to note, that a virtuous character always secures public confidence ; and all men of busi- ness know how indispensable this is to successful enterprize. So numerous and complicated are the relations of business, that no one can go extensively into any department of it, without having much to do with his fellow men — without having frequent occasion to ask facilities of some kind or other in carrying forward his operations ; and sometimes momentous issues may be staked on his ability to obtain them. Now, if he have the confidence of the community, as he certainly will have if he be a truly good man, he will ordinarily find it no difficult matter to obtain whatever temporary assistance he may need ; nor will those to whom he makes application find occasion even to hesitate, or to make inquiry concerning him, before they determine to respond favourably to his request. And even in cases VIRTUE CROWNED WITH RICHES. 237 where it may be inconvenient to render the desired assistance, there will not be wanting those who will be ready to make a special effort, and even subject themselves to some temporary embarrassment, rather than that such a man should suffer seriously and permanently in his worldly interests. You may rest assured that any man, — no matter how much distinguished for shrewdness and foresight he may be — if he has not the confidence of the community in which he lives, labours in any vocation at great disad- vantage ; whereas, on the other hand, a man of only moderate capacity for business, — if he has a high character for integrity and benevolence, will have every thing to hope from the good will of his neighbours and acquaintances. But there is one consideration more, which has a bearing on this subject, too important to be omitted — I mean that the good man, even in his worldly pursuits, has a right to expect the special blessing of God. It is of the man who " delighteth greatly in keeping the divine com- mandments," that inspiration hath said, that " wealth and riches shall be in his house." Not- withstandina: there is an established order of 238 VIRTUE CEOWNED WITH RICHES. things in the kingdom both of nature and of provi- denee, yet this is not to be regarded as a piece of bhnd mechanism that moves forward without a mover or a guide ; nor yet as being fixed in such a sense that there is no room for the operation of infinite inteUigence and infinite benevolence in connection with it : on the con- trary, He who originated it and put it in motion, presides over it, every moment ; and He is never at a loss how to make it the medium of the fulfilment of his promises, or of the communica- tion of his silent, though special blessing, on the labours of those who trust in him. After all, I think I hear you saying, " Is not the doctrine of this letter contradicted by common experience 1 When we look abroad upon the world, do we not find that a large proportion of the rich men are those who put no trust in God, and who scruple not even at the most questionable schemes for obtaining property ; and that a multi- tude of the poor are rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom V I reply to this, without altogether denying the fact implied in it, that, though the natural tendencies of things may sometimes be counteracted by the influence of circumstances. VIRTUE CROWNED WITH RICHES. 239 yet they still remain the same ; and that we are to regulate our conduct and frame our expecta- tions according to the established order of things, and not according to any devices which may seem to contradict it. And further, if it be admitted, as doubtless it must, that men may become very rich by very unfair means, experi- ence also teaches, and with no less certainty, that property acquired in this way, does not ordinarily remain long in the hands of its possessor. A dishonest man, though he may occasionally succeed in outwitting others, is almost sure, sooner or later, to play the same game success- fully on himself The treasures of such an one are liable to be taken up by every wind ; and if Ihey are suffered to remain with him, it will be found at last that there was a concealed canker lodged in them. Here is the true reason, in respect to multitudes, why they are suddenly plunged from affluence to poverty — their posses- sions were fraudulently procured ; and God in judgment permits them to be quickly dissipated. Let all your efforts, my young friends, for the acquisition of property, be prompted and directed by virtuous dispositions ; and you have reason to 240 VIRTUE CliOWNED WITH HONOUR. expect that God will crown them with his bless- ing; or, if he send disappointment, it will be your privilege to know that there is a blessing even in that. LETTER XIX. VIRTUE CROWNED WITH nONOUS. Every one who reads the history of Joseph perceives at once the connection between the high character which he maintained and the high places which he occupied. He might have possessed fine intellectual powers, and those powers might have been extensively cultivated, and yet it is by no means certain that he would ever have emerged from the degrading bondage into which his brethren sold him. Neither Potiphar nor Pharaoh would have entrusted him with so much authority, but for the confidence which they felt that he would not abuse it ; and this confidence was founded upon a full convic- VIRTUE CROWNED WITH HONOUR. 241 tion of his spotless integrity. Need I say that this is but an illustration of the truth which I design to spread before you in this letter — viz. that virtue naturally tends to honour. I use the word honour here in two different senses — as denoting the esteem that is generally paid to true worth, and the distinction that pertains to exalted rank. The best evidence that virtue tends to secure the favourable regards of mankind, is to be found in what we see constantly passing around us. Who are the individuals who enjoy in the highest degree the confidence of the community in which they live ; whose example is most frequently held up as worthy of all praise ; whose death makes a chasm in society that is sensibly felt and deeply deplored ? And, on the other hand, who are they that are looked upon with suspicion, and are trusted, if trusted at all, only within very narrow limits ; whose example is referred to only as a thing to be shunned, and whose death is regarded as relieving society from an incubus, if not from a pest ? Each of these questions suggests its own answer. He who should require any other proof that virtue secures esteem than what meets him 242 VIRTUE CROWNED WITH HONOUR. wherever his eye rests, is either a miserable hypo- crite, or else is not to be dealt with as a rational being. But what I am concerned to do now, is to show you how virtue secures this end. And even this is so obvious that it cannot require any lengthened train of remark. It results from the very constitution of our nature, that we approve of virtue both in the principle and the practice. Its leading elements are integrity and benevolence ; and, though it must be admitted that men may become so des- perately corrupt, as to hate these qualities, at least in some of their operations, yet they have, after all, a principle within them, which renders a verdict, constrained though it be, in favour of the right : or, if there be some cases in which deprav- ity is so gross as to bring a film temporarily over the eye of the soul, so that the difference between good and evil is really not discovered, yet that film sooner or later passes off, and the moral oerceptions finally become as distinct as ever. Even the operation of justice, which belongs essentially to virtue, finds an advocate in the bosom of the very man whose voice is lifted up VIRTUE CROWNED WITH HONOUR. 243 to protest against it. Tlie knave who is arraigned to answer for his fraudulent transactions, the thief who looks forward to his trial as an intro- duction to the penitentiary, the assassin who has visions of the ignominy and horrour of the scaf- fold, — however much each of them may attempt to prove his innocence of the crime with which he is charged, he will never think of maintaining that that with which he is charged is no crime ; and, in his silent communings with himself, he will be obliged to admit to his own conscience that the magistrate did right when he arrested him, and that the court will do right when they sentence him. The truth is, though it is at the option of men to do right or wrong, it is no easy thing for them, especially in cases of moment, to confound the right and the wrong in their perceptions. And if this be true even in extreme cases, it proves beyond a peradventure, that there is that in the very constitution of man, that renders homage to virtue, antecedently even to the blessings which virtue brings in its train. But we are to look at it further, as it operates lor the well being of society. What are those evils which have the most disastrous bearing upon 244 VIRTUE CROWNED WITH HONOUR. social happiness ? What but the indulgence of the base and malignant passions of human nature ? What but that devotion to sensual gratification that robs man of his humanity ? W^hat but that malicious and revengeful spirit that, in resenting one injury, provokes another? What but that cold and withering selfishness, that can look upon suffering with an unpitying eye, and even refuse a morsel of bread to the forlorn zind pennyless orphan ? But, just in proportion as virtue pre- vails in a community, these evils are prevented or removed. Virtue saves the expense of sustaining alms-houses and penitentiaries, and prevents the disgrJLce and suffering incident to a residence in these dwelling places of the guilty. Virtue exerts herself to reclaim those who have begun to wan- der, and thus to check vice in its incipient stages. Virtue carries bread to the starving poor; and builds hospitals for the sick ; and gathers the children of profligate and outcast parents into places of instruction ; and erects barriers strong and high against the progress of evil. Virtue softens whatever is rugged in the human character ; secures to civil government the ends which it con- templates as a benevolent ministry : and diffuses VIRTUE CROWNED WITH HONOUR. 245 an inexpressible charm over the face of society. And who is not interested in the social improve- ment and elevation of the community in which he lives? If you can tell me who, I will tell you who they are with whom a virtuous life will not be accounted a recommendation. But there is a yet more particular influence which virtue exerts to secure the good will of mankind — I mean the influence of particular acts of beneficence in awakening the gratitude of those who are the objects of them. We vene- rate the man who stands forth a great publick benefactor, even though we may have no other interest in his benefaction than has every member of the community to which we belong. But let the favour that is bestowed assume a personal character toward ourselves — and the individual who bestows it becomes more directly an object of our gratitude. A large portion of the deeds of a virtuous man are deeds of benevolence, designed to elevate the character or meliorate the condition of individuals v/ithin the circle of his influence. And do you not think that each of these, if he have the common feelings of a man, will find those feelings quickened into 246 VIRTUE CROWNED WITH HONOUR. grateful exercise, on being the recipient of the good man's favours? Will not the poor family to whom he sends a portion from his own table, bless him for having remembered them ? Will not the child whom his charity rescues from the degradation of the parental home, or perhaps from an incipient career of vagrancy and crime, and elevates first to decency and comfort, and afterwards to respectability and usefulness — will not that child, I ask, to his dying hour, have feelings of thankfulness toward his benefactor which the tongue cannot utter? And will not every one who associates with such a person, — whether superior, inferior, or equal, — receive from him, in the ordinary intercourse of life, some expressions of kindness, which will find a permanent lodgment not only in the memory, but in the heart? It is delightful to a virtuous man to reflect that his general character com- mands the good will and esteem of his fellow men ; but methinks he finds a source of still higher happiness, in the grateful acknowledgments that pour upon him from those, to whom he has been a personal benefactor. It particularly deserves your consideration that VIRTUE CROWNED WITH HONOUR. 247 bad men as well as good, render their homage to virtue ; — sometimes when they are, and sometimes when they are not, conscious of doing so. Why is it that the profane man, wlio, in ordinary circumstances, incorporates an oath with every sentence, and who, when reproved for doing so, pleads that habit has rendered him unconscious of it — why is it that, in the presence of a man of acknowledged and exalted virtue, he can talk without making his usual display of the rhetoric of curses? It is because the majesty of virtue overawes him ; and he is constrained to appear reverent in her presence. Why is it that the wretch who has the hardihood to traduce and revile the godly, is sure to represent the good which he would vilify under the aspect of evil — to call conscientiousness, pusillanimity ; and devotion, hypocrisy ; and charity, ostentation ; and zeal, fanaticism? It is for no other reason than that he knows that the virtues which he aflfects to contemn, are noble and praiseworthy ; and that, unless he can pass them off as vices, he cannot hope that his ridicule will catch the ear even of the vicious themselves. And I may add, why is it that men of depraved characters do not 248 VIRTUE CROWNED AVITH HONODR. select their own associates in wickedness to discharge for them important and responsible trusts, but that, on the contrary, they are just as careful to inquire into the moral character of the individuals to whom they wish to confide their concerns, as any other persons in the community? Especially how comes it to pass, as it often has done, that infidels who have professedly gloried in their rejection of Christianity, have committed their children to the care and instruction of men of exemplary piety? And to refer to a particular case, how happened it that one of the most scof- fing infidels whom this country has ever known, when asked by his daughter on her death-bed, whether he would have her, in that trying hour, believe as he had taught her, or as she had been taught by her pious mother — how happened it,, I ask, that the infidel father melted into tears, and exclaimed with a faltering voice, " Believe as your mother has taught you !" There is but one answer to these questions — it is, in every case, the involuntary homage which the soul even of a bad man renders to true virtue. These cases show that there is not a little hypocrisy even in the most blustering infidelity ; and that the worst VIRTUE CROWNED WITH HONOUR. 249 of men, in trying times, are glad to come under the protection, even though they may not enlist under the banner, of Christianity. It must be acknowledged that honour, when considered as indicating the distinction that belongs to rank or office, is, by no means uniformly, or even very frequently, the reward of a virtuous course ; nor is mere virtue, apart from intelligence, entitled to such distinction. An individual may be a pattern of all that is amiable and praiseworthy in his social relations, and may even be distinguished for his exhibition of the Christian graces, and yet, for want of sufficient vigour of mind, or of the due cultivation of his powers, he may be utterly unfit to wield the influences which belong to an exalted station. But, even admitting that virtue is associated with intelligence, and with all the other requisite qualifications for being clothed with civil author- ity, it will depend, after all, especially under such a government as ours, on the moral state of the communitj'-, whether it shall find the exaltation which it deserves. It is a lamentable fact, which our experience as a nation forbids us to doubt, that party spirit may invest weakness and corrup- 250 . VIRTUE CROWKED WITH HONOUR. tion with high authority, and leave the most exahed virtue, even when associated with the most exahed intelligence, to the obscurity of a private station. But let virtue in a community become triumphant, — let the publick conscience be suitably enlightened, and the publick morals duly elevated, — and the wise and good will no longer be suffered to remain in obscurity : even though tFieir modesty should court retirement, the suffrages of their fellow citizens will bring them forth, and elevate them to places of trust and influence. Nay, it will sometimes happen that men of this character will be exalted to high places, in a community that is deeply corrupt ; for, as one bad man is not usually disposed to confide his most important personal interests to another bad man, so a community which vice has essentially corrupted, may, from purely selfish considerations, prefer to trust its interests with men of integrity and wisdom. This principle will be found to operate especially in respect to subordinate offices, which it is left to the discre- tion of the superior in authority to fill ; for, while there is here less room for party spirit to operate, the things chiefly regarded are the ability and VIRTUE CROAVNED WITH HONOUR. 251 fidelity with which the duties of the office will probably be discharged. The conclusion of the whole matter is, that, in a virtuous community, good men, other things being equal, are the fairest candidates for the high places of trust; — indee'd, they are the only class who can aspire to such places with any hope of success: and, even in the most equivocal state of society, they will not unfrequentiy be elevated through the influence of mere publick selfishness. And as for bad men, — though they may occupy posts of honour, and may live amidst the splen- dours of rank and the incense of flattery, yet they can never personally become the objects of general esteem and regard. Be examples of true virtue, and you need have no fear but that the world will find it out, and will honour you for ever}'' noble quality with which your character is adorned. If you rise to an exalted station, it is well — you will be prepared to fill it with dignity and advan- tage : but if you spend your days in retirement, it is well also; for there loo virtue will weave for you a chaplet in the grateful regards and benedic- tions of your fellow creatures. 252 VIRTUE CROWNED WITH USEFULNESS, LETTER XX. VIRTUE CROWNED WITH USEFULNESS. What a noble example of usefulness was Jo- seph in every relation which he sustained — in every condition in which he was placed ! Of what he was to the Midianitish merchants, previ- ous to his being sold to Potiphar, we have no account; but, from that period to the close of his life, the monuments of his benevolent activity are continually rising before us. It was the disposi- tion which he manifested to render himself useful, that caused him to be advanced in the house of Potiphar ; and there he was most heartily and zeal- ously devoted to his master's interests. During his confinement in prison, — though he was conscious that it was a most unjust and cruel confinement, — yet he was constantly occupied in some useful way ; and very soon was entrusted with the general oversight of all his fellow prisoners. And then when he became governour of the VIRTUE CROWNED WITH USEFULNESS. tiod land — who can calculate the amount of good that he accomplished ? The single precaution that he took for saving the land of Egypt from the threatening famine, was the means of averting an amount of distress which it is not easy to calculate ; and not merely from the people ol Egypt, but, as it turned out, from his own imme- diate family. All the publick concerns of the country he seems to have managed with the utmost skill and success ; and no doubt the period of his administration was unprecedented in respect to both publick and private happiness. But doubtless we must reckon his greatest useful- ness as connected with the immediate fortunes of his own house, and the remoter and higher interests of the church of God. We need not — perhaps we cannot — suppose that he was fully aware of the relation which he maintained to the church in all future ages ; of the vital importance of the agency which he was carrying forward, to the accomplishment of the grandest promise of Jeho- vah. It was enough for him that he was always faithfully and earnestly engaged in doing his duty. But to us it appears manifest that what he did, constituted an important link in the chain of 254 VIRTUE CROWNED WITH USEFULNESS. causes and effects, by which the triumph of God's mercy in the scheme of redemption is finally to be accomplished. What was true of Joseph is true of every other good man — his life is crowned with usefulness. Here again, for the truth of this remark, I refel you to your own observation. I will only ask your attention to a few thoughts illustrative of the manner in» which virtue operates to secure this end. Let me say then, in the first place, virtue renders its possessor useful, bj- securing to his faculties their right direction and their legitimate exercise. The good man recognizes his obligation not only to exert the powers which God has given him, but to exert them for purposes of good ; and if he is tempted to pervert them to mere selfish gratification, even though no positive evil to his fellow men may be involved, he will find himself subjected to self-reproach from having neglected duly to consider his Creator's claims. And not only is his judgment on this subject suitably enlightened and convinced, but his heart goes along with his judgment ; and while he approves the right he also loves it. He engages VIRTUE CROWNED WITH USEFULUESS. 255 in doing good, therefore, in obedience not only to a command of God most clearly revealed, but also, if I may be allowed the expression, to one of the instincts of his renovated nature. And the same authority which enjoins this — the same temper that disposes to it, may be expected to secure the full amount of benevolent activity of which he is capable. Let a man know what God requires of him, and have the disposition to fulfil the requisition, and it is impossible to conceive that such a man should live either to do wrong or to do nothing. As this knowledge and this disposition are both included in true virtue, it is manifest that virtue is essentially the parent of usefulness. But while virtue keeps the faculties appropri- ately employed, she makes the most of all those opportunities for doing good which grow out of the various relations and conditions in life. Place her where you will, and she finds means of use- fulness, which she diligently and scrupulously improves. In the various occupations and profes- sions in which the mass of men look for nothing beyond their own aggrandizement, the truly good man finds channels innumerable through which 256 VIRTUE CKOAVNED WITH USEFULNESS. to send forth a healthful and quickening influ- ence on the neighbourhood, the community, the world. Virtue renders any station that is not in itself dishonourable, subservient to the publick good. Take, for instance, the military man — though his profession is so intimately associated with peril and death, and is often exercised in the face of honour and justice, yet who can doubt that it may be — ought to be — rendered tributary to the great interests of the human family? Napo- leon indeed exercised it in obedience to the dictates of a burning ambition — in his hands it was a frightful engine of wrath and wo — he was a man of one idea ; and that idea was the com- plete subjugation of the nations to his usurped authority. And though God may have over- ruled for good what he did, yet his mad and terrific movements were all directed by the spirit of evil. But how was it with our own Washing- ton? With him the military profession, being under the direction of virtue, became the instru- ment of national happiness and glory; — nay, it was a ministration of good to the whole human family, through all succeeding generations; for VIRTUE CROWNED WITH USEFULNESS. 257 while it was the means of securing our nation's independence, it has spread, or is destined to spread, the savour of true liberty all over the world. No doubt Washington had, from the beginning, the most enlarged views of the enter- prize, and beheld in its success the triumph of a principle which is destined to work a mighty- change in the whole structure of human society ; but it may well be doubted whether even his far reaching eye overtook all the mighty results which less than half a century has developed. If, with his great military prowess, he had had Arnold's heart, or even the heart of many a man that is not disgraced before the world, where would have been this tree of liberty under whose shadow we repose, and the leaves of which are already beginning to operate for the healing of the nations? It may be that no other opportu- nity may occur to the end of time for rendering the military profession subservient to so important a purpose as was accomplished by Washington ; but there is not a soldier so insignificant, even during the prevalence of the most undisturbed peace, but that he may use his profession to purposes of good — if in no other way, at least 14* 258 VIRTUE CROWTMED WITH USEFULNESS. in endeavouring to elevate the character of his military associates. Next, look at the man who occupies an important civil station, and see how much good may be accomplished by his well directed influ- ence. Our own history furnishes a galaxy of illustrious statesmen, any one of whom might be selected to illustrate the high usefulness which legitimately belongs to such a sphere. The virtuous statesman has his hand directly on the springs of the public weal. His voice is heard and heeded, where a thousand other voices might speak in vain. Perplexing questions are un- ravelled by his wisdom, and base projects are exposed and defeated by his integrity. And beside his publick influence, his official dignity gives additional consideration to his private acts — the legislator or the judge is so identified with the man, that the respect which attaches to the one, extends also to the other. An action per- formed by an obscure individual might awaken little attention and produce little effect ; when the same action performed by a man of exalted rank might exert an influence that would be felt through all the pores of society. VIRTUE CROWNED WITH USEFULNESS. 259 The legal profession too opens a wide field of usefulness to the man of right views and dispositions. There is scarcely any thing in the organization of society, more intimately connected with its well being, than the legitimate operation of the law. In this world of injustice and injury, there should be some means of redress which may be relied on — some system of pro- cedure by which the weak may sustain themselves against the strong — the oppressed against the arrogant. This is just the relief which the law contemplates, and which, if rightly administered, it eflectually secures. It is true indeed that there is no profession more capable than this of being perverted to purposes of evil; and, in tiie hands of multitudes, it is nothing better tlian the minis- ter of strife, not to say, the instrument of oppression: but, let an individual engage in it conscientiously, and with a sincere desire to witness the triumph of truth and justice rather tlian the triumph of his skill, — and his influence will diffuse itself most gratefully over tlio Avhole community; he will be regarded, and justly, as the friend of the injured; and, after he is dead, his name will not be forgotten, but multitudes will 2G0 VIRTUE CROWNED "WITH USEFULNESS. rise up to bear witness to his good deeds and hon- our him as a conscientious lawyer. The merchant also — especially the opulent merchant — can you measure the amount of good which he has it in his power to accomplish ? By his fair and honourable dealing, he may do much to elevate the general character of commercial intercourse ; by being a pattern of honesty and punctuality and general exactness in trade, he may do much lo extend the same spirit and rebuke the opposite among his fellow merchants ; and thus society at large may reap the benefit of his example. But I chiefly refer here to the good uses which he may make of his wealth, in advancing the best interests of his fellow men. He may not only carry portions to the needy in liis own neighbourhood, and thus cause the heart of many a widow to sing for joy, but he may make permanent provision for the relief of wretch- edness in various forms, which shall bring to him the blessing of multitudes who are ready lo perish. If you inquire by whom our alms-houses and hospitals and lunatick asylums are chiefly endowed ; by whom the noble institutions for the promotion of learning scattered here and there VIRTUE CROWNED WITH USEFULNESS. 261 over the land, have been founded ; by whom the largest contributions for the extension of the gospel in heathen lands have been made ; I greatly mistake if you do not find that the brightest names on these lists of the world's benefactors are mer- chants — that no small part of the money that has been thus bestowed for the good of mankind, has been earned by diligently, if you please doggedly, buying and selling goods. 1 might, in the same way, go through with all the other professions and occupations in which men engage, which are in accordance with integ- rity and honour, and show you how each of them may be — under the direction of virtue, actually is — subservient to useful purposes. But I will only add that there is no condition so obscure — none even so wretched — but that it will open a field of usefulness to a good man. Suppose that he is so obscure that, though he is in your imme- diate neighbourhood, you never hear of him — yet there are those who do know him, and to whom he has access in daily intercourse. These he can influence by his example, his conversation, perhaps by his prayers ; and it is by no means improbable that some will dwell in heaven forever, 2G2 VIRTUE CROWNED WITH rSEFULNSES. because they have dwelt on earth within the circle of his influence. Or suppose that he is left to linger out years upon a sick bed, and is thereby cut off from all intercourse, except with those who come to sympathize in his affliction, or minister to his wants — even there he may be an eminently useful man. By his faith in God, his cheerful submission, his elevated devotion, he may leave an indelible impression for good on those who are about his bedside : and the story of what passes there may penetrate some other hearts to which it may be communicated ; and the prayers which he offers up may be the medium through which the richest blessings shall be conveyed to multitudes whom he has never seen. I repeat, it is the privilege of the good man to be useful always — he may be sick and poor, he may be unknown and forgotten, he may even be impris- oned and manacled, and yet, so long as he has lips that can move in prayer, or a heart that can beat to the spiritual miseries of the world, you may not say that he is a cumberer of the ground. What a delightful employment to reflect on a useful life, when life is drawing to a close ! How transported must have been the apostle, when he VIRTUE CROWNED WITH HEAVEN. 263 could say, " I have fought a good fight, I have nnished my coarse, I have kept the faith !" You, my young friends, will soon be in his circum- stances, in respect to the opening of another world upon your spirits. Murmur not, though God place you in the humblest circumstances here ; but be thankful that, even in these circumstances, your consciences may at least bear testimony to a useful life. Let this blessed result be accomplished in your experience, and be your condition on earth what it may, you need not envy the rich man his wealth, nor the statesman his laurels, nor the monarch his crown. LETTER XXL VIRTUE CROWNED WITH HEAVEN. You have seefi that Joseph was an eminently religious man. His religious character embraced not merely the outward act but the inward prin- ciple. He was one of the pati'iarchs who " died 264 VIRTUE CROWNED WITH HEAVEN. in foith not having received the promises, brt having seen them afar off", and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth ;" fox whom God " hath prepared a city." His life had been one of singular vicissitude — multiplied blessings were mingled with multiplied trials ; — but the period at length came, when that " better country, that is, an heavenly," which had so long been the object of his desire, and for which it had been the great business of his life to prepare, rose upon his delighted eye, perhaps while he was yet among the clouds and mists that hang about the valley of death. What a moment of ecstacy was that, in which he was permitted to feel that the work of his life was fully accomplished, that its cares and toils and calamities were all over, and that he was in the act of entering on that " rest" which " remaineth for the people of God !" Here we reach the crowning part of Joseph's reward. He had indeed experienced man}' bless- ings, in consequence of his integrity and piety, while he was on earth; — the blessing of a good reputation, of inward peace, of great worldly prosperity ; but here is something that casts all VIRTUE CllLWNElJ WITH HEAVEN, 265 previous blessing-s into the shade — knowledge without per;iiexing doubts ; joy v/ithout an alloy of grief; life v/ithout even the fear of death. Who n-ould n-.'t desire to be like Joseph in hi£ end? YvTxG woux not account all earthly .suffer- ings light, if they might be followed with the crown that fadeth not away? You, my young friends, especially if you arc living under the power of a pract'cai Christianity, have already experienced — are daily experiencing — many rich blessings, which make a powerful claim upon your gratitude; but the present com- pared with the future is like the faintest gleam of the morning to the sun shining in his strength. Heaven — Heaven is the great object, upon which you are to fasten your regards and your hopes ; for it is not more certain that you have the prin- ciple of true religion in your hearts, than that the glories of that better world are made sure to you. You observe that I speak of Heaven as the ultimate reward of a good man ; but to those of you who are v^ntitled, in view of ycur present character, to expect this reward, I surely nee 1 not say that it does not come to you in conse- quence of your own deservings. It is indeed a 266 VIRTUE CROWNED WITH HEAVEN. purchased possession ; but it has been purchased by the blood of Christ ; and it conies to you as a free gift. But though purchased — though free, it can never become yours, independently of a .compliance with the terms on which it is offered: it is the completion of your salvation ; and salva- tion is bestowed only on them who exercise repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Moreover, Heaven is not the same to all its glorified inhabitants. Its felicities are measured out according to the character which each individual has had during the period of his pilgrimage. As one star difFerelh from another star in glory in the natural firmament, so there will be a corresponding diversity in the firmament of glorified intelligences. Notwithstanding it is by the grace of God that the feeblest saint who is but scarcely saved, has his place in the world of glory, yet each one will receive according to that he hath done, as if the reward were adjudged according to the actual degrees of meri.. The word of God fully justifies us in reckoning Heaven as a reward; but it is a reward not of debt, but of grace. While it niarks the measure of Chris- tian attainment, it is a testimony to the strength VIRTUE CROWNED WITH HEAVEN, 267 of divine love and the efficacy of Christ's me- diation. But what is Heaven ? Who can adequately answer this question ? Inspiration, in the attempt to describe it, hath gathered images of beauty and grandeur from every part of the creation ; and yet perhaps the highest idea of Heaven that it has conveyed to us, is in such passages as these — " Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." " It doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him ; for we shall see him as he is." If even the pen of inspiration falters in the attempt to produce a sketch of the city of our God — the new Jerusalem, — how poor and frigid must be any thing that mortals can say, compared with the glorious reality ! As the language of scripture, intended to describe the glory of the heavenly state, is necessarily in a great degree figurative, in order that it may be accommodated to our feeble comprehension, it were rash for us to attempt to decide ivith confidence on the meaning of at 268 VIRTUE CROWNED WITH HEAVEN. least some portions of it, except in a rs.ove general manner. We may be able to see that it indicates the most refined and exalted enjoyment, without knowing precisely in what that enjoyment consists, or from what it more immediately proceeds. But, perhaps the most satisfactorj^ view that we can take of Fleaven, is to consider it as including the perfection of our own nature, and the presence of every thing that is fitted to advance us from glory to glory. It is a delusion to which most men constantly yield, that happiness consists chiefly in tlie ability to command that which is without; and hence the man who lives in opulence and honour, is regarded by the multitude as of course a happy man. But you may rest assured that, even in this life, happiness has chiefly to do with the world within: it is just in proportion as the faculties are kept in harmony vith each other and the will of God — in other words, as the whole spiritual man is in a sound and healthful state, that there is a foundation for trno happi- ness ; and it is because man is here, at best, so very imperfect a being, that the highest measure of bliss which he enjoys falls so far short of his VIRTUE CE.O'WNED WITH HEAVEN. 269 original capabilities. But, in reaching Heaven, man attains to the perfection of his nature. His intellectual faculties — his perception, his memory, his imagination, his judgment, lose all the dimness and weakness that had pertained to them, and are endued with a vigour and energy that make him a wonder to himself. At the saTfie time, his moral nature undergoes a corres- ponding exaltation : his conscience is always a minister of peace ; his affections and desires are endued with immortal purity and strength. The image of his Redeemer was faintly impressed upon his soul in the act of spiritual renovation : and it became more and more distinct as he advanced in his pilgrimage ; but now it shines forth in complete and undisputed perfection. Time was when no one could say whether he would sink into a fiend or rise into an angel ; but it has turned out that he was destined to be a child of the skies, and to bear witness for his Redeemer forever, through his renovated nature. How diiferent i being is man in Heaven, from rnan on earth ! How different is this weakness from that immortal strencfth — this darkness from 270 VIKTUE CROWNED WITH HEAVEN. that surpassing light — this poverty of the mind from that ever enduring, ever increasing riches ! We have associated the body so much wi'.h the soul's exercises and enjoyments in this world, that it may require a severe effort, so to break away from the delusions of sense, as to realize that the soul can be advanced to this state of perfection, while the body is in the grave. But of the truth of this, God's holy word forbids ua to doubt. The falling of the earthly tabernacle is the signal for the immortal spirit to burst forth ui the energy of a new life, and to shine forth in the beauty of a new creation. The body moul- ders, and finally mingles with the clods of the valley. But it is there for a temporary slumber only. It is resting in hope until the great resurrection day. And then, as sure as there is ' energy in the archangel's voice, it will come forth, refashioned by the same hand that made it at first, into a body like unto Christ's glorious body, that will be a fit habitation for the already glorified spirit. And now that the union between the glorified soul and the glorified body is efl^ected, wo have the perfection of the whole man : the same being who lived on this earth, and whose VIRTUE CROWNED WITH HEAVEN. 271 faculties were accommodated to this lower state of existence, now lives in Heaven, with faculties fitted to subserve the great ends of his existence there. Oh judge not of man, from what you see him to be on earth — judge of him rather by what he is hereafter to be in Heaven. But we have not yet reached the full idea of Hea- ven ; for while it includes the exaltation and per- fection of man's nature, it includes also everything that is necessary to meet the soul's desires, and to carry it forward through an endlessly progressiva course of intelligence, purity and bliss. Notwith- standing the seat of enjoyment is in the soul, we know that even here, we are indebted for our happiness, in no small degree, to objects that are without us : as we contemplate the wonders of nature and providence, we find our knowledge constantly extending, and our admiration of the works and ways of God increasing. As we mingle in our social relations, and discharge the various obligations of justice and charit}^, and indulge in an intercommunication of thought and feeling in respect to the objects in which we are interested, our intellects expand, and our hearts warm^ and our happiness is proportion- 272 VIRTUE CKOWNED WITH HUAVEN. ally increased. And the same general economy will prevail in Heaven. The glorified mind will be surrounded with glorious objects of contemplation : new forms of intellectual and moral beauty, will rise up on every side to occupy and enrapture ; new discoveries will be made con- tinually of the character, the government, the works, of God ; especially will the glory of the plan of redemption unfold with an ever increas- ing lustre ; and each step in the progress of discovery will mark a progressive enlargement of the soul's capacities, and will be a preparation for flights yet more lofty, for researches yet moro profound, into the heights and depths of the divine perfections. And then what a communion will that be which the saint in Heaven shall enjoy with the various orders of existence with which Heaven is peopled ! How delightful must be the inter- course of glorified minds with each other ; how vigorous will be the operation of the social principle ; how free from every thing that cm- bitters their communion here ; how full of every thing that can render it profitable and joyous! The angels — the native inhabitants of Heaven — they too are the saint's companions ; and though VIRTUE CROWNED WITH HEAVEN. 273 they belong to a higher order of existence than he, vet they consider it a privilege to be associated with him in searching into the mysteries of his redemption, and even in celebrating that event in ihc immortal song. Jesus the mediator of the nrw covenant — the brightness of the Father's glory and the express image of his person — the man of sorrows exalted into a union with perfect Deity — He too will be there; and the saints will have free access to him, and intimate commun- ion with him ; and while he will receive their unceasing homage, he will crown them in return with his perpetual benedictions. But why should I attempt to penetrate the upper sanctuary ? I would be contented for the present to see through a glass darkly, in the hope that this darkness will' ere long pass away, and that my spirit will be entrantoJ in the glory that is to follow. I cannot conclude this letter, and especially this series of letters, without admonishing you to be ware that you do not expect this glorious reward on any other terms than those which Christianity prescribes. . There is indeed a spurious virtue — a virtue which expends itself upon the outer man, chiefly in adju.-Bting and adorning the various. 274 VIRTUE CROWNED WITH HEAVEN. social relations ; and it has its reward in a thou- sand ways, — all of which, however, have respect to the life that now is. You must look beyond the grace and the loveliness of nature, if you will travel in the path that terminates in Heaven. You must possess that virtue which is originated and nourished by an influence from the Redeem'^r's cross. You must realize tliat, as a sinner, you owe to God's justice a debt that you can never cancel; and that that debt will remain against you forever, unless you take advantage of that Heaven-devised provision which the gospel re- veals for securing to you a free forgiveness. Tn the exercise of sincere penitence for sin, you must welcome Christ as your Saviour, and desire and expect salvation only through the merit of his blood. In humble reliance on the Holy Spirit, you must devote yourself to the service of God^ and aim continually at higher degrees of confor- mity to his will. This do. and you may, with perfect confidence, anticipate Heaven as your final home. My young friends, I here close the hints of Rdmonition and counsel which I designed to ftjxdress to you. I am willing to hope that it has VIRTUE CROWNED WITH HEAVEN. 275 not been in vain that I have thus held up before you the amiable and exemplary Joseph. If I mistake not, the history has furnished a happy illustration of true religion, both as it exists in the heart, and as it is acted out in the life. Thankful indeed shall I be, if the perusal of what I have written shall render you more wise, or useful, or happy, in the present life; but I own that my purpose will not be answered, if it s^iall not also exert an influence in reference to the higher interests of the life to come. I will only say, let your religion, as was that of Joseph, be the religion of principle, the religion of feeling, the religion of action — then will it accomplish in respect to you a perfect work, and make you all that you can reasonably desire to be in both worlds. Happy, thrice happy are ye, that your lot has been case amidst the influences of our divine Christianity. Welcome, welcome this good angel co your heart, and she will guard you amidst all life's dangers, guide you amidst all life's perplexities, sustain you under all life's burdens, and finally accompany you in your upward flight, and remain the everlasting inmate of your bosom in brighter worlds. BJ1671 .S76 Joseph, or, The model young man. Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Library