This may appear to many, at first view a very questionable declaration; but Dr. C. is at no loss for arguments to substantiate it. Thus when a sum of money is offered by the rich man for the relief of want, and the poor man declines it, resolving if possible to support himself a little longer; and the money which he thus nobly declines, goes from him to a still more needy object;-who in this case is the giver of it? The first and most obvious reply is, that it is he who owned it; but it is still more emphatically true, that it is he who declined it. Though the gift did not emanate from the poor man, what a noble generosity is that in him, which sends it down to some neighbour poorer than himself, to some family still more friendless and destitute than his own. It was given the first time from an overflowing fulness. It is given the second time from stinted and self-denying penury. Dr. C. carries this happy illustration a step further: "It need scarcely be remarked, that, without supposing the offer of any sum made to a poor man who is generous in his desires, he, by simply keeping himself back from the distributions of charity, fulfils all the bigh functions which we have now ascribed to him. He leaves the charitable fund untouched for all that distress which is more clamorous than his own; and we therefore, look, not to the original givers of the money, but to those who line, as it were, the margin of pauperism, and yet firmly refuse to enter it we look upon them as the pre-eminent benefactors of society, who narrow, as it were, by a wall of defence, the ground of human dependence, and are, in fact, the guides and the guardians of all that opulence can bestow."-pp. 128, 129. Thus our author exultingly looks forward to the time, when the benefactions of the rich, and the desires of the poor "will meet and compass" when the latter will wish for no more than the former will delight to bestow; when the work of benevolence will be prosecuted without that alloy of rapacity on the one hand, and distrust on the other, which serves so much, to alienate from each other, the givers and recipients of charity, and when the rule of our Saviour, comprehending the wishes of man, as well as his actions, shall exert an undisputed authority over the species. This charming picture of christian reciprocity, subsequently receives many other fine touches from the pencil of Dr. Chalmers, before he comes to the closing paragraph of the present discourse, in which he has given us a most affecting view of his condescension and sufferings, who "though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that we through his poverty, might be made rich.” Discourse the sixth, is on the dissipation of large cities; from Eph. v. 6: "Let no man deceive you with vain words, for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience." The things here referred to, are thus strongly reprobated in the preceding verse. "For this we know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of C. characteristically expresses it, Christ and of God." All this, as Dr. "looks hard upon the votaries of dissipation. It is like eternal truth lifting up its own proclamation, and causing it to be heard, amid the errors and delusions of a thoughtless world. It is like the Deity himself, looking forth as he did from a cloud on the Egyptians of old, and troubling the souls of those, who are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God." The condemnation of the text, fastens itself,-not on the man who is guilty of all the crimes alluded to; but who offends in any one point. It is not as if were said, that he who is dishonest, and licentious, and covetous, shall not inherit the kingdom of God:-but he who is either dishonest, or licentious, or covetous. It is not the the man who combines all the deformities of character which are specified, that is condemned; but he to whom any one of them belongs. And here let it be well observed, that disobedience in a single point, may be more decisive of a man's character, than his apparently keeping the whole law besides. It may be for the time, the only point, where the will of the Lawgiver comes in direct competition with his strong inclinations; his disloyalty here, shows what he would do in every other case, if the temptation were equally strong. It is therefore right, that he should be condemned for a single act of disobedience. This principle is fully recognized in every well regulated civil government. The law does not wait for a man to commit murder, treason, and arson, or to commit any one of these crimes twice, before it lays its strong hand upon him; but for the first capital offence sends him to the gallows. It will not therefore do, for any one to plead his exemption from the vices of dishonesty-against which he is secured, not by the authority of God, but by his own selfish interests, as a set-off to the indulgence of his carnal affections. The question is not, whether he offends in every thing; but why he offends at all. Whatever other exemption from sin he may plead, if he does not conscientiously" keep under his body," he is evidently in the broad way that leadeth to destruction. We need look no further, to make out any estimate of his present condition, as a rebel: and of his future prospect of spending an eternity in the regions of despair. From his ample preliminaries of which the foregoing is a brief abstract, Dr. C. proceeds in a very lucid and able manner, to trace the origin, the progress, and the effects of a life of dissipation. And here, he first notices the want of early religious education. Young men go out into the world in most instances unfortified with religious principles, and of course, unprepared for the contest which awaits them. They may have been taught to abhor lying and dishonesty, and may have heard much said in praise of punctuality, industry and economy. They may also have been warned against those excesses of dissipation, which would inevitably unfit them for the prosecu tion of their worldly interests. But alas! how many persons, and of high worldly standing too, stop here. How many are satisfied with such a measure of sobriety in their sons as will save them from disgrace in the present life, without considering how much more is necessary to save them from eternal perdition. Such parents ought to know and to feel, that in sending abroad the children whom they have educated upon this low and worldly standard of christian morals, they are in effect incurring the guilt of human sacrifice ; that they are offering up their sons at the shrine of an idol; that they are parties in provoking the wrath of God against them here; and that in the day of judgment, they shall hear not only the meanings of their despair, but the outcries of their bitterest execration. "Know, then ye parents," says Dr. C. in the most appalling strain of expostulation, "know then ye parents, who in placing your children on some road to gainful employment, have placed them without a sigh in the midst of depravity, so near and so surrounding, that without a miracle they must perish, you have done an act of idolatry to the god of this world; you have commanded your households after you, to worship him as the great divinity of your lives; and you have caused your children to make their approaches unto his presence-and in so doing, to pass through the fire of such temptations as have destroyed them." While Dr. C. bears this strong testimony against many who sustain the high and sacred relation of parents, he admits, that there are some of a very different character; some whose earnest endeavour it is, to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord; some who look on this world as a passage to another, and on all their household as fellow travellers to eternity along with them;' and who by prayer and precept and example,' have strenuously laboured to be instrumen tal in preparing them for heaven. As we have on a former occasion fully expressed our views of what we conceive to be the only true standard of education; we shall not here dwell upon the subject, but barely observe, in passing, that few scenes are more delightful than that of a family of children, where this standard has been steadily adhered to in the early stages of their education. How pleasing is it to witness the happiness of their kind affectionate intercourse, cemented, as it is, by attachments which have grown with their growth and strengthened with their strength. "Nor is there a day more sorrowful in the annals of this pious family, than when the course of time has brought them onwards to the departure of their eldest boy -and be must bid adieu to his native home, with all the peace, and all the simplicity which abound in it-and as he eyes in fancy the distant town whither he is going, does he shrink as from the thought of an unknown wilderness-and it is his firm purpose to keep aloof from the dangers and the profligacies which deform it-and, should sinners offer to entice him, not to consent, and never, never, to forget the lessons of a father's vigilance, the tenderness of a mother's prayers."-pp. 149, 150. From his paternal home, our author follows the young and inexperienced adventurer, into the crowded city, where he who has been religiously educated, and those who have not, 66 meet on one common arena;" where the latter, soon learn to laugh at the scruples of the former; where the sirens of pleasure meet him at every corner, and beckon to him from every avenue; when the frail and unprotected delicacies of the timid boy, are assailed by the hardier depravity of those who have gone before him ;-where ridicule and example and sophistry, are all brought to bear upon his scruples; to stifle the remorse he might feel in casting his principles and his purity away from him; and where, over the flowing bowl and in the youthful delirium of merriment and song, "impurity is at length proclaimed, in full and open cry, as one presiding divinity, at the board of social entertertainment." The mournful result, of this initiatory process is next stated by Dr. C. in a long and glowing paragraph, which ought to be deeply engraven upon the memory, and posted up in the shop, the counting house, or the office by every young man, who goes from the country, to inhale the pollutions, and encounter the temptations of a large city : fathers the spirit of this world's morality, are not sensibly arrested in this career, either by the opposition of their own friends, or by the voice of their own conscience. Those who have imbibed an opposite spirit, and have brought it into competition with an evil world, and have at length yielded, have done so, we may well suppose, with many a sigh, and many a struggle, and many a look of remembrance on those former years when they were taught to lisp the prayer of infancy, and were trained in a mansion of piety to a reverence for God, and for all his ways; and, even still, will a parent's parting advice haunt his memory, and a letter from the good old man revive the sensibilities which at one time guarded and adorned him: and at times, will the transient gleam of remorse lighten up its agony within him; and when he contrasts the profaneness and depravity of his present companions, with the sacredness of all he it will almost feel as if conscience were ever heard or saw in his father's dwelling, again to resume her power, and the revisiting spirit of God to call him back again from the paths of wickedness; and on his restless bed will the images of guilt punishment offer to scare him away; and conspire to disturb him, and the terrors of many will be the dreary and dissatisfied intervals when he shall be forced to acknowledge, that in bartering his soul for peace and enjoyment of the world along the pleasures of sin, he has bartered the with it. But, alas! the entanglements of companionship have got hold of him; and the inveteracy of habit tyranizes over all again comes round; and the lond laugh of his purposes; and the stated opportunity his partners in guilt chases, for another season all his despondency away from him; and the infatuation gathers upon of sin grows apace; and he at length behim every month; and the deceitfulness comes one of the sturdiest and most unre "Those who have imbibed from their leuting of her votaries; and he, in bis turne strengthens the conspiracy that is formed and all the ingenuous delicacies of other against the morals of a new generation; From this sorrowful picture, Dr. C. turns and pours forth his terrible rebukes, upon those seniors in depravity, who lend their agency to initiate the young, in the hellish mysteries of pollution; and "care not, though a parent's hope should wither and expire under the contagion of their ruffian examples." Surely, if those who turn many to righteousness, shall shine as the stars forever and ever they who lead the unsuspecting onward towards the chambers of death-they who aid and witness without a sigh the extinction of youthful modesty, must expect to be driven away from the judgment seat, with the most terrible expressions of vengeance, and to struggle throughout eternity, with the fiercest horrors of damnation! Having thus enquired into the origin, and pourtrayed the progress of dissipation in large cities, Dr. C. finally calls upon his readers to look at its usual termination; leaving out however, for the present, the awful considerations of that death, to which so many are prematurely hurried, and of that judgment in which they will not be able to stand. It cannot then be denied, that many a votary of licentiousness, has in later years, earned the worldly reputation of a reformed rake; has broken off from the profligacies of his youth, not by repentance, but by outliving them. What then is the amount of this change? that the profligate turns from one idol to another-that he gives up certain pleasures which he can no longer enjoy, and fastens with eagerness on objects, which, though they may be more reputable, as effectually exclude God from all his thoughts. The new divinity may be wealth, it may be honour, it may be display, or it may be philosophy; but it is nothing connected with the Nor has the worst of the case yet been mentioned. This same reformed rake, not unfrequently still gives to profligacy, the whole weight of his connivance. Over one, and that a large class of the young, he exerts a more seductive influence, than any of the immediate agents of corruption. O how insinuating and deleterious is the poison, which often distils from the lips of grave and respectable citizens! Who shall dissipate charms that are thrown by the smile of elders and superiours, over the sins of forbidden indulgence? How can we disarm the bewitching sophistry, which lies in this and a thousand other tokens of complacency? The friend, the patron, invites to his sumptuous table, and there, mingling humour and gaiety and wine together, converts the whole scene into a nursery of licentiousness. "O, for an arm of strength" exclaims Dr. C. "to demolish this firm and far spread compact of iniquity; and for the power of some such piercing and prophetic voice, as might convince our reformed men, of the baleful influence they cast behind them, on the morals of the succeeding generation." We would, that every hoary profligate, that every cold blooded caterer, who still delights to linger about the precincts of pollution, would be persuaded to look every night at the image of himself, which Dr. C. has sculptured in his discourse, till his flesh should all quake upon his bones: and to look forward to the growing and burning agonies of eternity, till he should find himself constrained to cry out, in the bitterness of penitence, God be merciful to me a sinner! Gloomy as the foregoing picture is, Dr. C. rejoices in the belief that a great external reformation has taken place of late years, in the manners of society. "There is not, he says, the same grossness of conversation. There is not the same impa tience for the withdrawment of him, who, asked to grace the outset of an assembled party, is compelled at a certain step in the process of conviviality, by the obligations of professional decency, to retire from it." Dr. C. must here be understood of course, as speaking of his own country, but we are inclined to think, that the remark will apply to the more favoured land in which we dwell, The following extract is worthy of being read and pondered well, in the light of eternity, by every professor of religion; but more especially, by every minister of the gospel. "There is not," referring to the last sentence which we have just quoted," there is not now so frequent an exaction of retirement as one of the established properties of social and fashionable life as formerly; and if such an exaction was ever laid by the omnipotence of custom on a min ister of Christianity, it is such an exaction as ought never, never, to be complied with. It is not for him to lend the sauc tion of his presence to a meeting with which he could not sit to its final termination. It is not for him to stand associated, for a single hour, with an assemblage of men who begin with hypocrisy, and end with downright blackguardism. It is not for him to watch the progress of the coming ribaldry, and to hit the well selected moment when talk and turbulence, and boisterous merriment, are on the eve of bursting forth upon the company, and carry them forward to the full acme and uproar of their enjoyment. It is quite in vain to say, than he has only sanctified one part of sach an entertainment. He has as good as given his connivance to the whole of it, and left behind him a discharge in full of all its abominations; and, therefore, be they who they may, whether they rank among the proudest aristocracy of our land, or are charioted in splendour along, as the wealthiest of the citizens, it is his part to keep as purely and indignantly aloof from such society as this, as he would from the vilest and most debasing associ ations of profligacy.—pp. 157, 158. The subject of the next, and last discourse but one, in this original and powerful series, is, the vitiating influence of the higher, upon the lower order of society; from Luke, xvii. 1, 2: "Then said he unto the disciples, it is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him through whom they come! It were better for him, that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should of fend one of these little ones." This is one of the severest and most solemn denunciations of the Gospel; and in its manifold applications, involves a general and fearful responsibility. The word offend in this place, as well as in many others, signifies cause to fall. Whoever shall injure, deceive or ensnare one of these little ones, whoever shall put a stumbling block in the way of the feeblest, the most obscure person, who is apparently a believer, or coming to Christ, must take the tremendous consequences. This should make every parent and master and man of influence tremble, and watch, and pray, lest some unguarded word, or unchristian example, should prove the occasion of sin to a child, or a dependent, and thus ultimately destroy his principles and his soul together. Dr. C. however, does not propose to occupy this high and delicate ground, in the discourse now before us; but to expose some of those grosser offences, which abound in society, and have a most pernicious influence upon the young and upon the lower orders. And here, we almost involuntarily recur to the last discourse, for some of the most afflicting examples of contamination. A parent sends his son, without the antidotes of a pious education, and without necessity, to take in at every respiration, the moral pestilence of a profligate city, and thus makes himself answerable for the soul of his child. A senior in depravity, meets the youthful adventurer with smiles and promises, aud bears him onward 12 In the conclusion of this discourse, Dr. C. very ably discusses the great question, naturally growing out of it, -what can be done most effectually to oppose the torrent of corruption, which is still so strong and portentous? but we have no room left, either for extracts, or analysis. Vol. 4.-No. II. |