ferings, of the Jewish religion, or can any mode of worship, procure any acceptance in his sight. Neither were there sacrifices, nor is our verbal tribute, of any worth whatever, in his eye, considered in any other light. As he wanted not the fruits of their fields, or the blood of their animals; neither has he any need of the posture of our bodies, or the breath of our mouths, or the sedentary devotion, and inactive admiration of our minds. He wants not to be told by us, that he is either infinitely great, or infinitely good. He wants no compliment from our tongues, though accompanied by the consent of our hearts, any more than a bullock from our house, or a he-goat from our folds.-But the promotion of happiness among his works communicates real satisfaction to the father and friend of all. He that eateth not "the flesh of bulls" feasts on the felicity of his creatures; he that drinks not the blood of goats is gratified by the effects of goodness. The heathens thought their gods were susceptible of pleasure from the steam of their sacrifices: Heaven does inhale the happiness of earth! Sweet to the source of good is the odour of this incense! The great sacrifice, which is alone immediately, and directly acceptable to the Almighty, is neither any thing that cometh out of the ground, or that goeth forth from the mouth of man; it is the sacrifice of our faculties upon the broad, immortal altar of society. The substance of divine service is social service. Benevolence to man is the "beauty of holiness." The ground, wherever it be, upon which honest goodness relieves the indigent; consoles the dejected; protects the oppressed; defends the defamed; communicates truth; or inculcates virtue; the ground, wherever it be, upon which good is done, from a good principle; or upon which impotent pity drops an honest tear, and but wishes to do it; is better consecrated, in the eye of heaven, by such transactions, or by such tears, than by all the religious ceremonies, that could have been performed upon it. The house of mourning, the hovel of poverty, the prison of despair, when they receive the visit of charity, are temples, upon which the object of worship looks down with more complacency, than upon any other temples. The sphere of usefulness is the chief church of man: this is the most holy place; holy of holies :" the most sacred court in the temple of God: those that minister here are the highest priests, whose office has most sanctity in his sight. Devotedness to society is the truest dedication to God. Generous offices are the noblest sort of religous exercises. He that teaches the sighing "heart to sing for joy," awakes the harp which best besits the fingers of devotion. He 66 "the that tunes this animated instrument, he that raises this holy hymn, he that sends up this sacred music, he is the psalmist that, in the ear of heaven, excels all others in sweetness. Whoever wipes another's tear, lifts another's head, binds another's heart; performs religion's most beautiful rite, most decent and most handsome ceremony. To go on an errand of mercy, is to set out on the only holy pilgrimage. All other worship, with whatever height of solemnity, with whatever sublimity of circumstance, with whatever comeliness or form, it be accompanied, considered independently of this, and as terminating in itself, contains no degree of recommendation to the divine being. All the voices of assembled mankind, joined together in a chorus of praise to God; all the musical instruments in the world, united in a sacred concert; all knees of all the nations, bent together before the throne of high heaven; this sort of praise, ascending from all the earth at once, in itself considered, would yield no satisfaction to the object of worship, any more than all the frankincense of the earth, ascending in one cloud to heaven, or all the fruits of the earth, presented upon one spacious altar-but peace prevailing among all nations; equity reigning all around the globe; all mankind concurring to promote the general good, and dwelling in fraternal amity together; this social order, this moral harmony, this concord of faculties; this music of minds, were an anthem that would enter the ear of him who " is a spirit :" of him who hearkens to the silver chime of the spheres, and who set the silent harmonies of nature. 4 ANECDOTE OF THE REV. R. HILL. When the Rev. Rowland Hill was in Ireland in the year 1798, the Papists had resolved to murder him the next time he should preach out of doors. He was apprised of it, and his friends wished him to decline preaching. It was all to no purpose; come life or death, he declared he would preach. At the appointed time, thousands were assembled, vowing his destruction as soon as he should begin. They waited-no preacher appeared their patience was almost exhausted. At last a man in a large coachman's coat mixed with the crowd-inquired what they were waiting for, told them he was sorry they should be disappointed-would try if he could preach; but perhaps they would kill him? They applauded him-assured him of protection-and he began. It was Rowland Hill himself! and it is believed many were converted to God at that time. Plato, in his youth had wrote several tragedies. But he no sooner heard Socrates lecture upon virtue, than he burnt them all, and devoted himself to the pursuit of wisdom and morality.-So, when the soul has been savingly taught of God, its vanities fall off, and its desire is to be made wise and happy to salvation. If a person of exalted rank and vast opulence, desires you to make his house your home, and you avail yourself of the invitation, would it not affront him, if you was to offer at paying him for the accommodations? What greater affront can be offered to the majesty of God, than to imagine, that he sets his favours to sale, and that you must pay him for admitting you into the kingdom of grace and glory? MORAL DEPARTMENT, SELECTED. IMPROVEMENT OF YOUTH. DR. BLAIR very happily observes, that "if the spring put forth no blossoms, summer will display little beauty, and autumn afford no fruit; so if youth be wasted without improvement, manhood will be contemptible, and old age miserable." The illustration and improvement of this sentiment, whose importance no less than its beauty so forcibly strikes the mind, shall receive a few moments of our attention; and though the experience of age impart none of its sanction to our words, the liberal and ingenuous mind will not for that reason neglect an invitation to diligence and exertion. We will then consider some of the causes of the neglect and misimprovement of that all-important period of our existence, emphatically denominated the "spring of life." And unfortunately, in the threshold of our inquiry, a very unwelcome truth suggests itself; which is, that, as there is no subject in speculation more hackneyed than the improvement of youth, so there is none in practice so little regarded. It would indeed seem evident from the general inattention to the cultivation of our powers in early life and to the momentous concerns of religion, that the neglect and disregard of the most serious truths was in direct proportion to their general diffusion and acknowledged importance. But while the awful scythe of death is levelling with the same stroke the young and the old; while youth and talents, learning and virtue, the tears of bleeding relations and the fond hopes of a sympathizing people can oppose no claims to the indulgence of the destroying angel; while we behold the grave scarcely closed upon one of our companions before it opens to receive another and another, the importance of the subject must occur to every reflecting mind; nor will the want of originality be complained of by our readers, should we submit to their perusaul a few reflections on a trite subject. The most efficient and universally operative cause of the waste of time and of the misimprovement of youth is a disposition to indolence and ease. This habitually operates on the mind of man, is progressive in its effects, and calls for all the energies of his nature to resist its progress and counteract its influence. We are all more or less influenced by momentary feelings and present impressions. For the possession of immediate enjoyment we voluntary sacrifice permanent felicity. The thoughtlessness, and inexperience, and impetuosity of youth are peculiarly exposed to the allurements of pleasure, and consequently often become the premature victims of indolence and sloth. rendered to the guidance of passion. smooth. They have shuddered on the trembled at the approach of a tempest. straints of prudence, and untaught in the they scorn the rigid maxims of caution. rect their course. The voice of discretion is an unwelcome monitor to the headstrong rashness of youth. As long as their little bark rides in safety, heedless of the future and forgetful of the past, mirth and jollity usurp the places of caution and care, and pleasure and ease effectually expel vigilance and exertion. The helm of reason is surThe wind is fair and the sea edge of a whirlpool, or Unaccustomed to the relessons of experience, They take no pilot to di The pernicious effects of indulging an indolent and slothful disposition are palpable to the mind and body of man. Other habits and tendencies of our nature effect either the one part or the other, singly, of our constitution. But indolence and sloth, while they benumb the body, paralyse the soul; " and by one simultaneous operation emasculate the physical, while they stupify the intellectual "man." The decay of beauty is the grave of genius, and the finest graces of form, as well as the richest germs of intellect, are at once blasted and destroyed by these deadliest corrosives of the human constitution. A strong aversion to labour, the consequence of indulging our indolent and slothful feelings, is another serious obstacle to the improvement and cultivation of our early powers. All men desire fame; all pant alike for distinction. Few however are willing to submit to the labour of attaining pre-eminence. Yet to hope for distinction without making any effort to attain it; to doze in the lap of indolence, and yet expect the rewards of active exertion and heroick enterprize, is no less than to transform the established laws of nature into the accommodating vehicles of our own licentiousness; to debase and corrupt our moral purity by continued habits of vice and profligacy, and then by a kind of miraculous panacea anticipate a spiritual regeneration. As well might the idle and profligate spendthrift, who, after dissipating a fair inheritance in low sensuality and bestial gratifications, has entailed disease and disgrace on his constitution and character, hope for the luxury of health and the honours and advantages of unsullied fame, as he, who has consumed the morning of his life in idleness and ease, look forward to a meridian of honour and distinction, or an evening of serenity and joy. As it is impossible that he, who has wasted his youth in de bauchery and vice, can ever enjoy the blessing of health and the luxury of unsullied reputation, so he is equally far removed from the high road to distinction, and the region of glory, who neglects to lay a deep foundation in youth on which he may hereafter erect the fair superstructure of the temple of Fame. If the garden is neglected in the spring, if the wheat and the tares are suffered promiscuously to shoot up together, the rank luxuriance of the latter overpowers the more modest growth and exhausts the delicate juices of the former. So if the cultivation of our moral and intellectual faculties be neglected in the seed time of life, and virtues and vices, good and bad principles permitted to blend without distinction in our moral constitution, our minds become insensibly inflected to error, and at last immoveably confirmed in vice. Youth is the seed time of life; the "principium et foes" of our intellectual and moral, no less than of our natural existence. It is the commencemeut of all those feelings, principles, and habits, which lift man from earth and exalt him to a rank among myriads of celestial spirits, or vilify and degrade him below the meaneast reptile that crawls beneath his feet. "Fair is the bud his vernal moon brings forth, "ye blighting whirlwinds, spare his balmy prime ;" The vast importance, then, of cultivating with assiduity this momentous period of our existence need not, cannot be urged. Indeed, after all that can be said, every ingenuous youth and every idle blockhead will have his way. To reclaim the latter is most commonly a fruitless attempt; but to stimulate and encourage the former is the noble injunction of philanthropy, and felicitous success is generally the reward of disinterested benevolence. |
