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ties, those virtues which enter as wakeful eye over all sufferings and necomponent parts into the service of cessities of our species-and who open Christ. They must not expend all their hand most widely in behalf of the their warmth on the high and pe whom, in spite of all their mockery, imploring and the friendless-and to culiar doctrines of the New Testa- the men of the world are sure, in the ment, while they offer a cold and negociations of business, to award the reluctant admission to the practical readiest confidence-and who sustain duties of the New Testament. The the most splendid part in all those great Apostle has bound the one to the movements of philanthropy which bear other by a tie of immediate con- on the general interests of mankind— nexion; and we altogether mistake and who, with their eye full upon eter, the transforming influence of the nity, scatter the most abundant bless Gospel, if we think that upright-time-and who, while they hold their ings over the fleeting pilgrimage of

ness does not emerge at the same time with godliness; or that, while the Christian puts on those graces which are singly acceptable to God, he falls behind in any of those graces which are both acceptable to God, and approved of men. Dr. Chalmers enforces this import ant sentiment with great energy of application, more especially on those who are engaged in mercantile concerns; and concludes with the following eloquent defence of the great body of religious persons against the charge to which the hypocrisy of some who disgrace their Christian profession occasionally gives force and currency.

"We know, that even of such there are a few, who, if Paul were alive, would move him to weep for the reproach they bring upon his Master. But we also know, that the blind and impetuous world exaggerates the few into the many; inverts the process of atonement altogether, by laying the sins of one man upon the multitude; looks at their general aspect of sanctity, and is so engrossed with this single expression of character, as to be insensible to the noble uprightness, and the tender humanity, with which this sanctity is associated. And therefore it is that we offer the assertion, and challenge all to its most thorough and searching investigation, that the Christianity of these people, which many think does nothing but cant, and profess, and run after ordinances, has augmented their honesties and their liberalities, and that

tenfold beyond the average character of society; that these are the men we oftenest meet with in the mansions of poverty—and who look with the most

conversation in heaven, do most enrich the earth we tread upon, with all those virtnes which secure enjoyment to families, and uphold the order and prosperity of the commonwealth." pp. 65, 66.

The next discourse is on "the Power of Selfishness in promoting the Honesties of Mercantile Intercourse," from the words of our Lord, Luke vi. 33, “ If ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same." Pursuing his design of developing the corruption of human nature, Dr. Chalmers contends, that but for the princi ple of selfishness, much not only of the kindness and civility, but even of the honesty, which obtains in the world would have no existence; that, generally speaking, men are honest, not because they are lovers of God or men of virtue, but because they are lovers of themselves, insomuch, that if it were possible to disjoin the principle of self-interest from the habit of doing what was kind and fair to those around us, this would not only dissolve the ties of justice and beneficence amongst men, but arm them in undisguised hostility against each other. The genuine depravity of the human heart would burst forth, and shew itself in its true character; and the world in which we live be transformed into a scene of unblushing fraud, of open and lawless depredation. It is no reply to this argument, that the wisdom of the Almighty has contrived to combine the separate

interests of individuals into a har monious system of operation for the benefit of all; because, if on estimating the character of each individual, we shall find that the mainspring of his actions is selfishness, then, let the semblance be what it may, the reality of the case accords with the most mortifying representations of the New Testament. In support and illustration of his argument, Dr. Chalmers adduces various instances, derived from the hollow and precarious nature of many mercantile associations and transactions, from the conduct of men verging towards bankruptcy and from that of dealers in contraband goods, from the arts practised by too many for the purpose of evading the payment of taxes, and from the encroachments so openly made in this country on the rights of the clergy with respect to tithes. In all these, and in va rious other cases which might be enumerated, it is painful to observe how much the actual honesty of the world is due to selfishness, and how lawless and unjust men will become when emancipated from the ties of interest.

"We have not affirmed," says Dr. Chalmers," that there is no such thing as a native and disinterested principle of honour among men. It is our own opinion of the nature of man, that it hus its honourable feelings, and its instinctive principles of rectitude, and its constitutional love of truth and of integrity; and that, on the basis of these, a certain portion of uprightness would remain amongst us, without the aid of any pru dence, or any calculation whatever. But we have affirmed, that a sense of honour may be in the heart, and the sense of God be utterly away from it. How wide is the operation of selfishness on the one hand, and how limited is the opera tion of abstract principle on the other, it were difficult to determine; and such a labyrinth to man is his own heart, that he may be utterly unable, from his own consciousness, to answer this question, But amid all the difficulties of such an analysis to himself, we ask him to think of another who is unseen by us, but who is represented to us as seeing all things,"

while" consciousness may, perhaps, inform him distinctly enough how little a share the will of God has in the way of influence on any of his doings.

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This, then, is the terminating ob tried to set before you. We want it to ject of all the experience that we have be a schoolmaster to bring you unto Christ. We want you to open your eyes, to the accordancy which obtains be tween the theology of the New Testament, and the actual state and history of man. Above all, we want you to turn your eyes inwardly upon yourselves,

and there to behold a character withthere to behold a heart set upon to out one trace or lineament of godliness, tally other things than those which constitute the portion and the reward of eternity-there to behold every principle of action resolvable into the idolatry of self, or, at least, into something independent of the authority of God-there to observe how worthless in their substance are those virtues which look so imposing in their semblance and their display, and draw around them here a popularity and an applause which will all be dissipated into nothing, when hereafter they are brought up for examination to the judgment-seat."-" To avert the fearfulness of that day is the message of the great atonement sounded in your ears; and the blood of Christ, cleansing from all sin, is offered to your acceptance; and if you turn away from it, you add to the guilt of a broken law the insult of a neglected Gospel.”

"But when a man becomes a believer, there are two great events which take place at this great turning point in his history. One of them takes place in heaven-even the expunging of his name from the book of condemnation. Another of them takes place on earth→ even the application of such a sancti fying influence to his person, that all old things are done away with him, and all things become new with him. He is made the workmanship of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. He is not merely forgiven the sin of every one evil work of which he had aforetime been guilty, but he is created anew unto the corre sponding good work. And therefore, if a Christian, will his honesty be pu rified from that taint of selfishness by which the general honesty of this world is so deeply and extensively pervaded. He will not do this good thing, that any good thing may be done unto him again. He will do it on a simple regard to its

own native and independent rectitude. He will do it because it is honourable, and because God wills him so to adorn the doctrine of his Saviour." "Nor will it ever be found, that he, for the sake of subsistence, will enter into fraud, seeing that, as one of the children of light, he would not, to gain the whole world, lose his own soul." pp. 94-102. The fourth discourse in this volume is entitled, "The Guilt of Dishonesty not to be estimated by the Gain of it." It is founded upon the declaration of our Saviour, Luke xvi. 10. "He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much; and he that is unjust in the least, is unjust also in much." This maxim of our Divine Teacher, Dr. Chalmers observes, is at direct variance with the general habit of mankind, which is to measure the guilt of injustice by the injury which results from it, and to bring this moral question to the standard of self-interest. The intention, therefore, of this discourse is to elucidate what he considers to be the more strict and unbending principle inculcated by our Lord, and to insist upon the practical consequences which may be deduced from it, with respect

both to God and man.

"The great principle," says Dr. Chalmers," of the text is, that he who has sinned, though to a small amount in respect of the fruit of his transgression, provided he has done so by passing over a forbidden limit which was distinctly known to him, has, in the act of doing so incurred a full condemnation in respect of the principle of his transgression. In one word, that the gain of it may be small, while the guilt of it may be great; that the latter ought not to be measured by the former; but that he who is unfaithful in the least, shall be dealt with in respect of the offence he has given to God, in the same way as if he had been unfaithful in much." pp. 109, 110.

There can be no question as to the substantial truth and correctness of this reasoning, which is founded upon the general tenor of Scripture, as well as upon several express declarations of the New

Testament. It may, perhaps, be doubted whether it was the design of our Lord, in the passage which is the basis of this discourse, to inculcate the principle thus developed by Dr. Chalmers to the extent to which he has carried it; and not rather simply to assert, that he who is dishonest upon a small scale will doubtless prove so upon a larger, should the opportunity be afforded. The meaning, however, which he has attached to this text is so scriptural in itself, and so important in its consequences, that we cannot but consider him as fully justified in his present application of it.

The first reason which Dr. Chalmers assigns in vindication of this principle is, that the line which separates the right from the wrong is just as effectually broken by a small as by a great act of injustice. It is in the act of crossing that line, and not in subsequently going onwards, that the contest between right and wrong is entered upon, and then that it is decided. After the transition is accomplished, the progress will follow of course, just as opportunity invites, and circumstances may render it safe and practicable. But the guilt of transgression is complete and indelible. There is no shading off at its margin, but a clear and vigorous delineation.

"It is not," says this energetic writer, "by a gentle transition that a man steps over from honesty to dishonesty. There is between them a wall rising up unto heaven; and the high authority of Heaven must be stormed, ere one inch of entrance can be made into the region of iniquity. The morality of the Saviour never leads them to gloss over the beginnings of crime. His object ever is, as in the text before us, to fortify the limit, to cast a rampart of exclusion around the whole territory of guilt, and to rear it before the eye of man in such characters of strength and sacredness as should make them feel that it is impregnable." pp. 114, 115.

The second reason assigned by Dr. Chalmers, why he who is un

faithful in the least has incurred the condemnation of him who is unfaithful in much, is, that the littleness of the gain, so far from lessening the guilt, is in fact a circumstance of aggravation; inasmuch as it proves how small is the price which he sets upon his eternity, and how cheaply he can bar. gain away the favour of God, how low he rates the value of an inhe ritance with him, and for what a trifle he can dispose of all interest in his kingdom and his promises. It is with argument such as this that Dr. Chalmers would endeavour to strike conviction among a very numerous class of offenders in society-those who, in the various departments of trust, service, or employment, are ever practising in a little way at secret and dishonest appropriation, just so restrained as to elude discovery, and to preserve a conscience very much at ease, and a credit very fair and entire among their acquaintances around them. "They grossly count," as he strongly expresses it," upon the smallness of their transgression; but they are just going," for the sake of a trifling and inconsiderable gain, "to hell." They would recoil with horror from the act of a midnight depredator; because terrors, and trials, and executions have thrown around it the pomp and the circumstance of guilt. But at another bar, and on a day of more dreadful solemnity, their guilt will be made to appear in its essential character, and their condemnation will be pronounced from the lips of Him who judgeth righteously.

From the view thus given of the subject, Dr. Chalmers observes, that it is with this, as with many other phenomena of human nature, that we cannot long contemplate them without detecting that great characteristic of fallen man which meets and forces itself upon us at every turn-the great moral disease of ungodliness-the little regard to the authority of God which enters CHRIST, ORSERV. No. 234.

into the conduct of men in general with respect to justice and honesty; and the degree in which the peace and good order of society are owing to such moralities as the mere selfishness of men would lead him to ordain even in a community of Atheists.

He then proceeds to unfold a few of the practical consequences which may be drawn from the principle of the text, with respect both to God and man.

As it concerns our general relation to the Divine Being, "there cannot," says Dr. Chalmers, "be a stronger possible illustration of our argument, than the very first act of retribution that occurred in the history of our species." What was it that invested the eating of the forbidden fruit with a grandeur so momentous? How came an action in itself so minute to be the germ of such mighty consequences? We may not be able fully to answer all these questions; but we may at least learn how dangerous it is, under the government of a holy and inflexible God, to tamper with the limits of obedience. By the eating of that apple a clear requirement was broken, a distinct transition was made from loyalty to rebellion, and an entrance was effected into the region of sin; and thus did this one act serve like the opening of a flood-gate for a torrent of mighty mischief: and if the act itself was trifling, it went to aggravate its guilt, that for such a trifle the authority of God could be trampled on and despised.-After illustrating this point in a very powerful and masterly strain, and replying to the objection of the infidel upon this very subject, Dr. Chalmers pursues it to an inference which still more nearly concerns us. for this one offence, Adam and all his posterity have been so visited; and if we are still in the hands of that God who laid so tremendous a condemnation on this single transgression, how justly may we be alarmed at the consequences of our 3 E

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own numberless offences, and how earnestly should we flee for refuge to Him by whom alone we can be forgiven and saved; who is our only covert from the tempest, and our hiding-place from the storm! The appeal upon this all-important point is urged with great strength of eloquence and feeling, as well as the holy and practical influence of the faith which embraces this blessed hope of salvation.

Dr. Chalmers descends still Jower, and closes this admirable discourse with an exhortation to carry the principle of his text into the familiar and week-day scene.

"The spirit of it," he beautifully observes, "descends upon the heart, from the sublimest heights of the sanctuary of God. It is not vulgarizing Christianity to bring it down to the very humblest occupations of human life. It is, in fact, dignifying human life, by bringing it up to the level of Christianity. It may look to some a degradation of the pulpit, when the household servant is told to make her firm stand against the temptation of open doors, and secret opportunities; or when the confidential agent is told to resist the slightest inclination to any unseen freedom with the property of his employers, or to any undiscoverable excess in the charges of his management; or when the receiver of a humble payment

is told, that the tribute which is due on every written acknowledgment, ought faithfully to be met, and not fictitiously to be evaded. This is not robbing religion of its sacredness, but spreading its sacredness over the face of society. It is evangelizing human life, by impregnating its minutest transactions with the spirit of the Gospel." "It may be thought, that because such dishonesties as these are scarcely notice able, they are therefore not worthy of notice. But it is just in proportion to their being unnoticeable by the human eye, that it is religious to refrain from them. These are the cases in which it

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will be seen, whether the control of the omniscience of God makes up for the control of human observation-in which the sentiment, that thou God seest me,' should carry a preponderance through all the secret places of a man's historyin which, when every check of an earthly morality is withdrawn, it should be

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felt, that the eye of God is upon him, and that the judgment of God is in reserve for him. To him who is gifted with a true discernment of these mat

ters, will it appear, that often, in proportion to the smallness of the doings, is the sacredness of the principle which causes them to be done with integrity; that honesty in little transactions bears upon it more of the aspect of holiness, than honesty in great ones-and that thus, in the faithfulness of the household maid, or of the apprentice boy, there may be the presence of a truer principle, than there is in the more conspicuous transactions of human business-what

they do, being done, not with eye-service-what they do, being done unto the Lord." "It is cheering also to know from the heavenlyJudge himself," adds Dr. Chalmers, in remarking that nobleness of condition is not essential as a school for nobleness of character, "that he who is faithful in the least is faithful also in much; and that thus among the labours of the field, and of the work-shop, it is possible for the peasant to be as bright in honour as the peer, and have the chivalry of as much truth and virtue to adorn him." pp. 134-139.

The influence of such high-toned principle on the order and wellbeing of society is finally noticed.

"Nothing will secure the general observation of justice amongst us, in its punctuality and in its preciseness, but such a precise Christianity as many affirm to be puritanical. In other words, the virtues of society, to be kept in a healthful and prosperous condition, must be upheld by the virtues of the sanctuary. Human law may restrain many of the grosser violatious. But, without religion among the people, justice will never be in extensive operation as a moral principle." "And it is, indeed, a triumphant reversion awaiting the Christianity of the New Testament, when it shall become manifest as day. that it is her doctrine alone, which, by its searching and sanctifying influence, can so moralize our world as that each

may sleep secure in the lap of his neighbour's integrity, and the charm of confidence between man and man will at

length be felt in the business of every town, and in the bosom of every family," pp. 141, 142.

We regret that we are compelled

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