Even leaving religion out of the question, can he be a man (I will not say a Christian) who is destitute of humanity? It is impossible! He is a monster in the shape of a man. Can we be so unreasonable as to suppose, that God will hear the prayers of the person who shutteth up his bowels of compassion against his brother? God could abundantly enrich every individual of the human race without impoverishing himself; but it is his will to try the poor, by suffering them to be such, and in order to send them to the rich man's door, to prove to him in time, as well as in eternity, what kind of a soul he possesses; and I may add, the sons and daughters of misfortune are especially ordered by Providence to stand in the path of the professors of religion, to prove to them the steril or the sterling value of their piety, for God knows it already; but it is his will that they should know it also, before it is eternally too late for remedy. Witness the conduct of the Levite and the priest, who beheld with the side glance of inhumanity the man who fell among the thieves; I will be bold to say, the devil had as much real philanthropy as these two unfeeling devotees, and if the person who acts in the same manner is not wilfully blind, he would at once see that he is no better in the sight of that God, who is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. But admitting our liberality knows no bounds, yet there is no room for vanity or venality, because we are only liberal with what we are merely intrusted with, for the express purpose of feeding the poor, clothing the naked, &c. But, says one, "I cannot afford to bestow charity; moreover, there is sufficient provision made for the poor in our country already." I answer, the furniture in your houses, the superfluous and absurd appendages on your children, the luxury of your tables, all will rise up to give you the lie, as it respects the first excuse; and the poor families, wretched individuals, and souls perishing for lack of knowledge, in miserable hovels, and in different parts of your town or neighbourhood, give you the lie in form as it respects the second subterfuge. You may depend upon it, these trifling excuses will not do in the day of judgment, when even the righteous man, i. e. the real charitable Christian, shall scarcely be saved, and "when consternation shall turn even the good man pale." We will suppose a professor of religion is worth eight hun. dred dollars per annum, and four hundred dollars will support him and his family in a comfortable and decent manner; we will suppose he reserves one hundred dollars a year for extraordinary emergencies, such as sickness or bodily imbecility. Three hundred dollars therefore remain unappropriated, which may be of infinite benefit or injury to the owner, his family, and his neighbours. If he employs it in promoting the temporal or spiritual good of the poor, he lays up a treasure in Heaven, which will be eternally accumulating interest, and will produce the most exquisitely tender and pleasurable feelings in the human breast, even in this life, paramount to all the imaginary and delusive gratifications of the epicure, the sensualist, or the miser. But a contrary line of conduct will not only counteract the will of God, by rendering that useless which he intended for a blessing to his creatures, but will be much worse than useless; it will be rendered extremely pernicious, for the following reasons: it is sacrificed at the shrine of Satan; it is constituted his auxiliary to corrupt mankind; it is spent to support wrong tempers, bad habits, and evil desires, which eventuate in man's perdition. It was not the righteous, (I again repeat,) but sinners Jesus came to save. Yes, Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost, and his language to his faithful followers is, Go ye and do likewise. For another excuse, the selfish Christian will say, "You had better attend to your other duties of religion, and particularly to the means of grace more regularly, before you attend to charitable associations. I would in return ask, for what purpose was the means of grace instituted? I answer, for the express purpose of stimulating to the conscientious fulfilment of all social and sympathetic, filial and fraternal virtues. If, therefore, they do not answer this salutary purpose, they are of no utility, except it is to keep people out of present mischief. Would it not be ridiculous for a soldier to spend all his time in learning his manual exercise, while his comrades were fighting the enemies of his country; or a mariner to spend all his moments in the harbour, preparing his vessel for her voyage, without ever attempting to proceed to sea? Equally as ridiculous is it, to be scrupulous in the performance of the ceremonial duties of religion, while we neglect to practise charity; to do as well as say, to watch as well as pray, and to pity and relieve God's poor from day to day, in imitation of Jesus. We can give nothing but what has graciously been bestowed upon us; and "it is more blessed to give than to receive." Do we mean to insult the God we worship, by entreating him to bless and relieve the poor, the sick, and the afflicted, the fatherless and widow, the stranger and prisoner, and at the same time, not only neglect to perform these social and sym. pathetic duties in our own persons, but even oppose those desirous of literally fulfilling the petitions continually ascending every Sabbath from every Christian church. When you pray to the Almighty to "Defend and provide for the poor and the needy, and all that are desolate and oppressed," whom do you expect he will send to relieve and provide for these children of affliction? You cannot expect he will send the devil, neither his mortal nor immortal auxiliaries; nor can we suppose that God will send his angels from heaven to fulfil the duties of philanthropy, (though it would be their highest ambition to do it,) at least while he has sons and servants (or if you please saints) on earth; and those who are indeed his saints take supreme delight in obeying his mandates in this respect, while his professional votaries will make a thousand excuses to avoid the charitable duties of religion. In short, religion without philanthropy is the religion of Hell. But there is another hackneyed excuse which will be used by the uncharitable. They will say, we cannot relieve that stranger; because he may be an impostor; nor that beggar, for it will be an encouragement to their fraternity; nor that man whose house has been recently burned, because he may be a bad man: nor will we encourage the Benevolent Society, because they will peradventure relieve such vile wretches. And I would ask, if they do, is it not what God does every day, by letting his sun shine upon the evil and the good? If God acted towards such persons as they act to their fellow-creatures, how soon would they be swept from the face of the earth. We should carefully relieve the stranger, lest we should not see him again in this world, and relieve all the poor we see, either with food, clothes or money, (or even a sympathetic tear,) as our prudence may direct; and thus imitate God, who sendeth rain on the just and unjust. A sick bed will preach a more useful and salutary sermon, than a thousand divines put together. Is it not laudable for Christians to join together, to provoke each other to love and good works? I have visited more persons in affliction in one day, while I belonged to the Hospitable Society, than I did for six years, when I did not belong to it; and if I visited any in that six years, it was merely by accident. Women are always considered more tender hearted than our sex; in them the milk of human kindness flows copiously. I would ask, can any thing exalt the character of a woman so much as a compassionate, sympathetic disposition? Do not the tears of pity, which steal from the eyes and trickle down the ruddy or the pallid cheeks of the gentle philanthropist, for the woes of a child of misfortune, appear more brilliant, and render her more intrinsically valuable, than all the jewels and flowers of gold which ever glittered on the robes of royal or imperial coquets? It Are you The trust reposed in mothers by the Almighty, is of the first magnitude; and you are bound by the most sacred obligations, to bring your children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, by inculcating the precepts of humanity and mercy upon their juvenile minds, from their earliest age. is a maxim with our sex, and a tyrannical maxim it is, "That women are only to be seen, not heard." Is not such usurpation commensurate with Turkish barbarity? Surely no woman of sense and discernment, can submit to such innovation. They should vindicate their native dignity, and assert the right with which the God of nature has endowed them. not, as our sex, made in the image of God, and the candidates for immortality? Are you not, therefore, called of him to improve your talents, to do good in your day and generation? Will you then let the prejudice of education, the tyranny of custom, or the usurpation of our sex rob you of your crowns, and bereave you of your celestial rewards in a coming world, which will be exactly commensurate with your personal, not hereditary labour of love? In the Jewish synagogues, there were prophetesses, and in the primitive Christian church, there were deaconesses, who were particularly appointed to provide for the necessities of the poor: such was Phebe, mentioned by St. Paul, Rom. chapter xvi.-Why then should women in modern times be rendered mere ciphers in the church of God? Indeed, women are particularly, I may say, indispensably needful, in the antecedent charity; as there are often females brought to the brink of the grave, by certain maladies, which none but women should visit: at least it would be indelicate for even good men to visit them. Seeing, then, that the duty to which I call your most serious attention is of such importance, and of such a nature, that unless we attend to it in our own persons, (and not by proxy, while we can personally attend,) we must undoubtedly hear the Almighty Judge address us in these awful words: "Depart, ye cursed!-For I was sick, and ye visited me not.” And be assured, it will answer you no purpose then, that you punctually and perseveringly attended all the other means of grace in this world, if you neglect this important duty. If you feel your judgments convinced of the necessity and utility of this duty, let not the impression wear off; which it assuredly will, if you neglect to practise the same with indefatigable assiduity. Perhaps you will say, even the most religious men, and ministers of the gospel, are criminally negligent in this part of their duty: we will therefore wait till they show us the example. Nay, but I would rather advise you to show them the example, and let your philanthropy put them to the blush. An ingenious and generous citizen of Trenton informed me of the benevolence of a certain deist, named Kirkbride; and that it was a common saying that he did more acts of charity in one year, than all the ministers of the gospel in the Jersey put together. And I fear the observation is too true. How different is the conduct of the present, and of the primitive ministers of religion; or even the poet's "Village preacher:" "A man he was to all the country dear; And passing rich, with forty pounds a year. Shoulder'd his crutch, and show'd how fields were won. |