CHRISTIAN OBSERVER. No. 261.] SEPTEMBER, 1823. [No. 9. Vol. XXIII. RELIGIOUS COMMUNICATIONS. For the Christian Observer. THE (Concluded from p. 470.) 'HE discouragements in the exercise of benevolence pointed out in my former paper (see No. for August, p. 465) might be sufficient to blunt the vigour of the most exalted spirit of charity, were there no countervailing circumstances to sustain its efforts. A few of these shall now be briefly noticed. And in the first place, it is an encouraging fact, that, great as are the impediments and disappointments attendant upon the exertion of benevolence, the mercy of God seldom or never suffers the faithful labours of his servants to be expended without at least some successful results. Though there may be much of disappointment, all is not disappointment. No individual, probably, could affirm that all his charitable labours, whether for the body or the souls of his fellow-creatures, have been wholly in vain. Now, if but a small alleviation of human misery, or a small addition to human happiness and well-being, is, through the blessing of God, secured by his zealous exertions, there is much to call for joy and gratitude. In a world of sorrow and of sin, a single tear wiped away, a single kind or good emotion excited, is well worth the toil of benevolence. The most susceptible mind would chill itself into an anti-social scepticism and fatal apathy, by always magnifying disappointments, and asking, in a desponding tone, "What decisive good have my CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 261. efforts effected in this or that parti cular instance? I have this day visited a dying person; or, I have given away a tract or Bible; or, I have advised or reproved an erring neighbour; or, I have been deliberating upon and putting in practice some other plan of public or private benefit-but I discern no fruit of my labours." The language of Christian faith should rather be: "Fruit will and must follow: not perhaps fruit adequate either to my wishes or to my highly raised expectations; but fruit such as He, who is infinitely wise and good, sees fit; fruit sufficient to keep alive my hopes, and to re-animate my languishing efforts." In religious charity especially, the smallest portion of good is of incalculable moment. To be estimated aright, it must be measured by the infinite value of the human soul, it must be multiplied into eternity; and whatever tends to effect religious good is to be prized in a corresponding proportion. "But have my efforts, in any particular case, really conduced to this object?" is still often the disconsolate inquiry of the Christian philanthropist: "Who hath believed our report, and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?" Now, in answer to this, faith may confidently reply, that, notwithstanding every dark and lowering appearance, some portion of benefit is always attendant upon benevolent Christian effort. Not unfrequently its effects are visible and gratifying far beyond expectation; at others, though not so striking, they are still clear and decisive: and even where they seem most to fail, the very effort promotes 4 A the glory of God and the welfare of must not measure the success of his benevolent labours by first impressions, or predict that the acorn will never become an oak, merely because the tender rudiments of the germ and the sapling are too slowly unfolded to be appreciable by the unassisted senses. But there is, again, another great encouragement arising from this view of the subject,-namely, that, even if no success whatever appeared to attend, or in fact did attend, the labours of Christian benevolence, those labours would still not be with"Ye shall reap out their reward. if ye faint not," is a consolation the value of which is not to be judged of by the particular way in which it shall please the Lord of the harvest to confer the reward. It may be, that we reap directly and immediately, by the success visibly attendant on our labours; it may be, that we reap indirectly and personally, by learning in this service Divine lessons of faith and love, of patience and duty, which were an ample recom pence for our feeble services. But, without any shadow of doubt, we "in due time," in the shall reap enjoyment of that blessed reward which even the donor of "a cup of cold water to a disciple, in the name of a disciple," shall not lose. Such is the express promise of the great Author and Prototype of all beneficence. He does not pledge his veracity that the success of our labours shall be in the direct channel of their exertion: he does not say, that, even where that success is greatest, it shall be immediate; or where it is immediate, that it shall be great: but the gain is certain, though eventual; it will come in "due" time, if not at the time we fondly anticipated; and it shall return into our own bosoms with a blessing, though not at the hour we hoped for, or through the medium that we expected. There is already, in the very consciousness of endeavouring to do good, in the very effort to copy the pattern exhibited by our divine Saviour, an abundant reward: in addition to this, there is that splendid recompence, the approbation of Him in whose presence there is fulness of joy; the testimony of that righteous Judge, who shall at the last day welcome the humblest of the followers and imitators of his beloved Son with the heavenly salutation, “Well done, good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." Nor are this heavenly benediction and benefaction the less a reward on account of the circumstance that they are of grace, and not of debt; that they hinge not, in whole or in part, on any intrinsic merit in the action or the actor, but flow solely from the superabundant grace of the Author of all good. Still, they are a reward-the Divine Saviour himself does not scruple to call them so-a reward gratuitous, but ample beyond expression; purchased for us at an invaluable cost, and bestowed gratuitously, yet bestowed with a recitation of lowly virtues, of which it would be as unscriptural to say that they are not expressly mentioned in close connexion with the reward, as it would be arrogant and unchristian to affirm that they deserve it. We could not deem it injustice if God were to disdain to look with complacency upon any thing we do; for even our best works of charity and mercy, springing, as every good work must, from love towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, are so imperfect that not one of them can challenge mere justice; yet an Apostle, the more to encourage us, has not hesitated to put the matter upon this footing: "God," he says, "is not unrighteous, to forget your work and labour of love which ye have shewed towards his name." But, independently of immediate success or future reward, we have always a powerful motive to charitable exertions in the consideration that they are enjoined as a positive duty. Efforts resting upon mere feeling will fluctuate with the state of feeling; and in the midst of great present discouragement even the hope the evangelical not the pha risaic hope-of a final recompence, will not always be sufficiently vivid to induce patience and perseverance. Here strong settled principle should come to the aid of our vacillating graces. "I am acting from a sense of known and bounden duty," should be the answer to every temptation to weariness. The Christian philanthropist should live by faith, and not by sight. He should remember that "his judgment is with the Lord, and his work with his God." The Omniscient sees his heart, and knows his motives; and to that superior decision alone should he ultimately appeal. His toils may be great, and his success doubtful; darkness and disappointment may hang over his fondest projects; but sterling Christian principle will carry him through all. And, in truth, the more we can divest ourselves of all reliance upon contingencies, and act upon the broad basis of duty, the fewer will be our discouragements, and the more persevering our labours. Success is delightful; social sympathies are delightful; the voice of gratitude is delightful; but our motives of action should be fixed on a far more solid foundation than any which the casualties of events may supply; and, having once ascertained that we have discovered the path of duty, we should endeavour to acquire such a tone of mind that this alone shall be at all times a sufficient encouragement to patience and per severance. ; Still, subordinate encouragements are not to be proudly disdained ; and among these we may reckon one which arises from reflecting upon the usually gradual development of the dispensations of Divine Providence. We are fickle and impatient; but the great Author and Disposer of events is infinitely removed from every thing which resembles our hasty caprices. He almost invariably operates, both in the natural and the moral world, by slow gradations; or, at least, by gradations which appear to us slow, because our earthly span of exist reflection that the very difficulties and delays which arise in digging the foundation, often lead in the end to the greater stability of the building: whatever was unstable or unsound is discovered and remedied, and its recurrence is guarded against in future; and the edifice thus rises the more securely, though the more slowly; till at length, by the blessing of God upon the persevering labours of his servants, it is completed, with an amplitude and magnificence far beyond the highest hopes of the original designers. ence is too contracted to measure the large designs of Him with whom a thousand years are but a day. He did not create the natural world by a single impulse, but protracted its birth through six successive stages of time. The great scheme also of Redemption, planned in eternity, and announced in paradise, was very gradually accomplished; several thousands of years rolled away before Messiah appeared upon earth "to take away sin by the sacrifice of himself:" and who can tell how long a period may yet elapse before his kingdom of grace shall arrive at its final consummation? And shall we expect, when employed as agents in the hands of God for benefiting a sinful and miserable world, that he will innovate upon the all-wise order of his dispensations to gratify our eager impatience? May we not rather anticipate, even as far as our own benefit is concerned, that he will mercifully bestow upon us the salutary exercise of our faith and patience? And should we not feel our hearts encouraged, in witnessing how often, in the usual development of his providential arrangements, light springs up in the darkest periods, and waxes brighter and brighter to the perfect day? In the accomplishment of plans of benevolence, especially religious benevolence, this is so remarkably the case, that it might be difficult to point out any very memorable instance of success which had not been preceded by disappointments. The labours of Christian missionaries in particular, have, in a remarkable manner, exemplified the truth of this observation. The most flourishing scenes of benevolent exertion have for a time appeared enveloped with dense clouds, which threatened the destruction of every opening blossom of hope; but the cloud dispersed, the sun exhibited his be- In this view, even the thought of nign splendour, and all was life and the brevity of human life, which so beauty and fragrance. There is, often dejects the Christian philantherefore, to the persevering philanthropist, from the improbability thropist, a source of consolation, at which it presents of his ever witthe lowest ebb of his hopes, from the nessing the completion of his bene The agent of religious charity has, further, that constant encouragement which flows from the consideration of the Divine promises. He is "a worker together with God" for the best interests of a fallen and wretched world; and, in the midst of individual failures and perplexities, is cheered with the inspired predic tion that the time is not far distant when, in spite of every impediment, "the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ." For the accom plishment of this glorious object the all-wise Ruler can, and will, dispose all actions and events in harmonious concurrence; and the humblest follower of Christ, diligently labouring in his allotted sphere of action, may confidently hope that even his feeble efforts shall not be without their proportionate bearing upon the great result. He himself may sink in the conflict; the final triumph may not ensue till long after he is in the haven of never-ending rest; but, amidst the successive mortality of its short-lived agents, the Divine scheme of mercy shall continue to advance : if impeded in one quarter, it shall be strengthened in another, till, stone by stone, the whole spiritual temple shall be completed, "a habitation of God, eternal, in the heavens." volent desires, is not destitute of of devils." In the event, therefore, countervailing encouragements. For, if his efforts are arduous, they will at least not be endless; and though the reflection, that "the night cometh when no man can work," may lead him to anticipate that many promising schemes of usefulness will be broken; that much seed, laboriously and hopefully sown, may be wasted, for want of a succession of kindred minds to watch its springing up, and to gather in the harvest; this will lead him rather to redouble than to relax his exertions. If he become faint or breathless in the course, he at least knows that the goal is not far distant; and that, after all his sublunary toils and vexations, heaven will afford a season of perfect and eternal repose. To add to all these sources of encouragement, he has before him the ever-memorable example of that Divine Philanthropist who, amidst pain, persecution, and reproach, patiently "endured the contradiction of sinners," and triumphantly persisted till he had "finished the work that was given him to do." We also have a work given us to do in the space of our mortal career; and, like our Saviour, "how should we be straitened till it is accomplished!" One prominent portion of our work particularly resembles his, namely, according to our opportunities and capacity ministering to the temporal and eternal welfare of our fellow-creatures. In performing this part of our allotted task, it is impossible that we should encounter obstacles so great as those which beset our Divine Master. No ingratitude or disappointment, no fatigue or sacrifice, which we can be called upon to endure in the /service of God or man, is worthy to be compared with his privations and sufferings for us. His most beneficent miracles were followed by reproaches; and, instead of hailing him with reverence and affection, as the messenger of mercy, his opposers said that "he had a devil," and that he cast out devils by the prince of our most benevolent actions being misunderstood, thwarted, or misrepresented, we have the consolation of knowing that we are but tasting a few of the least bitter drops of that cup of disappointment which our Saviour drank to its very dregs. "If they call the Master of the house Beelzebub," we have no reason to be either ashamed or de-' spondent, if, as his servants, we bear a small part of his reproach. True Christian charity, religious charity at least, much as it is vaunted of, has never, in any age, been a really popular virtue. Its impartial exertion is so often opposed to the sordid interests of some and the groveling prejudices of others, that it cannot fail to meet with opposers; while its bearing upon higher interests than merely those of this mortal existence, exposes it to the sneer of the formalist, the suspicion of the worldly-minded, and the undisguised hatred of the profligate transgressor. All this, however, is of little moment, so long as conscience is satisfied and God approves. If men "love darkness rather than light;" if they prefer a fatal security in sin to being charitably warned of the evil of their ways, and urged to forsake them; this may distress the mind of the Christian philanthropist, but it should not discourage him in his zealous endeavours to oppose the general infatuation. To whatever department of charitable labour he devotes himself, he has the never-failing example of his Saviour to animate his exertions and console him in the midst of reverses; and he cannot but feel assured, that in no virtue of Christianity can he more visibly copy that character than in that of a spirit of universal benevolence. To render the imitation more correct, he has only to see that the basis of principle on which his charitable labours are founded is truly scriptural; and that he lose not his reward by failing in the indispensable and crowning grace of perseverance unto the end, MINIMUS. |