then no such thing as a divine character? Has Jesus Christ no character which can be apprehended, and supremely loved, unmingled with one consideration of self? Whence has arisen all this noise about greatness, amiableness, excellency of character, even in men; which fills all books, and which has been the highest object of admiration, panegyric, and delight, to men in all ages? "Ah! it is all nothing;-all too remote and abstract to hit human faculties. I can love nothing but what does me good: I must perceive its connexion with my interest, or I cannot feel any regard for it." This is selfish language; and it is sordid enough. The character of God is sufficiently manifested to his rational creatures to command supreme and universal love and adoration. There is no character among the heroes and patriots of history, so fully displayed--so prominently evident-so easily and clearly apprehensible. This infinitely glorious character is collected from what God has revealed of himself-his nature and attributes--his providence and grace, in his works and in his word. A man comes and tells me that a neighbour of his has done him a very great kindness; has paid for him a sum of money, and rescued him from prosecution and from prison: what if I should say to him, in reply, He has indeed been very kind, and laid you under peculiar obligations. But I know that man well; in what he has done for you, he has evinced the character he universally possesses. He has done thousands of such acts in the course of his life, and thousands of people have shared in his beneficence. The whole of his fortune is devoted to the benefit of mankind; and the various resources of his mind are directed and exhausted in promoting all sorts of improvements; in founding hospitals, seminaries, and liberal and charitable institutions. He has made great improvements in the agriculture of his whole neighbourhood; and has done more to encourage the arts and sciences, and to promote human happiness, than any man of his time. But hold, says the man, that is all well enough, but it is nothing to me. I feel no interest in these abstract views of character. The good he may have done to thousands, and all his great and benevolent plans, do not strike my feelings at all. Let them be extolled by those who were, or will be, interested in, and benefited by them. This man has paid a hundred dollars for me, and, therefore, I love him. It cannot be supposed that I can be affected by the good he has done to others; and, above all, that I can be so abstract and metaphysical as to run back to consider his character and disposition, prior to the consideration of his actions, and which lie at the bottom of his conduct. That would be all nonsense, or, at best, far too refined for me. I like the man because he has done me good: he has promoted my interest, and, therefore, I can feel great regard for him. What ought I to think of such a man?--I should, I confess, consider him as a blind, unfeeling, selfish wretch, on whom the great and liberal man had wasted his bounty, were it not that "Mercy is twice blest, In him who gives it, and in him who takes." So that one of the blessings will at least redound to the giver, however the other may affect the receiver. Room is furnished for the rise and spread of an unlimited kingdom, through interminable space and eternal duration, in which the glorious God and Father of all has, from ancient days, poured forth emanations of his infinite goodness. In this rising and spreading kingdom, adorned with magnificence answerable to the power and wisdom of the divine architect, are placed innumerable orders of creatures. Beginning with inactive, inorganic matter, thence rising to the vegetable, then to the sensitive and animal kingdoms; and still higher to creatures of a mixed nature, composed of body and mind, and endowed with sensation and reflection; and, last of all, for here our perceptions and means of knowledge terminate, to pure spirits, with whose mode of existence and general habits we are still unacquainted. Through these immense departments of being, the great Author has manifested one character of power, wisdom, design, justice, and benevolence. Intelligence begins with man, and ascends to higher degrees of excellence in angels. But as, in our present state, we do not need the information, so the infinitely wise Teacher has not informed us concerning the various natures, numbers, orders, residences, and powers of superior creatures. Yet enongh is communicated to assure us that, in all those respects, they are answerable to the grandeur of the kindom in which they live, and of the God and Father whom they adore. In.ways inconceivably glorious and wonderful, God is making himself known to this great family: and as all rational creatures are immortal, there is full reason to believe these discoveries will always continue and increase; while to contemplate, admire, and adore will be the ceaseless employment of holy intelligences, through a happy eternity. Before this great family, the Almighty Father has exhibited a charaeter marked with the strongest lines-the most distinguished and illustrious traits. Nor is there a rational creature, whose faculties are mature according to the constitution of his nature, who cannot perceive it. Every thing, from the great frame of nature to the minutest insect, declares his power and wisdom: nor less do they declare his infinite benevolence. But the work of redemption more especially brings into light, and fully illustrates, his moral perfections. Nor is it likely that this work is concealed from any of his intelligent creatures: nor is it viewed with less interest, delight, or astonishment, by those pure intelligences who never fell, than it is or will be by those for whom the benefits of redemption are immediately designed; while, on the contrary, the redeemed will rejoice with equal fervor in beholding divine goodness, like a mighty river, flowing from the throne of God, and dispensing itself abroad in immortal streams, to enrich, adorn, and glorify the whole intelligent system. Can it be believed that the base and loathsome doctrine of selfishness is violently intruded, by these teachers, even into this theme? Yes: they will tell you that every christian, yea, every saint, will be so completely occupied with the high importance of his own happiness, that he will not be able to perceive any stronger motive of love to God, than because God has done good to him: and that this, of course, will be the rule of his attachment to all beings. May God dispel the clouds that hang around them, and enlarge the ken of their mental vision: may he break up this frozen winter of selfishness in their souls, and warm them with holy love. Religion does not render a man indifferent to happiness, but it shows him his own comparative nothingness and insignificance in the great kingdom of Jehovah; and all the acts of divine goodness and mercy to him, and to the whole human race; all the blessings which all creatures receive from God, show him clearly that these streams of goodness proceed from one boundless, exhaustless ocean. And who that comes in sight of the ocean, in which islands and continents are all embosomed, will not be ready to forget streams and rivers, which all proceed from thence and return thither ? But, the shameless and strenuous vindication of selfishness, so prominent in the conversation, preaching, and, I am sorry to add, in the conduct of these teachers, for they are all of a piece; the virulence with which they attack all idea of disinterestedness, even in the great concerns of religion, leaves room to fear that the pursuit of self-interest is their supreme object. Perhaps, indeed, they will own the charge, and feel willing to abide the consequences. If so, I pray God to show them that he has a character which challenges their supreme regard; and that he would teach them to approve and love every thing according to its real value, whether it directly tends to promote their private interest or not. This is what I call disinterested benevolence, and is fully implied in the great precept, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and thy neighbour as thyself." INVESTIGATOR. No. X. I TRUST it will be admitted that the reformation of the church is by no means completely accomplished. I am sorry to be compelled to add, that this "consummation, so devoutly to be wished," is kept back and delayed, in part, by the church itself, or, more correctly speaking, by individuals in its bosom, who, having acquired some influence, use that influence to its utmost extent, not merely in retarding the vessel, so long "afflicted and tossed I appeal to the city, nay, to the consciences of the men with whose motives I have made so free, and shall still make more free, and whose doctrines I oppose. For conscience does not always go hand in hand with the clamours of contempt, nor always sanction the soft flattery of parasites, or the loud hosannas of the multitude. It sometimes has happened that while a man decorates his brow with the dignified smile of self-approbation, stern conscience goads his heart, and points him to an awful and impartial tribunal. From the seventh to the fifteenth century an age of darkness covered the remnant of the civilized nations of the earth, the church was in the wilderness, and spiritual Babylon maintained her gloomy reign, in a manner, undisturbed. Yet Christ was not without a witness, and there is reason to believe that many of his jewels will be gathered from that period, and from those places where “darkness covered the earth, and gross darkness the people." In the valleys of Piedment the voice of the gospel was at times heard; and the name of Raymond holds a dreadful immortality, from the atrocity of his crimes, and his cruelties inflicted on the followers of Christ. The seeds of the reformation were sown previous to the days of Luther. Even from the times of the crusades a series of remarkable events began to loosen the fetters which bound the minds of men, and gradually to weaken the foundations of the papal edifice, founded in ignorance and superstition, and consolidated by ambition. It is a common remark, that one great man seldom appears alone. Luther, the greatest of Christian heroes since the apostolic age, was surrounded and aided by a constellation, for such I may call them, of men eminently fitted by Provi 1 |