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and which must have originated, either in great ignorance, or in a very depraved heart. It is a slander, the tendency of which is not to benefit him who utters it but to injure the cause and the friends of truth; to put a stop to exertions for the spread of the gospel; to fasten the chains of ignorance, superstition, and wretchedness upon six hundred millions of our fallen race; and to seal them over to irremediable destruction.

It is devolving then on the friends of Missions (and in this number I hope I may class all who hear me) to go forward. The path of our duty is as plain as though it were marked in sun-beams. Whenever we

are called in the Providence of God to contribute of our substance for the spread of the gospel; let us cheerfully bestow all we ought to bestow-let us measure our liberality by the line of our duty. And in estimating our duty, let us be guided, not by the maxims of mere worldly prudence (which are ordinarily but another name for the dictates of a supremely selfish heart) but by the precepts and example of our Saviour.

Rest assured, my friends, the Lord of hosts is with us. He will carry forward his own work, though earth and hell oppose. The success already witnessed is but a pledge of still greater success. The victories already achieved over the prince of darkness, are but an earnest of more splendid triumphs. All who will yoke themselves with this malignant spirit, in opposition to the spread of truth, must with him be overthrown. When the king of saints shall ride in triumph over a prostrate but adoring world, they must be crushed beneath the wheels of his all-conquering chariot. Let us then be wise. Let us labor diligently and suffer patiently for

the spread of the gospel. And though, before its triumphs are complete, our eyes should be closed in death, still they will be opened on heaven; and it will be the portion of our children, and our children's children, to enjoy the comforts and participate the glories of Millenial scenes.

DISCOURSE XV.

THE WAY TO BE RICH, IS TO BE LIBERAL.

Proverbs xi. 24.

"The liberal soul shall be made fat."

THESE words have respect primarily, if not exclusively, to worldly possessions, or to the good things of this life. This is evident from the passages preceding and following them. "There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty. The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth shall be watered also himself." If we have not here an invariable rule, we have, to make the least of it, a general one, according to which God may be expected to dispense the blessings of his providence. He who is truly liberal in temporal things will be increased in temporal things. Or, in other words, the way to become rich, is to be truly and consistently liberal.-In discussing this, which is supposed to be the sentiment of the text, I shall endeavour to shew,

And,

I. What it is to be truly liberal. II. That this is the way in which to become rich. To be truly liberal is not to be lavish and prodigal in our personal expenses.-Many who possess property appear to hold it for no other purpose than to gratify their pride, or their passions, or to promote in some way their sinful and sensual indulgences. And to accomplish these objects, they lavish it with an un

restrained profusion. Like the prodigal of old, they "waste their substance in riotous living." And as this ancient prodigal performed not, it is likely, one charitable deed, in all his career of profusion and wickedness ; so it is true of those who now resemble him, that their great expenditures are not only not liberality-but totally inconsistent with it. Bound up in self, and devoting all they possess to the purposes of selfish and sensual indulgence, such persons have nothing to spare for the benefit of others, and are, I had almost said, the farthest from true, Christian liberality of any in the world.

To be truly liberal is not to feel indifferent in respect to property; and to be willing, on that account, to part with it, without sufficient occasion, or beyond what is reasonable. Some persons who possess estates seem not to know at all the value of them. They hold property with so easy a hand, that they are constantly exposed, and directly fall victims, to the arts of fraudulent and designing men. Persons of this description may be easily induced to bestow much in charity, and often much more than their circumstances or their duty require. They may be charitable, even to a fault. They act however in such cases, not so much from a sense of duty, as from the impulse of animal sympathy, or from a kind of heedless indifference as to the value of property, and as to what becomes of it when it passes from their hands. They make no proper estimate usually of the objects presented to them, but are ready to patronize all alike, whether of greater or less importance, and whether good or bad. It may be said of persons such as these, that they are lavish and wasteful in the distribution of their property; but it cannot be said that they are truly liberal. Consequently they

have no title to those promises which are made to the truly liberal in the word of God.

True liberality is consistent with, and even implies, a just estimate of the value of property. The truly liberal man is not indeed a miser, nor is he sinfully avaricious or covetous; but he knows and feels the value of wealth, and is diligently and prudently engaged in the acquisition of it. For this purpose, he chooses and habitually pursues some lawful and lucrative employment. He practises industry and economy, and uses all the proper means of procuring wealth. And he is as careful to retain it as he is to procure it. He has too great a sense of its value, to lavish it for purposes of mere carnal gratification; or to suffer it to be wrested from him by the arts of the fraudulent; or to throw it away upon doubtful or unworthy objects. He will stand aloof too from hazardous engagements, and unadvised contracts, and from those numerous follies and vices which involve so many in poverty and distress. He will avoid luxury and extravagance of every kind, and by adapting in the wisest manner his style of living to his particular circumstances and station in society, will endeavour to exhibit an example worthy of one "professing godliness."

Still he does not value wealth, nor does he seek it, or save it, on its own account. He does not value it, or seek it, that he may thereby be enabled to live at ease, or to shine in splendor, or to hoard it for others when he is dead, or from any such mean or mercenary motive. But he values and pursues it, chiefly as an instrument of doing good. He believes it desirable to be rich, because his ability to be useful will thereby be increased. He regards his possessions, when he has gained them, as not in the strictest

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