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that you can attain to that bold, simple, manly, elevated character, which is essential to true greatness.

This has been frequently taught us, even by the heathen poets:

Virtus, repulsa nescia sordidæ,
Intaminatis fulget honoribus:
Nec sumit aut ponit secures
Arbitrio popularis auræ :

Virtus, recludens immeritis mori
Cœlum, negata tentat iter via;
Cœtusque vulgares et udam
Spernit humum fugiente penna.

HOR. Lib. 3, Car. 2.

A greater than a heathen has said, "If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light;" and has enforced the precept by the momentous question, "What shall it profit a man, though he should gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”

II. After an action has been performed,

1. Cultivate the habit of reflecting upon your actions, and upon the intention with which they have been performed, and of thus deciding upon their moral character. This is called self-examination. It is one of the most important duties in the life of a moral, and specially of a probationary existence.

"Tis greatly wise, to talk with our past hours,
And ask them what report they bore to Heaven,

And how they might have borne more welcome news.

a. Perform this duty deliberately. It is not the business of hurry or of negligence. Devote time exclusively to it. Go alone. Retire within yourself, and weigh your actions coolly and carefully, forgetting all other things, in the conviction that you are a moral and an accountable being.

b. Do it impartially. Remember that you are liable to be misled by the seductions of passion, and the allure ments of self-interest. Put yourself in the place of those around you, and put others in your own place, and remark how you would then consider your actions. Pay great

attention to the opinions of your enemies: there is generally foundation, or, at least, the appearance of it, in what they say of you. But, above all, take the true and perfect standard of moral character, exhibited in the precepts of the gospel, and exemplified in the life of Jesus Christ; and thus examine your conduct by the light that emanates from the holiness of heaven.

2. Suppose you have examined yourself, and arrived at a decision respecting the moral character of your actions.

1. If you are conscious of having done right, be thankful to that God who has mercifully enabled you to do so. Observe the peace and serenity which fills your bosom, and remark how greatly it overbalances the self-denials which it has cost. Be humbly thankful that you have made some progress in virtue.

2. If the character of your actions have been mixed, that is, if they have proceeded from motives partly good and partly bad, labor to obtain a clear view of each, and of the circumstances which led you to confound them. Avoid the sources of this confusion; and, when you perform the same actions again, be specially on your guard against the influence of any motive of which you now disapprove.

3. If conscience convicts you of having acted wrongly, 1. Reflect upon the wrong, survey the obligations which you have violated, until you are sensible of your guilt.

2. Be willing to suffer the pains of conscience. They are the rebukes of a friend, and are designed to withhold you from the commission of wrong in future. Neither turn a neglectful ear to its monitions, nor drown its voice amid the bustle of business, or the gayety of pleasure.

3. Do not let the subject pass away from your thoughts, until you have come to a settled resolution, a resolution founded on moral disapprobation of the action, never to do

so any more.

4. If restitution be in your power, make it, without hesitation, and do it immediately. The least that a man ought to be satisfied with, who has done wrong, is to repair the wrong as soon as it is possible.

5. As every act of wrong is a sin against God, seek, in hum

ble penitence, his pardon, through the merits and intercession of his Son, Jesus Christ.

6. Remark the actions, or the courses of thinking, which were the occasions of leading you to do wrong. Be specially careful to avoid them in future. To this effect, says President Edwards, "Resolved, that when I do any conspicuously evil action, to trace it back, till I come to the original cause; and then both carefully endeavor to do so no more, and to fight and pray, with all my might, against the original of it.”

7. Do all this, in humble dependence upon that merciful and every where present Being, who is always ready to grant us all assistance necessary to keep his commandments; and who will never leave us, nor forsake us, if we put our trust in him.

It seems, then, from what has been remarked, that we are all endowed with conscience, or a faculty for discerning a moral quality in human actions, impelling us towards right, and dissuading us from wrong; and that the dictates. of this faculty are felt and known to be of supreme authority.

The possession of this faculty renders us accountable creatures. Without it, we should not be specially distinguished from the brutes. With it, we are brought into moral relations with God, and all the moral intelligences in the universe.

We

It is an ever-present faculty. It always admonishes us, if we will listen to its voice, and frequently does so, even when we wish to silence its warnings. Hence, we may always know our duty, if we will but inquire for it. can, therefore, never have any excuse for doing wrong, since no man need do wrong, unless he chooses; and no man will do it ignorantly, unless from criminal neglect of the faculty which God has given him.

How solemn is the thought, that we are endowed with such a faculty, and that we can never be disunited from it! It goes with us through all the scenes of life, in company and alone, admonishing, warning, reproving, and recording: and, as a source of happiness or of misery, it must ide

with us for ever. erence himself.

Well doth it become man, then, to rev

And thus we see, that, from his moral constitution, were there no other means of knowledge of duty, man is an accountable creature. Man is under obligation to obey the will of God, in what manner soever signified. That it is signified in this manner, I think there cannot be a question; and for this knowledge he is justly held responsible. Thus, the Apostle Paul declares, that "the Gentiles, who have not the law, are a law unto themselves, which show the work of the law, written on their hearts, their consciences being continually excusing or accusing one another." How much greater must be the responsibility of those to whom God has given the additional light of natural and revealed religion!

CHAPTER THIRD

THE NATURE OF VIRTUE.

SECTION I.

OF VIRTUE IN GENERAL.

It has been already remarked, that we find ourselves so constituted, as to stand in various relations to all the beings around us, especially to our fellow-men, and to God. There may be, and there probably are, other beings, to whom, by our creation, we are related: but we, as yet, have no information on the subject; and we must wait until we enter upon another state, before the fact, and the manner of the fact, be revealed.

In consequence of these relations, and either by the appointment of God, or from the necessity of the case,—if, indeed, these terms mean any thing different from each other, there arise moral obligations to exercise certain affections towards other beings, and to act towards them in a manner corresponding to those affections. Thus, we are taught in the Scriptures, that the relation in which we stand to Deity, involves the obligation to universal and unlimited obedience and love; and that the relation in which we stand to each other, involves the obligation to love, limited and restricted; and, of course, to a mode of conduct, in all respects, correspondent to these affections.

An action is right, when it corresponds to these obligations, or, which is the same thing, is the carrying into effect of these affections. It is wrong, when it is in violation of these obligations, or is the carrying into effect of any other affections.

By means of our intellect, we become conscious of the

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