ed people, because they had sinned and forgotten God. | Then we behold rescue, and freedom, and plenty crowning their repentance, and their purpose to return to God and duty. Gideon, and Barak, and Jephtha, and Sampson, and Abijah, and Asa, and Jehosaphat, and Jotham, and Hezekiah, and Josiah, have gotten to themselves an imperishable monument on the inspired page, and in the hearts of pious people of all generations, by their faithful devotion to the government of God, and their consequent usefulness to their country and the world. While such men as Balaam, the Mesopotamian prophet, and Goliah, the Philistian chieftain, and Jeroboam and Ahab, the seductive and impious kings of the Ten Tribes, have perpetuated their names only as memorials of the evil they did to their country and their race, and of the doom they brought upon themselves, by forgetting or disregarding the universal and omnipotent government of God. We are told, and indeed we would seem hardly to have needed to be told, that the "scoffers" of "the last days" are "willingly ignorant” that "the old world being overflowed with water, perished," under a vindicatory dispensation of the world's Sovereign; but we have it in the inspired record thus-"God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."* And the Lord said, (having previously declared "my spirit shall not always strive with man," "I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth." which were before you, and the land is defiled;) that the land spew not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spewed out the nations that were before you." Why did all Israel pine and languish for seventy long years in a menial foreign servitude, while their political and religious system (the best on earth) stood suspended, and while the groves, and gardens, and vineyards of their delightful land felt only the desolating tread of heathen intruders; and while their holy and their beautiful city, and Solomon's splendid temple lay in ruins, its ways deserted, its halls profaned, its vessels stolen, and its altars trodden in the dust? One of themselves shall tell the reason. "We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments: neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of our land."* Another of them says— "I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, what evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the Sabbath day? Did not your fathers this, and did not God bring all this evil upon us and upon this city?"† Why has that holy city and temple again been destroyed, and that people again been driven from their own loved land into all nations of the earth, a by-word and a reproach every where? In the days of their youthful prosperity as a people, God's servant, their leader and prophet, foretold them their sins and their sad experience, in these remarkable words: "If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law, that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD, then the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from one end of the earth unto the other."‡ Concerning the nations (without distinction) of all history, we have, in the second Psalm, this very remarkable language: "The kings of the earth set them In relation to the cities of the plain, where is now the Dead Sea, we have simply this alternative: Either the Bible is a bold and blasphemous, as well as a causeless and useless imposition upon men, or else it is true as there recorded—namely, this: First, "The men of Sodom were wicked, and sinners before God exceedingly." And second, "We will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it."|||selves, and the rulers take counsel together against the The ancient Canaanites were a people, no doubt, of Lord and against his annointed, saying, let us break masculine vigor-cultivating and enjoying (we are told) their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us. bountiful fields and vineyards, living in strong walled He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord towns and cities; expert, withal, in hunting and in shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto war. Whatever may have been the visitations of judg-them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeament with which they were occasionally distressed, it is sure." Then the form of address being changed, it is clear that their continuance as a people was a policy of added-"Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, the divine government, as long as it could be witnessed thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. by the voice of unerring truth-" the iniquity of the Be wise now, therefore, ye kings, and be instructed ye Amorite is not yet full." But finally the decree of their judges of the earth: serve the Lord with fear, and redoom was signed; and in their pride and prime as a joice with trembling: kiss the son least he be angry, people, great as they were in agriculture, arts, and and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled arms, the righteous anger of heaven sent its commis- but a little." What does the Bible mean, when it says sioned executioners upon them, and they ceased to be. of God, as the supreme governor of the world, "he beDo you wish to know the sins by which these people held and drove asunder the nations?" And again, in plucked doom from heaven upon their own heads? this passage, "The wicked shall be turned into hell, You may learn it, to some extent, by a very easy and even all the nations that forget God?" Or in this obvious inference from the eighteenth chapter of Leviti- prayer-" Arise, O Lord! let not man prevail, let the cus, where the children of Israel are solemnly warned heathen be judged in thy sight. Put them in fear, that against certain gross disorders and vices, and where this the nations may know themselves to be but men?” significant language is used in reference to their prede-Statesmen and orators may give reasons, many, for the cessors in the occupancy of that land. "Ye shall ✶ ✶ not commit any of these abominations * * (for all these abominations have the men of the land done * Genesis vi, 5. † Gen. vi, 3. Gen. vi, 7. § Genesis xiii, 13. || Language of the embassy of Angels, Genesis xix, 13. decline and disappearance of ancient cities, and states, Daniel ix, 5, 6. Nehemiah xiii, 17, 18. thee shall perish." And on the other hand, "blessed | people, as a mass, are most singularly unaccustomed to, is that nation whose God is the Lord." From Scriptural facts so numerous, and Scriptural premises so broad, the conclusion implied in the text would be forced upon us, even if it had not been made matter of direct and definite Bible statement. But both taken together, we have this doctrine arched as it were upon two immovable pillars—namely: Those events in this world by which national prosperity is interrupted-by which communities are inconvenienced and distressed-are visitations from the sovereign of the universe, and the occasion of them is trespass or outrage upon the principles of his righteous government. It is in the sins of the nation or nations, as such, or else in the sins of the people composing them, that we are taught by the analogy of history to recognize the cause of each adverse visitation. God, who appears as we have represented, in the chastisement and doom of the nations, is at the same time (and we must not forget it) a long-suffering God. Patience or forbearance is natural to him. It is one of his attributes. Judgment is his strange work. "He doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men." This is remarkably apparent in all his vindicatory administration. Often we are more struck with the forbearance than with the severity of his proceeding. Sometimes mercy even seems to "rejoice against judgment." And always it is most satisfactorily apparent that holy and divine Omnipotence reluctantly breaks forth in vengeance upon worms of the dust and creatures of yesterday. This, I say, is to be remembered in all such inquiries as ours is at present; for it is not until after long and aggravated provocation that Jehovah makes bare his arm in judgment. Still, no doubt whatever is left upon the mind, that he is a God "who will by no means clear the guilty." There is no indulgence of sin in his dominions, however much forbearance there may be towards the sinner. But the conclusion to which these reflections bring us, is this: There must be, and there must have been, great sin in that land, where the forbearing sovereign of the universe has commenced his work of national retribution or chastisement. We are now to consider the application of all this to the actual state of our country. It is always an interesting inquiry to make,-What evil is actually upon us as a people? And while there are sad tidings in the answer, it is nevertheless due that we should take notice, on such an occasion as this, of some of the great calamities of this world, from which, in the mercy of God, we are still exempt. There is no sound of war in this land. We are at peace with all people-a single diminutive, injured, worn out, distressed, and pitiable domestic enemy only excepted. Blessed be God, the contributions of our mines are wrought into ploughshares and pruning-hooks, rather than into swords and spears. Our floating flag is so much respected as to be an adequate protection in every sea and ocean on the globe. Our almost endless seacoast is quiet and unthreatened at every point. We are a nation who have yet to learn the policy of foreign war. Our standing army, I believe, is smaller, in proportion to our territory and population, than that of any nation that lives, or that ever did live, unless it be that single nation, the favorite of Bible history. Our and unaffected by, the pomp and circumstance of war. Our dwellings are strangers to all alarms of this sort. I may ask, was ever a people so blessed? The time was, when "the battle of the warrior, with confused noise and garments rolled in blood," was not an unfamiliar scene in this land. But it has all been hushed long since. In the freshness of our own recollection it is, that distant districts of our vast country have for a short time felt the scourge of war-enough to know what an evil it is; and then the nation has recently seemed, for months together, to stand on the eve of an indefinite engagement in hostilities with a great christian nation; but God graciously averted the danger, and we are still in peace. I am not sure that as a nation, or to any considerable extent as a people, we have ever thanked him for this. But it is important here, that we should look full in the face the serious fact which we have witnessed the meanwhile—namely, this: War, even in this day of strange privileges, is a possi bility. If it be true, that it is on the withdrawal of his restraining Providence, or in obedience to his retributory decree, that nation rises against nation, then truly may we stand in awe of some hostile power, as "the rod of his anger." Nay, we have learned, in the events of late years, that even civil war is at our beck, if God in judgment leave us to such an infatuation. But thus far we are spared, and may God grant us grace to see that we owe the blessing of being so spared to an injured God's forbearance. There is no pestilence at this time distressing our privileged country. Here are fifteen millions of people, occupying a territory of a million square miles extent, enjoying as much health as probably fifteen millions of people ever did enjoy. Blessed be God for this. It is no doubt more than could be said in relation to any population on earth of similar extent as to numbers and country, and similar situation as to soil and latitude. We can appreciate this blessing the more, inasmuch as we know a little of what a pestilence is from experience. We have stood aghast at the rumor of its approach: we have felt its breath: we have buried its dead and some of us have scarcely laid aside the weeds of mourning. But then there is no pestilence upon us now. God has kindly called it away. Our sins as a people had provoked it, and provoked it long before it came. This was the impression, with great unanimity, of the thinking portion of our nation at the time. Many states, as such, avowed this sentiment"proclaiming a fast, and calling the solemn assembly." God, I say, had mercy on us-"and said to the angel that destroyed the people, it is enough-stay now thy hand." I very much fear that for this grace, our Almighty Sovereign has never received from us, as a people, the tribute of due and dutiful gratitude. Perhaps we owe our relief and respite, and our present state of remarkable health, to his forbearance merely, rather than to his forgiveness. Famine is one of the scourges of this wicked world, which we as a people have never known but in the history of other countries. Blessed be God for this also. It is, however, not thought out of place to remark, that late years have begun to develope some unusual shades in the prospect on this subject. The wheat crop, one of the staples of this state, has materially failed for four These are great features of national blessing still spared to us. Peace, health and plenty are still actually ours. And there would be no reason to fear their removal, were it not that there is truly alarming evidence, at the same time that God is weary of bearing with our sins. years in succession, and there is every reason to antici- These certainly are painfully interesting times upon pate that the current year must soon be added to the which we have fallen. No friend of God or man can number. Many inland flour mills have become almost look on with indifference. What means the disregard of useless and worthless, or converted to other purposes as law of which we hear so much? The great political parthe consequence. The production of the staff of life ties of our day blame each other of an utter wrecklessby the cultivation of the soil, has come to be considered ness of constitutional law. It is sometimes said that and spoken of as the most uncertain, if not unprofita- constitutions now-a-days are mere paper. The mili ble, business known among our people, though an agri-tary is occasionally under arms in our great cities to cultural people in habit and enthusiasm as much as any prevent popular violence upon public institutions and on earth. They had begun to flow, as in a steady cur- public property, and this too when no mob is up, but rent, to the great Western Valley, deserting, as they merely consequent upon the popular disregard of law seemed to be supposing, the chastisement of God-(for known to exist, and along with this the believed ineffithis is the old land of plenty, and our soil has not emi- ciency of the law itself in the emergency. God's law grated.) In short, we have been made to know that has been disregarded all along. Popular violence upon our annual supply as a people is in the hands and sub- the first table of the decalogue, in the shape of profanity ject to the righteous apportionment of our divine and and Sabbath breaking, as well as covetousness, which sovereign moral Governor. But although our sins have is idolatry, has long been too common to excite alarm. proved his natural forbearance, until his hand has actu- Here was the beginning of the evil-and it has been ally begun to be made bare in judgments, still, through gaining strength for years on years. Then followed his continued long suffering, we have never seen a famine. various forms of covert and casuistical trespasses upon We have, however, as a people, forsaken no sin that the second table of the law, in the shape of tolerated I know of; and there certainly is great reason to fear licentiousness, duelling, lotteries, gambling, shaving, that we have never rendered grateful thanks in any ap- production and distribution of intoxicating drinks, and propriate way to the Sovereign of worlds for his bounty so on; all of them sins of man against his fellow man. and patience, so conspicuously exercised towards us. There were other tributary currents flowing into this river of corruption, such as the effusions of a licentious rostrum and a licentious press-emigration hither of the mal-contents of foreign lands, &c. At length, the character of our populace is such, that demagogue influence, mob rule, and even capital execution without trial, make a healthy and courageous land look pale When God was angry with the nation and people of with apprehension. Contemporaneous with all this, Israel of old, and was about to visit upon them a seventy and as by a general sympathetic action, there has been years desolation, he, by the mouth of his prophet, enu- developed a general extravagance of sentiment, out of merated their provocations severally as follows: 1st. which has been formed those wide extremes of intolleCovetousness "Woe unto them that join house to rant opinion, which, like the two electricities, occasionhouse, that lay field to field, ** that they may be ally have threatened to rush upon each other, forming placed alone in the midst of the earth. Of a the probability of a civil war. Thus far God has kept truth, many houses shall be desolate, even great and us as he keeps the whirlwind, till the time of its being fair, without inhabitants," &c. 2d. Intemperance-let forth. I am afraid he finds his mercy in so doing, "Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning that answered only by forgetfulness and ingratitude. The they may follow strong drink; that continue until Lord spare an ungrateful country. night until wine inflame them! The harp and the viol, the tabret and the pipe, and wine, are in their feasts, but they regard not the work of the Lord, nor consider the operation of his hands: therefore my people are gone into captivity; therefore the grave hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure," &c. 3d. Presumption "Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart-rope. And say, let him make speed and hasten his work, that we may see it; and let the counsel of the holy one of Israel draw nigh, that we may know it." 4th. Impiety"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness." 5th. Irreligious vanity-"Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight;" and 6th. Wrecklessness of right-"Woe unto them which justify the wicked for a reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him." "Therefore is the anger of the Lord kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath | thing which has befallen us as yet. smitten them."* How much bearing all this has upon I suppose it will hardly be thought a wild notion the characters and events of our time, every one can judge. when I say, that more people have become wealthy in * Isaiah, ch. 5. * What means this unexampled pressure as it is called, resulting so extensively, in the experience of individuals, in heavy pecuniary loss and actual bankruptcy? Is it not God's judgment upon a community, setting a wrong and injurious estimate on wealth? QueryWhether the estimate in which wealth is held in this country, is not calculated to ruin the religious character of any people? A very able jurist and civilian of our day, gives the following enumeration of the vices of the times, or, I might say, diseases of the public mind: 1st. A rapidly increasing appetite for wealth. 2d. The inordinate taste for luxury which it engenders. 3d. A vehement spirit of speculation. 4th. The selfish emulation which it creates. 5th. A growing contempt for slow and moderate [and, I will add, honest] gains; and 6th. An ardent thirst for pleasure and amusement. This enumeration is appalling, though only partial and imperfect. Almost any reflecting mind will see in it the basis of an expectation of popular disaster beyond any * Chancellor Kent of New York. this country in the last ten years, than ever did in this The counsels of the word of God are founded on a correct knowledge of the divine government and administration, and are given in sincere and intelligent divine love to men. They tell us, "Labor not to be rich." The spirit of these times interpret this counsel by setting it aside entirely. There certainly is much in the fortune-making spirit or any other country in the same length of time before; of this day, which is opposed to the wisdom and counand of course that, proportionately, a still larger num-sel of God direct. ber had set their hearts on being rich, but failed through miscalculation, mismanagement, or mistake. Then I suppose another much more alarming observation is as just as either of these—namely, this: There has existed in the popular sentiment of this country in the last ten years, and been steadily increasing during that time, an extravagant estimate of wealth, to a greater extent than ever there had been in this (or, it may be, in any other) country before. Now this is covetousness, according to the Bible,--and, according to the same authority, | "Covetousness is idolatry." I do not mean that any and every estimate of wealth is covetousness, but that this extravagant estimate of it which every body sees almost every where in this country at this time, is certainly covetousness, which is idolatry. Again, they tell us, "He that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent." Men conclude that the meaning of this proverb is so obscure, that it is not worth inquiring after, and then they act as if it did not mean any thing. Again, says the counsel of God, "They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition." This caution, too, is prompted by a perfect knowledge of the divine government; but the current sentiment of men of business and enterprise in our day has disregarded it, and they seem to act on a contrary supposition. We are told, that "The cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, so that it becometh unfruitful." Men rush on to be rich in perilous disregard of this also. The counsel of divine wisdom tells us, that "rich men can hardly enter into the kingdom of God." This is a truly alarming declaration; but men have not seemed to be alarmed by it. They persist in determining to be Now, will you not agree with me that, in all this, there must have been a great deal of sin?—and sin, which God, in the unyielding administration of his government, could not allow to go unrebuked before men. It must not appear as if the counsels of the Bible were mere idle words. Idolatry is a violation of the first command of the moral law, and a violation of the spirit of the first table of the law. This, then, is the moral character of covetousness, or of such an estimate of temporal possessions as forgets the true interests of the deathless soul, the retributions of the world beyond the grave, the proper worship and service of the great Supreme-the great end and purpose of existence. There is great reason to believe that much of this spirit pervades the enterprise of this country. See the profane use it makes of the Sabbath, and how it disregards the great law of God on this subject. It looks very much like setting gold above God, when God's law is trampled upon by Sab-rich at any rate, cost it what it may. bath breakers in their eagerness to get rich. How many counting-rooms have been accustomed to be occupied on the Sabbath during the recent season of remarkable prosperity with which we thought we were blessed? How much of the wares and merchandise of this busy land have flowed through the channels of trade and transportation, till they found the home of the private consumer untouched by the sacreligious hand of the Sabbath breaker? I know not if there is more than one rail-road or steam-boat company in the land, which does not employ the holy Sabbath precisely as any other day, appropriating holy time to the purposes of gain, in common and open disregard of an express prohibition. Do not men consider the value of stocks enhanced by their employment seven days in the week instead of six? Do they regard the prohibition of God Almighty any valid objection to this policy of worldly wisdom? Are not travelling accommodations of all kinds as much called for, if not more, on the Sabbath,|tion was well calculated to render a people, looking on than on any other day? What does this say for the travelling portion, at least, of our population? Are not stage companies and mail contractors, every where, Sabbath breakers by the law of the land? Now, is all this nothing? I speak as to wise men. pre Let this question be seriously considered: Is it sumable that a sovereign and righteous God will allow his government to be set aside in this manner? Is it according to the analogy of his administration that he should? Is it not plain enough, that we must turn infidels outright, or else believe that judgments are in reserve for a Sabbath breaking country? Yes, Sabbath breaking is a feature, and no obscure feature, in this great system of bustle, and business, and enterprise, sometimes boasted of as the glory of this people. Again, the conduct of men in this matter had made an issue of this kind. It had been said, on the authority of God, and it is written in his word, not only that riches are unsafe, but also that they are uncertain. "Riches make to themselves wings, and fly away as an eagle toward heaven."* Upon this fact is founded a divine counsel, "Trust not in uncertain riches." Now, here was a community of various enterprise, bringing riches, and the operation of acquiring them, into public view, and thus making a whole population witness whether they were of this uncertain character or not. Moreover, the glitter and excitement of their acquisi or participating, forgetful of this fact. And not only so, but an attempt seemed to have been made to forestal Providence on this point, rendering the loss of wealth impossible, or only a seeming loss, through the consummate policy of insurance. Now, how shall God make good, in the midst of all this scene, his declaration, that riches are of this uncertain character? Lo! and behold! while we are considering, the riches of the rich disappear as in a moment. And mark it-they are not passing out of one man's hand into another man's hand, but they do seem literally to have "made to themselves wings," and all at once "they fly away as an eagle toward heaven." It is not unlikely, that of the evil which has brought * Prov. xxiii, 5. 1 Timothy vi, 17. this chastisement upon the land, a large share lies at the ing to the unfaithfulness of the church which heaven door of the church. has appointed to salt and light it? The doctrine of the Bible is, that the church is "the But the church has sinned and gone far astray. It is salt of the earth."* The church, in one sense of the immersed in politics and worldly cares, and embroiled term, includes all and only those who are really and in contentions and divisions within itself. In many truly religious according to the Bible. In another sense, cases professing men of God, to all appearance, worship it includes all who are religious by a public profession mammon with as much devotion as others-engage in of religion, in the fact of membership in some christian party politics with as much earthly and unhallowed church, whether that profession be intelligent or unin-zeal as their ungodly associates-indulge in mutual telligent, sincere or insincere. Now, the church, in the heart-burnings about all subjects of controversy, as if last sense, is certainly under a moral obligation, volun- the spirit of religion were nothing different from the tarily assumed, to be "the salt of the earth." But it is spirit of this world. They build as costly houses, and only the church in the first sense which is really and shine in as gaudy attire; and in too, too many cases, truly "the salt of the earth." Of the distinction thus are nearly, if not quite, as unsanctified and as trifling made, it is due to the cause of God never to lose sight. in general as others. These things ought not so to be. While in speaking of the church in connection with the If the professed friends of God on earth were to obsubject in hand, it is necessary to speak of it in its pub-serve the Sabbath conscientiously and consistently as lic and visible aspect-the community of those who profess to be the people of God. They are called to stand up for God, as his friends and as instruments to sustain his government and honor in this world. This they are authorized and directed to do by their example and by their prayers, and by all the other efforts which God in the Bible commands them to make, while they remain on earth. If they are faithful, a great deal of sin is prevented, and of course does not require to be punished; and thus they are "the salt of the earth.” Again, the Bible says, the church is, or the friends of God are, "the light of the world." This is the same truth (or nearly the same) presented by the use of a different figure. If christians do their duty, men will be made to know the principles and laws of God's government, and the importance of observing and honoring them. commanded in the Scriptures, and should faithfully bear testimony on the subject before trangressors, we have a right to believe that Sabbath breaking would, in this way, be to some extent prevented. If so, then so far the government of God would be sustained, and his judgments averted. But if his people fail to do this, and men grow bold in violating the Sabbath day, then God will visit them with his judgments, or he has deserted his own government and forfeited his word. He must also visit his own people with chastisement for their connivance at the sin-for their unfaithfulness to the souls of men, in not attempting, or in not attempting more vigorously, to prevent them from rushing on their own doom-and for their unfaithfulness to him in not sustaining his government. Again, it is the duty of the church to stand up for God, by bearing a proper testimony against covetousIt is, however, a plain intimation of the Bible, that ness. This, too, as we have seen, is in spirit and in fact the salt of the earth may, to some extent, lose its savor, a violation of God's government, and a profane disreor that the light of the world may lose its brightness. gard of his word. He will visit a country with judg In this case men, who otherwise would have been influ- ments if it give itself up to this sin. But in this matenced well, will naturally rush with greater impetuosity ter, also, he has appointed his people to be his witnesses into forgetfulness of God and violence upon the princi- and advocates with men-authorizing them by their ples of his government; and will thus, according to the example, and by every other scriptural kind of influanalogy of human history, require to be punished ac-ence, to prevent violence upon his government in this cording to a righteous apportionment of severity. The respect. If they are faithful, and, by the divine blesschurch itself, also in this case an unfaithful stewarding, successful, why, of course, the spirit of covetousness of the manifold grace of God, will also require to be is held in check, and so far the judgments of God upon judged and chastened in its measure. Now, it is by no means certain, that the church in the United States is doing as much for God as truth and duty demands—either in bearing a proper gospel testi mony before men at home, or in having that gospel sent into all the world, and preached to every creature. There probably never was a church so favored in means and mercies. It is written, "to whom much is given, of them shall much be required;" and again it is written, "freely ye have received, freely give." Now, it is very manifest, that the church of God in this land is not as holy as it ought to be, nor as harmless as it ought to be, nor as undefiled and separate from sinners as it ought to be, nor as active, nor as self-denying as it ought to be. If there were no church in this world, this world would be destroyed. Then why may we not suppose that this world is allowed to suffer in measure, accord * Matthew v, 13. Matthew v, 14. covetousness are averted from the world. But if they are unfaithful, then covetousness is not prevented, and must be punished, and God's government must be sustained by visitation of judgment; but still more, if the professed friends of God join with the world in this matter, and thus strengthen the hands of the wicked (as it is feared they have done), giving an apparent sanctity to the sin in question-why then there rebe sustained in all the sentiments it holds about covetmains no alternative but the government of God must ousness, by his heavy judgments upon the offence, making his own people sharers in the calamity for their dishonorable treason. But there is still another view of this subject of great importance. While the people of God are forbidden to be covetous, or to indulge a covetous spirit, they are not encouraged at all to be slothful or in provident, or to repress lawful industry and enterprise. On the contrary, they are required to be "diligent in business." With the bounties of their liberality they are to give |
