gler; all that the master of arts or the doctor of divinity; all that the venerable and most venerable, the right reverend and the most gracious divine, will otherwise either learn or inculcate, amounts to plausible delusion and self-deceit. The God of this world has the ascendancy in all these things; and one of his properties we again affirm is, that he can fascinate and enchant the human race, as well as tempt and deceive.

As an instance of this enchantment, we refer to the prodigious delusion that lurks under the phrase, "GIVING AWAY IN CHARITY!" Why, that heart must be exceedingly depraved which knows nothing of the sentiment that it is more "blessed". -we mean more gratifying—" to give than to receive." There is a previous question here to be answered. Has a man a right to give away in charity that of which he has despoiled his neighbour? If it be true that they, our Sir Robert Peels, i. e. our race of landlords and factory owners, have reduced the value of manual labour far below the point at which the laws of God have set it-and this, too, for their own especial aggrandizement-what merit have they in giving away largely in charity? They reduce by their covetousness their neighbours to distress, and then they dole out their charitable donations to them in their misery. Such conduct has passed for virtue and benevolence; but the bubble has broken, and the rising generation are becoming too intelligent not to perceive the speciousness of the delusion.

But the question is naturally suggested by the prece

ding statements, By what rule should the Christian, as such, distribute the wealth which may be placed at his disposal? In other words, what is the rich Christian to do with his property? Our answer to this question is, "To the Law and the Testimony."

It is always a happy thing for frail, fallen, peccant man, that there is a perfect law, an infallible testimony, to which he may resort under every possible doubt, diffieulty, and danger. What the rudder is to the noble barque, what reason is to the intelligent man, such is the law and the testimony to the real Christian.

The law and the testimony of our ancestors, the wisdom, the customs, and the maxims of the world as it goes, give but one response to our question. The wise and prudent man considers, with the Lord Bishop of London, that his wealth is a gift from above, which it is his duty highly to value and carefully to deposit. Is this law and this testimony in harmony with, or in contrast to, the law and the testimony of the Gospel? It is the Christian reader that is now appealed to. The times have gone by for clever and prosperous men to make a smooth and plausible composition of these conflicting elements. Can you find, Christian reader, any one point or passage in your Master's gospel, which countenances doubt or even ambiguity upon the question? If you can, bring it forth, and set it in juxtaposition, in contra-position, with those direct precepts, those lucid parables, those positive instructions, that perfect example of human life and conduct, to which

your attention has been drawn in the foregoing pages.*

* As a fine specimen of close reasoning, lucid and comprehensive views, we solicit attention to the following extract from a Lecture which, not long since, has wafted its way across the Atlantic:

'

case,

"A great deal is said about the kinds of faith, but without much meaning. True confidence in the Lord's special promises depends on confidence in God's general character. There are only two principles on which any government, human or divine, is obeyed, fear and confidence. No matter whether it is the government of a family, or a ship, or a nation, or a universe. All obedience springs from one of these two principles. In the one individuals obey from hope of reward and fear of the penalty. In the other, from that confidence in the character of the government, which works by love. One child obeys his parent from confidence in his parent. He has faith which works by love. The other yields an outward obedience from hope and fear. The true convert has this faith, or confidence in God, that leads him to obey God because he loves God. This is the obedience of faith. He has that confidence in God, that he submits himself wholly into the hands of God.

"The other has only a partial faith, and only a partial submission. The devil has a partial faith. He believes and trembles. A person may believe that Christ came to save sinners, and on that ground may submit to him, to be saved; while he does not submit wholly to him, to be governed and disposed of. His submission is only on condition that he shall be saved. It is never with that unreserved confidence in God's whole character, that leads him to say, 'Thy will be done.' He only submits to be saved. His religion is the religion of law. The other is gospel religion. One is selfish, the other benevolent. Here lies the true difference between the two classes. The religion of one is outward and hypocritical. The other is that of the heart, holy and acceptable to God.

"I will only mention one difference more. If your religion is

You may say that, as a good citizen, a good subject, a prudent and provident member of society, it is your duty to foster and fructify as much as you can, the pro

selfish, you will rejoice particularly in the conversion of sinners, where your own agency is concerned in it, but will have very little satisfaction in it, where it is through the agency of others. The selfish person rejoices when he is active and successful in converting sinners, because he thinks he shall have a great reward. But instead of delighting in it when done by others, he will be even envious. The true saint sincerely delights to have others useful, and rejoices when sinners are converted by the instrumentality of others as much as if it was his own. There are some who will take interest in a revival only so far as themselves are connected with it, while it would seem they had rather sinners should remain unconverted, than that they should be saved by the instrumentality of an evangelist or a minister of another denomination. The true spirit of a child of God is to say, 'Send, Lord, by whom thou wilt send-only let souls be saved, and thy name be glorified !'

"V. I am to answer some objections which are made against this view of the subject.

"Objection 1. 'Am I not to have any regard to my own happiness?"

"Answer. It is right to regard your own happiness according to its relative value. Put it in this scale, by the side of the glory of God and the good of the universe, and then decide, and give it the value which belongs to it. This is precisely what God does. And this is what he means, when he commands you to love your neighbour as yourself.

“And again-You will in fact promote your own happiness, precisely in proportion as you leave it out of view. Your happiness will be in proportion to your disinterestedness. True happiness consists mainly in the gratification of virtuous desires. There may be pleasure in gratifying desires that are selfish, but it is not real happiness. But to be virtuous, your desires must

perty to which you have attained. Your reply is admitted. But what does it amount to? It goes to this point, and there sinks again into its native obliquity.

be disinterested. Suppose a man sees a beggar in the street: there he sits on the curbstone, cold and hungry, without friends, and ready to perish. The man's feelings are touched, and he steps into a grocery close by, and buys him a loaf of bread. At once the countenance of the beggar lights up, and he looks unutterable gratitude. Now it is plain to be seen that the gratification of the man in the act is precisely in proportion to the singleness of his motive. If he did it purely and solely out of benevolence, his gratification is complete in the act itself. But if he did it, partly to make it known that he is a charitable and humane person, then his happiness is not complete until the deed is published to others. Suppose here is a sinner in his sins: he is truly wicked and truly wretched. Your compassion is excited, and you convert and save him. If your motives were to obtain honour among men, and to secure the favour of God, you are not completely happy until the deed is told, and perhaps put in the newspaper. But if you wished purely to save a soul from death, then as soon as you see that done, your gratification is complete, and your joy unmingled. So it is in all religious duties: your happiness is precisely in proportion as you are disinterested.

"If you aim at doing good for its own sake, then you will be happy in proportion as you do good. But if you aim directly at your own happiness, and if you do good simply as a means of securing your own happiness, you will fail. You will be like the child pursuing his own shadow; he can never overtake it, because it always keeps just so far before him. Suppose, in the case I have mentioned, you have no desire to relieve the beggar, but regard simply the applause of a certain individual. Then you will feel no pleasure at all in the relief of the beggar; but when that individual hears of it and commends it, then you are gratified. But you are not gratified in the thing itself. Or suppose you aim at the conversion of sinners; but if it is not love to sinners that leads you to do it, how can the conversion of sinners make you happy? It has no tendency to gratify the desire that prompted