Α

SERMON

PREACHED IN THE

BAPTIST MEETING-HOUSE IN PROVIDENCE,

BEFORE THE

FEMALE CHARITABLE SOCIETY,

SEPTEMBER 21, 1802.

A SERMON.

THOUGH I HAVE ALL FAITH, SO THAT I COULD REMOVE MOUNTAINS, AND HAVE NOT CHARITY, I AM NOTHING.-1 CORINTHians, xiii. 2.

CHARITY is an exalted virtue. As it implies love to God, and man, it connects us with heaven and earth, and prepares us for both. Involving the most laudable and vigorous propensity of our nature, it is commensurate with our existence. Charity in its full extent comprises all true religion. So far as it respects active beneficence to our fellow creatures,it will cease with time; so far as it respects holy affection to our creator, it will glow with a flame which eternal ages cannot extinguish. Many of the christian gifts and graces are limited to the present world. No mansions are allotted them in heaven, because, there they can have no exercise, no use, and no object. "Charity never faileth; but whether there be prophecies they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away." "Now abideth faith, hope, charity; these three, but the greatest of these is charity." Faith and hope, live and grow by the absence and remoteness of their objects. These virtues of course must be absorbed and lost in enjoyment. Charity is greater. Derived from God and fixed upon him;

having diffused its blessings on earth, it will return to him, and increase forever. This great virtue, as it is displayed in relieving the distressed, is an extension of divine love. It assimilates the possessor to God himself, who bestows good because he delights in mercy. Charity or love exalts the soul above the malevolent, angry passions, and tends to unite the whole race of man in one happy fraternity. It disarms hatred of its poison and revenge of its dagger. Genuine charity does not extend relief to the inoffensive only. No, with a godlike superiority it triumphs over malignity itself; blesses those who curse,does good to those who hate, and prays for those who abuse and persecute. Charity has the happiness of man for its object, and the glory of God for its end. It aspires after immortality, not in the naked solitudes of metaphysic faith, nor in the cloistered retirement of monkish indolence; but in the practice of benevolence; in drying up the tears, and healing the wounds of afflicted, unfortunate, perishing humanity. “Shew me,” said an inspired apostle," thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works." These are the true, the only infallible index of the heart. These alone will stand the trial in that tremendous hour when the hearts of all shall be laid open to view, and the destiny of all shall be irrevocably fixed by the impartial judge of the universe. Virtues which are always boasting of their own importance, but never appear; modes of faith which no ingenuity can reduce to practice; mysteries, which no intellect can develope; are of no consequence in comparison of glowing, active virtue. Could we take up the Alps in one hand and the Andes in the other, and plunge them into the ocean; could we with Bacon look through and comprehend all science; or with Newton unveil the laws and mechanism of the universe; and still be destitute of charity, of benevolent affection; we might be objects of terror and of admiration, but could not be the subjects of those attractive qualites which crown human nature with its highest glory. From misguided ambition, from obstinate bigotry, or fanatical superstition, we might give our bodies to be burned, expecting, like the Phoenix, to rise into life from our own ruin; but unless we have good works to present us to our heavenly father, we shall never receive the transporting bene

diction, "well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." From viewing the exalted rank and the importance of charity, we may with propriety adopt the language of pur text;-" Though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains and have no charity, I am nothing."

The practice of charity as a duty, is urged upon us by the consideration, that it weakens the principle of evil and stengthens the principle of virtue.

Mankind consid

Selfishness is the source of all moral evil. ered collectively constitute an important system in the universe of being. They are so connected with each other, by mutual dependence, and the necessity of mutual aid, that the good of each individual is essentially involved in the good of the whole. Of course the highest common interest demands the highest and chief regard of each individual. It cannot be conceived in what sin or moral evil consists, unless it is in that which contravenes this highest common interest; in the preference of individual to public good and happiness. If each individual pursues exclusively his own welfare; if he invariably make this his highest object, he breaks asunder the bond of public union; and his conduct tends directly to introduce disorder and misery. His love of himself fills him with ambition, avarice and cruelty. His heart becomes a stranger to compassion. His ear is closed against the cry of distress. Increase of his wealth produces an increase of oppression. With him, justice, mercy and humanity are empty names. Fearful of loss and eager of gain, he indulges a restless suspicion, and spurs himself on with unrelenting perseverance. He loads the victims of his selfishness with heavier chains, and makes the lash resound on his slave, with a louder noise. The love of himself finally gains a complete ascendency, and he is poor in the midst of wealth. Immoderate self-love is the source of all the wickednesses and vices of mankind. Hence we see the reason why avarice, pride, anger, and revenge are censured as enormous evils, and threatened with the heaviest punishments. Hence also, we may see the true reason why we are required to love our neighbor as ourselves; to exercise the same kind of concern for his welfare