come general. It daringly undertakes to "number Israel;" to determine not only that few will be saved, but who that few will be. Its ministers, faithful to their creed, stand before the cross, and hide it; lest men should see it who are not entitled or intended to behold it;-a danger which they jealously avoid, a responsibility they would tremble to incur. The gospel charters redemption to the world, but they have heard that there are divine decrees; and until they can logically reconcile their views of the divine inflexibility with the universality of the divine compassion, the charter must stand over; and souls perish unwept; and the gospel of Christ, God's great gift, the adequate image of the infinitude of his love, be branded with the stigma of exclusiveness. Put the affairs of the kingdom of Christ into their hands,—and, under the affectation of a pious dread of contravening the sovereign purposes of God, or of forestalling his appointed time, they would forthwith call home the agents of mercy in distant lands, break up the institutions, and stop the whole machinery, of Christian benevolence. In the midst of a famishing world, they would establish a monopoly of the bread of life; and,

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though assailed on all sides by the cries of a race in the pains of death, would not cease to exchange smiles radiant with self-complacency while continuing to cater to their own pampered appetites. "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." They know not that they are perverting that which was meant to be the destruction of selfishness, into its very aliment and nurse; they know not, that, next to the destruction of the gospel, they could not furnish Satan with a greater triumph than thus to silence its inviting voice, and to suppress the agencies of its disciples. It is to arrest the course of the angel having the everlasting gospel and flying through the midst of heaven, and to confine him to their own contracted horizon; to demonstrate that nothing is too monstrous to be apprehended from our nature when its selfish tendencies are the materials employed, since it can construct a system out of the gospel itself, whose most appropriate title would be, "Christianity made selfishness."

The selfishness of the pew, is another form of the same pervading evil; incomparably less pernicious, indeed, than the last mentioned, but far

more extensive in its existence. This, is that modification of selfish piety which lives only to be personally comforted; which, in all its reading and hearing, makes its own individual comfort, not a means, but an end; and which, in pursuit of that end, goes up and down in the world, crying, "Give, give, and is never satisfied." The divine Redeemer describes the faithful shepherd as leaving the ninety and nine sheep for a time, to traverse the wilderness in quest of the one wanderer. But this unlovely spirit, reversing the touching picture, would have him neglect ninety and nine wanderers, to attend exclusively to one folded sheep. An epicure in comfort, it is impatient if the cup of consolation be removed from its lips for a moment, though that moment was only seized to say to a famishing multitude, "Come now, for all things are ready." Devout only in little things, it cannot bear to have its mind diverted from its own personal and particular state, even though the sight to which its attention is called is the wants of a world. It will consent to listen just once a year to the claims of the perishing heathen; but it feels as if more than that were too much, were pressing the subject unnecessarily on

its attention. The amplitude of the divine love seeks to comprehend the universe in its large and life-giving embrace, and calls on our affections to arise and follow it in its vast diffusion; but this selfishness stays at home, builds itself in, sees no glory in that love but as it embraces a single point, and that point itself.

Consistent with itself, this same spirit, if followed from public into private, is found to become the selfishness of the closet. It penetrates even to the throne of God, and there where, if any where, a man should give himself up to what is godlike, there where he should go to engage an almighty agency in the behalf of his race, it banishes from his thoughts every interest but his own, rendering him a suppliant for himself alone. It makes him as exclusively intent on his own individual advantage, as if spiritual, like worldly good, could not be shared by others without diminishing the portion to be enjoyed by himself.

Let us place ourselves in imagination near to the throne of God,-and what do we behold?—a number of needy suppliants returning daily to his throne, a large proportion of whom are as unmindful of each other as if each came from a dif

ferent world and represented a distinct race of beings; as completely absorbed in their respective interests as if the welfare of the species depended on their individual success. There, where each should think of all, and feel himself blended with the great whole, he virtually disowns kindred with all, deserts the common interest, and strives for himself alone. They come and lay their hand upon the springs of an agency, which, if put into motion, would diffuse happiness through the world; but they leave that agency unsolicited and unmoved. The blessed God calls them into his presence, partly, that they might catch the radiance of his throne, and transmit it to a world immersed in the shadow of death; but provided they catch a ray of that light for themselves, the gloom of the world may remain unrelieved. He points out the infinity of their resources in himself, gives them access to more than they need for themselves, in order that they may go and instrumentally administer to the wants of others. He calls them to his throne as a royal priesthood, as intercessors for the race; but instead of imploring the divine attention to the wants of the world, each of them virtually calls it off from every other