CHAPTER XXV.

ON THE RIGHT USE OF TIME AND PROPERTY.

It is probable that there is no one direction in which conscientious persons suffer so much doubt and perplexity as on the right apportionment of time and property. Clear views of duty on this subject can be gained only by reference to certain facts and principles of mind in connection with certain facts revealed by Jesus Christ.

It is a fact that whenever men notice any method which will _best_ secure any end aimed at, they call it _right_. And so the word _right_, as men ordinarily use the term, signifies the method or rule for securing an end designed.

It is also a fact that all rational minds are so made as intuitively to feel or perceive that the end for which all things are made is, _not_ to produce enjoyment or happiness of any sort or degree, but to produce the _best_ good for all concerned both as to quality and amount.

In proof of this, we find that when any plan or action is proposed, and it is shown that on one alternative the _best_ good of both the individual and society is secured, all rational minds decide that it is wise and right, and that the opposite alternative is foolish and wrong. There are endless diversities of opinion as to what _is_ for the best good of individuals and society; but all agree that whatever is for the _best_ good of all concerned is _right_. We therefore assume that it is an intuitive principle or belief in all rational minds, that _happiness-making on the best and largest scale is the end or purpose for which all things are made_.

We also find ourselves placed in a system of physical, intellectual, and social laws, by obedience to which happiness is gained, and that by disobedience to them happiness is destroyed. At the same time, the controlling principle of every mind is to gain happiness and escape pain or loss of happiness. This being so, we may assume that to gain the end for which we are made, or, in other words, _to act right_, we must obey these laws.

Again, we find every rational mind so made that it may be controlled by some leading desire of ruling purpose to which all other desires and purposes are subordinate, and that it is the nature of this ruling purpose which constitutes _moral character_. By moral character is meant that which results from our own choice instead of that which consists in qualities and propensities created by God. This ruling purpose that controls the mind sometimes, by a figure of speech is called the _heart_, which literally is the organ that controls the body.

Again, we find that in all ages and nations there are some men whose ruling purpose and chief desire is to do right, and that these persons are called the righteous or the virtuous men.

Again, we find that all decisions as to what is best and right are regulated by the _dangers_ involved. If one course, with equal advantages, is free from danger, and the opposite involves danger, all men decide the former to be the right one. Thus, all questions of duty as to any course of action are regulated by the dangers which threaten ourselves or society. As an illustration of this fact, when the life of our nation was imperiled, privations, risks, and even death, were sometimes a duty, when in times of peace and prosperity such sacrifices would not be right but highly sinful.

The general principle thus illustrated is, that the standard of right and wrong in all practical affairs is regulated by the amount of danger to be met in alternate courses, one of which must be chosen. And thus it appears that every question of rectitude and duty is modified by circumstances; so that what would be a sin in one case would be a solemn duty in another.

Again, we find that the character of a righteous man is dependent on experience and instruction. For a child is born in utter ignorance of God’s laws, and of his obligation to obey them; and it is only by the slow and gradual process of experience and training that he gains this knowledge. Still more is he dependent on educators for motives to excite to obedience. The great want of humanity is right instruction as to the laws by which the best good of all is secured, and powerful motives to induce obedience to these laws.

We are now prepared to notice the connection of these principles and facts with the facts revealed by Jesus Christ. The great and central fact thus made known is, that this life is only the beginning of an eternal existence, involving liability to dreadful dangers after death, and that, in estimating what is right and wise in character and conduct, we are to take into account these dangers, as regulating all questions of duty to ourselves and to our fellow-men. Of the nature of these dangers, we are informed that those who become righteous in this life will secure perpetuity of that character, and thus perfect and endless happiness; but that some will so fail that they never will attain this character, either in this life or the life to come, and so will forever reap the consequences of perpetuate and voluntary selfishness and sin. Still more momentous is the fact, that the number who are to be saved depends upon the self-denying labors of Christ’s followers, and that so dreadful are the hazards of the life to come, that all consideration of earthly enjoyment should be made subordinate to the great end of escape for ourselves and for our fellow-men, whom we are to love and care for as we do for ourselves.

These facts and principles enable us clearly to comprehend the great law of rectitude and happiness given by God through Moses, and then more clearly explained and illustrated by Jesus Christ. All men are conscious of that _instinctive love_ which we share in common with the brutes. This consists in pleasurable emotions in view of certain persons or things which afford us pleasure, attended by a desire to please those who cause such enjoyment to ourselves, or to those we love. Thus the mother, whether human or brute, feels instinctive love to her offspring; and thus all men feel this instinctive love to those who confer pleasure on themselves.

But Jesus Christ expressly discriminates, and explains that the great law of love (which, he says, it is the chief end of “the law and the prophets” to inculcate) is the _voluntary love_ which consists in choosing to do right—that is, to make happiness on the best and largest scale. For the law is, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbor _as thyself_.” Now self-love consists not in pleasurable emotions in our own agreeable qualities, but in an instinctive, an all-controlling desire to make self happy.

This is the principle of mind which gives its true meaning to the great law of love, which in this aspect reads thus:

Thou shalt choose, for the chief end or controlling purpose, to make happiness on the greatest scale by obeying God’s laws, and as the way to make him and all his creatures happy in the highest degree. And for this end you are to regard and treat the happiness of all in your reach as equal in value to your own.

This exposition of the great law of love is verified repeatedly in the New Testament: “This is the love of God, that ye keep his commandments.”

“He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me.”

“If a man love me, he will keep my words;”—“he that loveth me not, keepeth not my sayings.”

“That the world may know that I love the Father, as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do.”

We now are prepared to appreciate the new and most wonderful revelation ever made to the human race, and one which the wisest heathen philosophers never even conjectured.

Jesus Christ first revealed to mankind that our Creator is a loving Father to the whole human race; and that such is the eternal nature of things, that our highest possible happiness and escape from endless evil can be accomplished only by self-denying sacrifice and suffering, to save ourselves and others; and that our heavenly Father himself so loves us as to encounter such suffering to save us. For whatever views men form as to the divinity of Jesus Christ, or how his sufferings avail to save from danger in the life to come, all will concede that he teaches that God is represented as having made such a painful sacrifice as a father suffers in seeing a dear and lovely and only son subjected to long years of humiliation, of painful toils, and to a disgraceful and torturing death. And whatever opinions men form as to the nature and duration of future retributions, it is clear that Jesus Christ teaches that so great are our dangers, that every consideration of earthly enjoyment should be subordinate, and that our first interest and aim should be to secure escape to ourselves and our fellow-men.

And here we should notice that most comforting doctrine revealed by Jesus Christ, and that is, that our eternal welfare does not depend on our judging correctly as to what _is_ for the best good of all concerned, both for this life and the life to come. On the contrary, we are assured that it is having our _heart_, or _chief desire_, set to do right by obeying all God’s laws as fast as we learn what they are. “Sin is the transgression of law,” and all men have sinned, and will continue to sin, sometimes from ignorance, sometimes from the force of temptation swaying from the prevailing desire and controlling purpose. And so the righteous men of olden times, though they committed heinous sins, were “men after God’s own heart,” because their “heart” was set to obey him in all things. And thus their failures were pardoned, and their eternal safety secured.

The same comforting assurance lessens the anxieties of those whose chief aim and desire is to obey Jesus Christ under the new obligations imposed by him. For the “_faith_” which saves our fellow-men both before and after Christ, is not the mere intellectual conviction; for the “devils thus believe and tremble.” It is rather that faith which includes intellectual belief in his teachings, and the voluntary conformity of purpose and action to that belief.

So the “_repentance_” required is not mere sorrow for wrong-doing, but it consists in such sorrow as includes “ceasing to do evil, and learning to do well.”

We now have the general principle which should regulate all expenditures both of time and property. And whenever any number of persons consistently and practically adopt this principle, they will become “a peculiar people.”

The principle is this: The use of property and the use of time must be so regulated as to accomplish _all in our power_, _to save as many as possible_ from ignorance of God’s laws, and from disobedience to them. It must, in many cases, be difficult to decide as to the most successful way by which our time and property will avail to this end. But that this should be the first and chief object in all our plans, must be conceded by all who accept Jesus Christ as the only authorized teacher of truth and duty. He is the only man who has died and returned from the invisible world to tell us of our prospects there, and his authority is established by the highest evidence of which we can conceive. He is the only being authorized by God fully to explain his laws, both as to our highest happiness while on earth and our future eternal welfare. “There is no other name (or person) given under Heaven” to do this but Jesus Christ.

Having thus gained the main general principle, we may notice some rules to guide us as to the right apportionment of time and property. In employing our time, we are to make suitable allowance for sleep, for preparing and taking food, for securing the means of a livelihood, for intellectual improvement, for exercise and amusement, for social enjoyments, and for benevolent and religious duties. And it is the _right apportionment_ of time to these various duties which constitutes its true economy.

In deciding respecting the rectitude of our pursuits, we are bound to aim at _the most_ practical good as the ultimate object. With every duty of this life our benevolent Creator has connected some species of enjoyment, to draw us to perform it. Thus the palate is gratified by performing the duty of nourishing our bodies; the principle of curiosity is gratified in pursuing useful knowledge; the desire of approbation is gratified when we perform general social duties; and every other duty has an alluring enjoyment connected with it. But the great mistake of mankind has consisted in seeking the pleasures connected with these duties as the sole aim, without reference to the main end that should be held in view, and to which the enjoyment should be made subservient. Thus, men gratify the palate without reference to the question whether the body is properly nourished; and follow after knowledge without inquiring whether it ministers to good or evil; and seek amusements without reference to the great end to which they should minister.

In gratifying the implanted desires of our nature, we are bound so to restrain ourselves, by reason and conscience, as always to seek the main objects of existence—the _highest_ good of ourselves and others; and never to sacrifice this for the mere gratification of our desires. We are to gratify appetite just so far as is consistent with health and usefulness, and the desire for knowledge just so far as will enable us to do most good by our influence and efforts, and no further. We are to seek social intercourse to that extent which will best promote domestic enjoyment and kindly feelings among neighbors and friends; and we are to pursue exercise and amusement only so far as will best sustain the vigor of body and mind.

The laws of the Supreme Ruler, when he became the civil as well as the religious Head of the Jewish theocracy, furnish an example which it would be well for all attentively to consider when forming plans for the apportionment of time and property. To properly estimate this example, it must be borne in mind that the main object of God was to set an example of the _temporal_ rewards that follow obedience to the laws of the Creator, and at the same time to prepare religious teachers to extend the more enlarged views and duties resulting from the dangers of the future life revealed by Jesus Christ.

Before Christ came, the Jews were not required to go forth to other nations as teachers of religion, nor were the Jewish nation led to obedience by motives of a life to come. To them God was revealed both as a Father and a civil ruler, and obedience to laws relating solely to this life was all that was required. So low were they in the scale of civilization and mental development, that a system which confined them to one spot as an agricultural people, and prevented their growing very rich or having extensive commerce with other nations, was indispensable to prevent their relapsing into the low idolatries and vices of the nations around them, while temporal rewards and penalties were more effective than those of a life to come. Such faith in God, his laws, and those temporal rewards and penalties as secured habitual obedience, were all that was required.

The proportion of time and property which every Jew was required to devote to intellectual, benevolent, and religious purposes, was as follows:

In regard to property, they were required to give one-tenth of all their yearly income to support the Levites, the priests, and the religious service. Next, they were required to give the first-fruits of all their corn, wine, oil, and fruits, and the first-born of all their cattle, for the Lord’s treasury, to be employed for the priests, the widow, the fatherless, and the stranger. The first-born, also, of their children, were the Lord’s, and were to be redeemed by a specified sum paid into the sacred treasury. Besides this, they were required to bring a free-will offering to God every time they went up to the three great yearly festivals. In addition to this, regular yearly sacrifices of cattle and fowls were required of each family, and occasional sacrifices for certain sins or ceremonial impurities. In reaping their fields, they were required to leave the corners unreaped for the poor; not to glean their fields, olive-yards, or vineyards; and if a sheaf was left by mistake, they were not to return for it but leave it for the poor.

One-twelfth of the people were set apart, having no landed property, to be priests and teachers; and the other tribes were required to support them liberally.

In regard to the time taken from secular pursuits for the support of education and religion, an equally liberal amount was demanded. In the first place, one-seventh part of their time was taken for the weekly Sabbath, when no kind of work was to be done. Then the whole nation were required to meet at the appointed place three times a year, which, including their journeys and stay there, occupied about eight weeks, or another seventh part of their time. Then the Sabbatical year, when no agricultural labor was to be done, took another seventh of their time from their regular pursuits, as they were an agricultural people. This was the amount of time and property demanded by God, simply to sustain education, religion, and morality within the bounds of one nation.

It was promised to this nation, and fulfilled by constant miraculous interpositions, that in this life obedience to God’s laws should secure health, peace, prosperity, and long life; while for disobedience was threatened war, pestilence, famine, and all temporal evils. These promises were constantly verified; and in the day of Solomon, when this nation was most obedient, the whole world was moved with wonder at its wealth and prosperity. But up to this time, no attempt was made by God to enlarge the obligations and motives by revelations as to the future life.

But “when the fullness of time had come,” and the race of man was prepared to receive higher responsibilities, Jesus Christ came and “brought life and immortality to light” with a clearness never before revealed, and new and heavy responsibilities consequent on the dangers of the life to come. At the same time was revealed the fatherhood of God, not to the Jews alone, but to the whole human race, and the consequent brotherhood of man; and these revelations in many respects changed the whole standard of duty and obligation.

Christ came as “God manifest in the flesh,” to set an example of self-sacrificing love, in rescuing the whole family of man from the dangers of the unseen world, and also to teach and train his disciples through all time to follow his example. And those who conform the most consistently to his teachings and example will aim at a standard of labor and self-denial far beyond that demanded of the Jews.

It is not always that men understand the economy of Providence in that unequal distribution of property which, even under the most perfect form of government, will always exist. Many, looking at the present state of things, imagine that the rich, if they acted in strict conformity to the law of benevolence, would share all their property with their suffering fellow-men. But such do not take into account the inspired declaration that “a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth;” or, in other words, life is made valuable not by great possessions, but by such a _character_ as prepares a man to enjoy what he holds. God perceives that human character can be most improved by that kind of discipline which exists when there is something valuable to be gained by industrious efforts. This stimulus to industry could never exist in a community where all are just alike, as it does in a state of society where every man sees possessed by others enjoyments which he desires, and may secure by effort and industry. So, in a community where all are alike as to property, there would be no chance to gain that noblest of all attainments, a habit of self-denying benevolence which toils for the good of others, and takes from one’s own store to increase the enjoyments of another.

Instead, then, of the stagnation, both of industry and of benevolence, which would follow the universal and equable distribution of property, some men, by superior advantages of birth, or intellect, or patronage, come into possession of a great amount of capital. With these means they are enabled, by study, reading, and travel, to secure expansion of mind, and just views of the relative advantages of moral, intellectual, and physical enjoyments. At the same time, Christianity imposes obligations corresponding with the increase of advantages and means. The rich are not at liberty to spend their treasures chiefly for themselves. Their wealth is given by God, to be employed for the best good of mankind; and their intellectual advantages are designed, primarily, to enable them to judge correctly in employing their means most wisely for the general good.

Now suppose a man of wealth inherits ten thousand acres of real estate; it is not his duty to divide it among his poor neighbors and tenants. If he took this course, it is probable that most of them would spend all in thriftless waste and indolence, or in mere physical enjoyments. Instead, then, of thus putting his capital out of his hands, he is bound to retain and so to employ it as to raise his family and his neighbors to such a state of virtue and intelligence that they can secure far more, by their own efforts and industry, than he, by dividing his capital, could bestow upon them.

In this view of the subject, it is manifest that the unequal distribution of property is no evil. The great difficulty is, that so large a portion of those who hold much capital, instead of using their various advantages for the greatest good of those around them, employ them chiefly for selfish indulgences—thus inflicting as much mischief on themselves as results to others from their culpable neglect. A great portion of the rich seem to be acting on the principle that the more God bestows on them the less are they under obligation to practice any self-denial in fulfilling his benevolent plan of raising our race to intelligence and virtue, and thus to eternal happiness after death.

But there are cheering examples of the contrary spirit and prejudice, some of which will be here recorded, to influence and encourage others.

A lady of great wealth, high position, and elegant culture, in one of our large cities, hired and furnished a house adjacent to her own, and, securing the aid of another benevolent and cultivated woman, took twelve orphan girls of different ages, and educated them under their joint care. Not only time and money were given, but love and labor, just as if these were their own children; and as fast as one was provided for, another was taken.

In another city, a young lady, with property of her own, hired a house, and made it a home for homeless and unprotected women, who paid board when they could earn it, and found a refuge when out of employment.

In another city, the wife of one of its richest merchants took two young girls from the certain road to ruin among the vicious poor. She boarded them with a respectable farmer, and sent them to school; and every week went out, not only to supervise them, but to aid in training them to habits of neatness, industry, and obedience, just as if they were her own children.

Next she hired a large house near the most degraded part of the city, furnished it neatly, and with all suitable conveniences to work, and then rented to those among the most degraded whom she could bring to conform to a few simple rules of decency, industry, and benevolence—one of these rules being that they should pay her the rent every Saturday night. To this motley gathering she became chief counselor and friend, quieted their brawls, taught them to aid each other in trouble or sickness, and strove to introduce among them that law of patient love and kindness illustrated by her own example. The young girls in this tenement she assembled every Saturday at her own house, taught them to sing, heard them recite their Sunday-school lessons, to be sure these were properly learned; taught them to make and mend their own clothing, trimmed their bonnets, and took charge of their Sunday dress, that it might always be in order.

Of course, such benevolence drew a stream of ignorance and misery to her door; and so successful was her labor, that she hired a second house, and managed it on the same plan. One hot day in August a friend found her combing the head of a poor, ungainly, foreign girl. She had persuaded a friend to take her from compassion, and she was returned because her head was in such a state. Finding no one else to do it, the lady herself bravely met the difficulty, and persevered in this daily ministry till the evil was remedied, and the poor girl thus secured a comfortable home and wages.

A young lady of wealth and position, with great musical culture and taste, found among the poor two young girls with fine voices and great musical talent. Gaining her parents' consent, the young lady took one of them home, trained her in music, and saw that her school education was secured; so that, when expensive masters and instruments were needed, the girl herself earned the money required, as a governess in a family of wealthy friends. Then she aided the sister; and, as the result, one of them is married happily to a man of great wealth, and the other is receiving a large income as a popular musical artist.

Another young girl, educated as a fine musician by her wealthy parents, at the age of sixteen was afflicted with weak eyes and a heart complaint. She strove to solace herself by benevolent ministries. By teaching music to children of wealthy friends, she earned the means to relieve and instruct the suffering, ignorant, and poor.

These examples may suffice to show that, even among the most wealthy, abundant modes of self-denying benevolence may be found where there is a heart to seek them.

There is no direction in which a true Christian economy of time and money is more conspicuous than in the style of living adopted in the family state.

Those who build stately mansions, and lay out extensive grounds, and multiply the elegancies of life, to be enjoyed by themselves and a select few, “have their reward” in the enjoyments that end in this life. But those who, with equal means, adopt a style that enables them largely to devote time and wealth to the eternal welfare of their fellow-men, are laying up never-failing treasures in heaven, in the everlasting virtue, gratitude, and happiness of those they have thus saved and blessed.

By taking Christ as the example, by communion with him, and by daily striving to imitate his character and conduct, we may form such a temper of mind that “doing good” on that highest scale revealed by our Lord will become the chief and highest source of enjoyment. And this heavenly principle will grow stronger and stronger, until self-denial loses the more painful part of its character; and then, to save men from sin, and guide them to eternal happiness, will be so delightful and absorbing a pursuit, that all exertions regarded as the means to this end will be like the joyous efforts of men when they strive for a prize or a crown with the full hope of success.

In this view of the subject, efforts and self-denial for the good of others are to be regarded not merely as duties enjoined for the benefit of others, but as the moral training indispensable to the formation of that character on which depends our own happiness. This view exhibits the full meaning of the Saviour’s declaration, “How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!” He had before taught that the kingdom of heaven consisted not in such enjoyments as the worldly seek, but in the temper of self-denying benevolence like his own; and as the rich have far greater temptations to indolent self-indulgence, they are far less likely to acquire this temper than those who, by limited means, are inured to some degree of self-denial.

But on this point one important distinction needs to be made; and that is, between the self-denial which has no other aim than mere self-mortification, and that which is exercised to secure greater good to ourselves and others. The first is the foundation of monasticism, penances, and all other forms of asceticism; the latter only is that which Christianity requires.

A second consideration, which may give definiteness to this subject, is, that aiming at a perfect character for ourselves and for others involves not the extermination of any principles of our nature, but rather the regulating of them, according to the rules of reason and religion; so that the lower propensities shall always be kept subordinate to nobler principles. Thus we are not to aim at destroying our appetites, or at needlessly denying them, but rather so to regulate them that they shall best secure the objects for which they were implanted. We are not to annihilate the love of praise and admiration, but so to control it that the favor of God shall be regarded more than the estimation of men. We are not to extirpate the principle of curiosity, which leads us to acquire knowledge, but so to direct it that all our acquisitions shall be useful, and not frivolous or injurious. And thus with all the principles of the mind. God has implanted no desires in our constitution which are evil and pernicious. On the contrary, all our constitutional propensities, either of mind or body, he designed we should gratify, whenever no evils would thence result either to ourselves or others. Such passions as envy, selfish ambition, contemptuous pride, revenge, and hatred, are to be exterminated; for they are either excesses or excrescences, not created by God, but rather the result of our own neglect to form habits of benevolence and self-control.

A third consideration is that, though the means for sustaining life and health are to be regarded as necessaries, without which no other duties can be performed, yet a very large portion of the time spent by most persons in easy circumstances for food, raiment, and dwellings, is for mere _superfluities_; which are right when they do not involve the sacrifice of higher interests, and wrong when they do. Life and health can be sustained in the humblest dwellings, with the plainest dress and the simplest food; and after taking from our means what is necessary for life and health, the remainder is to be so divided that the larger portion shall be given to supply the moral and intellectual wants of ourselves and others.

There are many so dependent on parents or husbands, as to suffer perplexity as to their own duty on this account. In reference to these difficulties, the first remark is, that we are never under obligations to do what is entirely out of our power; so that those persons who can not regulate their expenses or their charities are under no sort of obligation to do so. The second remark is, that, when a rule of duty is discovered, if we can not fully attain to it, we are bound to _aim_ at it, and to fulfill it just so far as we can. We have no right to throw it aside because we shall find some difficult cases when we come to apply it. The third remark is, that no person can tell how much can be done till a faithful trial has been made. If a woman has never kept any accounts, nor attempted to regulate her expenditures by the right rule, nor used her influence with those that control her plans, to secure this object, she has no right to say how much she can or can not do till after a fair trial has been made.

Is it objected, How can we decide between superfluities and necessities? It is replied, that we are not required to judge exactly in all cases. Our duty is to use the means in our power to assist us in forming a correct judgment; to seek the Divine aid in freeing our minds from indolence and selfishness; and then to judge as well as we can in our endeavors rightly to apportion and regulate our expenses. Many persons seem to feel that they are bound to do better than they know how. But God is not so hard a master; and after we have used all proper means to learn the right way, if we then follow it according to our ability, we do wrong to feel misgivings, or to blame ourselves, if results come out differently from what seems desirable.

The results of our actions alone can never prove us deserving of blame. For men are often so placed that, owing to lack of intellect or means, it is impossible for them to decide correctly. To use all the means of knowledge within our reach, to seek Divine guidance by prayer, and then to judge with a candid and conscientious spirit, is all that God requires; and when we have done this, and the event seems to come out so as to seem unfortunate, we should never wish that we had decided otherwise; for this would be the same as wishing that we had not followed the dictates of judgment and conscience. As this is a world designed for discipline and trial, what seem untoward events are never to be construed as indications of the obliquity of our past decisions.

In making an examination on this subject, it is sometimes the case that a woman will count among the _necessaries_ of life all the various modes of adorning the person or house practiced in the circle in which she moves; and after enumerating the many _duties_ which demand attention, counting these as a part, she will come to the conclusion that she has no time, and but little money, to devote to personal improvement or to benevolent enterprises. This surely is not in agreement with the requirements of the Saviour, who calls on us to seek for others as well as ourselves, _first of all_, “the kingdom of God and his righteousness.”

In order to act in accordance with the rule here presented, it is true that many would be obliged to give up the idea of conforming to the notions and customs of those with whom they associate, and compelled to adopt the maxim, “Be not conformed to this world.” In many cases it would involve an entire change in the style of living. And the writer has the happiness of knowing more cases than one where persons who have come to similar views on this subject have given up large and expensive establishments, that they might keep a pure conscience, and regulate their charities more according to the requirements of Christianity.

In deciding what particular objects shall receive our benefactions, there are also general principles to guide us. The first is that presented by our Saviour, when, after urging the great law of benevolence, he was asked, “And who is my neighbor?” His reply, in the parable of “the Good Samaritan,” teaches us that any human being whose wants are brought to our knowledge is our neighbor. The wounded man in that parable was not only a stranger, but he belonged to a foreign nation, peculiarly hated; and he had no claim, except that his wants were brought to the knowledge of the wayfaring man. From this we learn that the destitute of all nations become our neighbors as soon as their wants are brought to our knowledge.

Another general principle is this: that those who are most in need must be relieved in preference to those who are less destitute. On this principle it is that we think the followers of Christ should give more to supply those who are suffering for want of the bread of eternal life, than for those who are deprived of physical enjoyments. And another reason for this preference is the fact that many who give in charity have made such imperfect advances in civilization and Christianity, that the intellectual and moral wants of our race make but a feeble impression on the mind. Relate a pitiful tale of a family reduced to live for weeks on potatoes only, and many a mind would awake to deep sympathy, and stretch forth the hand of charity. But describe cases where the immortal mind is pining in stupidity and ignorance, or racked with the fever of baleful passions, and how small the number so elevated in sentiment and so enlarged in their views as to appreciate and sympathize in these far greater misfortunes! The intellectual and moral wants of our fellow-men, therefore, should claim the first place in Christian attention, both because they are most important, and because they are most neglected; while it should not be forgotten, in giving personal attention to the wants of the poor, that the relief of immediate physical distress is often the easiest way of touching the moral sensibilities of the destitute.

Another consideration to be borne in mind is, that in this country there is much less real need of charity in supplying physical necessities than is generally supposed by those who have not learned the more excellent way. This land is so abundant in supplies, and labor is in such demand, that every healthy person can earn a comfortable support; and if all the poor were instantly made virtuous, it is probable that there would be few physical wants which could not readily be supplied by the immediate friends of each sufferer. The sick, the aged, and the orphan would be the only objects of charity. In this view of the case, the primary effort in relieving the poor should be to furnish them the means of earning their own support, and to supply them with those moral influences which are most effectual in securing virtue and industry.

Another point to be attended to is the importance of maintaining a system of _associated_ charities. There is no point in which the economy of charity has more improved, than in the present mode of combining many small contributions for sustaining enlarged and systematic plans of charity. If all the half-dollars which are now contributed to aid in organized systems of charity were returned to the donors, to be applied by the agency and discretion of each, thousands and thousands of the treasures now employed to promote the moral and intellectual wants of mankind would become entirely useless. In a democracy like ours, where few are very rich and the majority are in comfortable circumstances, this collecting and dispensing of drops and rills is the mode by which, in imitation of nature, the dews and showers are to distill on parched and desert lands. And every person, while earning a pittance to unite with many more, may be cheered with the consciousness of sustaining a grand system of operations which must have the most decided influence in raising all mankind to that perfect state of society which Christianity is designed to accomplish.

Another consideration relates to the indiscriminate bestowal of charity. Persons who have taken pains to inform themselves, and who devote their whole time to dispensing charities, unite in declaring that this is one of the most fruitful sources of indolence, vice, and poverty. From several of these the writer has learned that, by their own personal investigations, they have ascertained that there are large establishments of idle and wicked persons in most of our cities, who associate together to support themselves by every species of imposition. They hire large houses, and live in constant rioting on the means thus obtained. Among them are women who have or who hire the use of infant children; others, who are blind, or maimed, or deformed, or who can adroitly feign such infirmities; and by these means of exciting pity, and by artful tales of woe, they collect alms, both in city and country, to spend in all manner of gross and guilty indulgences. Meantime many persons, finding themselves often duped by impostors, refuse to give at all; and thus many benefactions are withdrawn, which a wise economy in charity would have secured. For this and other reasons, it is wise and merciful to adopt the general rule, never to give alms till we have had some opportunity of knowing how they will be spent. There are exceptions to this, as to every general rule, which a person of discretion can determine. But the practice so common among benevolent persons of giving at least a trifle to all who ask, lest perchance they may turn away some who are really sufferers, is one which causes more sin and misery than it cures.

The writer has never known any system for dispensing charity more successful than the one by which a town or city is divided into districts, and each district is committed to the care of two ladies, whose duty it is to call on each family and leave a book for a child, or do some other deed of neighborly kindness, and make that the occasion for entering into conversation and learning the situation of all residents in the district. By this method the ignorant, the vicious, and the poor are discovered, and their physical, intellectual, and moral wants are investigated. In some places where the writer has known this mode pursued, each person retained the same district year after year; so that every poor family in the place was under the watch and care of some intelligent and benevolent lady, who used all her influence to secure a proper education for the children, to furnish them with suitable reading, to encourage habits of industry and economy, and to secure regular attendance on public religious instruction. Thus the rich and the poor were brought in contact in a way advantageous to both parties; and if such a system could be universally adopted, more would be done for the prevention of poverty and vice than all the wealth of the nation could avail for their relief. But this plan can not be successfully carried out in this manner, unless there is a large proportion of intelligent, benevolent, and self-denying persons who unite in a systematic plan.

But there is one species of “charity” which needs especial consideration. It is that spirit of kindly love which induces us to refrain from judging of the means and the relative charities of other persons. There have been such indistinct notions, and so many different standards of duty on this subject, that it is rare for two persons to think exactly alike in regard to the rule of duty. Each person is bound to inquire and judge for himself as to his own duty or deficiencies; but as both the resources and the amount of the actual charities of others are beyond our ken, it is as indecorous as it is uncharitable to sit in judgment on their decisions.