Chapter 7

A good name involves all that can render man exalted and amiable, or life desirable. The good opinion of mankind has, in all ages, been considered as a blessing of the first magnitude, and has, in various ways, been sought for by all. There is no man so dishonest, but what labors to impress upon others the conviction of his honesty; no man so deceptive, but what wishes to be considered sincere; nor cowardly, but desires to be reputed brave; and no man is so abandonedly vicious, but what desires to be considered virtuous by his fellow creatures. All choose a good name in preference to a bad one. This being a fact the appearance of virtue is kept up where the reality is wanting, and the shadow is often mistaken for the substance.

There are many, that are, at heart, insincere and false, who pass in society generally for persons of sincerity, candor and virtue, while their real principles are known only in their own families and among their confidential friends. They desire a good name and outwardly maintain it, while they in reality but little deserve it. In order to know what a man really is, we must be acquainted, not only with his public, but his private character. In his own family, every man appears what he really is. There the heart, word and action art in unison. They embrace each other. In public, they too often separate; and the word, or action, speaks what its divorced companion, the heart does not feel.

Such not only literally choose, but often bear a good name. But this is not the choice suggested by the text. All men, even the most vicious, in some sense or other, choose a good name. But the passage under consideration has a higher, a nobler aim, than a mere choice unconnected with virtuous principle and action. It has a higher aim, than to encourage men to be rotten at heart, and by an outward, hypocritical maneuver, maintain a good name among their fellow creatures. By the text, we are to understand, that a man should early cultivate, in his heart, a virtuous principle, as the pure source from which all those outward actions spring that justly merit the esteem of mankind, force approbation even from the vicious, and thus entitle him to that good name which is far above all price. This will not only afford its possessor unbroken peace arising from the inward consolations and joys of virtuous sincerity, but it will also open to him another rich fountain of felicity, arising from the consideration, that he enjoys the confidence and esteem of the great and the good, with whom he is conversant in life, of his intimate friends, of his companion and children, and above all the smiles of kind heaven and the approbation of his God. His life is calm; his sleep is sweet and associated with golden dreams. No fearful spectres haunt his brain, but the kind angel of mercy is ever at his side. He looks forward to death undismayed, yes, with satisfaction and composure looks beyond that dark scene, to brighter worlds and more substantial joys. He feels the assurance, that even when he shall be here no more, his name shall live in the hearts of those he left behind, be embalmed in the memory of the just, and that it is beyond the power of rolling ages to sully it. This is what we understand by choosing a good name as stated in our text.

Of the truth of this, there can arise no misapprehension when we compare it with the subsequent phrase with which it is contrasted--"a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor than silver and gold." By the choosing of riches, we are to understand, not only a desire to obtain them, but that this desire shall be sufficiently strong to prompt us to use all the honorable and efficient means in our power to accumulate them. The wise man did not mean that every man had the offer of a fortune, and could possess himself of it by simply making choice of it independent of means. No-- his choice must be manifested by industry and economy. The means must be used to secure the end. Just so in acquiring a good name. The person desirous of obtaining it, must pursue that upright and virtuous course of conduct, which alone could insure it. And just as well might a man expect riches by being indolent and extravagant, as to expect a good name by indulging in every species of vice. We are therefore to understand our text thus--A good name, through pursuing a virtuous course of conduct, is rather to be chosen than great riches, through the plans and means by which they are obtained.

Man is a being of many wants, and to supply them he is too much inclined to forsake the path of virtue and resort to dishonorable means to obtain wealth.

In view of this master-passion for earthly splendor and greatness, Solomon uttered the words of our text to recall the giddy mind from its chase of shadows, sad turn it to the only source of unmingled felicity in the pursuit of virtue. This would afford the mind those rational delights that wealth, with all its dazzling splendors, cannot impart. It does not possess the charm to convey unbroken peace to the heart.

But there is a strong inducement to engage in a virtuous course, because it is the surest road to wealth and honor. The thief and robber were never rich, nor nor could they be happy if they were. An excellent writer, observes--the importance of a good character in the commerce of life, seems to be universally acknowledged. To those who are to make their own way either to wealth or honors, a good character is as necessary as address and ability. Though human nature is often degenerate, and corrupts itself by many inventions, yet it usually retains to the last an esteem for excellence. But even if we arrive at such an extreme degree of depravity as to have lost our native reverence for virtue, yet a regard to our own interest and safety will lead us to apply for aid, in all important transactions, to men whose integrity is unimpeached. When we choose an assistant or a partner, our first inquiry is concerning his character. When we have occasion for a counsellor, an attorney, or a physician, whatever we may be ourselves, we always choose to trust our property and lives to men of the best character. When we fix on the tradesman, who is to supply us with necessaries, we are we are influenced by fair reputation and honorable dealing. Young men, therefore, whose characters are yet unfixed, and who consequently may render them just such as they wish, ought to pay great attention to the first steps they take on entrance into life. They are usually careless and inattentive to this object. They pursue their own plans with ardor, and neglect the opinions which others entertain of them. By some thoughtless action or expression, they suffer a mark to be impressed upon them, which no subsequent merit can entirely erase. Every man will find some persons who, though they are not professed enemies, yet view him with an eye of envy, and who would gladly revive any tale to which truth has given the slightest foundation.

Though a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and is the surest road to wealth, yet there are thousands, who pay but little attention to possess themselves of so valuable a treasure. They turn a deaf ear to that hallowed voice, which pleads with them in behalf of their dearest interest, and take the downward road to dissipation and vice, and, by their wretched example, lead other thousands to the dark abodes of sorrow, grief and pain. Enchanted by the siren voice of false and fleeting pleasure, they hurry to the tremendous precipice, where reputation and fortune lie in broken ruins. There they drag out a wretched existence in disappointed hope, satiety and disgust. They pay their devotions at the shrine of ignominy, where the dark and stagnant waters of guilt and condemnation roll. There the sweet voice of heaven-born peace was never heard, and the beauteous feet of religion never trod. There dwells the family of pain--there is the hell we are cautioned to avoid. This is not an illusion of fancy--it is no reverie of the brain, but a reality too visible in the pathway of human life.

Thousands, in this condition, are hurrying to a premature grave, and go down to that dark abode covered with infamy, having robbed themselves of all the substantial joys, that a virtuous conduct, and a good unsullied name are calculated to awaken in the heart. Dissipation darkens the brightest prospects of life. It rolls its floods of misery indiscriminately over the dearest earthly hopes of companions, children and friends, and paralyzes every pulse of joy that beats in the human bosom. Many a child has been spurned from the presence of its brutal father, and been beaten for asking bread to satisfy its hunger. Intemperance stupefies man to the moral impressions of the gospel, and hardens the heart with the touch of its benumbing powers. It is the giant of human wo that slays his thousands and prostrates the happiness of man. This champion of human war draws his sword of vengeance against the balmy repose of public and private life, and his fatal touch withers the brightest flowers of domestic hope and joy, and mingles the poisonous bowl with the bitter drugs of misery. His government is absolute monarchy, and his subjects the most contemptible slaves. When he lays upon them his cursed hand, they reel to the ground. When he strikes the stunning blow, they drop insensibly to the earth. The oppressions and scourges of the most wretched slave are enviable in comparison with those severe wounds inflicted by this merciless tyrant, this infernal scourge of the human race. Intemperance is a monster that may well be personified. He frolicks through the blood, preys upon the vitals, ploughs up the brain, dethrones reason and laughs at the feeble resistance of the best constitution, and finally bears down all opposition before him. Like the devouring flame, he presses on with irresistible force, urging his deadly siege, till he consumes all that is fair and lovely in the eye of virtue. His present gifts are poverty misery and distress, and his capital prize, a premature grave.

This champion is ravaging our beloved country, and seducing her sons of freedom to the disgraceful ranks of slavery and oppression. Intemperance is that tyrant that has under his control many formidable evils that infest the world. His boasted labor is to hurry on thousands of victims to the commission of crime, and bring down upon them the many misfortunes that attend man in this mutable world. Intemperance involves public broils, tumults and disturbances, and domestic discord, misery and strife.

We trust the number among our readers is small, who are so regardless of a good name as to have abandoned themselves to the intoxicating bowl, or who have sundered all the ties of moral obligation, determined to tread the downward path of vice to a disgraceful tomb. We hope they have a higher regard to the invaluable worth of a good name; and we pray that they may venerate its price far above the momentary glitter of silver and gold. That shall live, when wealth shall have lost its lustre, and flourish immortal, when gold shall have corroded to dust.

Blasphemy is another unreasonable vice against which the public speaker or writer should raise his voice. And let no one flatter himself because we believe in the universal and unbounded goodness of God, that a man may go on as he please. So long as a Being of infinite wisdom is enthroned in the heavens and governs the universe, so long he can never fail to measure out to every offence its adequate punishment, and has all the means at his disposal to bring it unavoidably upon the head of every transgressor. He, who flatters himself that he can sin with impunity, is ignorant of the government of his God, and has never reflected upon human life in all its varied lights and shades. Do you profess to be a Universalist, and yet treat with irreverence the name of HIM who made you, and whom you acknowledge to be a faithful Creator--an indulgent Father? Your professions are nothing. "He that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure." That very breath by which he inflates the lungs, can you breathe it back in blasphemies against his holy name, which angels never pronounce but with veneration and awe? Choose, O choose a good name, which can only be obtained by choosing a virtuous course of conduct. However lightly you may treat your own station in life, or however much you may disregard the dignity of your nature, yet remember the station you hold, however obscure, is stamped with responsibility. You are surrounded by a generation of youth, among whom are your own children, ready to imitate your example. Do you wish them well! Then guard your heart and life by setting a reasonable value on a good name, and remember you cannot move without touching some string that may vibrate long after your head rests on its cold pillow of earth.

SERMON XIII

"A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold." Prov. xxii:1.

In this discourse we shall more fully show why "a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches."

Though wealth is desirable, and in many instances conducive to human happiness, because it puts it in our power to relieve the wants and distresses of our fellow creatures, yet it does not possess the charm to convey unbroken peace or solid joy to any bosom. The value, of anything within the range of human action, is to be estimated by its usefulness in promoting the happiness of man. That, which pours the most numerous and refined enjoyments into the soul, is to be considered of the greatest worth; and that, which has a tendency to bring upon us the most alarming miseries, misfortunes and woes, is of course the most worthless. The one is to be fondly chosen and pursued in proportion to its worth in administering to our enjoyments, and the other is to be avoided in proportion to its unhappy effects in multiplying our sorrows. This being an undeniable fact, the superlative value of a good name, procured by a virtuous course of conduct, appears, at once, to transcend all other considerations: A pure unsullied conscience before heaven is the most permanent bliss that a rational being can enjoy, and is of that enduring nature which no earthly power or misfortune can destroy. It supports us in the hour of adversity and trial; it comforts us in the dark hour of sorrow; it remains unmoved amids the storms of life, and lights up the smile of satisfaction on the lips of the dying.

Nor is this all. It affords us other unruffled streams of unmingled felicity in the common intercourse of life. The approbation of the wise and the good, the confidence and esteem of our friends and associates, and the good opinion even of the vicious, are considerations of no ordinary moment. They awaken emotions in the heart of the most pleasing gratification, and open in the soul all the avenues of heaven-born felicity, imparting that peace, which this world can neither give nor take away. But as it respects _wealth_, we would remark, that though it may communicate happiness by enabling us to relieve the wants of our fellow creatures, and afford us many joys in the indulgence of our benevolence, yet it cannot of itself communicate happiness, but virtue can. A wicked and unprincipled man is wretched, though he roll in all the wealth and splendors that earth can give. He feels in his bosom a _burning flame_, that all the streams of wealth can never quench, and a _craving desire_, that nought on earth can gratify. If his "great riches" afford him any enjoyments, yet these are by no means permanent and lasting. The desolating flame may lay them in ruins--the storms on the ocean may sink them in its waves--the famine or blighting mildew may wither them forever, and leave him stript of all his fancied joys. But nothing of this can happen to virtue. That remains forever unharmed amidst the shocks of earth. A good name is, therefore, of inconceivably more value than riches and rather to be chosen than silver and gold.

We are formed for society. God in beginning said, "it is not good that man should be alone." This being a fact, which all past experience, and the history of our whole race demonstrate, it is, therefore, equally true, that our dearest enjoyments flow from the social affections and from a sincere cultivation of the social intercourse of life. There is, perhaps, not a human being in existence, who would accept of all the wealth of the Indies on the condition that he should not be respected by a single individual on earth. This circumstance shows us, in noonday light, the superior value of a good name above all the glittering appendages of wealth. Every man is beloved and esteemed in proportion to his goodness and usefulness in the world, particularly by those with whom he associate in life. If then to _love and be beloved_ depend on our conduct in the world, and if at the same time, our happiness is derived from the exercise of reciprocal affection, we see the importance of pitching upon that course of life, which alone can secure those solid pleasures resulting from a well spent life.

Too many persons suppose, they can be happy in sin; yes, even in criminal indulgence. But that transgressor was never yet found, who could point to a single wicked act in his life, the remembrance of which ever imparted one solitary gleam of joy to his heart. They may fancy there is happiness in sin; but here is the deception. It is immaterial what some may preach about _the pleasures of sin_, and _the satisfaction the transgressor often takes in a wicked course_, yet all this amounts to nothing so long as the voice of heaven declares, "THERE IS NO PEACE, SAITH MY GOD, TO THE WICKED." Infinite wisdom _must know_, and infinite wisdom, _has given_ the decision, and that decision is stamped with immortality, and from it there is no appeal. If we impress the sinner with the idea that he is not punished and rewarded _here_, but that the whole is to be settled in the future world, then we, in the same proportion, weaken the force of virtue and _strengthen_ the cause of vice. And this is one obvious reason, why men continue in sin, as long as they dare, expecting at some future day to repent and escape _all punishment_. They go on from day to day, and from year to year, with all the thunders of endless and immortal pain sounded in their ears, and even believing it true, yet continue to indulge in sin. Would they run such an awful risk, unless, by a certain course of education, they had been made to believe that there was happiness in transgression? No. If they believed that sin had nought to impart but misery, they would abandon it for its _own sake_; because happiness is the object of all men. They have, therefore, by some means or other, been led to the strange infatuation, that sin possesses some secret charm to communicate that happiness to the soul, for which every bosom throbs. This fancied happiness, they vainly imagine, they can obtain by wallowing in the dark waters of iniquity, be happy _here_, then repent at last, and be happy _hereafter_. As they pass along in their wretched career, expecting every moment to grasp the fancied pleasure, yet the fond, anticipated phantom flies from their embrace and leaves them in the ruin of their joy. Though disappointed again and again, yet firmly believing that there is happiness in sin, they again push on, and thus far attribute their want of success to some miscalculation. Insensible of the nature of sin, blinded and self-deceived, they go on in pursuit of pleasure, while golden dreams of false felicity fire their imaginations, till at last, age places them on the verge of the grave; their object no nearer attained than it was the day they set out, while habit has fixed them in a course, that has yielded them nothing but sorrow and pain, and vanity and vexation of spirit. Stung with remorse, and pierced through with many sorrows, they breathe a repentance, which, the nature of their condition, forces upon them, are perhaps pronounced _converted_, and they sink into the darkness of death! Their names, covered with infamy, are soon blotted from the remembrance of the living!

We observed, a moment ago, that the idea, of holding up a retribution in the future world, weakens the force of virtue, and strengthens the cause of vice. This has, perhaps, been abundantly shown in the arguments already offered as being manifest in the daily conduct of men; yet we will, in a word, bring the subject plainly before you. To persuade a sinner that he is to be punished in the _future_ world for his sins in _this_, is plainly saying that sin has many pleasures and conveniences _here_, and so far as it failed of rendering him his due desert, the balance is to be made up in another state of being. Because the balance of punishment due him _there_, is to make up the _deficiency_ of punishment, which sin did not pay him here. And certainly, so far as sin did not pay him _here_, he must have been happy in its commission. And the _expectation_, that he should be happy in it _here_, was the _very cause_ that induced him to continue in transgression, with the expectation of repenting and escaping punishment _hereafter_. Thus he flattered himself, that he could sin with impunity, and escape its punishment in this world and the world to come.

And to satisfy a man that he is to be rewarded in the _future_ world for his righteousness in _this_ but persuading him, that virtue is attended with misery, and that so far as it failed to reward _here_, the balance is to be made up _hereafter_. Because the balance of happiness due to him _there_, is to make up the deficiency of happiness which virtue did not pay him _here_. And so far as virtue did not pay him here, must have been miserable in its practice. And the impression that sin is productive of many enjoyments, and that righteousness is attended with misery, has a tendency to make him choose the _former_ and reject the _latter_, and trust to a future repentance.

We often hear it proclaimed by those, who profess to be the guardians of the public morals, that the righteous have a hard course in warring against the corruptions of their heart, in the service of God, while the sinner goes on unconcerned and easy in the pleasures of sin. In doing this they defeat the very object, they are striving to obtain, which is the _conversion_ of the sinner. These very impressions are one obvious reason why so many continue in sin and reject the path of righteousness and peace, which alone conducts to a good name, that is of more worth than great riches, and more durable than silver and gold.

As then there is no happiness in vice, as all its allurements are deceptive and vain, how important that we should shun it, and pursue that bright path of virtue and peace, which will lead to the invaluable possession of a good name. Engaging in the cultivation of all the better affections of the heart, we shall by habit so refine our natures, that "loving favor" will take entire possession of our minds, and mould them into the spotless image of heaven. _This_ loving favor is rather to be chosen than silver and gold, for these will corrupt, and at last crumble into dust, while _this_ shall survive the ruins of death, and flourish in those peaceful realms, where our felicity will be unbroken and perpetual.