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(Concluded from page 563. )
By
Miss L. R. J.
No
course of reasoning can reconcile the existence of
evil with the idea of a just and merciful God.
Nothing but faith in His expressed word can do this;
nothing, save the belief in the immortality of the
soul, there revealed, which teaches, that “when the
wicked spring up like grass, and the workers of
iniquity do flourish, it is that they may be
destroyed for ever.” Nothing but the perfect
humility, only to be derived from the contemplation
of the lessons of nature and of history, while our
studies are conducted in the spirit of perfect faith
in the goodness of the Author of all, can render us
happy here, or give us hopes of future
happiness.—Thyself, then, regard as nothing, God, as
all; thy reason, as a free gift from Him, to enable
thee to enjoy the other lower gifts, with which He
has so profusely furnished <<609>>thee, to help thee
to improve thy condition in life to judge between
good and evil; and gradually to remove the evils
which have come into the world with knowledge, until
earth, renewed and pure, shall be fitted for the
reception of the king, who is to reign over the
nations when all men shall know the Lord. Thy faith
regard as the link which connects thee on earth with
the angels in heaven; which is required as the test
of thy obedience, and once given, exalts thee above
all the casualties of earth, and makes thy happiness
independent of all that man can give, or can
inflict.
Truly happy is he who can say, ”I have found it,
there is a higher gift than happiness; we can do
without happiness, and instead thereof, find
blessedness.”
Religion, it must appear to every thoughtful mind,
if anything, must be everything to us; since all
human pursuits and enjoyments are but “vanity and
vexation of spirit,” and here is promised eternal
peace and happiness; offer up, then, thy reason, as
a pleasing sacrifice to its Giver; and doubt not,
but even as that Patriarch of old, who did not
refuse his only beloved son, when God required him
at his hand, “thy faith shall be accounted to thee
as righteousness.” Believe then in all things good
and true, and let thy reason assist thee to remove
the “evil which is the shadow of good.” Have faith
in the age thou livest in; it is only because it is
nearer to thee, that thou seest that it is less good
and beautiful than earlier times; those days we only
see as they are engraved upon our imaginations by
the graphic pen of the historian, whose province was
in those times considered to be, to tell how crowns
were lost and won, battles fought, prisoners taken,
cities built, and governments formed; and if we
should desire to compare our time with former ages,
it would be well to turn to books where there is by
chance, to be caught a glimpse of “the people” of
those prosperous nations; as, for instance,
Macaulay’s late History of England, where we may
see, that a hundred years ago there was a vastly
greater amount of suffering, pauperism, and of
course, less freedom, in the kingdom of Britain,
than at the present day. Let this be some
consolation, when we think of the ill-paid
seamstresses, the labourers thrown out of
employment, the starving Irish. Let us believe,
<<610>> that it is not that there is more suffering
than of old, but that the ear of pity is now
beginning to be opened to the cry, while the
blessings of education have reached to the poor, and
they are now able to speak for themselves.
Have faith in yourself, believe yourself to be
capable of good and great things, and you will be
able to perform them when the opportunity offers.
Have patience, although you find yourself, once and
again, breaking the good resolves you have made. It
is an insult to your Creator, to believe that He has
given you the longing to do what is right, without
the power to accomplish it; believe, too, that the
earnest wish counts for something. It is not a
truth, what men say, about the use made of our good
intentions.
Have faith in your fellow-men. Believe a man
truthful and honest, until you have found him
otherwise. For one fault, do not wholly cast away
your brother; there are spots even upon the sun;
even though he sin again and again; bear with him
for his sake, who has borne long and mercifully with
us. You know not how even the vilest may have been
tempted ere he fell; you do not know, if you had
been in his place, that you would not have done
likewise; therefore, “deal gently with the erring.”
Instead of harsh upbraidings, meet him with mild
remonstrance; his heart may not yet be all wrong,
but society has driven him away from the good, and
he has no resource but to go on in way he has
chosen. If no great temptation has ever assailed
you, think of the lesser ones to which you have
yielded, and do not dare to despise your brother,
who “has but stumbled in the path that you in
weakness trod.”
Above all things, have faith in thy God; trust to
Him thy body and thy spirit, in child-like
confidence in his strength and knowledge of our
weakness; we are all but children to Him, and it is
but filial love and duty that He desires from us. I
remember reading long ago, that the only truly
sublime moment in life was when, in the earnestness
of prayer, the whole soul went forth in adoration of
its Creator. It seemed strange to me then; for I
thought of noble actions of which I had read and
heard, of patriots who had died for their country;
martyrs who suffered <<611>>torture rather than
renounce their religion; friends who freely gave
their lives to save each other; but I now see, that
though the noble actions of man proceed from the
same feeling that prompts our prayers, yet our best
deeds often partake of selfishness, and cannot be
compared to the state of mind, at the moment when
all earthly environments, losing their hold upon our
senses, our pursuits appearing to us in all their
real insignificance, yet receiving their due weight
as duties allotted us, and innocent pleasures which
we do well to enjoy, a ray of glory descends from
above, and illuminates, as by magic, the hardships
and trials of life, until it appears to us a
privilege to bear them, in proof of our obedience.
When offering, in perfect abandonment of self, our
souls at the feet of the Almighty, we catch a
glimpse of the eternal heaven, and, for the first
time, not only know but feel that it will exist for
us, when earth, “like lingering music from some harper gray, passes away.”
True faith in God will teach us to make the
distinction between religion and a religion,
and we will see, that though men, owing to diversity
of opinion, worship God in many different ways,
they may all be acceptable to Him, if they possess
the essentials of belief in Him, and practise his
chief statutes. Form is but the dress of
religion,—useful, as it gives us duties to perform,
which make us think often of our Creator, and
connect his service with our common actions. To
belong to a particular sect is eminently useful, as
most persons can find one or another with which they
can agree, and they will be more apt to attend
public worship regularly, therefore more apt to
regard the Sabbath and other holy days. Our love of
God should surely lead us to respect those whose
lives are devoted to his service. There is no nobler
office than that of expounder of the law, and we
should be very slow to assign mercenary motives,
much less hypocrisy, to those whose first duties are
to teach the principles of self-denial and truth. Do
you ask if I think one of these who weekly admonish
us of our duty, would continue to do so only from
love for us, and without pay? I suppose it is
necessary for preachers to live, and so their
congregations do pay them sometimes barely enough to
keep body and soul together, <<612>>and that, I
suppose, you may think a sufficient inducement for a
man, who is expected to be educated and moderately
talented, to give up a hopes of wealth, or in some
cases even a competency, to bury himself in a
country-town, and week after week, and year after
year, by unwearied efforts to try to turn his flock
to God. Of course all preachers are not worthy of
their trust, any more than all lawyers, or doctors,
or merchants; if there is really a fault to be found
with one of them, let it be known, but do not
condemn men by classes, whether congregations or
ministers.
I
think, with Robert Moore in “Shirley,” that “there
are rogues in all Classes of society, among the rich
and the poor, and with those who enjoy the blessings
of a competence, and in all seats; for it is human
nature; but don’t tell me that any class is all bad,
for I know better.” Hypocrisy there may be, and
often too a want of charity in professors of
religion; but it is not religion that is to be
charged with these faults. Members of the same
church would be found more numerous who despised
these things. Let it not hurt the cause of religion,
that some of her votaries would sustain her by
violence and illiberality, by loud denunciations of
those who differ from them. It is not religion that
speaks. I think it is Carlyle who says, “When a man
gets angry, he has ceased speaking for the truth,
and speaks for himself;” and, amid all the bickering
and jostling that the passions of man will cause, is
it not consoling to think that faith demands
compliance only with the laws of God, the laws of
goodness and truth, and that the forms and opinions
which divide different sects are none of them
essential; that we are free to choose as our
judgment shall direct? Believe with me that all is
for the best, that all that is required of us, is to
“do well that duty which is nearest to us, which we
know to be a duty,” and leave the rest to God, in
our actions and in our studies, keeping Him still in
sight, as the centre around which all things must
revolve. |
