CHAPTER III.

On the Duties of the respective Classes of Society in reference to them.

PREVIOUSLY, however, to distributing them into their respective classes, we propose to include all, whatever class they belong to, who bear the sacred, but common, name of Christians. We begin, then, with considering

1. The duties of Christians in general.

Obviously bearing the impress of their divine Author on their front, attested by so" many infallible proofs," and, consequently, embraced by every Christian as the record of his salvation, and the unerring guide of his practice, his first inquiry, on every great question, instinctively is, What saith the scriptures? and happily, their answer is, unlike the Grecian oracles and the assumptions of infidelity, unequi

vocal, and cannot be mistaken. Nor is their adaptation to the actual wants of man more apparent in anything, perhaps, than in supplying him with information suited to every stage of his pilgrimage. They not only inculcate upon parents the duty of" training up a child in the way in which he should go,"-of " bringing them up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord," and of "commanding their children to keep the way of the Lord, and to do justice and judgment;" but they address young men particularly in a manner at once the most touching and the most interesting. Their precepts are embodied in facts, and exhibited in operation ;method of teaching universally admitted to be the most effective. The moral picture is painted to the life. None can mistake the likeness. Instead of a laboured description of the nature of the fear of God, you have it exemplified in the history of Joseph, preserving the chasteness of a Hebrew slave unsullied amidst the most fascinating and lucrative charms; sup

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planting revenge, when in his power, by infusing brotherly kindness; and suppressing pride, when, as "lord of all Egypt," he might, instead of publicly expressing his affection for his venerable father and his before envious brethren, have coloured over his conduct, in declining to acknowledge them, with the pretence that he should offend the court, since, being "shepherds," they were" an abomination to the Egyptians."

At the time, moreover, when almost all Israel were wholly given to idolatry, Obadiah, though governor of the house of Ahab, and living immediately under the eye of Jezebel, yet, " fearing God from his youth," hid one hundred prophets of the Lord, and fed them with bread and water during the severe famine which raged in Samaria ;-teaching us that none, however elevated in the scale of society, are exempted from performing offices of kindness, even to the persecuted and the suffering, notwithstanding its unpopularity; and that the love of man is inseparably

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connected with the "fear of God." The histories of Josiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and Timothy, partake of the same character, and breathe the same spirit.

The conduct of these persons clearly met with the Divine approbation, and ought, for that reason, to be adopted by young men universally; and if by them, then should every facility be afforded, since "Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning."

Independent, however, of this, the obligation to imitate our heavenly Father, who "maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust;" who requireth us to "love our neighbour as ourselves, and to do good unto all," must be binding upon all, because they are commanded. Young men, then, being of course included, their claims upon Christians bear the same proportion as their importance to society generally an importance clearly recognised in scripture, since two of the books, Pro

verbs and Ecclesiastes, are devoted to their instruction.

And, indeed, he only can, in the very nature of things, be deemed a Christian, who endeavours to imitate the example of Christ, as far as it is imitable. But, as already stated in the preceding chapter, when a young man applied to him, it is said, "Jesus loved him." Every Christian, therefore, is a lover of all such.

And we

are assured that it shall be announced before an assembled universe, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. The obligation is therefore clearly binding upon every Christian.

Nor can it be denied that every Christian, worthy of the name, possesses a public spirit, a desire to benefit all his species as far as his time, his opportunities, his circumstances, and his talents permit. Considering, then, that God "hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth;" that all have the same Almighty