mining upon such a private system of
beneficence as his means, his relations to God and to the wants and woes
of our species, demand. To refuse this system of benevolent principles
and correspondent actions, therefore, is to refuse to be spiritually
minded; is to refuse to exhibit consistency of holy conduct; is to
refuse to exert all our powers and embrace all opportunities to do good;
in a word, it is to wear a blot on our Christian name which many waters
can never wash out.

Hence the beauty of the system,--general and particular--here presented,
is that, resting down on the eternal and changeless foundations of the
spiritual universe, and consequently harmonizing with the spirit of
Revelation and with the laws of mind, it rises up and expands into a
beautiful exhibition of the fruits of the Gospel, the legitimate product
of its holy precepts. It gives no encouragement to the idea that God's
favor may be secured, or duty done, by any mere external system of
munificence, any farther than the external system proceeds from right
affections and sound principles. It must originate in the renewed
heart, be nourished by the life of grace, and increase its
productiveness as light and holiness increase in the soul. In its
perfect development, _it is the full and symmetrical development of the
Christian character_.

Thus it is a system equal in its pressure, and therefore adapted to
fasten on the conscience of every one, whatever his age or
circumstances. No one can justly plead exemption from its claims. None
can reasonably propose questions of casuistry to shield his bosom from
its shafts. None can shake off the convictions of duty it impresses,
but by shutting its principles from the mind, or by rousing the heart to
resistance. In short, it leaves every man to himself, facing his God,
his conscience laid bare to the quenchless rays of truth.

CONCLUSION.

Who will refuse thus systematically to reflect, to feel, to resolve, to
give? Will you, professed follower of the self-denying Jesus? Can you,
"bought with blood divine," when looking around on the possessions God
has bestowed, have a heart to deny that aid which undying millions
demand? Is it not beyond expression inconsistent to profess to give
yourself to Christ, and then withhold your property from him?--But what
are your relations to him as implied in this profession? and what are
his claims upon you, as growing out of it? With the last tribunal and