al feelings from which it
rises; and it is the moral character of any scheme of action, which,
under the government of God, gives it permanent efficiency; for to
succeed, it must have his co-operation and aid. Besides, a system of
benevolence is designed to combat the selfishness of the heart; a
principle, strong, subtle, insidious, and developing itself in ten
thousand different ways. Diametrical opposition to this, therefore,
must be its leading characteristic. The natural sympathies, and
conscience, and reason, must, indeed, be enlisted in its service; but
all these united are insufficient to support enduringly a system of
munificence against this formidable antagonist. For selfishness may
entirely submerge the sympathies, so that he who can weep with his
bereaved neighbor at the grave of his child, may, with the malignity of
a fiend, be inwardly pleased at the death of an enemy. Selfishness may
so control the conscience, that it will utter no upbraiding accents; and
so bewilder the keen-sightedness of reason, that one may put darkness
for light, and bitter for sweet, and sin for holiness, while
complacently feeling that he is standing on the everlasting hills of
truth. Neither the natural sympathies, nor conscience, nor reason,
then, can form the substantial basis of a system of action which is to
battle with the selfishness of the human heart. It must be informed
with a higher and nobler principle. Holy love is such a principle.
This, in its very nature, is superior to all other affections of the
soul. The object on which it is fastened is the Great Supreme, and all
other objects disappear before it, as the stars before the morning sun.
A system, then, inwrought with this heaven-born principle, controlling,
quickening, inspiring all the moral energies of the soul, may resist
this mighty foe of the heart; and it forms the only insuperable bulwark
to his malignant inroads. This position accords with the Scriptures.
They approve of no external act, only as it proceeds from a holy heart;
otherwise, they stamp it as self-righteousness or superstition. A
system of benevolent action, resting on any other foundation, falls
under the same condemnation; it contains no element of life, nothing
truly pleasing to God. Men may endeavor to find other bases on which to
rear schemes of charity; they may bring to the task the most penetrating
sagacity, and traverse again and again the secret windings of the mind,
to find