A Goodly Heritage

In the discussion of every subject, it is of great importance to ascertain, and to fix with precision, the meaning of the terms by which it is expressed. More especially in those cases where, as in the present instance, the principal word has acquired, by the changes of time and the usages of society, more senses than one. In modern times the word   charity   is often employed to signify almsgiving—a circumstance which has thrown a partial obscurity over many passages of Scripture, and has led, indeed, to the most gross perversion of Divine truth, and the circulation of the most dangerous errors. We shall in this treatise substitute for   charity , the word LOVE, which is a correct translation of the original. Of what   kind   of love does the apostle treat?   Not of love to God, as is evident from the whole chapter; for the properties which are here enumerated have no direct reference to Jehovah, but relate in every instance to man. It is a disposition...

My Dear Brethren—Grace, mercy, and peace, be with you, from God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ. You cannot have forgotten, that, on the first sabbath morning of January, when discoursing to you from 1 John 5:14, 15, and showing you from this scripture, the rule and encouragement of prayer, I proposed to you a subject, with much solicitation and earnestness, as an appropriate matter of supplication for the present year—that subject was,  the increased holiness of the church.  Through the sovereign mercy of God, and the outpouring of his Spirit upon the preaching of the gospel, and the administration of religious ordinances among us, we have now become a large community of believers, amounting nearly to eight hundred members—a fearful as well as joyful number for me to consider, when I recollect that  for   the spiritual care of each one of these immortal souls, I am to give account in the day of final judgment!  How much do I need, and how urgently ...

THE NATURE OF TRUE RELIGION All other questions, compared with this, are trifles light as air—or but as the dust of the balance. Philosophy, literature, commerce, the arts and the sciences, have, it is true, a relative importance—they soften the manners, alleviate the evils, multiply the comforts of life. Yet it is impossible to forget that they are the mere embellishments of a scene which we must shortly leave—the decorations of a theater, from which the actors and spectators must soon retire together. But true religion is of infinite and eternal importance, and develops its most significant consequence, in that very moment when the importance of all other subjects terminates forever. A mistake in the nature of true religion, persisted in until death, is followed by effects infinitely dreadful—and of eternal duration. You should bring to this inquiry, therefore, my children, a trembling solicitude to be led in the right way. Some ...

The detection of deceit, if not a pleasant employment, is certainly a profitable one. That man deserves well of society who puts them upon their guard against a dangerous impostor. The object of this section of my book is to expose the greatest deceiver in the world, whose design is to cheat you, my dear children, not of your property, nor of your liberty, nor of your life—but of what is infinitely dearer than all these—the salvation of your immortal soul! His success has been frightful, beyond description. Earth is full of his wiles—hell of his spoils. Millions of lost souls bewail his success in the bottomless pit, as the smoke of their torment ascends up forever and ever. Who is this impostor, and what is his name? Is it the false prophet of Mecca? No! The spirit of paganism? No! The ploys of infidelity? No! It is the human heart! It is to this that the prophet's description belongs—"The human heart is most deceitful and des...