THE

CHRISTIAN ECONOMY:

CHAPTER I.

MAN.

1. Son of eternity! thou art of much greater worth than the grovelling insect beneath thy feet: assert thy superior privilege; be wise and wonder.

2. Raise thine eyes aloft and contemplate yon heavens, the lofty dwellings of Jehovah: behold that gorgeous sun, walking in brightness through the skies; and consider thyself as a spark of his light, a ray of unextinguishable glory, a child of immortality.

3. Let joy swell thy bosom, let conscious and becoming pride sparkle in thine eye triumph in thy lofty descent: pant after the blessings of thy Father's kingdom: sigh for eternity!

4. Son of mortality and death! Son of sin and corruption! be humble: know and feel thy depravity; so shall shame and confusion hide thy face, and lay thee prostrate in that dust whence thou wert taken, and whither thou shalt surely return.

5. If soaring on the wings of an eagle with the bright eye of contemplation, thou canst steadily behold the dazzling lustre of thy lofty descent;

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6. Lower than the lowest deep must thou sink when turning thine eyes inward, and beho.ding the long train of evils which eclipse that splendour and obscure the whole Deity in thee.

7. Born to dwell in light thou art in utter darkness; created to reign in life, death triumphant holds absolute dominion over thee.

8. Thy heart is evil: thy every intention prone to iniquity: Inclination clad in false smiles allures thee to sin: behold thy will consenteth, and thou hast offended.

9. Tremble, oh Earth! ye heavens be clothed with thick darkness! and oh, ye Stars, withdraw your shining! a son of your God, an heir of immortality, a soul breathed from the eternal Divinity, hath fallen, hath sold and forfeited his birthright; and who shall recover him?

10. Oh that my life could ransom thine, that the death of man could preserve thee from destruction !

11. But what can man? his whole is not sufficient for himself; how shall he add to the light balance of another?

12 AH I have is thine: all I have is from thy rich abundance, great, glorious, and unexhausted Fountain of power, and wisdom, and mercy, and goodness!

13. When unerring obedience shines before my footsteps; when the servant hath performed his lord's every command, what reward awaits him! this was his duty.

14. If failing in one tittle, can future diligence and full compliance at all propitiate the past of fence, at all reconcile or justify the offender!

15. Full compliance and unwearied diligence, unerring obedience, before was but duty; after transgression, remaineth it not the same!

16. Be wise, now, oh ye children of reason; ye sons of imperfection, listen and be wise.

17. For one trespass-behold and tremble!man maketh not atonement :—who amongst men committeth but one trespass!

18. Perfection shone in our first sire, before he listened, ate, and was undone : full as the beaming glory in yon bright eye of the heavens, pure as the virgin splendour in the queen of night; the whole image of the High and Holy one was resplendent in him:

19. Through envy of the devil came death; the woman was deceived the man partook of her crime.

20. He fell, he died to his immortal living; the light of Jehovah vanished from his breast.

21. He fell and became the slave of death, the heir of corruption: sin and sorrow at once entered into the world.

22. We are the sons of fallen Adam:-how then must we not be fallen! how then must we not be slaves, frail and corruptible!

23. Thy bosom, my friend, my brother, proclaims it; the truth is deeply engraven on thy perfidious and treacherous heart.

24. What then is thy hope! where doth it dwell

that I may search it out! where is that happy pilot that shall steer thee aright to the harbour of eternal life!

25. Thou wast born for eternity! thy soul anxiously panteth after it: thou hast not a thought but witnesseth this pleasing hope.

26. For what son loveth not his father's house! what mortal loveth not the place of his nativity!

27. Thy trespasses are daily, and yet one trespass is sufficient to darken all thy expectations of glory!

28. Miserable man! weep and lament: death and hell lay fast hold of thee: already thou art condemned: how shalt thou be delivered from these destroyers, and from this condemnation!

29. Blessed are they that mourn! be comforted, burst forth into singing, son of consolation: behold I point out to thee the never failing pole star; spread thy sails, therefore, and make the harbour of rest.