A Sermon Preached on the Anniversary of the Boston Female Asylum for Destitute Orphans, September 25, 1835

A Sermon Preached on the Anniversary of the Boston Female Asylum for Destitute Orphans, September 25, 1835

Upon your first application to me for a copy of this sermon to be printed, I respectfully declined giving it, because it was not prepared with the slightest reference to such a result, and more especially because it has been my uniform practice to abstain from appearing in this way before the public, when I could with propriety do so. To your renewed request, and the reasons you state for making it, I feel myself constrained to yield, although my own conviction in regard both to the character of the discourse itself, and to the inexpediency of such publications, except in very special cases, remains the same. If, however, its possession, as you imply, can afford gratification to any one interested in your most excellent institution, I ought not perhaps to be longer influenced by a consideration which relates merely to myself in withholding it. I therefore commit it to you, and am, How merciful and gracious is our Heavenly Father in presenting to us his commandments, united with the promise of ample rewards to those who will obey them. As the author of our being, the creator and preserver of our means of existence, and our sources of happiness, he has an unqualified right to our constant obedience and our best services. Yet he treats us as if we were in a measure independent of him, and as if our faculties and possessions were an underived property, for he demands of us no duty or sacrifice for which he does not offer an abundant remuneration. And even to the performance of those duties which are in themselves a source of gratification to the well regulated mind, the inducements are greatly increased by appendant promises. We might not think it remarkable that labor and sacrifices, and self-denial, should be encouraged[6] by the hope of reward; but even the delightful offices of mercy and charity will be remunerated, and heavenly blessings will hereafter be showered upon the heads of those who may now be enjoying the luxury of doing good. Surely I address myself to those who know that there is a pleasure in deeds of beneficence,a pleasure the noblest and most delightful of which our nature is susceptible. And you my brethren, must have had experience of this sentiment, or vain will be my efforts to unfold to you the subject that is before me. I appear in behalf of the destitute orphan, and if I thought I had need to convince you that there is a sweet and abiding satisfaction in relieving those who are truly objects of charity, I should be utterly discouraged at the outset. But such is not to be my ungrateful task; for I see around me those who I doubt not have often realized the pleasures of beneficence, and have often bestowed their charities upon the simple impulse of generous feeling. I would now, however, present to you a more exalted motive to beneficence than its secret pleasures. I would show you that it is not simply a gratification you can enjoy, but a solemn duty which you must perform; and therefore that your charities are not to be governed by momentary impulses, but by settled principles, and that you are to do good not merely because you[7] take delight in it, but that you may secure the favor of God who has commanded this service. And as I have observed that where our Heavenly Father has put forth a commandment, he has also annexed a reward to induce us to obey it, so in our text the duty of beneficence is presented in the form of a beatitude, like the introductory precepts of our blessed Lord's sermon on the mount. "He that hath a bountiful eye shall be BLESSED." ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 24404
Author: Wainwright, Jonathan Mayhew
Release Date: Jan 22, 2008
Format: eBook
Language: English