SERMON DELIVERED AT THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH, BOSTON, JUNE 7, 1819, ON THE EVENING PREVIOUS TO THE SAILING OF THE REV. MIRON WINSLOW, LEVI SPAULDING, AND HENRY AS MISSIONARIES TO CEYLON. BY MIRON WINSLOW, A. M. ANDOVER; FLAGG AND GOULD, FRINTERS, 1819. SERMON. PHILIPPIANS ii. 21. “FOR ALL SEEK THEIR OWN, NOT THE THINGS WHICH ARE JESUS CHRIST'S." THE Christian religion, in distinction from all others, is the religion of benevolence. Its divine Author, when a world was perishing and there was no eye to pity, left the mansions of heaven and came into this dark world to sojourn among his creatures-his enemies, and die that they might live. When all we like sheep had gone astray, on him was laid the iniquity of us all he was wounded for our transgression; he was bruised for our iniquity; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and by his stripes we are healed. By his humiliation, in which he was despised and rejected of men, and by his bitter sufferings, in which he had not even the consolation given to his faithful followers in the hour of anguish, he purchased everlasting redemption for all who believe in his name; raising them from the ruins of the fall, and placing them on thrones at his right hand. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. The spirit of benevolence thus exhibited is the spirit of Christianity. Christ commanded his followers to love one another even as he had loved them-with a disinterested love stronger than death and superior to all the narrow distinctions of family, sect, or nation. They were not to love their friends only, but their enemies; not themselves, but their neighbours as themselves. He taught that all men are brethren; that they should live together as members of the same family, sympathizing in each other's joys and sorrows, and seeking not every one his own, but every one his neighbour's good. As he had laid down his life for them, so they ought to lay down their lives for each other. This was the new commandment he gave unto them; new as to its extent, and the motives which enforced it. Men had before been commanded to love one another. It was required by the Mosaic law, and indeed by the light of nature; but not to love one another even as Christ had loved them: such love had never been displayed in the universe, and could, therefore, have no existence even in idea. On this principle was Christianity founded: a principle at once the most simple and the most grand ever presented to human contemplation :-simple, because easily applied-"do unto others as ye would that others should do unto you;" and grand, because in leading each individual to seek the best good of all, it prevents all clashing of interests, and like the principle of gravitation in the natural world, secures harmony to the whole sysEach individual has his appropriate circle, but all revolve round a common centre, to which they are attracted by the love of benevolence. tem. Opposed to this principle is the spirit of selfishness, which makes all seek their own. In the natural man it is predominant; entering into every feeling and graduating every desire. He confines his views to the narrow sphere of private interest, and revolves round himself as his own centre. The remains of it are found in Christians; they all seek their own. In proportion as the heart is unsanctified, selfishness retains its dominion. It displays itself even in the concerns of religion. The private Christian satisfies himself with seeking his own salvation, almost regardless of the multitudes around him, perhaps within his influence, and certainly within the reach of his prayers, going blindfold to destruction. The minister of the Gospel, who professes to be exclusively devoted to the good of the Church, and who ought to embrace the most extended plans of benevolence, too seldom lifts his eye beyond the horizon of his own parish. Be it the merest hamlet of the country, to him it is the centre of creation. It engrosses all his thoughts. He cannot talk of doing good abroad, while there is any thing to be done at home. Even those, who are most active and enlarged in their charities, have something of this spirit. A man fixes on a plan for doing good-it interests him-he pursues dently. By bringing it frequently before the mind, it magnifies and soon fills the whole vision. The consequence is, an almost entire devotedness to this single object. No matter what it is, there is scarcely any other method of doing good; none certainly to be compared with this. it ar But it may be said, this is not selfish. God has so formed us that we must operate where we are; he has made it our duty to seek first our own salvation and then principally that of our neighbours and of those more immediately within the sphere of our influence. We We pro |