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SERMON XV.

1 CHRONICLES XXII. 16.

"Arise, and be doing; and the Lord be with thee."

THESE were the words by which David, a short time before his death, encouraged his son Solomon to fulfil the vow of his father to build a temple to the Lord. In committing to his son this sacred trust, David enumerated to him all the costly materials which he had prepared for that magnificent edifice; he told him, also, that God himself had appointed Solomon to accomplish the promised work. Finally, he exhorted his son to be strong and of good courage. "Arise," said he, "and be doing; and the Lord be with thee." My friends, let us consider these words of sacred admonition as addressed to us. There is a work to be done, a great and glorious work, assigned to each one of us by our common Father. He himself has furnished us with the materials, and has commanded each of his children to raise, to his glory, a temple that shall endure longer than that of Solomon, longer even than the vast temple of nature that surrounds us with overwhelming grandeur. That great work assigned to each one of us, that glorious temple to be raised by each hu

man being, what is it but the inner man, the moral and religious character of the individual? God has made us rational and moral beings, endowed with the power of wisdom and of goodness. He has revealed to us, by his own Son, how to employ these rich materials, laid up in our nature, in order to make the human character a living and everlasting temple of the Most High. By precept and example the Son of God has shown us how to lay the foundation of this inner temple, not on the quicksands of fortune and men's favor, but on the rock of truth and justice. He has taught us how to support it by unwavering faith, how to deck it out with the beauty of holiness, how to raise it to heaven by heaven-aspiring love.

My friends, if it is our intention to make our own character what it should be, a strong-hold of moral independence and a sanctuary of truth and love, -if this is our real purpose, we must not wait for others to work for us; we must not wait for God himself to do our duty, and work out our salvation, and thus to sanction our own indolence by unmerited favors. If we would build up our own character, that it may be an accepted temple of the Lord; if we desire him to be with us in this our appointed work, as he was with his servant Solomon, we must follow David's advice. We must arise early in the morning of life, and, until its latest hour, we must be up and doing.

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We are admonished, by our text, and by the whole tenor of Scripture, to seek the approbation of God, and, consequently, our own happiness, not in idleness, but in action, in the vigorous and faithful exercise of

the faculties with which God has endowed us.

"If

ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them," says the Saviour.

But this admonition to seek happiness in action, in constant doing, is at variance with a very common opinion among men. They believe, that happiness is to be found in being at rest, and that rest consists in doing nothing. This notion I conceive to be an error; an error, too, which is the cause of much evil, and, still more, a great impediment to good. I intend, in this discourse, to make some remarks on this opinion of rest, first, in considering it as a matter of speculation or theory, and then in its practical consequences.

As a matter of theory, it seems easy to show, that perfect rest, instead of being the highest object of human desire, is, on the contrary, to be dreaded as the greatest evil. If rest consist in doing nothing, the perfection of rest is death, the entire absence of mind, life, and action. Even the enjoyment of doing nothing, and the very idea of it, are acts of the mind; and so long as man has any idea or emotion left, he cannot be said to be at rest, if rest consists in doing nothing. Indeed, the meanest plant, which is putting forth some faint semblance of life, is a more perfect being than man when thus entirely at rest. Perfect rest, then, instead of being the highest good to be desired by man, is, on the contrary, to be dreaded as the greatest evil.

The body, indeed, requires occasional rest, and the mind, also, so far as its operations in this world

depend on the body; but even this rest is enjoyed only when it is subsequent to faithful labor, and conducive to renewed exertion. Even in a sound sleep, while the senses are closed, and the muscles, which are used for external action, are at rest, nature is still at work in winding up, and repairing the machine for new and more efficient action. The life of the inner man, the essence of the mind, consists in action. It is the nature of the human mind not to be satisfied with what it has done, or is doing, but to be constantly aiming at higher pursuits. Thus, the intelligent mechanic is not satisfied with going through a uniform set of manual operations; but he is, at the same time, thinking of some more ingenious and useful contrivance. The intelligent farmer is endeavouring to find out some still better mode of cultivating his land. The man of science is aiming at the discovery of unknown truth; the artist at the conception of still more beautiful forms.

Action, then, is the life of the mind; and the only rest it delights in, the only true rest of the mind, consists in a change of labor, an harmonious variety of occupations. He, whose mind has been engaged in hard labor, or hard study, finds rest, either in innocent recreations and interesting conversation, or in learning the news of the day, or in the enlivening dreams of poetry, or in the inspiring truths and the soul-stirring exercises of religion. As there is, in the world around us, a succession of day and night, and a change of seasons, so in the world within, in the wonderful economy of the mind, there is a va

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riety of pursuits, succeeding and relieving each other. The mind, when weary with one occupation, finds in another that true and perfect rest, which invigorates it for renewed and ever-growing action.

Let us now attend to the practical consequences of that erroneous idea of rest, as being the chief object of human desire. Let us consider the effects of this

notion, first, upon the present life, our daily pursuits and our religious exercises on the Sabbath; and then its influence upon our views of the life to come.

How many times do we see men putting forth all their faculties of body and mind, with an energy worthy of the highest object, for no other purpose than that, by doing much for a time, they may place themselves in a situation that enables them to do nothing. Indeed, it is very common among men to speak of two distinct classes in society, of laboring people and men of leisure; and the happiness of men is measured in proportion as they belong, more or less, to what are sometimes called the lower and the higher classes in society.

But mark the course of those who have obtained the highest aim of their worldly pursuits, wealth, or an illustrious name and standing among men. Wealth, acquired by industry, becomes a curse to the possessor, unless it be used by him as a means of enriching his mind with sound knowledge, and acquiring treasure in heaven by ministering to the wants of his fellow-men. But the acquisition of knowledge, the improvement of our minds, requires great intellectual effort; and charity toward our fellow-men calls for

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