The Faithful Steward | Page 5

on principle, the donation, though
inconvenient would have been made, and souls saved.
Such is not unfrequently the mournful termination of impulsive
benevolence. Tears may be shed over the anguish wrought; but tears
cannot remedy the evil; this must flow on in wailing and woe forever.
But it may be prevented by the timely admonitions of experience. For
that selfishness can be suppressed, and benevolence sustained, only by
the strong hand of principle and systematic effort, is the voice of ages.
VI. From Scripture. All duties enjoined in the Scriptures, if
contemplated in their principles, will be found subjected to the control
of reason; and, if they lie under the control of reason, they must be
conducted methodically. All acts of worship, from the first requisition
of Divine homage given in Eden, onward through the successive
generations of the patriarchs, were to be performed with decency and in
order. The Mosaic economy was one of the most rigid exactness. The
ritual prescribed to the Jews required the utmost method. The same law
held in regard to the payment of tithes and their multiplied gifts to the
Lord. This precision, with which every one must be struck in reading
the Old Testament, is doubtless designed for the instruction of all
succeeding times. But what is its peculiar lesson to us? It, at least,
shows us that God is pleased with regularity in the conduct of his
people; and not less in their beneficent transactions than in the
discharge of their other duties. The same principle of order is
transferred to Gospel times. Here, there may be liberty, but there must
be regularity. This is taught in that general commendation of Paul to
the Colossian christians for the order and steadfastness that rejoiced
him. (Col. ii. 5.) But if regularity in other things is pleasing to God
under the New Dispensation, why is it not in this divinest work of an
intelligent being? This is specifically shown in the injunction of Paul to
the Corinthians,*[1 Cor. Xvi. 2.] for each one to lay by him in store on
the first day of the week, as God had prospered him. Now, without
pushing this text to extremes, and affirming that the Holy Ghost
intended to require of all christians in all circumstances and in all ages,

to contribute a portion of their substance in charity every Sabbath, the
passage most distinctly shows that God is pleased with systematic
benevolence--with stated appropriations of income to objects of
munificence. As order is nature's first law, so it is of the Scriptures.
System in our benefactions is thus clearly a duty devolving on all. It is
alike the voice within and the voice from heaven. It cannot be neglected
without imminent peril. It is a subject of vital interest. It must be deeply
pondered. It must be earnestly prayed over. The great idea must enter,
like a consuming fire, into the very heart's core, and inflaming it with
zeal, bring forth fruit an hundred fold to the Lord.
One thing more. Every man is bound to make the most of his being. All
his powers, both of body and of mind, are to be taxed to the utmost, and
exerted in the most effective manner. Each duty, without intrenching on
others, should be performed in such a way, as best to secure the end
aimed at in the obligation. Manner may not be disregarded. If there is
reason to believe that the end contemplated in the obligation to
beneficence may be best reached by a course of systematic effort, the
very fact should lead to its immediate adoption. At the close of the
preceding arguments, without reasoning in a circle, this may be
adduced as a consideration of no small force, inducing every one to cast
about him, and solemnly consider whether he is conducting his
charities in the most efficient method; manner and spirit being as
binding as the generous deed itself. And on this principle, every precept,
promise, and example of revelation, enforcing benevolence, is really a
precept, promise, and example, arousing to systematic benevolence.
The same is true of the various incentives to this glorious work, offered
in the ensuing pages; and in this light let the reader regard them.
_In the second place, what is the Nature of a Scriptural System of
Beneficence_? This is an important inquiry. Every system, as we have
seen, must be founded in principle--a principle rooted in the active
powers, resting down upon the main-springs of the soul, so as to be
moved forward by all the mental energies combined. But it must not
only rest on principle; it must rest on right principle. The moral
character of a system depends on the character of the moral feelings

from which it rises; and it is the moral character of