feelings more deeply." We are sure that we are not to understand this as if it were designed to countenance the common mistake of narrowing the meaning of the words, practical and useful, so far as to exclude the labors of the Imagination, and the results of high art. And we would fain hope that there is no settled purpose of retiring from a field on which so much honor can be won. Society cannot willingly permit those, who are able to present good thoughts and pure sentiments in the fascinating shapes of poetry, to relinquish their peculiar province for other departments of labor, for which the thousand are abundantly qualified. As well might the old Prophet have thrown off his mantle, and dropped his scroll, in order to follow the plough, or handle the hammer.

ART. VII.—t. The Duties of Hard Times. A Sermon preached to the First Church, on Sunday Morning, April 28, 1837. By its Minister, N. L. FROTHINGHAM. BOSBoston: Munroe & Francis. 1837. 2. Views of Duty adapted to the Times. A Sermon preached at Portsmouth, N. H., May 14, 1837. By ANDREW P. PEABODY, Pastor of the South Church and Parish. Portsmouth: J. W. Foster, and J. F. Shores & Son. 1837. 3. The Temptations of the Times. A Discourse delivered in the Congregational Church in Purchase Street, on Sunday Morning, May 7, 1837. By GEORGE RIPLEY, Pastor of that Church. Boston: Hilliard, Gray, & Co.

1837.

4. The Hard Times. A Discourse delivered in the Second Unitarian Church, and also in the First Parish Church, Portland, Sunday, January 1, 1837. By JASON WhitMAN. Portland: Arthur Shirley. 1837.

We are glad that these discourses have been published, and regret only that many other excellent ones upon the same topic, of which we have heard, have not also been given to the public. The clergy, in our cities and large towns, have very generally, we believe, taken occasion to preach upon the times, to present to their parishioners and fellow citizens thoughts, suggested by the existing commercial embarrassment,

and to urge upon them those duties and virtues which, always important, are peculiarly incumbent at a season of so extensive depression, anxiety, and distress. And in this the clergy have done rightly and been faithful to their trust. Christianity is never more powerful, never gains an easier access to the mind, or a firmer hold upon the heart, than when it is made to bear directly upon the actual circumstances in which men are placed. It is then felt to be a reality, to have something in

Its adaptation to human condition and human wants is more distinctly perceived. A willing ear is opened to its teachings; a respect for it is awakened, and men turn, with confidence and faith, to its truths for instruction, to its principles for guidance, to its hopes for support and consolation.

And seldom has a condition of things occurred in which the instructions, guidance, support, and consolations of religion were more needed than at present. An extraordinary, wide-spread, and almost unexampled commercial embarrassment prevails. Many are obliged to say to their neighbors, like the steward in the parable, "have patience with me, and I will pay thee all; "" and many cannot promise even so much as this. History, we believe, presents not a case exactly parallel to the present. Action and reaction, ebbs and flows there have ever been in all human affairs, and ever will be. The various branches of industry and commerce have not in any country been for a long period exempt from them. Seldom, however, has the commercial world been so extensively and deeply convulsed as at this moment. The causes of this embarrassment come not within the province of this journal. They are so widely removed also from our usual course of study and pursuit, that, although we may have in common with the whole community a general apprehension of them, in some measure correct, any attempt to discuss, analyze, and explain them could only indicate our presumption, and would exhibit perhaps, not so much our penetration, as our ignorance. But the moral aspect in which this embarrassment is to be viewed - the moral benefits that may be expected to result, or that ought to be gathered from it, the moral duties that grow out of it, or are incumbent on us while under it, these fall within the sphere of our object and labors; and we may be allowed to occupy a few pages in illustrating and enforcing them.

A dark cloud overshadows the whole face of society. Gloom is upon many brows, anxiety in many hearts. We VOL. XXII. -3D s. VOL. IV. NO. III.

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would do what we can to dissipate that cloud, to change the gloom to cheerfulness, the anxiety to peace of mind. There are moral and religious considerations that can do this. There is a conviction, which all can have, of more worth than the treasures of a world; the conviction that a man's life consists not in the multitude of his possessions, but in the purity of his own thoughts, in the consciousness of his own rectitude and integrity, in the strength, depth, sincerity, and holiness of his religious hopes and affections. But independent of this conviction, which can at all times lighten the burden of calamity, the most unreflecting mind cannot fail to perceive, that blessings and benefits will flow from the present difficulties. If we take at first but a narrow view of the subject, and look only at those cases of individual suffering and distress, those instances, sad and painful, of individual reverses of condition and prospects, which come under our own observation, the deep and respectful sympathy excited in behalf of those who are called to meet them, is soon changed or lost in reverence and admiration, at the many noble, generous, and Christian qualities, the energy of character, the strength of principle, the warmth and purity of heart, which these reverses serve to develope and exhibit; qualities before unknown to their possessor, or to others, because nothing had occurred to call them out.

Even in ordinary times, it has been generally found and admitted that,

"There is some soul of goodness in things evil,
Would men observingly distil it out,"

We

and in times of difficulty and trial, of reverses and misfortune, this goodness displays itself in rich and often unexpected abundance. It thus displays itself amid the present embarrassments in instances, that do honor to human nature. know not but some cases of fraud, intrigue, and duplicity may have been disclosed also; but if they have, these only serve, like the black setting of the diamond, to increase the lustre of integrity and moral worth. Characters are now placed before us in a new light, and virtues and affections exhibited for whose development prosperity afforded little opportunity. Rectitude as unsullied as the light, principle as unbending as adamant are found, where only a worldly and prudent policy may have been suspected to exist. Instances are heard of in which disinterestedness has proffered its aid, or gratitude made

its acknowledgements, in ways which make it difficult to determine which is most worthy of admiration, the generosity or delicacy of the act. Many have had their own hearts made better, by witnessing the firmness, fortitude, patience, and sympathy exhibited by the hearts of others.

This benefit will at least result from the present difficulties. They will, in most if not all cases, develope, strengthen, purify, and exalt the characters, both of those who suffer and those who sympathize, increase our respect for human nature, our reverence for moral virtue, our confidence in man. Suffering there is already; more there unquestionably will be. Many of the industrious will be thrown out of employment, the dependent and infirm deprived of their stay and support. Many of the young will have a blight brought upon their early prospects, cares they little expected will gather around them, sacrifices they did not anticipate it will devolve upon them to make. Many of the old will see the fruits of a long life pass from their hands, associations that have been strengthening for years broken up, hopes of retirement from business and freedom from care, that were on the point of being realized, disappointed, and life, as it were, opening upon them anew, with its burden of duties and responsibilities. But as are their days so shall their strength be. Their energy will rise with the necessity for exertion, powers of which they were all unconscious will be called out, qualities they knew not to be theirs shall be developed, and amid the falling away of earthly hopes, they shall learn themselves, and teach to others, the worth of that hope which the vicissitudes of earth cannot disturb.

There will be then much individual improvement of character, under the individual cases of reverse and misfortune which occur. In extending our view to the general influences of the present embarrassments, it is obvious that one of the first and most valuable of these will be a check upon that extravagant estimate and overstrained pursuit of wealth, which are marked features in the character of the nation and the times. That such a check was needed and will be a blessing to the social and moral condition of the community, cannot be doubted. We were getting to be almost insane upon the subject of wealth. The lust of accumulation has ever been the root of much evil among men, but in this country several causes have naturally operated to give a strong impulse to this passion.

Our political organization is that, which offers the widest scope to enterprise, and applies the strongest stimulus to ambition and exertion, while, at the same time, it produces a state of society in which wealth is necessarily the principal distinction, the surest and readiest of attainment, and therefore the first and most eagerly sought. In other countries, large portions of the talent, the ambition, the enterprise of the community are drawn off into other channels, or slumber in the possession of hereditary rank or entailed wealth. Here all these are directed into this one broad channel, engendering a restless, anxious, impetuous emulation, exciting to gigantic enterprises, and begetting an entire absorption of the soul in one great thought, the amassing of a fortune. Our physical condition also, has coöperated with our political organization in producing this effect. A new country like ours, of almost unbounded extent, rich beyond comparison in resources, whose rivers, forests, mines, valleys, and mountains are daily unfolding means of wealth and progress, apparently incalculable, naturally awakens in its inhabitants earnest and insatiable desires, and marks their conduct by a thrifty despatch in getting rich. We have had also more than twenty years of uninterrupted peace, save the limited and temporary disturbances on our Indian borders; in addition to this they have been years of unexampled improvement in arts and manufactures, and in the applications of science to the increase and diffusion of the comforts and luxuries of life.

These causes have greatly added to the interest and importance which, in all countries and in all times, have been attached to the pursuit and possession of property, and were fast forming us to a national character, which would give us a name, but not a praise throughout the earth. And the influence of these causes has not been all bad. Great benefits have in many respects flowed from the activity, enterprise, and emulation they have engendered. We had a vast, an almost illimitable territory, and much of it has been occupied, subdued, cultivated. Towns have been built and cities reared, mountains levelled, and valleys filled, and distant places brought near, and the wide wilderness of nature changed to a garden of human civilization, comfort, and luxury. These are the stupendous changes that have been effected, the social benefits that have been diffused by these causes; changes and benefits that seem almost to be the work of magic, so rapid have been their course and extension.