A man may possess benevolence, and be devoid of a spark of pure religion! (I mean a total annihilation of selfishness, which is the general idolatry of the world, for the dawn of religion, is the denial or mortification of self, but its meridian is a total crucifixion, or annihilation of self;) But it is impossible to possess a spark of religion, and be devoid of a benevolent disposition! I feel a spontaneous, propensity to compassion, but there is no religion, no virtue, no merit in it-it is natural to me. The native language of heart is my "And Oh my God is there no hour When I shall find it in my pow'r "In vain, alas! my heart o'erflows Why must I feel my brothers' woes, "But I this torture must endure; If a person has not grace to keep all the commandments, is it not better for him honestly to take the station of the publican in the gospel, and humbly pray, " God be merciful to me a sinner," than to act the im E e postor, the pharisee, and thus be a stumbling-block to philosophical unbelievers, and live and die the victim of a most fatal delusion, crying" peace, peace," when God has not spoken peace: there is hope for the poor enlightened penitent, but I have none for the proud blind pharisce. Will our blessed Saviour say on the last day to the selfish professors, who lent a deaf ear to my humble expostulations, "I was sick, and ye visited me." No, he will not declare a falsehood in the presence of assembled worlds, to save any impenitent delinquent. Those who wish to contribute their mite to save the aforesaid society from extinction, and lay up treasure in heaven, can gain further information, relative to its utility and disinterested philanthropy, by calling upon DANIEL M CURDY, brewer, Trenton, where donations in old clothes, or cash, will be thankfully received. Written by A Friend to humanity. When you read this, please to hand it to your neighbour, and this little, almost no favour, if granted with sincere pity to the poor, will not lose its reward in eternity; For By heaven the helpless and the poor are sent, To try your hearts-relent then, friends, relent! Parents who are very wealthy, would confer a special favour upon their children, as well as their poor neighbours, by leaving each of them an annuity of 5 or $600 per annum. to be received only quarterly, and to distribute the rest for the relief of the poor. By this means their indigent neighbours would be relieved, and a bowl of intellectual poison removed out of the reach of their own children. 99 of The foregoing pieces Mr. Crooke generously published in his paper without pay. The following piece, "A FLAMING SIGN," &c. I also wrote for his paper, but left New York before it was published, but not before I saw the advertisement of the managers the theatre, who most generously granted my request, and published that Mr. Simp-.. son would deliver the address. Mr. Scudder also granted my request, and most elegantly illuminated his museum and grand panorama, and gave the profits of two nights to the poor. May kind Heaven abundantly reward these benevolent and ingenuous men. Their grant ought to be equivalent to 7000 dollars for the poor, as they did not even reserve pay for the candles. A FLAMING SIGN, To the Citizens of New York, both seen and felt. Monday Morning, Feb. 6, 1815. Yesterday morning I made arrangements to leave New York, with bitterness of heart at the consideration of spending three or four weeks of time and expense, dancing attendance upon the clergy, declaring to them my tale of woe, both verbally and in private letters; as well as 3000 public and pathetic addresses intended to stimulate them to commisserate the miserable poor this miserable winter-but all in vain. I therefore sat down to address, in pamphlet form, a few remarks to the anti-professors of religion, as the professors would not listen to my tale of woe, and those that did listen would not understand. I finished my pamphlet about 10 o'clock at night, and was aroused from my intermitting slumber and visions of calamity, by the cry of fire, and the tolling of a number of church bells, about midnight; when it powerfully struck my mind, that those repeated conflagrations in New York, (about fifteen in five weeks,) with the loss of about 500,000 dollars, were awful intimations of divine. displeasure. which are only preludes to more fearful judgments on the rich who will not pity and relieve the poor, For To sympathize and melt at human woe, 66 This impression will no doubt be considered the offspring of enthusiasm, as was my solemn warning, declared to N. Bonaparte 11 years ago, via his minister Talleyrande, all of which has literally come to pass.--See my Preliminary Essay, page 275. I foresaw the approach of war seven years ago, and declared the same to the American population.--See my Paradise Displayed," page 146. And I foresaw two years ago the change in our national affairs, and the approach of accumulated calamities in this. country. See my " Beam of Celestial Light,” page 130. But I would ask, is there any thing in this miserable world, that can attract the approving glance of the supreme divinity more effectually, than the tear of pity stealing from the eye, and trickling down the cheek of the fair philanthropist, and dropping upon perishing old age or starving infancy. And if any thing can force the reluctant and lingering wrath of Heaven upon a city, surely it must be when the Almighty parent beholds his rich children, and those too who have the word religion always playing upon their lips, and yet forsooth behold, with dry eyes and callous hearts, the bitter sufferings of their poor fel |