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Les diagra.nmes suivants illustrent la mAthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 I THE TENURE OF PROPERTY, AND NATURE AND aUALITY OF EVIL. TWO ESSAYS, k BY THE KEY. R. B. WIGGINS, A. M. SAINT JOHN, N. B. J, & A. MCMILLAN, PRINTERS, PRINCE WM, STRSET. 1863, n •I c c s r c ;i 8 1 f I t *rHE TENURE OF PROPERTY. There is au excessive eagerness in the natural mind of man to acquire possessions on tlie earth, to get all they can, and to keep all that thej can get ; and this property, so acquired, is called theirs, to control as they please. The title is called '' indefeasible," is ^^ warranted'' against all other claimants, and is declared, in the language of the deed, to " endure for ever !*' The first question that naturally arises on the subject of a title to property is " How was this property acquired?" How did you, A. B., ac- quire au individual claii^ to the estate Vv^hich is called your own ? To put the strongest case, the answer would be, " I acquired the title by ren*- dering the full equivalent in the honest exercise of my faculties. " But, w; Ao gave you the faculties ? iNay, who made that very conjunction of circum- stances, by which the exercise of these faculties lias resulted in wealth in your case, while higher faculties and noble energies, have resulted, it may be in other cases, in earthly poverty, or the means of mere bodily subsistence ? By com^ mon law, tlisrefore, the iitlc is recognized to be Divine, and the property is holden under tenure from the Lord of the Universe. He granteth to whomsoever He will ! Kow, the Lord gives no absohite titles ; gives neither property nor possessions to His creatures im conditionally. There is a covenant in all His deeds to this effect ; That only is yours which you are willing to use for the benefit of the neighbour; cither in relieving directly the press- ing wants of others, according to your ability, or in controlling your property in the way of busi- ness for the benefit of society. The absence of this motive nullifies the title to what is claimed as your own, and renders you the unjust posses- sor of that which belongs to the rightful heirs. By this common scnsei^view of the case, we sec at once that vast numbers of the human race have no legal title whatever to their own posses- sions, and are consequently trespassing on the domain of the original owner. We are not now arguing the case with those wdio deny the " Law'' on this subject ; but with those only who ac- knowledge the Lord as the rightful proprietor, s^d who can therefore convey his own pro^^erty on his own tferms. ^'\Now this is what we call the philosophy of teaching. We are not touching the case in tb^ mere natural point of view ; we are not question- ing the bodily right of owning property in any county, state, or kingdom ; but we are regarding man as something above the animal ; we are re- garding him as a rational, intelligent, and im- mortal being, who has nothing that has not been originally given, to him, and for the exercise of which gifts, or talents, he is held strictly ac- countable by the Infinite donor. It is important therefore to get rid of the abus<3 of language, by which we so often call things ours^ to which we really have no claim. This custom is fraught with ruinous consequences, for it fosters the disposition to believe that what wc nominally possess properly belongs to us, that all we gi\ e to others is properly our own, and that unless this principle is recognised we shall decline to give at all. We thus preclude the wish to bene- fit others, apart from the feeling that we are the re- cognised benefactors, and thereby render the very act of outward charity the means of extending more widely the baneful principle of self-love. Strictly speaking then, that only is ours which we hold subject to the original Giver: or, in other words, that onl^^ is ours which we are will- ing: to control for the oood of all, — for on that i »ble condition is it given. To seek anything as onr own, therefore, is justifiable only with the view of being able to give ourselves away in the active uses and charities of human life. This applies especially to what is called " seeking a living," which living itself is necessary to us, as the preparation for a life of varied duties in the world. Why, is any man insane enough to be- lieve that the Lord has given to him. the especial right to possess property and talents solely for his own gratification ! That he is allowed to hedge himself within the circle of mere selfish- ness, without reference to the greatest good of the society in which he lives ! If the life of well doing,— of diffusing what happiness he may aroun4 him, is not the end in vie v, then the mere accumulation of property becomes only a blight and a desolation. There is something absurd, to the degree of being ridiculous, in a mere creature calling any- thing his own ! AVhy, who gave it to you, and who can take you away from it, or it away front you, at any time, without your own consent ? A pretty claim to property to be sure! A valid iiile indeed, with a broken covenant on your part. It is yours, man, in the strict bodily gense; it is yours to count, to gloat over, to leave behind you when you die : but you cannot use it, in the. highest sense of the word; it is not even your servant to fetch and carry for you, because it cannot make you wiser or happier. It is yours only as the record of blighted facul- ties, of good things left undone, and of high and noble hopes desolated for ever ! Why then falsify human language, and abuse the human faculties, by speaking and acting as if wealth and possessions were our own, and to be recognised under false titles ? Wealth, un- blessed of God, is not wealth ; for it can belong to nobody on earth, and makes n ^^ Iv- :ich ! It is enchanted wealth, and has i "^nce ex- cept in the minds of the insan^*.^ hey see is not gold and silver: only touch it van- ishes from sight. There is a spell upon it, and no one shall ever be the better for it. This is the simple philosophy of the fact. We make the most of this life, depend upon it, when we apply it to the next. It tells then, for the seed time is here, and we cannot sow afterwards. We must look well to the tenure of property, of all that has been given to us in the way of talent, wealth, or influence. There is a covenant in the deed, by which the holder of any property is bound to make earthly good the lueans of heavonly good, and incipient wealth in tikis world the means of ultimate advancement ia the wokid to come. The title is thu& perpetu- ated, and the iuheritanee becomes an ''indefeasible inheritance." "Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of tinrighteousness, that when ye fail, they may receive yoa into everlasting habita- tions." The old dramatist has well remarked ; Nothing truly can be termed m, awn. But what I make mine own, by using well. These deeds of charity which we have done. Shall itay for ever with us, and that WesUh, Which we have so bestowed, wc only keep. And the epitaph of an Italian noblema^i conveys the same truthful lesson : What I spent, I had; What I gave, I have ; What I leave, I /os2. I 1 i. y ■„'ja4»fi THE NATURE AND QUALITY OF EVIL AND THE DISTLNCTIONS OF SOCIETY. S 1 m^mP ? Evil belongs not m Tely to tlie external, but to the internal man. All men act upon this trutb, for they know that men are not ab lys what they seem to be. Circumstances may mould the external character into a becoming form ; but principle alone ca.x render the man internally good. Remove the desire of approba- tion and the dread of censure, the promptings of self-love and self-interest, and you may measure the degree of goodness which exists within. If man cannot institute this inquiry in the case of others, he can do it in his own case ; and as the world is made up of individuals, the exact truth of the principle may thus be universally tested. This acknowledgment places men naturally on the same footing, or makes them much more like each other than they appear to be. They will be seen from this point of view, to be standing :-.^ 10 on a common gro'^nd, and to exhibit the features of one vast brotherliood. The claims to any in- nate superiority of principle will be laid aside, and the existing virtues will be found to prevail just in the proportion that principles have been acquired and duly exercised. Thus the man who has great knowledge and no corresponding practice, will be found more depraved than the man who is ignorant of high principles of action, liowever reckless his conduct may be. In this point of view, it is easy to see that the wayward one, may be a very child in innocence compared to the man dwelling in mere external decencies without the restraints which the gospel imposes upon him. Might not this doctrine be rendered very practical i^ recovering to society those who are supposed to be lost to it ? Might it not be a very useful lesson, in some cases, for the tine gen- tleman and the fine lady, dwelling at ease, and lounging listlessly through the world, to ask themselves, Wha^ein they differ from the outcasts of society around them ? What made them to dif- fer ; and whether, if their circumstances had ori- ginally been reversed, they would not now necessarily be in each other's places? The solu- tion of this question ni'ght be eaaily given, by inquiring into the quality of the dispositions that 11 are at present manifested by those who clai. ^t be superior excellence. Do they regard the lost,- ^, persons to be saved, if possible ; or, utterly indit v ferent to the woes of others, do they allow the erring and the wayward to go down hopelessly to the grave ? If theirs is the superior virtue, where is the record of efforts made to reclaim the erring, rule the wayward, and cheer the poor lonely souls, that are desponding under the trials and calamities that assail them? Alas ! has it not often been, and is it not now, extensively true, that power and affluence and easy life have been the shield to protect the false and the evil from the tears and the righteous indignation of the injured and the oppressed ? There is often a great deal said about the de- pravity of the lower classes, of the hopelessness of the lower classes, and of the ingratitude and so forth of the lower classes. But what consti- tutes the lower classes; and who are they who come under the head of the depraved, the hope- ' less, and the degraded ? What is the exact meaning of these words, and how are they to be applied to human creatures? Is it to the inter^ nal, or to the external man ? Is there no inter^ nal depravity in cases where the outside is appar- ently m fair and beautiful as the apples of the 12 6ca ? Is tliere no ingratitude and no de- ^..v^ity in claiming God's gifts as their own ^)roperty, and in claiming also the right '' to do what they will with their oavn? " Is there no hopelessness in cases of unmixed sellishness, in cold blooded and calculating expediency, in the maxims of mere worldly policy, and the utter dis- regard, in consequence, of all the principles and the spirit of the Kew Testament ? Are there no records in that Book, showing who are the de- praved, the hopeless, and the ungrateful ? Were they not the influential members of Society at that time, dwelling in their palaces, and rolling olf in their carriages to the Sanhedrim, who re- iccted the Saviour and nailed Him to the cross ? \7ere they not externally decent in their con- duct ; nay, blameless in their observance of all the conventional usages of society, tithing the very '^-nint, anise, and cummin " of an externally religious life ? Yes, thei/ were the lower classes, and the abode of misery to which they were con- signed in the future world were correspondingly dark and deep. " The publicans and harlots go iiito the kingdom of Heaven before them." Tlie time is coming when the Truth must be adapted to the state of the public mind, and be tau<>-ht in its hio-hor and interior signification ; o o when words must have meaning, and must be applied to the things that correspond to them. In this vocabulary, which is now forming in the minds of all noble and generous hearted men, the lower classes signify the earthly, the selfish, and the malignant classes, notwithstanding the conventional terms of worldly life to the contrary. The lower classes therefore arc those who receive much from the Lord, and who give nothin.*?, in return, to the neighbour for whom it was given, and wiio thus live in the confirmed practice of a <' breach of trust." The lower classes are those who io:nobly wear out the energies of life in sel- fish indulgence, instead of performing active ^ uses to society for the love of use itself, and who thus squander in wasteful excess what might otherwise benefit and bless the suffering poor ; these are the dishonest among men who spend upon themselves what belongs to the rightful heirs. The loiver classes, in a word, are those who, with all the means and appliances to boot, to benefit and bless their fellow creatures, allow ignorance to exist in the essentials of religion, destitution to prevail in the physical man, vice ^ to grow up rank from childhood, and all the dis- orders of sense and sinful passions to result in one wide spread gangrene upon the face of soci- 14 ety. It is the mission of the highet classes to protect and watch over the lower classes for good ; and until this work is done by the higher classes to the extent of their ability, they forfeit their claims to lead and influence Society. Let none then claim to be of the higher classes, who are not willing to act up to the dignity of their mission by quelling the riot of earthly and sinful passions in themselves first, and then contribut- ing to the extent of their ability and opportunity to make the world wiser and better. They who have rights have the consequent duties ; and to claim the title and rank of the *^ higher classes," without fulfilling the duties of that claim, is an affront to the human understanding, an outrage upon reason and common sense, and a bold and unqualified defiance of the precepts of the New Testament, and of His authority who gave those precepts to be obeyed.