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MORAL INSANITY.

Preached at Vicksburg, 1841.

"I am not mad, most Noble Festus."-Acts 26: 25. The learned Paul was esteemed a maniac. And in reference to one greater than Paul, it was said, "he is beside himself." And how often has the same charge been brought against ardent Christians in our own day. -Glowing zeal for the truth, devout reverence for God, pungent sorrow for sin, occasional rapture of devotion, or uncommon fervor in prosecuting some great scheme of benevolence, have often been viewed as evidences of mental derangement. But is the charge just? Let us examine and see. Mental derangement usually exhibits itself in the form of monomania-i. e., derangement upon some particular topic, while on all other themes the mind retains its equilibrium. None but idiots manifest entire mental fatuity. It is only when unduly occupied by some one train of thought, or when indulging in some darling passion, or when prosecuting with intemperate ardor some favorite object of pursuit, that the intellect becomes unsettled. Hence, it is a most rare phenomenon, to meet with an individual frenzied or insane, whose business or situation in life requires him frequently to change his trains of thought, or to pass, in pleasant transition, from one occupation to another. And it is a fact of frequent occurrence, that those who have lost their intellectual balance, have found immediate relief from a change of scenery or oc

cupation-from traveling, music, literary pursuits, or the conversation of persons of sprightly conversational powers.

Now, if such be the cause, and such the cure of mental alienation, how can experimental religion ever make a man a maniac? Experimental piety, wherever healthful and scriptural, precludes entire and undivided absorption in one train of thought or one species of emotions, to the exclusion of all others. It calls into exercise a great variety of mental powers, and gives indulgence to every species of emotions and pursuits. Does it create fears, it also creates hopes. Hath it sorrows, it hath also joys. Does it inculcate gravity, it likewise enjoins cheerfulness. Does it demand attention to the concerns of the soul, it is equally explicit in enforcing attention to the claims of the body. Does it call for the exercise of love to God, it is equally pointed in commanding love to man. Let then the religion of the Gospel exert its legitimate power upon the mind and heart, and it will serve as a complete system of checks and balances, precluding, in its very nature, everything like mental insanity. The thoughts it begets, the feelings it enkindles, the duties and pursuits. it inculcates, are too diversified to lead to such a result.

But experimental religion is not only not the cause of insanity, it is often its cure, or its preventive— "ministering to a mind diseased, and plucking from the heart a rooted sorrow." Religion forbids violent grief, and violent anger-excessive mirth or excessive melancholy-frantic wailings for the dead, or wild bursts of joy at the sudden attainment of wealth or honor. It pacifies a guilty conscience, removes the pangs of remorse, curbs the fiend-like passion of revenge, imparts contentment to the lot assigned by Providence, and removes the terrors of death. Oh, how often have we

known it to come suddenly to the rescue, like an angel of mercy, seizing the stricken spirit from the grasp of some foul fiend, and preventing the lunatic's vacant stare, the maniac's gloom, or the madman's frenzy. Therefore, can that which prevents insanity, ever cause it? Can the antidote become the bane? "Can the same fountain send forth salt water and fresh."

A celebrated medical gentleman, at the head of an English lunatic asylum, has informed the world, that "moral impulses very rarely produce insanity." And he states that he came to this conclusion from the sedulous treatment of nearly 700 cases of the disease, only one individual of which number had become insane from a religious cause. He had frequently been informed that some particular patient had become religiously insane. But whenever he had obtained an intelligent history of the case, he uniformly found that the individual had exhibited symptoms of insanity, before he became a religious devotee.

LOVE OF MONEY.

Missionary Address in New Orleans, 1860.

How universal and idolatrous is the estimate which mankind attach to money! Although there is no possession more uncertain, none more destructive of peace of mind, none more productive of crime and prodigality among children, yet there is nothing after which the majority of men grasp more eagerly, and for which they are willing to make greater sacrifices, than for this. The Scriptures declare that "the love of money is the root of all evil," i. e., all kinds of evil have had their origin in the love of money. There is no species of evil, whether physical or mental, which has not, at some time or other, originated here. The sin of covetousness is, in some respects, the most heinous and dangerous sin of which man is liable.-It is so, not merely on account of its direct and positive effects, but also because of the many plausible and winning aspects which it is. capable of assuming. It can transform itself into an angel of light. Under the commendable plea of taking care of the family, or laying up in store for old age, or providing something for the cause of charity, it can impose upon the most cautious, until it finally takes entire possession of the soul. Covetousness is almost the only sin which is tolerated in decent society. Profaneness, drunkenness, and sensuality must often hide their heads; while covetousness, because of its genteel and frugal aspects, rears its head unrebuked and

unabashed. Covetousness is the only sin which is tolerated in the Church. A professing Christian dare not be grossly immoral, but he dare be covetous. As the loss of one of the five senses renders the others more acute, so, the giving up of the common and grosser forms of vice, by some persons, when they become members of the Church, imparts to this darling sin a tenfold power. And while men of the world commit all sins without restraint, covetous members of the Church concentrate their corrupt nature upon this one. Hence it becomes intense, absorbing. The moral power of the Church is lowered, her energies are crippled, and multitudes bow down before the shrine of Mammon. Bunyan tells of some pilgrims, who, on their journeying to the Heavenly City, were induced to turn aside from their road, to look at a silver mine, recently discovered in a little hill called "Lucre." "Now," says the great dreamer, "whether they went down therein to dig or were choked by the fumes that arose from the bottom, I know not. But they were never heard of afterwards." O Christian, beware of "covetousness, which is idolatry." Let the case of the rich young man, "who went away sorrowful, because he had great possession "-let the fate of Achan, who "perished not alone in his iniquity"-of Judas, who sold his Master "for thirty pieces of silver "—of Ananias and Sapphira, who "kept back part of the possession" and "lied unto the Holy Ghost," serve as solemn warnings of danger.

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