ON THE INFLUENCE OF PRACTICAL PIETY IN PROMOTING THE TEMPORAL AND ETERNAL HAPPINESS OF MANKIND. A PRIZE ESSAY, WHICH OBTAINED ONE OF MRS. DENYER'S THEOLOGICAL Prizes, JUNE 1843. BY THE REV. FREDERICK POYNDER, M. A. WADHAM COLLEGE. Οὕτω λαμψάτω τὸ φῶς ὑμῶν ἔμπροσθεν τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ὅπως ἴδωσιν ὑμῶν τὰ καλὰ OXFORD, PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY J. VINCENT. 1843. 1419.e.85 4. On the Influence of Practical Piety in promoting the Temporal and Eternal Happiness of Mankind. THE real Happiness of man can only be attained by his acting up to the whole of that nature which God has given him. And it is mainly, perhaps, from a forgetfulness of this truth, that so many erroneous opinions as to the character of genuine Happiness are current among men. While their own happiness is the one end to which they are all alike desirous to attain, yet the means by which they strive to insure it are as numerous as are the men who employ them. Each marks out a path for himself, and diligently pursues it, with hardly any perceptible reference to one common standard; as though it were likely that real happiness were something variable in its nature, according to the taste of him who seeks it, and not indeed in itself definite, and only to be obtained by one and the same course of actions. Men erroneously suppose that the gratification of any desire, which at the time happens to be present to their minds, is in itself Happiness; and so they not unfrequently expend their lives in the pursuit of a variety of schemes, which bring them indeed a temporary gratification, but are altogether unable to render them permanently happy. While, however, it is true, that the real Happiness of man is the Happiness of his whole nature; and that they who seek to attain to happiness without bearing this truth in mind, must certainly fail in their endeavour; yet this, in fact, is not the main reason for which we are to strive to live as God would have us live. The true reason is, that God has com manded us to seek His Glory; that He bids us to bring our will into obedience to His will; to give up all our own ideas of gratifying self; to surrender our hearts to Him, and to acknowledge Him as our Father and our God. And the doing this is Practical Piety. Practical Piety is nothing less than the surrendering ourselves, all we have and all we are, to God. It is the doing so without cavilling, without presuming to inquire after any hidden reason for the propriety of the command which bids us so to do the complete acquiescence in God's appointment, and the honest endeavour to act up to it in all its requirements. Not indeed that the man whom this principle actuates, must of necessity seek to advance the glory of God in every action of his life. No man can do so, who has not attained to a degree of perfection which is, in our present imperfect state, unattainable. And He who created us, and who knows our weakness and imperfections, does not require us to perform impossibilities. The real question is, What is the principle which actuates us? In what direction does the current of our actions set? Are we merely desirous to consult our own interest and comfort, without reference to the honour and glory of God; or is it our chief wish to glorify Him by our own obedience to His commands, and also, by the consistently good example which we set to those about us, to induce them to do the same? It is our business now to shew that this principle of Practical Piety has great influence in promoting both the Temporal and Eternal Happiness of mankind. By man's Temporal Happiness we would be understood to mean all the Happiness which man can enjoy in time: whether that inward peace of mind, which results from a sense of the right performance of our various duties towards God and man, which indeed is the germ of eternal happiness; or that satis faction which is produced in every man's mind by an absence of harassing and distressing worldly cares, and by a ready acquiescence in all the appointments of God's providence. That Practical Piety is able to promote man's Eternal Happiness no one indeed will for a moment deny, who believes the testimony of the Word of God, as to the end for which we are sent into this world, and as to the manner in which alone that end can be answered. The Word of God assures us that we are not sent into this world in order to gain for ourselves a great name for worldly prudence, or to amass worldly wealth, but in order that we may become fitted, during our sojourn here, for the state which is to succeed our present existence. It as plainly teaches us that the only manner in which we can become fitted for this eternal state, is by obeying God's commands, and living as He would have us live. That the surrender, therefore, of our own will to the will of God, is likely to obtain for us an eternal reward, will be readily acknowledged by all who believe the Bible to be what it professes to be,-the revelation of the will of God. But men are by no means so ready to allow that their Temporal Happiness will be ensured by obedience to the commands of God. At all events, they are not ready to shew by their conduct that they believe this truth. They see many of their fellow-creatures living in disobedience to God's commands, and prospering in their disobedience. They see the ungodly attaining to great power-attaining to it, apparently, sometimes, because they are ungodly; because they do not scruple to raise themselves in the world by practices to which good men will not resort. They see that while such men are often prosperous, many whom they cannot but believe to be consistent professors of Christianity, yet do not enjoy the same measure of prosperity as others who are less scrupulous in B |