The fast and the cholera : a sermon, preached in the Unitarian chapel, Boston, on Tuesday, September 25th, 1849, (being the day agreed upon to be observed in the borough, as a day of fasting and humiliation, in consequence of the extreme prevalence of the cholera) / by James Malcolm, ... to which is appended, a brief, practical view of the Asiatic cholera, by A.G. Malcolm, M.D.

  • Malcolm, James, 1811-1855.
Date:
1849
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The fast and the cholera : a sermon, preached in the Unitarian chapel, Boston, on Tuesday, September 25th, 1849, (being the day agreed upon to be observed in the borough, as a day of fasting and humiliation, in consequence of the extreme prevalence of the cholera) / by James Malcolm, ... to which is appended, a brief, practical view of the Asiatic cholera, by A.G. Malcolm, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    thus a lesson of modesty, and moderation in our requests, may be learned. There are, for instance, intuitively known purposes of God, against the operations of which no depth of impiety could tempt us to pray. Thus, inordinate pas¬ sion has no piety : there is no room for the two in the same heart; they are Christ and Belial in the same temple. Ambition has no prayer. No man, with any proper appre¬ hensions of its real purpose and sanctity, dare come to ask the Father of men for power to crush His own image in His creatures. I know that there are who hesitate not to pray for success in battle over their enemies, but I know not the impiety that would dare embody the sentiment in these truthful words. Again, there is no prayer of envy, or of revenge, or of luxury, or of covetousness. The envious man would instantly feel his own sin, that he wanted ad¬ miration for God’s work—the vengeful, sympathy with God’s mercy—and the covetous and luxurious would in their contrary vices be equally convinced that their desires were in opposition to His appointment. Thus, although “ we know not always what we ought to pray for,” we all feel with an irresistible instinct, that there are some things for which we ought not to pray. Prayer therefore, is, not only, often, silently the rebuker of evil thoughts, but when properly understood, admonishes us against seeking, with our short-sighted wisdom, to change those laws that Infi¬ nite Wisdom has established. In these convictions, my friends, tt'ne piety seems to be enshrined. For what is true piety, if reliance upon the Supreme Wisdom be not entitled to that lofty appellation —a becoming respect for the power, wisdom, and goodness of the Almighty—an acting with a devout conviction that God is not a capricious or vengeful Ruler, but that, as his laws are just, so they are fixed, and that as sufferings come to us under these laws, so, under them too, remedies are to be found. To call upon Deity, therefore, arbitrarily to re¬ move a disease, when we may ourselves remove its aggra¬ vating causes, is simply superstition—nay, worse, for we suggest thereby, that we are wiser than the Omniscient One—that He has done wrong, and ought to be guided by us. J.(et us, then, confine prayer to its legitimate object— a devout aspiration after the highest things in the Universe, riches and life—the riches of the S])irit, and the ever-grow¬ ing life of the soul:—let us ask for these in sincerity and truth, and the blessing of God will assuredly descend upon our righteous exertions to obey all his laws, and we will feel strengtherjod in mind and body, to resist any threaten-