The Sun.
London, England, 1826-01-25 00:00:00

OUT OF DEBT OUT OF DANGER.

The following remarks on the miseries attend-
ing getting into debt, is extracted from a sermon
of old Dr. Chartery, of Wilton. This truly
venerable men, who ,was as much distinpished
by kindness of heart, as by clearness of head, bothwhich qualities he retained unimpaired to ex
treme old age, died several months ago, with the
same tranquillity that had distinguished his chaq
ratter .during a long life of humble and pious uses
fulness.

"To be out of debt is accounted a part ofhappiness. Debt
haunts the mind.; a conversation about justice troubles it; the
sight of a creditor fills it with confusion ; even the sanctuary is
not a place of refuge. The borrower is servant to the lender. A
life at another man's table is not to be accounted for a life. It
is mean to flatter the rich. It is humiliating to be the object
ofpity. To be the slave of unattainable desires is to be despi-
cable and wretched. Independence, so essential to the virtues
and pleasures of a man, independence can only be maintained
by setting bounds toour desires, and owing no man any thing. A
habit of boundless expence undermines and destroys the virtues
even in a mind where they seem to dwell. It becomes difficult
and at last impossible to pay punctually. When a man of sen-
sibility thinks of the low rate at which his word must hence-
forth pass, he is littN in_ his own eyes ; but difficulties prompt
him to studyi deceiving as an art, and at last he lies to his cre-
ditors without a blush. How desolate and how woful does his
mind appear, now that the fence of truth is broken down
Friendship is next dissolved. Hi felt it once; he now insin-
uates himself by means of professions and sentiments which
were once sincere. He seizes the moment of unsuspecting
affection to ensnare the friends of his youth, borrowing
money which he will never pay, and binding them for debts
which they must hereafter answer. -At this rate he sells the
virtuous pleasures of loving and being beloved. He swal-
lows up the provision of aged parents, and the portion of
sisters and brethren. The loss of truth is followed by the
loss of humanity. His calls are still importunate. He pro-
ceeds to fraud, and walks on precipices. Ingendity, which
in a better cause might have illustrated his name, is exerted
to evade the law, to deceive the world, to cover poverty
with the appearance of wealth, to sow unobserved the seeds
of fraud. As bankruptcy approaches, temptations thicken.
He makes a last grasp with his expiring credit, and takes what
he" can once more from his friends and neighbours, from the
ignorant and unsuspicious; purchasing goods at any rate from
all that will trust Inm,..and selling them tor immediate payment
at an undervalue ; thus he ripens all for the day of bankruptcy.
EVen to a man of principle, upon whom guiltless calamity has
brought that evil day, it is it day of sore temptation ; an effbrt
of virtue is required to stop when he ought to keep nothing bag,
to be impartial.. To the unprincipled man that day is the tri-
umph of iniquity. He surrenders nothing which he can secret,
tramples on human la ws,and takes God's name in vain.He Is par-
dal to his creditors,insults those whom he has injured,and piques
himself on the tranquillity with which he can bear to he called
a villain. One would think, when the bustle of affairs is
over, painful reflections must arise on friends whom he has de-
ceived—on relations whom he has brought to want—on neigh-
bours whose kindness he has abused—on the savings of the
frugal labourer which be has seized, frustrating their hopes of
temperate, honest joy—on the staff of the aged which he has
withdrawn, casting them on the cold and scanty arm of public
charity—on the portion of the poor, the widow, and the father-
less, upon which he has laid his sacrilegious hand ; but his
heart is hardened against the relentinga of humanity rhe
reaps the harves he has sown, and proudly riotspn the
wages of
iniquity."

RELIGION IN AMERICA.--.A series of lectures,
grounded on Paley's Natural Theology, and
Chuknees Astronomical Sermons, is now deliver-
ing in the Masonic Hall, at Philadelphia, on the
afternoons of Mondays and Thursdays, at four
o'clock. The first part in the, series, is on th°
subject of astronomy, accompanying an outline
of that science : other branches are to follow.
This has been commenced without public notice,
but the large and highly respectable class almost
entirely fills the room. It augurs well, when a
disposition to mark the wisdom, power, and good-
ness of our Creator, as displayed in his works,
increases. The more the mind is led to contem.
plate " Him by whom all things are made," the
more the heart is improved. We look upwards in
adoration and learn to be humble. A consider-
able sum has been raised by means of this course
to romote the spread of the Gospel.