" "When
thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut the door,
pray to thy father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in
secret shall reward thee openly." (Matt. vi. 1 & 6.)
And the rule, by parity of reason, is extended to all other virtues.
I do not think that either in these or in any other passage of the New
Testament, the pursuit of fame is stated as a vice; it is only said that
an action, to be virtuous, must be independent of it. I would also
observe that it is not publicity, but ostentation, which is prohibited;
not the mode, but the motive of the action, which is regulated. A good
man will prefer that mode, as well as those objects of his beneficence,
by which he can produce the greatest effect; and the view of this
purpose may dictate sometimes publication, and sometimes concealment.
Either the one or the other may be the mode of the action, according as
the end to be promoted by it appears to require. But from the motive,
the reputation of the deed, and the fruits and advantage of that
reputation to ourselves, must be shut out, or, in whatever proportion
they are not so, the action in that proportion fails of being virtuous.
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