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stranger and took thee in; or naked and clothed thee; or when saw we thee sick or in prison, and came unto thee?" then shall the King answer, and say unto them, " Verily, I say unto you, inasmuch as ye did it unto the least of these my friends, ye did it unto me.”

Have we then any bowels of compassion towards our fellow-men, or any sentiment of gratitude towards God, if we withhold that liberal exercise of charity, which he has thus graciously promised to consider as done unto himself by imputation? Can we be daily and hourly partaking of the largesses of his providence, without making the return which he requires at our hands? Shall health, and peace, and friends, and happiness, be given and continued to us; shall we be blessed with length of days, shall we see our sons grow up like the young plants, and our daughters like the polished corners of the temple, and shall our garners be full and plenteous with all manner of store, while yet we feel no pity for the thousands and tens of thousands of the sons and daughters of affliction, who are doomed to a far different lot, from whom all those blessings have been withheld which have been given us in such abundance; and who are eating the bitter bread of poverty, or stretched upon the pallet of disease, or

of his God: and that if man has been born to sorrow as the spark flieth upwards, it is in order that, by feeling the vanity of earthly hopes, and the uncertainty and insufficiency of earthly pleasures, his heart may be weaned from its low attachments, and he may be led to seek for consolation and happiness in the humble and diligent seeking and serving of him, in whom alone is fulness of joy, and at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore.

But if the first and greatest of the uses of adversity be to lead us to the knowledge of God, the second in importance is to make us feel for our fellow-men, and to call into exercise our dormant charities. If the cultivation of the human heart form any part of God's wondrous plan of providence, uninterrupted felicity in this world would effectually mar it as far as that was concerned: for the benevolent feelings could have no play if there were no objects to call for the exercise of benevolence. They would remain locked and frozen in the human bosom, and be as incapable of manifesting themselves in the conduct of man, as if, instead of a heart of flesh, he possessed a heart of stone. Of what a beautiful creation, then, are sorrow and misery the authors, when to them we owe the existence of almost every thing that gives

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grace, or dignity, or elevation to character; of almost every thing humane, or generous, or courteous, or charitable; the seeds of which must have remained for ever unexpanded in the heart, if they had not been quickened and matured by those exhibitions of wretchedness, "which make us feel our kindred with a world where want and sorrow are," and in which it is unnatural to live without suffering either more or less affliction.

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What manner of man is he who can behold unmoved, the piteous spectacle of human misery which every-day-life exhibits? Truly, not such an one as either approves himself to his God, or recommends himself to his fellowIs he not pointed at with astonishment and viewed with aversion, as one destitute of the natural sympathies which should liken him to his kind? And if a hardened and an unfeeling character render an individual thus justly obnoxious to the severity of public opinion, does not this very circumstance ascertain for us what the condition of human nature would be, if every individual were hardened and unfeeling: or, in other words, if sorrow and misery, those severe searchers of the human heart, which seem to the superficial observer fraught with nothing but evil, were not permitted in the world?

It is thus, that we discover a beauty and a propriety in what at a first glance may have appeared a blemish and an imperfection in the providential government. God's dealings with us have their chiefest reference to the purification of our hearts and minds, and the development of our faculties and affections. As far as these ends are produced, the purposes of his providence are answered. As far as they are not produced, we frustrate his gracious intentions, and our own blindness and obstinacy are in fault. But his object vindicates his goodness. His means approve wisdom. And any failure on our part to reach the prize of our high calling, towards the attainment of which there is every thing to stimulate and to encourage us that should influence moral and reasonable creatures, only proves that fatal predominance of the animal over the spiritual part of our nature, which brought condemnation on the first man, and, as its consequences, entailed a curse and a punishment upon his posterity.

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We see then, my friends, that important as is the duty of relieving the distressed, it is subordinate to the still more important one of purifying our own hearts and minds, and renewing a right spirit within us. Indeed, it is

only as the former is subservient to the latter

of these duties, that it can be religiously commended. For it is then only, that it truly partakes of the nature of charity; and the holy ; Apostle tell us, that "though we give all our goods to feed the poor, and have not charity, we are as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal." We must consider the poor and the afflicted, then, as sent into this world for our discipline and improvement. It was with this view that the Lord of Hosts declared to the Jewish nation, that the poor should never depart out. of the land. And if we consider those who are weighed down by poverty or wasted by disease, as in some measure exposed to these evils for our sakes, with what kindly and generous alacrity should we not interpose to afford relief or administer consolation? If our good form any part of the cause why they suffer, are we not bound to sympathise with, and to lighten their sufferings? But if there be any truth in the conclusions to be derived from a careful study of God's word, and an attentive observation of his providence, this is actually the case. It is not more certain that the sun has been placed in the firmament for the purpose of giving light and heat, than that evil and misery are permitted in the world for the purpose of eliciting philanthropy and benevolence. The objects then, for whose

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