they see men without homes, and without food and clothing, but they think not of the deeper wants of the soul. They are concerned for the afflicted and the dying, and would gladly afford them relief; but they think not of the diseases of the mind, they show no anxiety to minister to the health and happiness of the immortal soul. There are multitudes of parents, who are as anxious for the welfare of their children in the present world, as parents can well be, who yet appear not to have the slightest concern for the welfare of their children in the world to come. They will do any thing to promote the health of their children's bodies, the comeliness of their persons, and their prosperity in the things of the present life; but as for the health and comeliness of their children's souls, and their welfare for the world to come, they appear not to have given them a single thought. These things ought not so to be. If we would imitate the goodness of God, we must love the souls of our

children and of our fellow-men, as well as their bodies. We must not forget their bodies, but we must be still more careful not to forget their souls. While we provide for our children the things which are needful to the body, we must especially bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. While we feed the hungry, and clothe the naked, and visit the sick, we ought especially to endeavour to feed with knowledge, and clothe with righteousness, and bless with purity and peace and joy, the souls of all mankind.

3. Again, the benevolence of our Heavenly Father aims at the greatest possible good of which his creatures are capable, at bestowing on them the utmost amount of happiness that they are capable of enjoying. This is the case with respect to the human race. He is not content with giving us something, he seeks to communicate to us every thing: he would not have us merely to taste of his love, he would have us to be filled with all his fulness. His object is to raise us to the highest pitch of knowledge, and holiness, and joy of which we are capable. It would perhaps be more correct to say, that God has fixed no limits to our capacity. He

has made us capable of boundless and eternal improvement. Our understandings may expand for ever, and be for ever receiving fresh revelations of truth. Our affections may increase for ever in fervour and in power, and be for ever receiving fresh communications of joy and extasy. Even in the present life he bestows on those who are willing to receive his blessings, a peace that passes all understanding, and a joy that is unspeakable and full of glory: and in the life to come he gives them still greater things, even a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

And even the body of man is not an exception to this rule. It is true that the body is allowed to labour under imperfections and infirmities in the present life. It is perhaps never permitted to enjoy its fulness of delight in the present world, and it is frequently subjected to grievous and long-continued pains and diseases. But even this is the fruit of God's love, and intended to minister in other ways to our greater perfection and felicity. And this state of bodily imperfection and suffering is but for a time. It shall not be thus for ever. The body itself shall be redeemed from its imperfections by and by, and permitted to enjoy its share of blessedness in all its fulness. "We look for the Saviour from heaven," says the Apostle, "who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself." And again he tells us, in his Epistle to the Corinthians. "So also is the resurrection of the body. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: it is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." There shall then be no more sickness, nor any more pain: the former things shall be done away, and a perfect, a glorified, and an immortal body, shall be the joyous companion of the holy and enraptured spirit, world without end.

If, then, we would imitate the benevolence of our Heavenly Father, we must endeavour to make our fellow-creatures as happy as possible. We must not be content with doing a little for them; we must try to do for them every thing that is necessary to make their happiness complete. We ought not to aim at relieving a portion of their wretchedness merely, we ought to aim at relieving the whole. We ought not to aim at adding a little to their improvement and comfort; we ought to aim at making them as wise, as good, and as happy as they are capable of becoming. The common plan of doing good is very different from this. Most people appear to have no desire to do good at all; and even of those who profess the religion of Christ, and endeavour, in some measure, to promote the welfare of their fellow-men, there are few who seem to labour with the intention of bestowing upon men all that fulness of blessedness for which they were designed. The greater number even of those who are engaged in works of charity, appear to aim only at a partial improvement of man's character and lot. They are not willing that men should be absolutely wretched; they are not willing that they should be shut out from every enjoyment; but they have no idea of attempting to raise the whole human family to a state of perfection. They would not have men naked, and houseless, and famishing; nor would they have them altogether uninstructed, or altogether destitute of spiritual and religious enjoyment; but the good they aim at bestowing is limited. There is nothing of vastness or boundlessness about their plans. Their souls do not contemplate the perfection of their race as a thing to be longed for and hoped for. There is a littleness, or a lowness in their love; there is a contractedness, a niggardliness in their plans and labours of beneficence. This littleness in our love, this niggardliness in our plans and labours of beneficence, the Saviour is wishful to cure. He wishes to raise and enlarge our thoughts; he wishes to give to our love and labours something of the divine infinity. He would have us to be perfect in goodness and felicity our

selves, and he would have us to make it our aim and our endeavour to communicate the same perfection of character and enjoyment to every child of man. "Be ye therefore merciful, as your father which is in heaven is merciful."

4. Again; our Heavenly Father exerts himself, in the labours of beneficence, to the utmost. In the accomplishment of his plans of beneficence, he employs the whole machinery of the universe, all the powers and influences of all beings, and the infinite wisdom and power and boundless resources of his own eternal mind. We are authorized, in fact, by the Scriptures of truth themselves, in saying that God does what he can for the welfare of his creatures. In the fifth chapter of Isaiah, in which the children of Israel are compared to vineyard, he is represented as saying, "What could have been done more for my vineyard, than I have done in it ?" He had exhausted, in his endeavours to bless that people, his whole storehouse of means. And we have rea

son to believe that he acts on the same principle towards his creatures generally. We have reason to believe, that he does for his creatures what he can; that he exerts his Almighty Power to the utmost, leaving undone nothing that his infinite understanding sees fit to be done. The wide immeasurable universe, with all its infinite variety of powers and ranks of being, is but one grand mass of means for diffusing life and blessedness. Angels minister to our happiness with pleasure; and devils are made to subserve the general good against their will. Good men do good with delight, and God makes the wrath of the wicked to praise Him, and over-rules the crimes of the selfish for the good of his creatures.

When, therefore, we are commanded to be merciful as our Father which is in heaven is merciful, we are commanded, in effect, to labour to promote the welfare of our fellowmen to the utmost extent of our ability: we are commanded to leave no means, nor any particle of influence, by which we can contribute any thing to the happiness of mankind, unemployed. We are not to employ a part of our talents in doing

good, and bury or misuse the rest; the cause of human happiness is to have the whole. Our example, our domestic authority, our wealth, our powers of mind, our powers of speech, and all that influence which is given us by means of the press, must all be consecrated to the work of beneficence. This command of the Saviour requires us to abstain from all extravagance. We cannot be merciful as our Father which is in heaven is merciful, so long as we wilfully waste any thing either in costly dress or ornament, in luxuries of meats and drinks, or in any thing hurtful or needless. To be merciful as our Father which is in heaven is merciful, we must both use in doing good the talents which we have, and endeavour to make them more. Our labours of love must have no limits, but what are fixed to them by the limits of our ability.

5. Again the love of our Heavenly Father makes no distinction of country, or rank, or colour; but does good to all without respect of persons. The black and the white, the bond and the free, the monarch and the slave, the frozen poles and the burning tropics, the wilds of Africa, the woods of America, and the gardens of Europe or of India, are all alike to him. The colour of men's skin, the place of their abode, and their rank in society, are matters of no consideration with God, except so far as they may increase their need of his assistance. The black are as dear to him as the white, and he has as much regard for the interests and feelings of the poor afflicted slave, as for those who dwell in palaces and sit on thrones.

And if we would be merciful as our Father which is in heaven is merciful, we too must love and labour to do good without respect of persons. We must not only labour for the welfare of our countrymen, or for the nations which have similar climes and complexions with ourselves we must labour for the welfare of our whole race. We must not plead for the freedom of the white, and bind the black in chains: we must not exaggerate the claims of the British, and trample beneath our feet the claims of the French, the Germans, or the Hindoos. We must not burn with zeal for the welfare of the

country in which we live, and regard with jealousy the advancement and improvement of other countries. We must love all, and we must labour to do all good. We must be citizens of the world; the friends and benefactors of the whole race of men. We must regard none as foreigners. The world must be our country, and every child of man an object of our affectionate regard.

6. The mercy of God extends to all characters. He is good, not only to those who love and serve him; but to the unthankful and unholy also. He causes his sun to shine on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. Such was his love to men, even when they were enemies to him, that he gave his beloved Son to die for them. He regards with pity the most profligate and impious of our race, and labours, by the manifestations of truth, by the influences of his Spirit, and by the visitations of his providence, to bring them to repentance and salvation. And if at any time they return from the evil of their ways, and with contrite spirits acknowledge their guilt and seek for mercy, he freely forgives them, and receives them to his favour.

"Love

If, therefore, we would be merciful as our Heavenly Father is merciful, we must be kind even to our greatest enemies. However unkindly men may act towards us, we must still act kindly towards them. We are not to ask, What are men's deservings? but, What are their necessities? Our business is not to recompense men for their doings, but to instruct them and do them good. your enemies," says the Saviour, "bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." If our enemy hunger, we must feed him; if he thirst, we must give him drink. As the worker in metal heaps burning coals upon the ore, until the ore be melted, and the dross be separated from the pure metal, so are we to heap favours upon our enemies, until we melt their hearts, and turn them into friends. We are not to be overcome of evil, but to overcome evil with good.

7. If we would imitate the mercy

of our Heavenly Father, we must never be weary in doing good. God has continued to exercise his goodness to the human race from the beginning of the world to the present hour. He has met with innumerable insults and provocations, and millions have abused his love, and turned his blessings to purposes of vice and misery; yet his love has never grown weary. He has still continued to devise new plans, and to make fresh efforts to make men happy. So must it be with us, if we would be merciful as our Father which is in heaven is merciful. We must never be weary in well doing. We may meet with some who will not receive our help, and we may meet with some who will return us cruelty for our kindness; but we must still not be weary. Our plans may not prove so successful as we hoped they would do, and our labours and sacrifices may seem at times to be almost lost; still, we must not be weary. The flesh may shrink from continued toils and danger; the devil may discourage us, and hang out dark and threatening intimations of coming calamities, and even friends may begin to say, It is enough; but we must still go forward. Our motives may be misinterpreted, our labours may be misrepresented, but we must still persevere. Men may revile and persecute us, and say all manner of evil against us falsely on account of our endeavours to benefit mankind; but we must still go forward. We may have but few to help us in our labours, and in times of persecution and trial our friends may desert us, and leave us to stand alone; yet even this must not be allowed to make us weary in well doing. Through smiles and through frowns, through good report and through evil report, through honour and through dishonour, through plenty and through want we must still pursue the great object of our life, the welfare of our fellow-men. Though bonds and imprisonments should await us, and though horrid forms of death should stare us in the face, we must still go onward. We must be faithful unto death; we must be stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.

our

8. If we would be merciful as

our Father which is in heaven is merciful, love must be the ruling principle of our whole soul and life. Love must mingle itself in all that we think, and speak, and do. Love must be both the foundation and the superstructure of our whole character, and the grand element of our whole being and behaviour. It is thus with God. Love is his first, his highest, his most distinguished attribute. Love is himself, his very being; for God is love. Love is the all-pervading and all-governing principle of all his plans and operations; and the bestowment of blessings is alike his one great business and delight: "He delighteth in mercy." God is the fountain of love, as the sun is the fountain of light: He is an ocean of love, unfathomable and shoreless, and he pours forth his streams and floods of blessings without measure and without end. Love mingles itself even with his judgments, and his deeds of terror are under the controul and direction

of mercy. There is mercy in every thing that comes from God. There is mercy in the storm, as well as in the calm; in famine, as well as in fulness; in sickness and pestilence, as well as in health; in agony, as well as in ease; in death, as well as in life. The great end of all his dispensations, from the beginning of the world to the present time, has been to enlighten, to purify, and to bless mankind. The work of redemption is a world of love; it is benevolence embodied and unfolded in its richest, brightest, fullest, most affecting and overwhelming manifestations. It is the wonder both of heaven and earth, and it will continue a miracle and a mystery when time shall be no more. The description of God's character, and the history of His works, is the description and the history of boundless and everlasting LOVE.

If we would be merciful as our Father which is in heaven is merciful, we must die to all things else but a love to God and man. Ambition, covetousness, and pride, must all expire: envy, revenge, and wrath, and all uncharitableness, must be entirely cast out. All anxiety for self must die. We must have but one interest, but one object, and but one great all-absorbing,

all-pervading, all-controlling passion, an eager, ardent, restless, boundless, ceaseless, ever-growing desire to promote the improvement and felicity of the whole race of men.

Such is the character which Christ would have us to sustain; such is the spirit by which he would have us inspired; such are the thoughts and the labours in which he would have us to employ our souls, and spend our lives. "Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father which is in heaven is merciful."

End of part first.

A SOLEMN THOUGHT. No man can tell the extent of mischief he does, when he sins against God; and no man can tell the extent of good which he does, when he steadily obeys God's will. The man that obeys the will of God, contributes to the harmony and happiness of all worlds. The beneficent influence of a man's piety has no bounds: it spreads without all limits, and it endures throughout all ages. Even the angels in heaven are enraptured at the repentance of a sinner on earth. "I say unto you, there is joy among the angels of God, over one sinner that repenteth." The man that acts in opposition to the will of God, takes something from the happiness of all God's creation: while the man that does right, who consults in all things the will of his Maker, exerts a favourable influence on the whole race of man, and ministers occasion of new joy to every spirit in heaven. How solemn is our situation! How awful is our responsibility! How strange, how mournful,that with such solemntruths before our souls, we should ever turn aside from the path of righteousness. Sinner; while thou art persisting in rebellion against God, thou art fighting against the interests of all worlds: thou art creating misery which may know neither bounds nor end. Whilst thou art rebelling against God, thou art acting, according to the measure of thy influence, the part of a disturber, a tormentor, a destroyer of all God's creatures. Thou tormentest thyself; thou plaguest thy parents, thy wife, thy children, thy brothers and sisters, thy neighbours and friends, thy

country and the world, and thy rebellions are the grief of the higher and holier orders of beings in the world unseen. Thou art adding to the weight of that mountain of miseries, which oppresses the whole creation: thou art adding fierceness and force to that whirlwind of woe, that sweeps through all lands, and spreads a blight over every thing on earth. On the other hand, thou hast it in thy power, by a return to obedience, to add to the joy both of earth and heaven. Thou hast it in thy power, by a return to obedience, to do something towards lessening the burdens of a groaning world, and giving birth to new transports and extasies in the holy and glorified spirits of heaven. Repent, sinner; humble thyself beneath the mighty hand of God. Fight against thy own peace, and against the welfare of God's universe no longer. Return to duty. Bow to the will of God, and co-operate with him in his glorious plans of diffusing light and joy throughout his boundless uni

verse.

MR. MONTAGUE.

THIS eminent man is said to have been so remarkable for his reverence of the Divine name, that even the bold blasphemer was awed before him, and could not swear. A youth, who was his nephew, one day said to him, "Sir, I believe some parts of the Bible." The uncle replied, "Great condescension in you, no doubt, to believe any thing your Maker has said. Vain boy! whether you believe it or not, that word with which you trifle, shall judge you in the last day."

AN AGED MINISTER. A VENERABLE minister at H preached a sermon on the subject of eternal punishment. On the next day, it was agreed among some thoughtless young men, that one of them should go to him, and endeavour to draw him into a dispute, with a design of making a jest of him and of his doctrine. The wag accordingly went, was introduced into the minister's study, and commenced the conversation by saying, "I believe there is a small dispute between you and me, sir, and I