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thing that exists. None can possibly repay him, and yet his bounty is unceasing. All his perfections are continually employed in promoting the happiness of his creation. Now, we are commanded to be imitators of him; that is, to employ all our powers, not for our own gratification, but for the happiness of others. We are to consider this not as an onerous duty, but as a privilege; as an opportunity conferred upon us of attaining to some resemblance to the Fountain and Author of all excellence.

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2. This precept teaches us that our obligation is not altered by the character of the recipient. God sends rain on the just and on the unjust, and causeth his sun to shine on the evil and on the good. "God commendeth his love to us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. In imitation of this example, we are commanded to do good to, and promote the happiness of, the evil and the wicked. We are to comfort them when they are afflicted; to relieve them when they are sick; and specially, by all the means in our power, to strive to reclaim them to virtue. We are not, however, to give a man the means of breaking the laws of God; as to furnish a drunkard with the means of intemperance: this would be to render ourselves partakers of his sin. What is here commanded is merely the relieving his misery as a suffering human creature.

3. Nor is our obligation altered by the relation in which the recipient may stand to us. His being our enemy in no manner releases us from obligation. Every wicked man is the enemy of God; yet God bestows even, upon such, the most abundant favors.

"God so loved the world, that he sent his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Jesus Christ spent his life in acts of mercy to his bitterest enemies. He died

praying for his murderers. So we are commanded to love our enemies, to overcome evil with good, and to follow the example of St. Paul, who declares to the Corinthians, "I desire to spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved."

In a word, God teaches us in the Holy Scriptures, that all our fellow-men are his creatures as well as ourselves; and, hence, that we are not only under obligation, under all circumstances, to act just as he shall command us, but that we are specially under obligation to act thus to our fellow-men, who are not only our brethren, but who are also under his special protection. He declares that they are all his children; that, by showing mercy to them, we manifest our love to him; and that this manifestation is the most valuable, when it is the most evident that we are influenced by no other motive than love to him.

Shakspeare has treated this subject very beautifully in the following passages:

'Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown.
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,

Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;.
But mercy is above the sceptred sway.

It is enthroned in the heart of kings.

It is an attribute of God himself;

And earthly power doth then show likest God's,
When mercy seasons justice.

Mer. of Venice, Act 4, Scene 2.

Alas! alas!

Why all the souls that are, were forfeit once;
And He that might the advantage best have took,
Found out the remedy. How would you be,

If He, who is the top of judgment, should
But judge you as you are?

Measure for Measure, Act 2, Scene 2.

The Scriptures enforce this duty upon us for several

reasons:

1. From the example of God. He manifests himself to us as boundless in benevolence. He has placed us under a constitution in which we may, at humble distance, imitate him. This has to us all the force of law, for we are surely under obligation to be as good as we have the knowledge and the ability to be. And as the goodness of God is specially seen in mercy to the wicked and the injurious, by the same principles we are bound to follow the same example.

2. We live, essentially and absolutely, by the bounty and forbearance of God. It is meet that we should show the same bounty and forbearance to our fellow-men.

3. Our only hope of salvation is in the forgiveness of God of that God whom we have offended more than we can adequately conceive. How suitable is it, then, that we forgive the little offences of our fellow-men against us! Our Savior illustrates this most beautifully in his parable of the two servants, Matthew xviii, 23—35.

4. By the example of Christ, God has shown us what is the type of virtue, which, in human beings, is most acceptable in his sight. This was an example of perfect forbearance, meekness, benevolence and forgiveness. Thus, we are not only furnished with the rule, but also with the exemplification of the manner in which the rule is to be kept.

5. These very virtues, which are called forth by suffering from the wickedness and injury of our fellow-men, are those which God specially approves, and which he declares essential to the character that shall fit us for heaven.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the meek, blessed are the peace-makers, &c. A thousand such passages might easily be quoted.

6. God has declared that our forgiveness with him depends upon our forgiveness of others. "If ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father, who is in heaven, forgive you your trespasses." "He shall have judgment without mercy, that showeth no mercy; but mercy rejoiceth against judgment;" that is, a merciful man rejoices or is confident in the view of the judgment day.

If it be asked, what is the Christian limit to benevolence, I answer, that no definite rule is laid down in the Scriptures, but that merely the principle is inculcated. All that we possess is God's, and we are under obligation to use it all as He wills. His will is that we consider every talent as a trust, and that we seek our happiness from the use of it, not in self-gratification, but in ministering to the happiness of others. Our doing thus he con

siders as the evidence of our love to him; and therefore he fixes no definite amount which shall be abstracted from our own immediate sources of happiness for this purpose, but allows us to show our consecration of all to him, just as fully as we please. If this be a privilege, and one of the greatest privileges, of our present state, it would seem that a truly grateful heart would not ask how little, but rather how much, may I do to testify my love for the God who preserves me, and the Savior who has redeemed me.

And, inasmuch as our love to God is more evidently displayed in kindness and mercy to the wicked and the injurious than to any others, it is manifest that we are bound, by this additional consideration, to practise these virtues toward them, in preference to any others.

And hence we see that benevolence is a religious act, in just so far as it is done from love to God. It is lovely, and respectable, and virtuous, when done from sympathy and natural goodness of disposition. It is pious, only when done from love to God.

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CHAPTER SECOND.

OF BENEVOLENCE TO THE UNHAPPY.

A MAN may be simply unhappy from either his physical or his intellectual condition. We shall consider these separately.

SECTION I.

UNHAPPINESS FROM PHYSICAL CONDITION.

The occasions of unhappiness from this cause, are simple poverty, or mere want of the necessities and conveniences of life, and sickness and decrepitude, either alone, or when combined with poverty.

1. Of poverty. Simple poverty, or want, so long as a human being has the opportunity of labor sufficiently productive to maintain him, does not render him an object of charity. "If a man will not work, neither shall he eat," is the language no less of reason than of revelation. If a man be indolent, the best discipline to which he can be subjected, is, to suffer the evils of penury. Hence, all that we are required to do in such a case, is, to provide such a person with labor, and pay him accordingly. This is the greatest kindness, both to him and to society.

2. Sometimes, however, from the dispensations of Providence, a family is left so destitute that their labor is insufficient to maintain themselves. Such is frequently the case with widows and orphans. This forms a manifest occasion for charity. The individuals have become, by the dispensation of God, unable to help themselves, and it is our duty and our privilege to help them.

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