ger; to the eloquence of sickness and of wounds; to the eloquence of extreme old age, of helpless infancy, of friendless want! What persuasives like the melancholy appearance of nature badly supported, and that fixed look of sadness, which a long struggle with misfortune rivets on the human countenance! What pleadings so powerful as the wretched hovels of the poor, and the whole system of their comfortless economy!-These are the moments in which the world, and its follies are forgotten, which throw the mind into a new attitude of solemn thought, which have rescued many a human being from dissipation and crime, which have given birth to many admirable characters, and multiplied, more than all exhortation, the friends of man, and the disciples of Christ.

In truth, if these observations be any where applicable or necessary, it is in great cities that they are peculiarly so; for as misery increases with vice, and dissipation. extinguishes charity, the poor suffer more, and meet with less relief, at least with less. of that kind of relief which proceeds from

the exertions, and interference of individuals. Far be it from me, in talking of the dissipation of great cities, to wage war with the innocent pleasures of life; with youth there should be joy, for the best days of life are soon fled; but the danger is, that amidst the constant enjoyments, and diversions of society, the heart should become callous, and lose that noble irritability, that moral life, which is the parent of all that is good in the world. Enchanting as the pleasures of society appear, they would still derive an additional charm from the consciousness that you deserved to enjoy them, that you had acquired a right to be happy, from having made others so; and that an evening of innocent gaiety, earned by a morning of virtuous

exertion.

You are not, I hope, of opinion, that these kind of cares devolve upon the clergy alone, as the necessary labours of their profession: Those who teach Christianity, ought certainly to be most forward in every Christian exertion; but, unquestionably, it is not from them alone

that these exertions are expected, but from every one whose faith teaches, and whose fortune enables him to be humane. I have touched on this point, because such an opinion, though too absurd to be openly avowed, is not too absurd for that crude, and hasty palliation with which we smother the conscience that we cannot satisfy.

Nor let it be imagined, that the duties which I have pointed out are much less pressing and imperative, because the law has taken to itself the protection of the poor; the law must hold out a scanty, and precarious relief, or it would encourage more misery than it relieved; the law cannot distinguish between the poverty of idleness, and the poverty of misfortune; the law degrades those whom it relieves; and many prefer wretchedness to public aid; do not, therefore, spare yourselves from a belief that the poor are well taken care of by the civil power; and that individual interference is superfluous;—many a hand is held up, and no man seeth it; many a groan is wasted in the air, many die in secret, and, like the moments of the day, they perish, and are forgotten: Go, then, while good

days are yet left to you, go into the house of mourning, under the roof of affliction, and mingle with the old, the wretched, and the sad bow down thy spirit with them, and chasten thy soul with their sorrow ;-when thy feet sound on the threshold of the door, the widowed woman shall say there is bread for us to day; -children shall flock about thee, and thou shalt be to them as a God, antient people shall have joy in their last days because of thee; thy mind shall be moved within thee, and the bread, and the estate of the poor, and oppressed, shall be precious in thine eyes.

Many are charitable in order to enjoy the luxury of gratitude; an accidental good if it comes; but an unworthy motive for benevolence, because it makes the virtue to depend upon the caprice of the individual, towards whom it is exercised: For the permanent and unchangeable rule of religion, it gives me a rule which varies with the feelings of every wretched being whom I relieve: If my taste is gratified with the display of every proper sentiment, I am compassionate; but the slightest dis

gust is sufficient to avert me from one of the highest duties of a Christian; I love moral effect more than religious obedience; my principal object is not to relieve human misery, but to excite in my own mind agrecable feeling: The pity which Jesus taught was a modest, and invisible pity, thinking only of lightening the heavy heart, trembling at fame, fearful lest any pleasure in the gratitude of man might mingle with the spirit of charity, and pollute the pure sacrifice which it was offering up to God.

To conclude, let us always remember that every charity is short lived, and inefficacious, which flows from any other motive than the right. There is a charity which originates from the romantic fiction of humble virtue, and innocence in distress; but this will be soon disgusted by low artifice, and scared by brutal vice. The charity which proceeds from ostentation can exist no longer than when its motives remain undetected. There is, (as I have just stated) a charity which is meant to excite the feelings of gratitude, but this will meet with its termina