weakness, enlighten our understanding, strengthen our faith, raise from our sight, though but for a moment, the veil that hides from us the secrets of eternity. Teach us to see Thee in misfortune, as well as in prosperity; in sorrow, as well as in joy; and when Thou visitest us by affliction, that it may conduce to the perfecting of our souls, and lead them to enter into the designs of thy goodness towards us. In mercy hear us, O our God and Father, through thy Son our Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

SERMON XXIX.

CHARITY A TWO-FOLD BLESSING.

Acts xx. 35.

"IT IS MORE BLESSED TO GIVE, THAN TO RECEIVE."

CHRISTIANITY, whose object it is to bring the will of man into subjection to the supremely wise will of God, does not, in the pursuit of this end, neglect to present to our minds motives drawn from our happiness; and it would be easy to deduce from a great number of pas'sages of the holy books, that, in the Gospel, virtue is in reality only a sacrifice of apparent and transitory advantages, for those which are true, solid, and eternal. This view of our duty results, in a striking manner, from these words, "It is more blessed to give, than to receive;" words as touching in their pathos, as they are profound in their sense, in which we recognize the lofty wisdom and the mild charity of the Saviour who uttered them; words which, in their brief simplicity, have more power on the heart than the most elaborate harangues.

The text contains two ideas: It is blessed to receive: it is more blessed to give. These two ideas I propose to develope.

It is blessed to receive. Alas! who can affirm that the happiness is unalloyed? Who can be ignorant, of the weakness shall I say, or rather of the honorable delicacy, of the human heart, so far as to overlook the hardship that there is in the position of the upright man who receives?

I know that we ought to blush at nothing but wrongdoing; and that poverty has in itself nothing to cast down the countenance. I know that christian charity is ingenious in dissipating the embarrassments and the shame of the unfortunate. But it matters not, we all experience a certain repugnance at laying open to our fellow-men the secret of our distresses; it is a necessity to which we yield only with regret; it is not without a great effort that the indigent man, of upright character, prevails on himself to make his misery known. There are, doubtless, miserable beings, who, reduced to extremities by shameful vices, and divested of every delicate feeling, make a game of mendicity. Dangerous enemies of the worthy poor, whom they make us run the risk of confounding with themselves in our refusals; pests of society, which they weary with a steril burden, and which they wear away by their corruption; they merit not a sensibility which they take a pleasure in duping, nor the benefits which they abuse to the increase of their own depravity. But do not confound with such people, the aged and the infirm, who are incapable of labor; the youth, who begs you to procure him employment; the poor widow, all whose efforts leave her unequal to the wants of her family. These yield to necessity, when they implore your benefactions; and God alone perhaps knows all they have suffered, before

they submitted to this step-all that it has cost them to be able to take it. And, O that they were sure of one day being able to acknowledge the service you now render them; that they felt a certainty of one day being able to repay the obligations they contract! They form,. I allow, a false idea of that obligation: the gifts of charity are pure and disinterested, and it is wounded if the benefited think themselves under a bond to reciprocate the favor. But do you think that misery always extinguishes the scruples, the delicacy of sensibility? Would you prevent a generous heart from evincing its gratitude except by words? from feeling some grief at being in a dependent condition, which the most ingenious contrivances of charity cannot always preclude? Put yourselves in the place of the man who, through embarrassment, asks a favor; of the indigent, compelled to extend his hand for charity, without a reasonable hope of ever being able to return the benefaction, and your heart will make up for the insufficiency of language to paint the delicate sentiments that agitate his heart. Let not, however, the pain which the indigent feels in exposing his situation, and bearing the consequent yoke of dependence, close your eyes to the happiness which he must, and which he almost always does, experience.

I see, in the first place, a relief to his wants, an alleviation of the weight of his misery. Place his situation before your mind. An unfortunate foreigner, who has no other resource than the compassion of his neighbor, to enable him to pursue his journey and regain the haven of his native land. A poor female, who in agony sees the season of frost and snow approach.

Scarcely recovered from all she suffered in the preceding winter, she shudders at the thought of having again to endure the same evils. A father, who, by a series of disastrous circumstances, can no longer provide even mere necessaries for his children. Pass into the hovel into which he has been compelled to withdraw; taste the food on which they lengthen out their being; look at the tattered clothes with which they are covered; inquire how they guard themselves against the moisture of their unhealthy dwelling, and you will understand what a father and mother must suffer for whom each day's returning sun discloses such a picture; but you will understand also what joy they must experience, when the hand of compassion, guided by charity, comes to supply some one of their wants, to alleviate the evils of penury. By your aid the mother already sees her dwelling less comfortless, her children more decently clothed, their health improved. By your aid the poor woman defies the frosts, and the traveller, provided for his journey, continues it courageously, blessing his benefactor and his God. Say, then, my brethren, is it not "blessed to receive ?"

But, secondly, the happiness of the poor man who receives is not limited to physical enjoyments, nor to an exemption from privations more or less hard: proceed farther, and you will find his heart moved with loftier pleasures. He has met with a friend; with one alive to his sad lot; the person whom he anxiously sought. When we seem abandoned on every side, to find a protector, is, to the human soul, what to the traveller lost in the desert is the discovery of a refreshing stream, the long privation of which had worn down his