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a scarcely less unpromising nature. When he surveys the ground, in the culture of which he may have expended not a little of his time and labour, it may present to him the chilling aspect of barrenness, without any discernible pledges of a future recompense. His mind then becomes depressed by the seeming inefficacy of his best endeavours; his purposes waver; his energies, unsustained by the bracing influence of hope, are paralyzed; and the sequel is, that, if he does not abandon his object altogether, he pursues it in a manner feeble, capricious, and little likely, as far as human agency is concerned, to insure success. That this is a case of frequent occurrence, particularly in the education of the young, there is too much reason to believe; and the evil originates chiefly in a proneness to look for immediate effects from the efforts of christian charity, and in the weakness of acting less from a sense of paramount duty, than from the impulse of enthusiastic feeling. But it is often in the moral, as it is in the natural, world; the seed lies, for a time, buried beneath the soil, and a wintry season intervenes ere it fully springs up and presents the husbandman with the promise of the desired increase and fruitfulness. The eye of the christian benefactor cannot pierce the thick covering, which enwraps the mysterious mechanism of the human spirit, so as to discern all the secret springs which

he may have touched, and which, for aught he can tell, may be working out, by a slow, yet certain process, the very result which appearances may little encourage him to anticipate. Thus the parent, the friend, and the christian pastor, who are tempted to conclude that they are labouring in vain, and spending their strength for nought, may be fixing upon the objects of their devout solicitude and prayer to God, certain impressions, which, in connexion with subsequent events, may terminate in their recovery to eternal life. How often have facts demonstrated, in a striking manner, the truth of these remarks, and furnished us with encouraging comments upon the exhortation of scripture in regard to the efforts of christian beneficence:-"In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand; for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good"!* How many persons, who had long lived in the neglect of religion, and who had even advanced far in the career of infidelity and vice, have been reclaimed, and made the devoted servants of God, by the remembrance of early days, when parental Piety watched over their youth, conducted them to the throne, and beseeched them to walk in the ways of wisdom and the

* Eccl. xi. 6.

paths of peace. Amidst scenes of dissipation, or in the season of trouble, sacred associations, long since formed, have been awakened, and impressions renewed, which have softened the heart, and disposed the mind to serious meditation and availing prayer to the God of their fathers.

But, at all events, success is not the measure of our duty. The path of christian beneficence may be thorny and rugged; and none could be more so than that which was trodden by "Him who suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow his steps." Yet the path must be pursued, and faith and patience will be sufficient to carry the good man through it. The station he occupies is his appointed post; the duties connected with it constitute the particular service which he is expected to perform; and his responsibility, in every instance, extends not to the event which must be left in the hands of a superior power, but to the legitimate means with which Providence has intrusted him. Aye, and if his every effort were frustrated and treated with scorn by the objects of his good will; and his hopes nipped successively in the bud; nevertheless he cannot want for motives to stable and active zeal in the service of his Master; for "his labour shall not be in vain in the Lord." The beneficial operation of his charity may not exactly take the direction intended and anticipated by

him; but in most cases it must tell somewhere. And the streams of joy which he would have conveyed to others shall, at least, often return to himself in a full and overflowing tide. The vigour of his principles will be increased by trial, and the severity of the test applied to them will demonstrate their genuineness and invincible power. The rich satisfactions which flow from the exercise of the benevolent affections shall be his portion, and, possessing the approbation of God, he may humbly look forward to the time, when he will hear from the lips of the Saviour the commendation, and receive from his hands the reward, which will be bestowed on every sincere and zealous disciple. However unworthy in his own estimation, yet to him shall it be said," Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." And thus, while the objects of his earthly love are strangers to Piety, he shall be able to leave them in the hands of Providence, and to adopt, as his own, the language of the pious monarch of Israel:Although my house be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure; for this is all my salvation and all my desire."

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CHAPTER XII.

REMARKS ON THE NATURE AND OBJECTS OF CHURCH

FELLOWSHIP.

No spectacle on earth can be more impressive and refreshing to the heart of a good man, than that of a christian church, whose members, animated by the spirit of their divine Master, are brethren dwelling together in unity, and fulfilling the various ends of their sacred fellowship. Every such society is a little spot redeemed from the surrounding waste of the moral world, and with peculiar propriety may it be called "the garden of the Lord," where the plants of righteousness are to be seen in their verdure, fruitfulness, and beauty, and on which the eye of Piety rests with special complacency.

What, indeed, is a church of Christ but a holy fraternity which practically embodies the principles developed in the present pages, and which holds them up, agreeably to divine authority and direction,

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