and we shall feel no hesitation in admitting that "it is more blessed to give than to receive."

4. A disposition to communicate happiness is connected with God's peculiar blessing.

It is written in his word, "I will have mercy, and not sacrifice," Matt. ix. 13; that is, when the circumstances in which we are placed admit not of both, the latter is to yield to the former, as still more acceptable to the Most High." To do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." Heb. xiii. 16. Now in the performance of any action is it not a source of great delight to know, that it is a service acceptable to Him whose we are, and whom we would ever serve? Does not this constitute a present and an ample reward? And yet there is still in reserve another and a greater. The day is coming when he who is our gracious Master and our beloved Lord shall appear in his glory, "to render to every man according to his ways." 2 Chron. vi. 30. And in that day, not even the gift of a cup of cold water to a disciple of the Saviour, presented from the impulse of attachment to himself, shall be without acknowledgment or recompense. The very expression of his approbation, and its expression before an assembled world, must be a source of joy ineffable! What tongue can describe, what mind can conceive the emotions of that moment, when to every attached and devoted servant, whatever may have been the scene of his labour,

the amount of his talents, or his estimation in the society of his fellow-mortals, He shall say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!" Matt.

XXV. 21.

Having thus attempted the illustration of the general sentiment, it remains for me to adduce,

SECONDLY, The considerations by which we should be guided in the practical application of the sentiment.

1. We should be deeply solicitous to be actuated by those principles, from which alone there can spring genuine delight, either in giving or in receiving.

If we believe the first principles of the oracles of God, we must be aware, that to be truly blessed is to be the recipients of those blessings which the gospel proclaims; is to "be reconciled to God, to be accepted in the Beloved, to be renewed in the spirit of our mind, and to be created anew unto good works, in which God hath before ordained that we should walk." 2 Cor. v. 20; Eph. i. 6; iv. 23; ii. 10. Unless we have the blessedness of the man, whose transgressions are forgiven through the Saviour's atoning blood, whose heart is purified by the Spirit's regenerating grace, we are not in a capacity to receive aright from the hand of God, or to convey aright to the hands of our fellow-men, any one blessing. No performances can attain the character, or justify the appellation of good works, unless they spring from a

principle which the Searcher of the heart can approve; nor is such a principle to be found in any human mind, unless it has experienced that process of entire renewal, which, according to the language of inspiration, consists in being "born again." John iii. 3. Let then the momentous inquiry be instituted in every heart, Does the history of my moral being record this great event? Has there ever been such a change effected in the habitual feelings of my soul, as to remove those disqualifications for receiving and for giving aright, under which I must once have laboured, and which, unless removed by forgiving mercy and sanc-. tifying grace, must perpetually render defective and unacceptable in the sight of God, my best endeavours to do good? Has my heart deeply felt the influence of the love of Him who died for sinners; and, wandering no longer from the sphere of its attractive power, have I presented my body and my spirit a living, a holy, and an acceptable sacrifice?

2. We should regard it both as our duty and our delight, to do all the good which it is in our power to effect.

I have already adverted to the maxim of incontrovertible truth, that "the very capacity to do good renders its performance a duty." Does not he who gives the capacity confer it for this express purpose, and does he not actually require this at our hands? When he said to Abram, "I will bless thee," did he not authoritatively and graciously add, “And thou shalt be a blessing?" Gen. xii. 2. Are

not all the favours he bestows to be regarded as talents for improvement, as well as sources of enjoyment? and respecting all these talents, has he not said, "Occupy till I come?" Luke xix. 13. Now of these talents there are two, which, in the present state of society, especially qualify for doing good.

The first of these is property.

God has been pleased to distribute, in very unequal proportions, the bounties of his providence. Now, the very inequality of this distribution is designed to be, on our part, the basis of an extensive and beneficial system of giving and receiving. What proportion of my income should I appropriate to the purposes of Christian benevolence? is a question which every individual should deliberately ask, and to which an answer should be returned in the full anticipation of the great tribunal. The more ample is the property of any one, the greater proportion should he employ in doing good; because the greater proportion he can thus surrender, without injury to himself or to his family. If he whose annual income amounts only to one hundred pounds, gives away a tenth of that amount, he makes a much greater sacrifice, he contributes on a much nobler scale, than he whose income is a thousand pounds, who also gives away a tenth. In the one case, ninety pounds only remain to meet the expenses of a family; in the other case, there remain nine hundred: in the former case, there is a sacrifice of many comforts, if not even of some things usually

classed among the necessaries of life; in the latter, there is a sacrifice only of luxuries.

A second talent, and one of no inferior value, is time.

It is the contribution of time, on the part of the few, which gives value to the contributions of property, on the part of the many. In most associations for doing good, it is the assiduity of those who direct, which gives efficiency, to the donations of those who subscribe. It is impossible to estimate at too high a rate, the services of those who devote their time, their thought, and their energies, to the private and the frequent, as well as to the public and the occasional meetings of societies for doing good. Now as we are not to expect a direct communication from heaven, singling out the individuals who are to direct the affairs of our benevolent institutions, ought we not to deem it our imperative duty, if we have ability and opportunity, to fill some department of personal agency, át a period when every species of beneficent instrumentality may be so successfully employed? Let it never escape our recollection, that it is recorded of Him who said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive," that he spent his days and his energies, even to extreme exhaustion, in going about doing good.

In our selection of the objects of our benevolence, we should be guided by a discriminating regard to the strength of their claims.

It is freely admitted, that so numerous are the appeals to our benevolent feelings, that to