meet them all as our hearts would dictate, becomes to most of us difficult if not impracticable. It is then of the greatest importance to proceed in our selection, on principles which an enlightened conscience can approve. It appears to me that there are three principles which demand our consideration..

(1.) That which regards the proximity of the relation in which we stand to the objects.

I have no objection to the adage, "Charity begins at home;" but let not our charity be always shut up at home. As when a stone is cast into the waters of a tranquil lake, there are seen around the spot to which the impulse was first given a number of concentric circles, expanding as they recede, and becoming more faint as they expand; so may we direct our first and strongest energies to the circles immediately around us, provided we allow the generous impulse which is felt at the very centre of the heart to extend, in due proportion, to the circles which lie beyond. Our families have unquestionably the first claim on our exertions to do good. The needy members of the flock of Christ, and especially of that part of it with which we are ourselves connected, have the next. We are required to "do good unto all men, as we have opportunity, but especially unto them who are of the household of faith." Eph. vi. 10. Of the objects appealing to our aid we should regard,

(2.) The nature of their wants.

There are many who cherish a lively sympathy with sufferings strictly corporeal, who discover very little sympathy with sufferings exclusively mental. They can feel for a man who languishes in pain, and sickness, and hunger, but they feel very little for the man who languishes under anxiety, and grief, and depression. This betrays a great defect both of mind and heart, and induces at least a partial incapacity for mitigating the sorrows and advancing the happiness of our fellow-creatures. But is it not a greater defect by far to feel for the sufferings of the present life, whether bodily or mental, and to feel no solicitude that the objects of our benevolence may obtain exemption from the sufferings of the world of woe, and admission to the blessedness which shall never end? Should we give the best proof of compassionate kindness to a prisoner under sentence of death, by sending to his cell food and clothing, or by exerting every energy to obtain for him a pardon? Do we then best display the feelings of genuine benevolence to sinners ready to perish, by endeavouring to rescue them from the present miseries of want, or by directing and urging them to "flee from the wrath to come, to lay hold on eternal life," Matt. iii. 7; 1 Tim. vi. 19; that when the Judge of all shall ascend the dread tribunal, there may be to them no condemnation, but an admission to the glorious liberty and ever-during joys of the "children of the resurrection." Luke XX. 36.

In the selection of our objects we should take into view,

(3.) The extent of the population appealing to our benevolence.

The very apostle who was so desirous of conveying ample contributions to the "poor saints at Jerusalem," exulted in the thought that "from Jerusalem," in an extensive circuit embracing a vast population "round about Illyricum, he had fully preached the gospel of Christ." Rom. xv. 19. Was it compatible with his views of Christian expediency, or his emotions of Christian zeal, to restrict his ministry within the limits of Judea, till the majority of its inhabitants should have embraced the doctrine of Jesus? On the contrary, was it not his ardent desire, that the population of Europe, as well as of Asia, should to the uttermost extent of possibility, hear from his lips the proclamation of the glad tidings of great joy, intended for all people? Should not our sympathies, then, be excited by the thought that at this hour, after the lapse of eighteen centuries, darkness the most profound still covers the majority of this world's population, and that the dark parts of the earth are still the habitations of cruelty! Surely then, if we ourselves visit not these regions of night, we should at least send forth able and willing missionaries to "preach among the nations the unsearchable riches of Christ." Eph. iii. 8.

In our endeavours, then, to regulate, by enlightened views, the economy of Christian

benevolence, let all these principles be taken into full consideration. Let us not fix an exclusive regard on the proximity of the objects appealing to us for aid, nor on the nature of their wants, nor on the extent of their population; but let all these claims be duly ascertained and compared, that the amount of good effected by our instrumentality, may bear a due proportion to the extent of the means which Divine providence has placed at our disposal. Let us regard ourselves as honoured and indulged, when opportunities are afforded us of doing good. Let us not only embrace such as occur without inquiry, but let us solicitously search out others. Let us, as in the sight of God, frequently inquire, “What good can we effect for our families, our neighbours, our country, our species?" If a generous pagan exclaimed with concern, "My friends, I have lost a day," when the day had been spent without conferring a benefit, what emotions should such a consideration excite in the heart of him who knows the grace, and rejoices in the love, and remembers the words of the Lord Jesus? Let it appear that we feel deeply indebted to any one who lays before us claims, which we ourselves had overlooked; and instead of repelling his application, with the aspect of frigid indifference or querulous disapprobation, let his disinterested kindness be encouraged by perceiving, that in our estimation "it is more blessed to give than to receive." Let it appear that we have tasted the most exquisite and the most refined

delights in the pleasures of doing good; and that these sources of enjoyment are far more conducive to our happiness, than the gratification of the senses, the accumulation of wealth, or the loftiest attainments in knowledge.

Let us rest assured, (to borrow the words of Dr. Cotton Mather,) that, "were a man able to enter daily into all the pleasures of literature and of science, to which the most accomplished make pretensions; were he to entertain himself with all ancient and modern history; and could he feast continually on the curiosities of different branches of learning; all this would not afford the joyous satisfaction which he might find in relieving the distresses of a poor neighbour; nor would it bear any comparison with the heartfelt delight which he might obtain by doing any extensive service to the kingdom of our great Saviour in the world; or by exerting his efforts to redress the miseries under which mankind is generally languishing." Such, amidst all his privations and all his persecutions, was the glowing and rapturous delight of that benevolent apostle, who could say, on a retrospect of his career at Ephesus, "Remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears: yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me. I have showed you all things, how, that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus,