waits not, as in others, a long season, for his harvest. In sowing he reaps. Nay, the very desire of doing good, the very first thought of that kind, which springs up in the soul, brings with it its own abundant reward; it produces a pleasure unknown to those who erect their happiness on the misèries of others, or who make the happiness of others a source of misery to themselves. It is exquisite and unalloyed. It is the only pleasure attended and followed by no satiety and disgust, no trouble, no bitterness, no remorse, no repentance. Our bounty, you will say perhaps, may be ineffectual, or its objects may prove ungrateful. Ingratitude may diminish its value to the receiver, but not to the giver: he has done his best, and his work is with his God, who causes the sun to arise and the rain to descend on the fields of those that acknowledge him not. It is secure; it may be called one's own. A stranger intermeddleth not with it, to disturb it: the thief cannot break through, and steal it away. It is durable. Mere earthly felicity of every kind, even the most innocent, like other terrestrial productions, involves in it the seeds of its own dissolution. There is a leaven in the lump, that will sour and corrupt it; there is a worm in the gourd, already at work to corrode and consume it. But the happiness wastes nor dimi now recommended to you never nishes; it increases in the enjoyment; it renders other pleasures needless, and supplies their place, growing every day more and more satisfactory and delightful; but most of all will it be found so in that day (not far from every one of us) when a solemn leave will be taken of the world, and its most celebrated pleasures; when all we have received must be parted with, and that alone will remain with us, which we have given away. Happy then the man, whose faith has been to him a tree of life, yielding this, its proper fruit; whose love of God has been evidenced by the love of his neighbour, who has lived not for himself, but for all that needeth his assistance. He shall welcome with cheerfulness the hour which appals the mightiest sinner, and strikes terror into the breast of the unprofitable servant. At that hour, with holy hope and humble confidence, he will lift up his eyes towards heaven, and say-Redeemed by thy blood, and separated from the pollutions of the world by thy Spirit, in thy name, and through thy grace, I have made it the business of my life to show kindness to others, even as thou hast shown kindness to me. Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and think upon me for good. Lord, pardon my transgressions, and receive me to glory! What is the felicity, the empty, fleeting shadow of felicity, furnished by the possession of crowns and sceptres, palaces and kingdoms, compared to that of him, who, with these sentiments, is passing from time into eternity! Let me therefore congratulate you on the opportunity this day offered of attaining what the world can neither give you, nor take from you. These candidates for your kindness, by the very circumstance of their being such, have it in their power to contribute more to your happiness, than it is possible for you to contribute to theirs. In passing through the streets of this spacious and magnificent metropolis, the emporium of the globe, there is no sight so pleasing, as that of the numerous and noble edifices rising on every side of us, for the reception and relief of poverty and misery; all the fair daughters of divine Charity, and each admirable in its way. Many daughters "have done virtuously, but тHOU"-if it be invidious to say, "excellest them all," though charity envieth not"—at least we must say—the experience of sixteen years warrants us to say it-art equal to any, in the selection and management of those who are so fortunate as to be the objects of thy care! They are such as have, on all accounts, an indubitable claim to our compassionate regard. Deprived of every parental aid, both father and mother had forsaken them, when the Lord Almighty, the father of the fatherless, by your means took them up and supported them. Destitute of any abode upon the earth, wide and extensive as it is, your bounty provided for them a comfortable habitation; hungry and thirsty, you fed them, and gave them drink; naked, you clothed them exposed continually to the wiles of those emissaries of the Destroyer, ever watchful and ever busy, who sleep not unless they have betrayed unwary innocence to prostitution, profligacy, shame, disease, and death; you snatched them, with an angel's hand, from ruin, and conducted them to a little Zoar, where their souls might live. In danger of every evil, into which idleness and ignorance could render them liable to fall, you employed and instructed them; instructed them in the principles of that religion which alone can make them faithful; that religion, which not only teaches, but infuses into its true disciples, the virtues of humility, modesty, meekness, patience, temperance, truth, and honesty. Happy they who are thus qualified and disposed to serve; happy the family which hath such to serve it; in these days more precious than gold; yea, than much fine gold. Having been well taught themselves, they will be able to teach others also, and their fellow-servants may receive everlasting benefit from them; nay, let it not be forgotten, that the general of the Syrian armies was, by a servant-maid, directed to a prophet, and induced to worship the Lord God of Israel. Our institution, in a word, seems to have been formed after the model of that heavenly love displayed, by the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation, to lost mankind. He found them as fatherless children, the outcasts of Paradise, in a state of utter destitution. He opened for them a house of refuge, he fed them with celestial food, he gave them the water of life to drink, he clothed them with the garments of salvation, he instructed them in the way of righteousness, he trained them to obedience, and took them into his own service, which is perfect freedom, and leads to perfect bliss. How pleasant a thing it is to behold an assembly united as one person in the furtherance of so godlike a work! Wearied with the din of politics, and the noise of folly, here the soul rests and expatiates, as in her proper element. element. Councils and senates may bestow applause, but scenes like this administer comfort. Those may compliment the head, but these do honour to the heart. In the heraldry of heaven, goodness |