pathy with them, than she had ever done by any relief afforded to their material wants. "Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I unto thee.' Every human being has that to give which is better than either, and a great deal more acceptable. This lady was an Episcopalian, and so deep was her feeling of gratitude and reverence for Doctor Channing, that, upon finding a notice of him after his death, in her Episcopalian newspaper, derogatory to his claim of being regarded as a Christian, she immediately discontinued it.

Our Saviour says, "Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden," and the life of every true disciple should breathe the same invitation, so that the poor and suffering should come to him as freely as they came to his Master. I have known one or two eminent instances where this was the case, but I fear they are comparatively rare. Some have the good-will, but not the tact, perhaps, so to meet their fellow-creatures, and lament all their lives, a certain inaptitude, whether of temperament or something else, which prevents them; but, generally, the defect is want of will.

"Do you know," said a young friend of mine, "what an adoration my black cook has for uncle C. ?"

"No; does she know him ?"

"She hardly knows him at all, but if she hears that he is in the house she is very happy; and if

he passes through the kitchen, and speaks to her, she is perfectly enchanted."

"And what is the explanation of this?"

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Simply that once when she had passed a night in his house, with a servant of his, and was coming away before breakfast, he saw her getting into the stage at the door, and said: What! going away without breakfast! That will never do,' and, running into the house, brought her a cup of coffee."

This is a very slight incident, but see how significant it is, and touching too. If similar recognitions of human brotherhood were not so rare, the heart of that poor woman would not have been so deeply moved. Acts of this nature marked every day and hour of this uncle's life. A young lady, when she saw him running out, in a cold winter's day, to insist upon lending a great coat to a worthless man passing by, who had set off without one, on a cold winter's drive, said of him, "I never saw such a man; I never heard of such a man, and I never read of such a man.” When he died, his humble friends, in "all the region round about," came flocking to the chamber of death, as if to a place they had a right to visit, and wrung their hands, and wept over him. Several of them afterwards received some little gifts in memory of him, with tears streaming down their faces. One of them, an Irishman, said,

"I have lost the best friend I ever had, and he always trated me just the same as if I was a jintleman."

What else is meant by giving a cup of cold water in the name of the Lord, than offering it in a true spirit of Christian love and kindness. "Inasmuch as ye have done it," etc. Those are wonderful words, and should be carefully weighed; for they apply as well to acts of oppression, injustice, cruelty, unkindness, as to those of an opposite character. "Ye have done it unto me!"

What

an intimate union does this imply between the Saviour and those to whom he was sent. What ineffable love and sympathy and tenderness on his part, for all-even the lowest and most degraded! How dare we grieve Him on their account? How can we afford to forego the blessedness of doing unto Him, by doing for them, and for all with whom we have intercourse of any sort, what He will approve?

I once heard a sermon from the text, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy," and said to myself, surely no invention of man's seeking can here be made to supersede, as so often is done, the simple meaning of Christ's beautiful precept. But the clergyman, after dwelling slightly upon the duty of being merciful in the ordinary acceptation of the word, proceeded to exhort his hearers not to forget, in their care for men's

bodies, the greater and more important needs of their souls; and devoted himself, almost exclusively, to an inculcation of the duty of praying for them, and laboring with them for their salvation. In every community are found not a few, I fear, both of the self-righteous and niggardly; and I could not but imagine some of the congregation praying afterwards complacently and fervently for their fellow-men, or exhorting them, earnestly, to "flee from the wrath to come," for the smallest of whose wants they would never have an open hand. What can so well persuade men to righteousness as the exhibition of a truly Christian life, ordered after our Saviour's example? It was said by a young man who knew the "uncle," already spoken of, "There was a period when I turned skeptical, and lost all my religious faith. But I became acquainted with him, and his life was such a gospel, that I was reclaimed by it."

In all our ministrations, of every sort, we should regard ourselves as God's agents, and cultivate a habit of deep and profound gratitude to him for every opportunity of making a fellow-creature better or happier-for the privilege of being appointed by him to confer a benefit of any kind, or in any form. This beautiful petition occurs in a prayer found after his death among the papers of the uncle, "May we consider every opportunity of adding to the happiness of any creature as a mer

ciful provision for our own, if we will rightly improve it."

I speak in this chapter of our relations with the poor, as they are found in ordinary life. Without any departure from ordinary routine and custom, one who is alert in doing good will have no lack of opportunity; whereas, for the want of this alertness, favorable occasions often pass unimproved, perhaps unperceived.

A friend of mine, whose genuine love for his fellow-beings keeps his eye wide awake to their interests, under all circumstances, was holding a court in Boston, when a little boy, with a fine, open countenance, was brought before him on the charge of stealing a breast-pin. A gentleman was in attendance-a good Samaritan-whose regular occupation it was to hang about the criminal courts for the very purpose of befriending the accused, and preventing the wrong and suffering that may come, even to the innocent, from the want of a "friend in need." The judge begged him to talk with the boy, and find out his story. He represented himself as from Scotland, sent here by his uncles to place him beyond the reach of a cruel step-mother. He said that he had recently arrived in the country, and was staying at a boarding-house, before he was put in prison. "Did you steal the breast-pin ?" it was asked. sir; I suppose it is called stealing." "Tell me

“Yes,