disdained not to be occupied. You will like-ient and healing. To express the whole in a wise be pleased to consider, that if the rich few words, she says nothing that is foolish, are exempted from the necessity of working nothing that is ill-natured. But her charity for themselves, they cannot be better employ- is shown in deeds as well as wordsed than in working for the poor; since "the coats and garments, made by the charity of Dorcas, were judged the best proofs of her goodness, that could be submitted to the inspection of an apostle."

13. "She seeketh wool and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. 19. She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff. 17. She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms. 15. She riseth also, while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens. 27. She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. 21. She is not afraid of the snow for her household; for they are all clothed with double garments. 22. She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple. 24. She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles to the merchant. 18. She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night. 14. She is like the merchant ships; she bringeth her food from afar. 16. She considereth a field, and buyeth it; with the fruits of her hands she planteth a vineyard."-On account of this her marvellous and unceasing diligence, with the many and great advantages derived thereby to her family, well may it be said, as it is said of her, 25. "Strength and honor are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come."

20. "She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy." This is yet another good effect of her economy and management. She is not only able to provide plentifully for her household, but has always something in store for the poor. Since what avails a charitable disposition, where vanity, folly, and extravagance have taken away the power to exert it? In vain is "the hand stretched out," when there is nothing in it.

Having duly considered this finished character of the virtuous woman, we shall not be surprised at the praise bestowed upon it, in the remaining verses of the chapter.

28. "Her children rise up, and call her blessed; her husband also and he praiseth her," saying, 29. "Many daughters have done virtuously; but thou excellest them all.” Happy the children of such a mother; they will be living proofs of the care taken by her in their education, when she taught them to walk by the paths of honor and virtue, to the mansions of rest and glory. Happy the husband of such a wife, who sees all things prosper under her direction, and the blessing of Heaven derived to his family through her. They will all join in proclaiming, that among women who do well, honor is chiefly due to the virtuous and diligent wife, the affectionate and sensible mother.

30. "Favour," or rather "gracefulness is deceitful, and beauty is vain; but a woman But the honor is not confined to herself. that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. It extendeth to her friend and her companion A graceful person and a set of fine features, in life; 23"Her husband is known in the are valuable things, but they are not always gates, when he sitteth among the elders of to be trusted; they may conceal tempers and the land;" that is, he is known as her hus- dispositions very different from those one band; as a man blessed with such a wife; as should have expected to find and bitterer indebted, perhaps, for his promotion, to the than wormwood must then be the disappointwealth acquired by her management at home ment of the man who has been directed (for honors are seldom open to the poor :) for to his choice by no other considerations. the splendor and elegance of his apparel, This, I say, may be the case. It is not often to the labor of her hands; and it may be, so, let us hope. God forbid it should. The for the preservation and establishment of his face ought to be an index to the mind, and virtue and integrity, to the encouragement when all is fair without, as it is said of the in all that is holy, and just, and good, fur- king's daughter in the psalm, "all should be nished by her example as well as her conver- glorious within." But, let beauty have its sation, the nature of which is thus described due praise, and suppose what you will of it 26. She openeth her mouth with wis--suppose all that the poets say of it to be dom, and in her tongue is the law of kind- true; still, the wise man tells you, it is vain, ness." She thinks before she speaks; and, it is in its nature transient, fleeting, perishing; therefore, neither introduces a bad subject, it is the flower of the spring, which must nor disgraces a good one by an improper man- fade in autumn; and when the blossom falls, ner of discoursing upon it. And as charity if no fruit succeed, of what value, I pray reigns in her heart, nothing that is unchari- you, is the tree? The grave is already opentable proceeds out of her mouth all is len- ing for the most elegant person that moves,

:

and the worms are in waiting to feed on the fairest face that is beholden. Labor then, for that which eudureth for ever let your chief pains be bestowed on that part of the human composition which shall flourish in immortal youth, when the world and all that is in it shall disappear, and come no more into mind." A woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised."

31. "Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates."

The crown which her own hands have thus formed shall be placed upon her head, as it were by general consent, even in this life; and her good deeds celebrated in the public assemblies, shall diffuse an odor grateful as the smell of Eden, as the cloud of frankincense ascending from the holy altar. When her task is ended, the answer of a good conscience, and the blessings of all around, sweeter than the sweetest music, shall chant her to her repose; till awakened on the great morning of the world, descending angels shall introduce this daughter of Jerusalem into the joy of her Lord.

vent these children from growing up in idleness and vice, to be the burden and the scandal of a Christian country; and to render them, on the contrary, useful in their stations, and the glory of their times; for such are industry and goodness in the cottage, as well as in the palace.

It is a charity to this city, to hinder so many innocent creatures from being tempted to walk the streets, or hide themselves in ill houses.

It is a charity to families; not only to those poor families, out of which these children are taken, but to those good families into which they shall be hereafter transplanted for sober, faithful maid-servants; and, in time, a charity to their own families, when, by God's blessing, they shall be well disposed of in the world; when, having become happy wives and mothers, they shall govern houses of their own, and bring up their children in the like nurture and fear of the Lord.

That these good effects may be produced, the mothers must be warned not to detain the children at home a moment longer than is absolutely necessary, nor ever let them have a bad example before their eyes when they are there.

Such is the female character, and such the importance of forming it by education. Without education it cannot be formed; for we And as the success of a school must always were all born equally ignorant, and are what depend on the fidelity and diligence of those we are by instruction. Mothers who have who are over it, let them remember, that not been themselves taught, cannot teach they receive the pay of charity; and that their daughters; and mothers who are poor, they cannot neglect their duty, without addcannot pay for having them taught. Such ing this aggravation to their crime, the abuse mothers must be therefore assisted; the chil- of one of the best intended institutions in dren of such mothers, who appear now ranged before you, ask the continuance of your good-will and kind assistance, to carry on the work of their education. Be the means of teaching them, and they may teach their children after them, to the years of many generations. There is no end of the good that may be thus done the effects of it may be found upon the earth, when our Redeemer shall return to judgment.

A school of this sort, properly managed and conducted—what is it, but a nursery of virtue and true religion, from whence will come forth into the church of God many a modest Rebekah, a devout Hannah, a wise Esther, an industrious Martha, an humble pious Mary; a credit to their own age, and blessing to posterity.

a

Such a school is a charity of the most comprehensive nature.

the world.

But all is at an end at once, unless you are pleased to continue your kind subscriptions and contributions. If you withhold your hands, you pull down you own work. Whatever you give at other times, add something now, severally as you can afford-and add it cheerfully; for God loves cheerfulness in giving, as in every thing else. Hard hearts and empty hands he does not love. You owe it to his blessing that you are not in want yourselves of his own do you give him; and how can you bestow it better?-I need not tell the female part of my audience, that, in justice to their sex, they are more especially concerned; since they, I am sure, have not forgotten a striking feature in the picture which has been set before them"She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the

It is a charity to the whole nation, to pre-needy.".

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DISCOURSE XLVII.

CHRISTIAN UNITY.

2 CORINTHIANS, XII. 11.

Be of one mind.

THE apostle, in this verse, taking leave of his Corinthians, bequeaths to them the same legacy which the blessed Jesus bequeathed to all his followers. "Peace I leave with you," said the master; "my peace I give unto you." Finally, brethren," says this his faithful disciple-"be of one mind, live in peace, and the God of love and peace shall be with you." Such are the conditions upon the performance of which we may hope for the presence of God in the midst of us. He who "maketh men to be of one mind in a house," delighteth to dwell in the house where they are so. The spirit of discord resides in the world, that scene of confusion, that mystic Babel. Jerusalem is a city at unity in itself; and is therefore the habitation of "the Prince of Peace."

duction into the world, we shall find that it was threefold. The first between God and man, occasioned by man's transgression of the divine law, which estranged him from his Maker, whom from thenceforth he feared, as "an avenger ready to execute wrath upon him that had done evil." The second between man and himself, caused by the accusations of conscience thereupon. The third between man and man, owing to unruly desires and passions, continually interfering, and never to be satisfied.

In opposition to this threefold discord introduced into the world by the evil spirit, the concord effected in the church by the good Spirit of God is likewise threefold. Man is reconciled to God by the righteousness of Christ, through faith; to himself, by the anThe nature of that duty, which is here re-swer of a conscience thus purged from sin; commended by St. Paul, appears to be suffi- and to his brethren, by Christian charity shed ciently expressed by the word concord, or abroad in his heart. unanimity, on which the text is an exact paraphrase, 10 auto povεLTE," Think the same thing," or "be of one mind."

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And so necessary indeed is this agreement found to be for the, prosecution of any design, that bad men cannot execute their schemes without a temporary concord, founded, for want of better principles, either upon the mutual interest of all parties, or a fantastical kind of honor, which answers its purpose, if it keep them together, till the deed of darkness be done, and the prey divided. Common robbers and pirates find the necessity of this. Nay, if Satan's kingdom were divided against itself, it must presently fall. But these are combinations and conspiracies against the welfare and happiness of mankind, with which therefore we are no further concerned, than to learn a useful lesson from our enemies, and to rest assured, that the kingdom of our Master must subsist, as all other kingdoms and societies do, by the cultivation of peace and unity among those who are the subjects of it.

If we take a view of discord at its intro

All these operations worketh one and the same Spirit; whence the unity of which we are now speaking, is styled "the unity of the Spirit," which is represented as encircling all things in heaven and earth with a bond of peace. And is not the Spirit of the church, or body of Christ, what the breath is to the body natural? While that continues in the human frame, the parts of which it is composed adhere tenaciously together; but when God taketh away the breath, the contexture is soon dissolved, and they turn again to their dust. The inference suggested by this comparison, with regard to any church whose members are disunited and crumbled into schisms and factions, is too melancholy to be dwelt upon. When the Spirit came down upon the apostles, on the day of Pentecost, it is said, that "they were all with one accord in one place ;" and afterwards, when inspired by him, we are told, "they lifted up their voices with one accord," like the pipes of a musical instrument properly tuned, sounding forth in unison the praises of God.

To induce brethren to "dwell together in

unity," God seemeth to have employed every kind of argument. He hath erected both worlds upon the basis of concord, and made harmony to be, as it were, the life and the soul of the universe. I shall endeavor to point out some striking examples of its beneficial influences, in the natural, the social, and the spiritual system.

In contemplating the scenes of nature, where indeed there is neither voice nor language, yet it is impossible not to observe how the elements conspire to serve God and to bless mankind. St. Clement, in his Epistle to the Corinthians, enlarges upon this thought to the following effect: "The heavens deCare the glory of their great Creator, uniformly performing their operations in obedience to his decrees. At the word of the Almighty, the sun ariseth, and knoweth his going down. The heavenly bodies run their appointed circuits in concert, and their motions clash not. Day and night, spring and summer, autumn and winter, in peaceful order give place to, and succeed each other. The earth, without murmuring or disputing, yields her increase at the stated seasons. Winds blow, and waters roll, in subserviency to the will of him who made them; the very waves of the ocean practice submission; they pass not the bounds prescribed them, but under the regulation of that powerful voice which said, Hitherto shall ye come, but no further, they only serve to fill up the mighty chorus of inanimate beings that are incessantly, in their way, rendering homage to the Lord of nature. They continue this day according to his ordinance, for all things serve him in their several places, without let or molestation. Animals and insects, the least and most defenceless, do yet maintain, by mutual agreement, their respective societies, and preserve themselves from their numerous and potent adversaries. Thus doth all creation silently reprove the eccentric motions of contentious men, who oppose the will of God, and devour one another."

From a survey of nature, proceed we to inspect the make and constitution of man himself, who subsisteth by a union of two very different parts, a soul and a body, between which there is a kind of marriage, not to be dissolved, "till death them do part." They live together, they rejoice together, they suffer together: and when parted, as the body loses all its form and comeliness, its sight, its hearing, its voice, its motion, its very shape and figure, so the soul is described in holy writ as being restless and unquiet, till the time of reunion comes, crying out, from beneath the altar, with anxiety and earnestness, "How long, O Lord, holy and true ?"

Nor less observable is the union which obtains between the members of which the body is composed, and by whose mutual good offices it is supported and preserved, according to the apostle's just and beautiful account of this matter-" God hath set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are there many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee; nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you-But God hath tempered the body together, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, and all the members rejoice with it."

It is not more necessary that the members should be joined together in the body, than that mankind should be united in civil society. Man comes into the world utterly helpless, insomuch that, without the care and assistance of others, not a single individual of the human species could be reared, but the earth must be forthwith unpeopled. And therefore it is, that an all-wise Providence has implanted in our nature that affection which is found to prevail between parents and children, between brethren and sisters, between those of the same family, kindred, house, city, or nation; between those of the same age, or the same vocation. Such are the means used to invite and almost force men to live in peace and concord, some degree of which God hath made absolutely necessary, by rendering it impossible, as at the beginning he had declared it was not good, for man to be alone. Hence that original union, "instituted and ordained by him in the time of man's innocency," to be the fountain of every other relation, the source of all those blessings and comforts which result from society.

Thus salutary are the influences of concord in the natural and the social system. Let us now see how the case stands in that spiritual world, of which we became citizens at our baptism.

And here, if we look up, and behold by faith the glory of the eternal Trinity, we must presently fall down, like the elders before the throne, and in the power of the divine Majesty worship the Unity. "There be Three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these Three are ONE." Three persons; one God. Three, as evidently appears by the different offices which they have graciously vouchsafed to undertake in the work of our redemption; one in substance, and duration, and glory, and

majesty, and power, and might, and dominion. ( unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. For And as they are one, so all the angels and as the body is one, and hath many members, blessed spirits in the courts of heaven make and all the members of that one body, being their sound to be heard as one, in blessing and many, are one body, so also is Christ. For praising, and magnifying them, for ever and by one Spirit are we all baptized into one ever. Not a discordant note is heard in all body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whethat celestial choir, while "they rest not day ther we be bond or free. Ye are the body or night, saying, Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Christ, and members in particular." By Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come!" concord in the church, the kingdom of Christ From heaven we descend again to earth, is established on earth as it is in heaven, with him who did so, for us men, and for our where there is no rebellion or opposition to salvation, to the end that as body and soul the will of God, but all are unanimous in doare one man, so God and man might be one ing it. By the Gospel, enmity was abolishChrist, who was to live and to die for us; to ed, and never should have been heard of suffer, and to save; as man to suffer, and as more. All nations, however different before God to save. He could not have suffered un- in rites, ceremonies, languages, and tempers, less he had been man; he could not have were called to the same grace, incorporated saved by suffering, unless he had been God, into one city of peace, and made to communi"God manifest in the flesh." By this amaz- cate with each other in holy offices, in praying and most beneficent union, the law was ers and in sacraments, in devotion and charity, kept, the ransom paid, sin done away, Satan living together in the house of their heavenovercome, death swallowed up, immortality ly Father, and eating of one bread at his brought to light, man redeemed, hell confound-table. "There is one body, and one Spirit, ed, earth made to rejoice, and heaven peo- even as ye are called in one hope of your pled with glorified saints. calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all."

By the union of God and man in the person of Christ, another union was effected between Christ and the church. For is the vine united to the branches that spring from it? "I am the vine, ye are the branches." Is the head joined to the body? "God hath made him head over all things, to the church, which is his body." Is there a strict union between man and wife? "This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church: we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones." By means of this divine junction, the blessings which Christ obtained by his death and passson become ours. "As the branches cannot bear fruit, except they abide in the vine, no more can we, except we abide in him," and so "partake of his root and fatness." From him, as the head, "the whole body of the church, fitly joined together, and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body, to the edifying of itself in love." And if we consider the church as being espoused to the Lamb, she thereby becomes endowed with his excellencies, she takes his name and shares his unspeakable dignity, his everlasting love, and almighty protection. These are the happy effects of the union between Christ and the church.

One more consequence should follow from it, and would to God it were every where visible, viz: an union among Christians. Joined to one common head, they should be joined likewise to each other, "keeping the

There was a time, and it is pleasing to look back to it, when a Christian, furnished with proper credentials from his bishop, might travel through the world, from east to west, and from north to south, and be received to communion with his brethren in any part of the globe then known. There will be a time, and it is comfortable to look forward to it, when infidelity, heresy, and schism shall come to an end, and there shall ' be no contention among the redeemed, but in giving glory, and honor, and thanks to him that sitteth on the throne. In the mean season, as they will stand fairest for heaven who live in concord upon earth, let us consider how we may best perform this part of our duty.

And here we may, it is presumed, lay it down for one rule, that he who would live in peace and harmony with his brethren, his kinsfolk, and his neighbors, must himself be first reconciled to his Maker. Acquaint thyself with God, and be at peace;" be at peace with him, and thine own conscience, and then thou shalt be at peace with all around thee. Sin is the universal leaven, which, by its fermentation, sours the temper. While the mind is troubled and disquieted, unsettled and uncertain with regard to its spiritual concerns; while it is under the guilt and dominion of a lust, not willing to break its chain, and yet galled with wearing it; the man will be fretful and peevish, quarrelsome and contentious