gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!"

In a world like this, which sin has filled with suffering, and death with mourning, sympathy must often be called into exercise. There is no cup of this earth's good which is put into our hands, but what is mixed with bitter ingredients. Health is uncertain. Every moment we are liable to accident and disease, which may impair the strongest constitution, and entail, through life, the severest pains and sorrows. A fit of sickness may so pall the appetite, and lower the animal spirits, that food will be taken without relish, company no longer enliven, and the whole face of nature wear a dreary aspect. Substance fails. The wealth that has been amassed by talent, diligence, and prudence, exerted through a long series of years, has, in one hour, made unto itself wings, and flown away as an eagle towards heaven. He who to-day looks with complacency around his ample domain, and promises himself continued and increasing prosperity, may, before to-morrow's dawn, find himself stript of all his possessions, and obliged to depend on the bounty of others. Pleasure disappoints. It was never intended to fill the capacity, and satisfy the desires, of an immortal soul. When we have sought and obtained the object of our hope, it soon ceases to afford the wonted gratification, and we intently look out for something new. Friendship, that sweetest balm of life, is inconstant. The tie, alas! is easily snapt, by

up

their

a change of circumstances, or by the breath of slander, or by mere caprice. Where the floods lifted voice, not a rill is heard to murmur. The burning drought of the summer is come, and as a brook, and as the stream of brooks, they pass away. And should the affection of our friend remain unalterable, and even increase with increasing years, the bond is soon broken by the stroke of death. The fair and lovely flower, that attracts the eye by its beauty, and regales with its sweetness, is usually short-lived; while the rank and poisonous weed survives the gales of autumn, and the frosts of winter.

The various painful emotions of which the Christian is the subject, will also afford ample scope for the offices of tender sympathy. These arise out of the imperfection of our knowledge, the weakness of our faith, the partial degree of our love, and the defective nature of our obedience. Every man, acquainted with his own heart, will rather attribute his want of entire conformity to the high standard of the gospel, to sin that dwelleth in him, than to the influence of the world, or of the world's liege lord. If the citadel of the heart was not betrayed by its own parleying inhabitants, all attempts by force from without would utterly fail. Either, then, from the imperfection of his Christian character, or the strength of remaining depravity, the believer is often brought into darkness of mind, and distress of soul. That darkness, and this distress, may be greatly increased by deeply afflictive and uninterpreted dis

pensations of Providence, and by bodily indisposition. His former evidences are beclouded; duties, slavishly performed; and privileges afford little comfort he has doubt where once he found certaintyconflict where once he enjoyed peace. This portion of our Lord's family is peculiarly the sphere of Christian sympathy. By tender, affectionate commiseration, we are to make the sorrows of dejected and mourning disciples our own. So far as it regards suffering, it can only be exercised in this abode of sin and misery. The sympathy of heaven is the delight which one holy being feels, and the exultation he expresses, in the happiness of another, and of the whole redeemed family.

Every believer, of some standing in the divine life, is more or less qualified to sympathize with his fellowbeliever, by having passed through similar trials and exercises. The experience of one, is the faithful copy of the history of another. They may differ as to the finer strokes of the picture, and in the minutiæ of tint and shade, but the bolder outlines are the same. As our sorrows are common, so will be the interest which we shall feel in each other's happiness. It is part of the wise arrangement of Heaven, that, by mutual sufferings, we should be prepared to administer mutual relief. Affliction throws an air of softness over the mind, excites tenderness of spirit; and so long as the influence remains, our companions in tribulation will find us more easy of access, and more attentive to their

suffering condition.

The Israelites were exhorted to

acts of beneficence, from the consideration that they knew the heart of a stranger, seeing they were strangers in the land of Egypt. Let a man suffer in his health, circumstances, and connexions; let him be exercised in his own mind, tried, and tempted; and he will be the better fitted to discharge that part of duty which requires him to comfort the feebleminded and to support the weak. In truth, it is only such an one that can feel for his brethren in distress, enter minutely into the causes and cure of their mental malady, and declare that which he has seen with his eyes, which he has looked upon, and his hands have handled, of the Word of life. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort, who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God." The person appointed to the priestly office under the Mosaic dispensation, was taken from among men, and was liable to all the pains and sorrows of humanity, that he might be of a tender heart, pitiful, and affectionate. "For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men, in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins: who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity." It was thus that our Lord

himself was qualified to be the apostle and high priest of our profession. "Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God; to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted."

In our visits of Christian sympathy, it is not less important that the judgment be in exercise than the feelings. It is amiable to share another's woe, and to mingle our tears with those of the weeping sufferer; and yet it is cruel to leave the understanding uninformed, and the heart unimpressed. Advice

should be blended with condolence, and admonition with counsel. Usually, in the season of affliction, the ear is open, the conscience awake, the heart susceptible. Suspicion has been excited in the breast of the chastised that all is not right; that God has a controversy with him; and that he is justly visited for sin. These suspicions are not to be removed by wretched opiates, which stupify the mind, and render the man insensible of his real danger. He is not to be told of the goodness of his heart; to be reminded of the rectitude of his conduct, the kindness of his disposition, and the liberality of his hand; nor is he to be assured of the mercies of God, apart from the sacrifice of Christ. All this is soothing to the afflicted, and flattering to his pride; but it cannot remove the spiritual disease