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1. The first act of kindness which a merciful man does to his neighbour, is, to forgive him his trefpaffes, to pardon his offences, and to forget the injuries which he has done to him. live in fuch a ftate of focial union, as renders mutual help neceffary and as felf-intereft, pride, and other corrupt paffions, mingle themselves ordinarily in their commerce, they cannot fail of offending one another. In civil-fociety, men muft, in order to taste a little tranquility, refolve to bear fomething from their neighbours; they muft fuffer, pardon, and give up many things; without doing which, they must live in a ftate of continual agitation, which will render life itself infupportable. The children of God, efpecially, live among a perverfe generation, which not only, has no love for them, but hates and perfecutes them. The wifeft part which they can take, is to bear, forbear, and pardon, unless they wish to be continually tormented with emotions of bitterness, hatred, and envy, which will do them more real injury, than all the outward evils put together; for do what we will, we must fail on a very ftormy fea, where we cannot elcape being agitated with all forts of adverfe winds. Do we defire that nothing may crofs us? This is to demand impoffibilities. And if we meet with oppofitions, fhall we refift arm to arm, or vex ourselves when we cannot furmount them? Alas! in this cafe, we should act against the intention of God, and fuffer double evil in confequence. Our best way therefore is, to be clothed with bowels of mercy; to be calm, patient, and refigned; to fuffer, give up, and pardon: We owe this, not only to the people of the world, but to the children of God, who are not without their failings; there are weak ones among them, who must be fupported; ignorant perfons, whom we must inftruct; and wandering fpirits, whom we muft endeavour to restore, in the spirit of gentlenefs. Finally, we must learn how to give, and to pardon, if that charity, which is the bond of per fection, is to have any place in us; without this, there will be nothing in civil fociety, and even in chriftian congregations, but divifions, evil furmifings, injurious difcourfes, outrages, anger, vengeance, and in a word, a total difmemberment of the myftical body of Chrift. Thus our character as christians, and disciples of Chrift, and our duty, as brethren and members of the Church of Chrift, engage us to give and to pardon, not only, as these things may refpect our brethren and friends, but alfo, as they may respect our enemies. This is a genuine production of that true Love, which is fhed abroad in the hearts of all the children. of God, by the Holy Spirit. Hence it is, that the fame Spirit fays fo often by the mouth of the Apostles, "Be ye gentle towards each other, full of compaffion, forgiving one another, as God, for Chrift's fake, hath forgiven you." of God, bowels of mercies, kindness, humblenefs of mind, meekness, long suffering; forbearing one another, and forgiv ing one another; if any man have a quarrel against any;

"Put on as the elect

even as Chrift forgave you, so alfo do ye," Eph. iv. 32. Col. iii. 12, 13. This, our bleffed Lord and Mafter, has taught us by his own example, when touched with compaffion towards his cruet perfecutors, he pardoned them fincerely, forgave the cruelties they exercised on him, and prayed to his heavenly Father to forgive them, for they knew not what they did.

2. A fecond good, which Mercy excites us to do to our neighbour, is, to give: Give fays our Lord in the text, and it shall be given anto you. Mutual fuccour is indifpenfably neceffary to all men: There are fome who have it in their power to relieve, and there are others who ftand in need of their affiftance: Mercy employs itself in diftributing both the fpiritual and temporal bleflings which it has received, among thofe who are in want. There is a difpenfation of temporal bleffings, and there is a dispensation of fpiritual bleffings: to share our temporal goods with the neceffitous, is a neceflary confequence of Mercy, and a merciful mind neglects not this duty, when the means are in its power: If any one have the goods of this world," fays St. John, "and fee his brother in want, and fhut up his bowels of compaffion against him, how dwelleth the Love of God in him?" "If a brother or fifter be naked, and deftitute of daily food, and one of you fay unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed, and be ye filled; notwithflanding ye give them not thofe things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit ?" Jam. ii. 15, 16. It is true, that almfgiving is not always an act of mercy and christian charity; one may be charitable without giving, when the means are lacking. On the other hand, one may give, and not be charitable. There are many who give alms only thro' hypocrify, oftentation, cuftom, or decency; and often with regret, when by certain confiderations they are conftrained to it. These alms are not the fruits of mercy, but of Pride, or of a certain reproach of confcience, which obliges men fometimes to provide for the neceffi ties of their neighbours. Further, we often fee almfgiving accompanied with reproaches, bitter words, and other circumstances which fufficiently demonftrate the corrupt fource whence they proceed. A Chriftian fhould not forget the duties of beneficence, but it is neceffary that he acquit himself in them, with a spirit of mercy and charity towards the diftreffed. St. Paul, in the viii, and ix. chapters of his 2d Epiftle to the Corinthians, fhews us the difpofitions with which we fhould do good to others; GOD, (fays he) loves a cheerful giver. He who fows fparingly, fhall reap fparingly, and he who gives liberally, fhall reap liberally. Let every man do as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly, or of neceffity, but willingly." See also what our Lord fay's on this head, in the 6th chapter of Matthew. St. James fays, "Pure Religion, and undefiled before GOD, is this, to visit the orphans and widows in their affliction,"

Mercy

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Mercy and Charity exercife themselves efpecially, in the communication of fpiritual goods. The fpiritual goods which we should diftribute among our neighbours, are, The Word of GOD, and the knowledge of the facred doctrines of the Grace and Love of God, in Chrift Jefus, our common Saviour. When these bleflings have been fhed abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit, rivers fhould run from that fountain of living waters, Jolin vii. 38. Then we can, and we ought, to divide with others, in inftructing the ignorant, in bringing into the way those who have wandered, in comforting the afflicted, and in letting our light fhine before men that they may be edified: And fuppofing that a child of God, have neither the power nor opportu nity of doing thefe things, his mercy will lead him to pray for others: but let it ftill be remembered, that the communication of thefe goods, fhould proceed from a merciful heart: for as mercy, without thefe productions, is not real, fo thefe exterior effects, are but deceitful appearances, if they proceed not from the fountain of pure Love. It is therefore abfolutely neceffary, that, before all things, we should be animated by the Holy Spirit of Love, to the end that our hearts being filled with it, we may bring forth those fruits which Jefus Chrift attributes to it, and which we have already described. Then fhall we feel ourfelves moved with compaffion toward our neighbours; we shall be tender toward them, judge no Evil of them, edify them by our converfation, exhort them, pray for them, and ftudy, in and thro' all things, to promote their spiritual interefts. And when they have need of our worldly goods, we fhall give them part according to our power, with chearfulness and fimplicity of heart.

The Mercy which proceeds from this fource, and produces fuch effects, cannot fail to have excellent promifes. Jefus Chrift, who fhall be one Day, the Judge of all things, affures us, that God will deal with us, as we have dealt with our neighbours: Thofe who have not judged, nor condemned, thro' hatred, bitterness, or pride, fhall not be condemned: Those who have given, and forgiven, to them, will God give a glorious recompence, good meafure, heaped up, shaken together, and running over, for mercy triumphs over condemnation."

On the contrary, there shall be Judgment without mixture of Mercy, to those who have fhewed no mercy, Jam. ii. 13. The children of God, who have fhewed Mercy, according to their fmall abilities, fhall receive an hundred fold; and the fidelity which they have fhewed in little things, fhall be followed by ineffable joy. On the other hand, the wicked, who have exer.. cifed their hardness and malignity in little things, in the light af fictions which they have caufed the faithful to fuffer, fhall be pu nifhed with a heaped up measure of the wrath, and rigorous judg ments of God. Then fhall it be faid to fpiritual Babylon and her children, Render to her a hundred-fold, for the evil which fhe VOL. XIX. October 1796.

has

has done. Woe to those, who in the days of vengeance and re tribution, cannot hope for any mercy: but-bleed are the mer ciful, for they fhall obtain Mercy.

May the Lord Jesus shed abroad the mild influence of his Love in our hearts! May he pluck up and deftroy every root of bitterness and malice which may be found in us! May he cleanse and purify us, and implant those difpofitions of Mercy and Love in our fouls, which thall caufe us to be acknowledged as the chil dren of our heavenly FATHER, to whom MERCY fhall be eter. nally manifested ! AMEN.

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A fhort Account of Alice Entwistle, of Bolton.

N her early days fhe was in the general, pretty much like other young perfóns who knew not God. In the 20th year of her age, he was married, with a tolerable prospect of doing well for the prefent life; during which time fhe had four children. But her husband contracting an acquaintance with base company, which led him to drinking and gaming, and other things of a like nature, which foon reduced him in his circumftances; in the end he enlifted for a foldier, and left his wife to ftruggle with her four poor children as he might, for I don't find that the ever saw him fince, or ever heard of him; though it is near forty years fince he left

her.

By the bleffing of providence upon her hard and honest industry, fhe brought up her children to years of maturity, in a creditable way; and after they were all married, fhe went to live with her eldest daughter, where the ended her mortal pilgrimage. All this time fhe not only lived without God, and without hope in the world, but had in her foul a perfect enmity against the Methodists, believing, and often declaring, that they were all deceivers and hypocrites, yea, every thing that was vile.

However, by the providence of God, her daughter with whom fhe lived, got happily awakened to fee and feel her danger, and mifery: She invited the Methodifts to come to her house and keep meetings for finging hymns and for prayer. These meetings proved the means of her mother's Salvation; the Lord opened her heart as he did the heart of Lydia, and the people, which before the had hated and despised, she now found to be the people of God. She food joined the Society, and was very earnest for four months in feeking the Lord her Saviour; when one evening she and her daughter were both fet at liberty in the clafs-meeting. She was now a new creature, all things were passed away, and all were be come new. She faw every thing in a new light; Chrift, his word, people, and ways, fhe faw quite different to what she had done before. She and her daughter now went on praising the Lord to gether. She was now grown infirm and weak in body, being in her 68th year, but never omitted either the preaching or her

clafs,

class, when she could attend those means; and it is very remarkable, fhe never attended her clafs, but it proved a blessing to one or more of the people who met with her.

During the two laft years of her life, fhe was chiefly confined to her bed; and here kind providence made way for her help; for as fhe could not go to the clafs, the clafs came and met in the house with her, which the esteemed as an invaluable privilege.

In Bolton, the Lord has stirred up the minds of feveral young men, who are in the Methodist connexion, to vifit fick perfons, not only fuch as are Methodists, but any who will accept of their labour of love. They spend their leifure hours on the Lord's day in this laudable employment: they conftantly visited Sifter Entwistle, and found it contributed to the mutual comfort, both of the patient and themselves.

Soon after my arrival in Bolton, I found her out, and found it good to vifit her. I don't know that I ever found her without a book in her hand, except the last time I vifited her, which was but a little before her death. To me the appeared a pattern of patience and refignation. I don't find that the ever loft her evidence for a moment, from the time of her converfion till her spirit returned to God. She was exceeding thankful that the Lord had plucked her as a brand from the burning.

On the Saturday morning before her death, fhe appeared for more than an hour as if he was breathing her laft; when to the furprise of all that were about her, fhe awoke as out of a vifion, and faid, " Children, where have we been ?” And then in an ecftafy of joy, she cried out, "Glory be to God!" Glory be to God!" At the fame time her countenance fhone as if the had been an inhabitant of Glory. Her pains then returned with great violence, with which fhe ftruggled till Sunday evening, and about nine o'clock, without figh or groan, fhe entered into the Joy of her Lord, aged 74 years, Nov, 30, 1794. THOMAS TAYLOR,

How to live RIGHTEOUSLY and GODLY in this World.

THA

[EXTRACTED FROM A LATE EMINENT WRITER.]

HAT part of Man's Duty which refpects his Neighbour, the Apostle, (Tit. ii. 12,) expreffes, by the term dixas, "We fhould live righteously, or justly;" that is, according to the proper and original meaning of the word, giving to all their due. What that due is, the Gospel hath ascertained, not, like the mere moralifts, by a fyftem of rules only, but by infufing a principle, which reduces the law to a compend, and teaches the whole at once, in it's utmost extent. The principle here meant is charity, which, when fincere and ardent, needeth not the affiftance of precepts and directions, at every turn, but, by it's own nature and force, fuperfedes, and even goes beyond them all. "For this," fays the apoftle, "Thou shalt not commit adultery, thou fhalt not kill,

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