Проповеди и лекции

ity, itsT indiscriminate application to all who need, its regit Tdle?<«nirN8 of any return even of gratitude^ and its liberality, might seem at first sight ti^H compose asj'ttcm whouc tendency would be u^" encourage vice, and promote idlenesd^ and im- poverish the worthy for the sake of the tiBdeseir- ing; and accordingly the economists hold it <'heap; yet we aifimi it to be the wi^lum gf Gud, and the rudiments of human refonnation. For there iaiu such disinterested kindness, the only hope of in»j GUt>'s CUNrROVKItaT WITH THK LAND. 953 fallen man, t charm which the most obdurate can hardly stand, and, if it do not seem paradoxical, to which the most obdurate arc oAe& the mo«t alive. For after any ouc ha5 forsaken honcAt and creditable patliA, he becomes an outcai^t from Ihe honourable Uu«U uikI lender attenlion« uf social life, and is thrust down into the company of wretched associates like himself, whoae whole business it is to rctoUatc upon society her scorn and banishment of them, aud to drive a livelihood upon the perilous edge of want^ or the more perilous c-dgc uf LTiminal detection. Soft looks, and gracious words, and generous actions are straiif^ to (heir excommunicated way of life, ex- cept when ihcy arc assumed by themselves to cover their approaches upon the unwary, or assum- ed by others to steal a march upon their secrecies. Accordingly, when thtry are addressed in good earnest with Cliri^tian tcodcmcss, which, alas! happens not to one iu a thousand, they doubt and distrust at first: when it is persevered in, they wonder if it can be genuine : wlien they find it genuine, there is hardly one so obdvirate, as not to be overcome with the long-lost honour of being once more treated as a reasonable and feeling man. It is like raising a beggar from the dunghill to royalty, thus to treat by gentle means a man whom society hath disowned, police watched, and law frowned on. And if he can be delivered from his suspicions of your motives, it is hardly in any nature not to feel the honour and acknow- ledge it. Thufi, being cdtiblishcd in his heart as one who means him well, you become to him the whole lost world of hope. Yen have recover- ed to his bosom emotions lon^^losi among the ruins 9M OUUa COMKOVfclCfV with THt LAIfD. [DtIL of reltfi^ioti ftod morals; you have given bina recol- lections of hiB former s«lf ; aud the seat you hold within him is far higher, the purchase you procure orer him far greater, thou by the same attcntiooe you coiild procure ijver uiie who wa» htandiug fai^t in the pri