yet for our sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might be made rich. Though we were enemies; and by transgression had torn asunder the obligations of gratitude and love, yet so ardent was his affection, that he died for our salvation. He was a perfect character. His love beamed from the height of heaven, and brought light and life and glory to the sons of woe. He disrobed himself of the splendors of Deity, quitted the mansions of bliss, denied himself that unutterable felicity which he enjoyed with his father, veiled himself in humanity, assumed the sorrows and infirmities of an inimical and ruined world. In the form of a servant, despised and rejected of men, he went about doing good, instructing the ignorant, relieving the distressed, pardoning the penitent, blessing his enemies, and allying himself by the strongest ties to the forlorn, disconsolate sons and daughters of woe. In him was no oppressive spirit, no unfeeling heart. His tears dropped on the sins of men, and blotted them out forever. Angels bending from their bright abodes beheld their lord in misery, and, arrested by the display of his compassion, melted into sympathetic virtue. His love bound death in chains, and strewed the tomb with flowers. He gave his life for the miserable; and when he bowed his head on Calvary, rose into the splendors of immortal life, and bade them follow. Surely the perfect example of the Son of God, ought to arrest our attention and engage all our powers in the cause of benevolence. It appears from the preceding discourse that charity ranks among the most exalted virtues; that it adds lustre and dignity to human character. The practice, therefore, of charity involves at once our interest, our duty and our happiness. These are motives too powerful to be resisted. They apply to the strongest propensities of our nature, and must produce active beneficence, in every one, whose humanity has not been sacrificed at the shrine of avarice. Hard indeed is that heart which cannot feel for another's woe! On this occasion, the children of adversity and want solicit your charity. The sigh of the disconsolate widow, and the faltering voice of age, reach your ears. Orphan infancy, dropping tears, stretches forth its little hands to receive your bounty. Humanity pleads her own cause, and must be heard. We are not convened to celebrate the subversion of tyrants, nor the triumphs of liberty. These agitate the soul with fear, with terror and enthusiastic triumph. They present to our imagination the confused noise of battle, fields bathed in blood, heaps of slain, the shouts of the victors, and the groans of the dying. From these we retire. We delight ourselves in exercising the humane, benevolent feelings. Our hearts are attracted by a society, designed to relieve misery and increase happiness; a society originating in benevolence, embracing all that is amiable in disposition, all that is ornamental and attractive in character. Generosity, that impressive and commanding virtue, clothed in the resistless charms of female loveliness, here takes her residence. May her enlivening spirit breath through this assembly, and produce the most liberal beneficence. Let us remember, that the motives to charity are weighty, and its rewards ample. By indulging a disposition to relieve and assist our fellow creatures, we strengthen our own virtue, and increase our own pleasures. We fortify ourselves against the calamities incident to our situation, and cultivate our humanity, by exercising our sympathy. That God whose we are, and to whose august tribunal we are amenable for our conduct, has laid upon us the injunctions of charity, and enforced them by the example of his own son. Let us then, with cheerfulness discharge our duty. Let us realize our affinity to the whole human race, and while we contemplate their miseries, give the reins to all our benevoent, sympathetic feelings. Though God has permitted sin and sorrow and death to triumph in the present state of things, for the exercise of our virtue and the display of his mercy, yet he has assured us that the time shall arrive when, "there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying." The sun of righteousness will then beam on the picture of man's existence, chasing from it every cloud, bringing forth all its beauties, and covering it with glory. Benevolence will then wield her sceptre, and bend all hearts to her control. This fair goddess descends from the skies veiled in a shower of roses. The gales of spring, fresh from the Paradise of God, lift the wings of ten thousand angels to attend her. The bending heavens brighten with her glory, and the exulting earth moves forward to admire her beauty. At her approach, the horrors of the dungeon vanish; oppression drops his rattling chain; grim avarice sinks into the dark recesses of the globe; orphan wretchedness, and pining poverty, forget their care, and smile with grateful joy. While we feel and recognize the motives and obligations of our duty, let us remember, that though our present situation may be prosperous and happy, yet the time may arrive when we shall need that bounty, which we are now called on to bestow. In such an event may we not confidently hope, that God, in whose hands we are, will pour upon us in reversion our deeds of charity? In this assembly, I behold hearts throbbing with sensibility, and countenances brightening with benevolence. Remember that, on this, as on all other occasions, your humanity must be measured by your generosity. May all our exertions engage in the cause of benevolence. May that embalming spirit of sympathy, which was deposited, in the breast of the first Fair, pervade us, and the whole world, and unite us in one great, indissoluble and happy fraternity. 17 |