than a thousand misfortunes. This is finely illustrated in the life of Roger Williams. During his early residence at Plymouth, he had often been the guest of the neighboring sachems, whom he treated with habitual and tender regard. Afterwards, when driven from Massachusetts by the cruel intolerance of the whites, he came in winter to the cabin of the chief of Pokanoket for protection. He was welcomed by Massasoit; and, says the historian, "the barbarous heart of Canonicus, the chief of the Narragansetts, loved him as his son to the last gasp." This was the man who established the free State of Rhode Island, the first in the world based on the rights of conscience and intellectual liberty. Under the supervision of this refugee from foreign oppression and colonial persecution, on Nov. 11th, 1641, it was ordered by the whole body of freemen, and "unanimously agreed upon that the government, which this body politic doth attend unto in this island, and the jurisdiction thereof, in favor of our prince, is a Democracie, or popular government; that is to say, it is in the power of the body of freemen orderly assembled, or major part of them, to make or constitute just laws, by which they shall be regulated, and to depute from among themselves such ministers as shall see them faithfully executed between man and man." "It was further ordered, that none be accounted a delinquent for doctrine;" the law for "liberty of conscience was perpetuated." The little community was held together by the bonds of affection and freedom of opinion. Says Bancroft, "benevolence was their rule: they trusted in the power of love to win the victory; and the signet for the State' was ordered to be 'a sheafe of arrows' with the motto AMOR VINCET OMNIA."

There is no mode in which we can so readily and perfectly resemble God as in deeds of kindness.

"When a world of men

Could not prevail with all their oratory,
Yet hath a woman's kindness overruled."

Napoleon once said, "I win nothing but battles; and Josephine, by her goodness, wins all hearts."

"The mighty heart that battled for the empire of the world,

And all but won, yet perished in the strife,"

felt the superior grandeur of those virtues which he was yet willing to sacrifice to State policy and vain ambition.

Horace, speaking of Virgil, says, "my friend is to me as my own soul;" what then should be the purity and permanency of Christian affection! Let us remember the rule laid down by Chrysostom: "Have but one enemy-the devil. With him never be reconciled; with thy brother never fall out."

The bosom of true Christianity is the fountain of love inexhaustible and immense; that love which is the summary of the divine law, the life of the believer, the inspiration of everything good in time, the source and substance of eternal joy. It is this which successfully combats the ferocity of bad men, and fortifies the benevolent purposes of the good, modifies tyrannical laws, elevates and transforms degrading customs, produces the generous sentiments of humanity, inspires in the rich compassion for the poor, in the powerful respect for the weak, gives a divine force to tears over misfortunes of every sort, honors the tattered garments of virtuous indigence more than royal purple, sees in calm and heroical suffering a sublime dignity and feels in the exercise of its own goodness the purest and most exalted joys.

Never let us forget the declaration of Scripture, "With the same measure that ye mete withal, it shall be measured to you again." If one closes his ears at the cry of the needy, God will be deaf against the obdurate sinner's cry when he shall be in the greatest need. As saith the holy law, “He shall have judgment without mercy, that hath showed no mercy." The proud and unfeeling wretch who refused to give the miserable a crumb of comfort on earth, was denied a drop of water to cool the pangs of hell.

CHAPTER IV.

SOBRIETY;

OR, THE GLORY OF YOUNG MEN.

THE Proverb of Solomon asserts that the glory of young men is their strength, Prov. 20: 29. The period of youth is the glory of nature, and the healthful development of all the resources of strength deposited in our nature is the glory of youth. But prodigality of native energy is a besetting sin; the wasting of precious vigor in criminal pleasure is a common practice, which this discourse is designed as far as possible to describe and correct.

The grand means by which the highest beauty of mankind is defaced, their energies squandered, and their souls destroyed, is intemperance in eating, drinking, and sensual indulgence. To these three points let us give attention.

In the first place, intemperance in food is a fruitful source of disease, stupidity, and death. Virtuous activity is the law of health. Man must grow up harmoniously and industriously, if he would rise to eminent usefulness, with simultaneous expansion in trunk, branch and foliage, as grows a tree; the sap of immortal energy must circulate in every fibre, maturing fruits perennial and divine. Two laws are manifest in the constitution of man, a due regard to which cannot but conduce to our welfare and elevate our conceptions of the supreme Being. In the first place, in proportion as the physical nature of a man is healthfully developed, by suitable discipline winning the greatest vigor of limb, and the greatest acuteness of sense, he will derive important aids to the intellect and moral powers

from the perfection of his outward frame. Secondly, by a delightful reaction the mind, in proportion as it is invigorated and beautified, gives strength and elegance to the body, and enlarges the sphere of action and enjoyment. These laws have been recognized and observed by the best educators of the world. At Athens, the gymnasia became temples of the graces. They were not merely places of exercise for the young, but drew to their halls, porticos, baths, and groves the most distinguished votaries of every art and science. The field of Olympia was to the Greeks the most sacred enclosure of the gods. The games thereon practised, among other uses, promoted manly education, by teaching that the body has its honors, as well as the mind. They felt that vast importance belongs to physical agility and strength, not only that the intellect may be thus aided in energetic action, but that a firm basis may be laid in a sound body for the exercise of exalted virtues. Without physical vigor, the feeble flickerings of the mind are only "a gilded halo hovering round decay."

Preparatory to those Olympic games, the candidate for the conflict and crown lived in the most frugal manner and accustomed himself to the severest training. He would practise on the course with perpetual strife, and sweat himself thin, that he might be fitted for the great anticipated struggle. Said the apostle Paul, "I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection;" and, in this allusion to the ancient competitors in the race, he added, "this they do that they may obtain a corruptible crown; but we, an incorruptible."

The use which the Saviour of the world made of the five barley loaves and two small fishes, teaches us that the body is to be fed, not pampered. The text-book of our religion informs us of some who make a god of their belly, and immediately adds, "whose glory is their shame, whose end damnation." The rich glutton in hell has his whole biography written in that single line which tells us that "he fared sumptuously every day." Nature never demands dainties, condiments and

luxuries; they are sought for only by artificial appetites, and are indulged in only to inflame lust and accelerate the ruin of those who crave the delights of splendid misery.

"Boundless intemperance

In nature is a tyranny; it hath been

Th' untimely emptying of the happy throne,
And fall of many kings."

A pagan youth once said that "he was greater and born to greater things than to be a servant to his body." He felt, as did Coleridge, that "unless above himself he can erect himself, how poor a thing is man!" Habitual superiority to the gratification of voluptuous appetite is doubtless conducive to health, peace, and longevity. History records that when Athens was desolated by the plague, Socrates escaped, through the frugal and temperate habits of his life. He accustomed himself to a diet generous enough to invigorate health and give success to study in all the branches of philosophy and religion, in the temples, academy, and groves; but he was not avaricious of those luxuries which reward their votaries with groans, melancholy days, and sickly nights.

The relation of sobriety to mental culture is a topic worthy of especial consideration. Corporeal charms are generally the first to win admiration, but it is only mental ones that can long retain them. But the intellect never acquires dignified and enduring attractions amid scenes of sensual extravagance. "Temperance," says Jeremy Taylor, "is reason's girdle, and passion's bridle; the strength of the soul, and the foundation of virtue." It was a maxim with the ancients, that a distended stomach never nourished a sprightly mind; it was for this reason, probably, that the Cretans, a voluptuous and stupid race, were called slow-bellies by St. Paul.

Men whose minds possess the greatest vivacity, penetration, and strength, are usually very abstemious in the use of solid and exciting food. Newton abstained from meat when he wished to study deeply, and lived almost entirely on vegetables.