look those inferior matters in others, which might not exactly coincide with our own views and opinions. These discrepancies in sentiment are perhaps permitted for mutual advantage; and the cultivation of a candid disposition may be carried to a wider extent, and a spirit of forbearance be kept in higher exercise, where there are some points to keep forbearance in action, than if there were no such thing as diversity of sentiment. By the constant and reciprocal operation of this spirit of Christian kindness, we shall be made more meet for that state where all will be of one mind, as well as one heart, where charity will have its full consummation, and forbearance its full reward. Let us then prepare ourselves, and each other, by the exercise of the one for the fruition of the other. Let God be all in all now as He will be hereafter, and there will be no room left in the heart of a Christian for animosity, or unkindness towards his fellow Christians. A cordial agreement in those essentials to which the Gospel has annexed salvation, should swallow up all the present petty, but dividing distinctions. Could this most desirable object be accomplished, then should we hope to see a renovation of that spirit which, in the early ages of the church, provoked even its enemies to exclaim with admiring wonder, See how these Christians love one another! 192 ON THE EXERTIONS OF PIOUS We are now about to tread, which we do with a fearful and timid step, on tender ground. It is with mingled respect and reluctance we venture to touch on certain delicate points which affect the sincerely pious; persons who equally avoid all eccentricity in doctrine, and negligence in practice; yet among whom little errors may hereafter creep in, the very consequence, perhaps, of that increasing and inestimable blessing, religious society. It is to be feared they may incur the hazard of raising in others objections against religion, by their honest zeal to promotė it. The persons to whom we presume to allude are of that sex, in which, perhaps, most piety is to be found, and who are in so many respects essentially advancing its cause. Their services are so materially useful, that it would be a subject of deep regret, if, by any slight inadvertence, their value should ever be diminished. We are too often led to com plain of deficiencies in religion; we are now to speak - not of its excess, for we believe there is no such thing-but rather to guard the truly pious against the possibility of inconveniences, which, should they arise, would be a diminution of their usefulness. The thoughtless and dissipated indeed, who haunt unsocial crowds, and lay out their talents for that world which they have chosen for their portion, find their reward where they seek it, in the admiration of that world where they flutter and shine. The others patiently wait for theirs in that single sentence, “Well done, good and faithful servant." Yet though it is painful to say a syllable which might look like disapprobation K when only caution is intended, may we hazard a few words, not of censure but of friendly intimation? May not those large portions of time, and strength, and spirits, so generously spent abroad by zealous Christians, in the most noble exertions of religious charity, be sometimes suffered to entrench, in some measure, upon the imperious calls of domestic life, upon those pleasing and sacred duties for which HOME is a name so dear? May they not be so exhausted by external concerns, that they may be in danger of entering with diminished interest on the retired exercises of the closet. All business, even religious business, is apt to produce a hurry and bustle in the mind, and an agitation in the spirits, which the most serious persons lament, as being attended with some disqualification for personal improvement. - "My mother's children gave me their vineyards to keep, but mine own vineyard have I not kept," was the pathetic lamentation of the an |