portant to be relinquished for a few failures; and nothing but the demonstration of absolute impossibility can induce it to give up its benevolent purpose.

If instances of this view of Christian love be necessary to illustrate and enforce it by the power of example, many and striking ones are at hand. Few, very few, are worthy of being put in competition with that of Mr. CLARKSON, whose illustrious name, and that of his no less illustrious coadjutor, Mr. WILBERFORCE, will ever be pronounced with tears of gratitude by Africa, as the chief agents in the work of inducing the greatest commercial nation upon earth to abolish the infernal traffic in human beings; and ought to be recorded in letters of gold by their grateful countrymen, for having delivered the nation from the greatest crime which, in her modern history, she ever committed, and from the greatest curse which she could dread at the hands of retributive justice. Perhaps no uninspired book may be so fairly regarded as a beautiful comment on the expression, "Charity endureth all things," as Clarkson's "History of the Abolition of the Slave Trade." Twenty years of that good man's life were occupied in long and fatiguing journies, at all seasons of the year in labours of an almost incredible extent, to trace reports to their source, to collect information, and to gather evidence; in braving opposition, bearing all kinds of ridicule, encountering savages, whose trade had made them reckless of crime, and thirsty for blood; in personal exposure, so great, that by nothing less than supernatural strength, granted for the occasion, would he have been rescued at one time from threatened and intended death. Nor was this the full measure of the endurance: disappointment the most bitter and discouraging often extinguished his brightest hopes; lukewarmness on the part of those from whom he had a right to expect the most zealous co-operation often saddened his heart, though it never paralyzed his zeal; and, to try his perseverance and put his benevolence to the severest test, his cause was of a nature which, by the sufferings it brought under review, was enough to sicken

and turn from its purpose a compassion of less hardi hood than his. What must that man have had to endure, who thus describes his feelings after the details of evidence furnished by only one of the thous.nds of days spent in familiarizing himself with the various scenes of the biggest outrage ever committed against the rights of humanity?" The different scenes of barbarity which these represented to me, greatly added to the affl.ction of my mind. My feelings became now almost insupportable. I was agonized to think that this trade should last another day I was in a state of agitation from morning till night I determined I would soon leave the place in which I saw nothing but misery. I had collected now, I believe, all the evidence it would afford; and to stay a day longer in it than was necessary, would be only an interruption to my happiness and health."

Who but a Christian philanthropist of the highest order could have pursued such a career, year after year, and not be so wearied by labour-so disheartened by opposition-so disgusted by cruelty, -as to abandon the object of his pursuit? Here was, indeed, a beautiful illustration of the "love that endureth all things."

But a greater than Clarkson might be mentioned. Let the history of St. Paul be studied, and his suffering career be traced, and his declarations heard concerning his varied and heavy tribulations. "I think that God hath sent forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death; for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ: we are weak, but ye are strong: ye are honourable, but we are despised. Even unto this present hour, we both hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling place; and labour, working with our own hands being reviled, we bless: being persecuted, we suffer it being defamed, we entreat: we are made as the filth of the earth, and are the offScouring of all things unto this day." "In labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons

:

more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten

with rods; once was I stoned; thrice I suffered shipwreck; a night and a day I have been in the deep in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren: in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Besides those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches." Nor did these sufferings come upon him without his be ing previously apprized of them, for the Holy Ghost had witnessed to him that bonds and afflictions awaited him. Yet neither the prospect of his varied tribulations, nor the full weight of them, made him for a moment think of relinquishing his benevolent exertions for the welfare of mankind. His was the love that " endureth all things."

And a greater, far greater than even the great Apos tle of the Gentiles, might be also introduced, as affording, by his conduct, a most striking illustration of this property of Christian charity. Who but himself can conceive of what the Son of God endured while he sojourned in this world? Who can imagine the magnitude of his sufferings, and the extent of that opposition, ingratitude, and hard usage, amidst which those sufferings were sustained, and by which they were so greatly increased? Never was so much mercy treated with so much cruelty; the constant labour he sustained, and the many privations to which he submitted, were little, compared with the malignant contradiction, resistance, and persecution, he received from those who were the objects of his mercy. The work of man's redemption was not accomplished, as was the work of creation, by a mere fiat delivered from the throne, on which Omnipotence reigned in the calm repose of infinite majesty: -the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, as a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief. The

no

wrath of God, the fury of devils, the rage of man, the malignity of enemies, the wayward follies and fickleness of friends, the baseness of treachery, the scorn of official rank, and the many stings of ingratitude, calumny, and inconstancy,-all poured their venom into that heart which glowed with affection to the children of men. Nothing turned him from his purpose-nothing abated his ardour in the work of our salvation. His, too, and above all others, was indeed a love which "endureth all things."

Such is the model we are to copy. In doing good we must prepare ourselves for opposition, and all its attendant train of evils. Whether our object be the conversion of souls, or the well-being of man's corporeal nature-whether we are seeking to build up the temporal, or to establish the eternal, interests of mankind, we must remember that we have undertaken a task which will call for patient, self-denying, and persevering effort. In the midst of difficulties, we must not utter the vain cowardly wish, that we had not set our hand to the plough; but press onward in humble dependence upon the grace of the Holy Spirit, and animated by the hope of either being rewarded by success, or by the consciousness that we did every thing to obtain it and we shall do this, if we possess much of the power of love; for its ardour is such, that many waters cannot quench it. Its energies increase with the difficulty that requires them, and, like a well-constructed arch, it becomes more firm and consolidated by the weight it has to sustain In short, it is "sted fast, immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as it knows that its labour shall not be in vain in the Lord."

CHAPTER XVI.

THE PERMANENCE OF LOVE

"Charity never faileth."

PERMANENCE is the climax of excellence. How often has the sigh been heaved, and the tear been shed, over the perishable nature of earthly possessions. Their transient duration presented a painful contrast to their great worth, and extorted the sorrowful exclamation, Alas! that such excellence should be mortal! The charm of beauty soon fades, the force of genius is at length exhausted, the monuments of art decay; an incurable taint of corruption has infected every thing earthly, and even religion itself does not confer immortality upon every thing that belongs to its sacred economy. One thing there is, which shall remain forever for "charity never faileth ;" and its permanence is the crown and glory of all its other noble qualities. It is a truly immortal disposition,-bearing no exclusive relation to earth or to time, but destined to pass away from the world with the souls in which it exists, to dwell in heaven, and flourish through eternity.