left to its own correction; but so long as there are individuals who, for gain or notoriety, will persist, without scruple or conscience, in pouring their leperous distilments" into the ears of the young and ill-informed, the interests of society imperatively require a remedy for the evil. If there is any fault in our laws respecting blasphemous publications-which, it must be remembered,are also almost invariably obscene and demoralizing publications

Rev. William Macdonald, M. A. Canon Residentiary of Salisbury Cathedral. Rev. Hugh Bailye, M.A. Dasset Parva Prebend.

Rev. Simon Clayton, M. A. Weeford Prebend, Staffordshire.

Rev. T. Gisborne, M. A. to the fifth Prebend at Durham.

Rev. John Channing Abdy, M. A. St. John's R. Southwark.

Rev. W. Aldrich, B. D. Boynton R. Wilts.

Rev. Anthony Austin, Hardenuish R. Wilts.

Rev. M. Bland, B. D. Lilley Hoo R. Herts, vice W. Wade, dec.

Rev. Mr. Brittaine, Kilcormick Living, co. Longford.

Rev. R. Broadley, Melbury Sandford and Melbury Osmond RR. Dorset.

Rev. W.L. Buckle, Shirburn V. Oxon. Rev. J. Cristison, Biggar Parish, La narkshire.

Rev. Jas. Duke Coleridge, Kenwyn and St. Kea V. Cornwall.

Rev. A. Cooper, Billingford alias Pryleston R. with Thorpe Parva, Norfolk.

Rev. William Darch, Huish Champflower R. Somerset.

Rev. Francis Hungerford Daubeny, Feltwell St. Nicholas R. with the R. of St. Mary annexed, Norfolk,

The Rev. N. Every, St. Veep V. Cornwall.

Rev. John Kellow Goldney, to the Lectureship of Frome Salwood, and Curacy of the New Church, in the Wood

lands.

Rev. J. Groom, Swindon V. Wilts. Rev. Clarke Jenkins, B. D. of Leigh Magna R. Essex.

Rev. Francis Skurray, B. D. Winterborne Abbas cum Steepleton, consolidated RR. Dorset.

No. 260.]

For the Christian Observer.

ΟΝ THE DISCOURAGEMENTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS IN THE EXERCISE OF BENEVOLENCE.

IT

T was an exhortation of Apostolic authority, "as we have opportunity, to do good unto all men," and "not to be weary in welldoing." That eminently diligent servant of God to whose writings we are indebted for this salutary injunction, and "who laboured more abundantly" than all his companions, no doubt perceived that lassitude was apt at times to chill the warmest heart, and that the operation of the most settled principle of benevolence might, upon occasion, be overborne by difficulties and 'disappointment. The conductors of those charitable institutions which reflect so much honour upon this age and nation, probably reflecting upon the imperfect condition of human nature in its best estate, seem wisely to have estimated the utility of adding some stimulus to the habitual influence of right principle; and hence they have taken measures, by means of reports, and speeches, and periodical communications, and anniversary meetings, to afford a degree of philanthropic excitement, which does not always so vividly arise from mere reflective habits, or the solitary feelings of an insulated heart. They tell us the tale of woe in the simple accents in which it met their own ear: they shew us the widow and the orphan in the abject desertion in which they found them: we are admitted to the private confidence of the faithful missionary, and listen CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 260.

to his hopes and fears, his ardours and his complainings, as they escape from him in his simple narrative or familiar letter: they do not disdain to relate to us the lispings of the village school, or the artless gratitude of the untutored savage: the Negro is permitted to utter his affecting tale in his own imperfect words, and his Christianity finds a language common to all Christian hearts: the mariner tells us of his Bible as his polar star and compass, and of heaven as his wished-for port: not a quarter of the world but furnishes its contingent of intelligence, "to stir up the purest mind by way of remembrance;" not a district of pain or sorrow, of vice or reformation, but adds something interesting, something useful, to the varied picture: we are encouraged by success; we are roused by difficulties; we are taught patience by disappointments, and tenderness by the wants and woes which rise up in thick succession before us.

But neither human life nor Christian benevolence is, or ought to be, all excitement. We lay down the register of mercy; we return from the crowded meeting; the voice of the persuasive speaker dies on our ear; the tale of sorrow is forgotten; the plaudits of throngs and the sympathies of brotherhood are over; and we are again left to the ordinary operation of habitual principle, and the promptings of our own bosoms, to pursue the path of disinterested charity. And then, how many obstacles begin to intervene to check our progress; and how difficult do we find it to persist, unseen, unheard, unknown, in those 3 Q

66 works of faith and labours of love" and with that "patience of hope" which appeared so easy, so delightful, in the moments of sanguine excitement! "Ye did run well," said an Apostle, "but what hath hindered you?" "Thou hast borne," said a Greater than an apostle, "and hast had patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and didst not faint;" but now "thou hast left thy first love: remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do thy first works."

There are, in every department of moral and religious duty, corresponding encouragements and discouragements. These, in the case of the Christian minister and the Christian missionary, have been well and eloquently descanted upon *; but those more general discouragements and encouragements which relate to private individuals, in all the walks of benevolence, have not been so distinctly noticed as they deserve to be; and it may not be unwelcome to the Christian reader to be presented with a succinct view of some of their more prominent features. It is proposed therefore, in the present paper, to specify a few of the discouragements which belong to every benevolent exertion; reserving for a second communication some of the countervailing encouragements. In this brief enumeration reference will be made only to encouragements and discouragements of a general character, as respects all kinds of "well-doing;" avoiding those which are of a more specific kind, and occur only in some particular department of benevolence. The missionary, the translator and disperser of the Scriptures, the advocate for education, the antagonist of the Slave trade and Slavery, the friend of the Jew or the Gentile, the benevolent explorer of cells and dungeons, the opposer of crimes and

See particularly the admirable Sermon of the Rev. R. Hall, on the former; and the no less admirable Missionary Sermon of the Rev. J. W. Cunningham,

on the latter.

abuses fatal to the welfare of man. kind, have all to contend with difficulties modified by the peculiar character of the contest in which they are engaged. But there are some classes of disappointment which apply to every species of charity, and which all who desire to benefit the world must be prepared to encounter.

And, in the first place, we are apt to be discouraged because the success of our benevolent labours is not immediate.-Impatience is so prevailing a distemper of the human mind, that probably few schemes of disinterested benevolence would be undertaken, if the projectors could foresee, from the commencement, all the difficulties and delays which may attend their progress. Those prompt charities are easy in which the benefit instantly and visibly follows the application of the remedy. Few persons would withhold the dole of assistance from a suffering stranger who must evidently expire if deprived of it; this is not in human nature, fallen and hardened as it is; but where the benefit is distant, elementary, preparatory, where months and years must elapse before the seed sown in sorrow shall bring forth its harvest of joy, there the heart is too apt to become chilled, and our wishes, outrunning our expectations, refuse to expend themselves in a field so little likely to bend its stubborn soil to their breathless impatience. We too often begin to dig the foundation without reckoning the time and cost necessary to complete the superstructure, and we are discouraged because the edifice is not as speedily raised as projected. We calculate matters of charity like pecuniary reversions, and think the present worth of a great and certain, but distant, good, as of but trifling value, and not deserving of any considerable immediate sacrifice for its attainment. But it is not the usual order of Divine Providence, that what is highly valuable and permanent should be of rapid growth. The

true spring of charity which never faileth. And even with regard to the largest establishments of benevolence, the apparent good is often so inadequate to what a sanguine mind might have anticipated, that our perseverance in well-doing is never secure till we have learned to measure our duty by a far higher standard than that of an excited state of feeling.

Another frequent, and often harassing, discouragement in welldoing, is the indifference, perhaps the opposition, of those who ought to have smiled on and participated our labours. We hear much of the rapid increase of benevolent institutions; of the popularity which attends them, and the eagerness of the public to swell their catalogues of contributors and agents. But, while to a casual observer the tide seems thus powerfully to carry along the triumphant bark, those who launched it, and those who direct its course, could perhaps tell of many a discouragement, arising from the indolence, the selfishness, the indifference of those who should have been their friends and co-adjutors. When a charitable institution, especially of a religious kind, is first commenced in any new vicinity, it is probable that a large part of the population know nothing of it; a larger part are indifferent to it; a few perhaps actively hate, oppose, and satirise it; some approve, or profess to approve it, but are too busy, or too indolent, to assist its efforts; while others will not risk the displeasure of its impugners. These discouragements are not slight at the commencement. But still more disheartening oftentimes are those which await its progress. Some, perhaps, had been attracted by novelty, and soon forsake their post: others had a secondary object to serve, which being either frustrated or attained, they "walk no more" with their temporary associates: and thus, after repeated siftings, while many continue ready to share the fame, the labour falls upon the select few

who are content, through calms or storms, through honour or dishonour, through evil report or good report, to persist, like their Divine Master, in benefiting the souls and bodies of their fellow-creatures. Party spirit, or the hope of gain; ostentation, or the love of popularity, may call forth many noisy suffrages to a new and imposing scheme; but nothing but love to God, and to mankind for God's sake, can keep the agent of benevolence diligently employed in his work where all such inferior motives are wanting.

But the lukewarmness or opposition of the world at large would be less discouraging, if the individuals intended to be benefited by these Christian exertions were fully alive to the object, and sensible of its value. But, unhappily, the true philanthropist must be prepared to encounter, not only the indifference or ridicule of one portion of society, but the ingratitude, the prejudices, and the suspicions of another. The very objects of his solicitude may too probably mistake his intentions, or be absurdly prepossessed against his plans. Instead of finding every heart open to receive his suggestions, he may have to encounter the pride of one, the perverseness of another, and the afflicting ignorance of almost all. From commencing with warm hopes of the rapid popularity as well as the clear utility of his mission, he may speedily be brought down to that sober level on which he will think it no despicable progress if, after much disinterested exertion and perseverance, he can so far overcome prejudice as to gain for his plans a patient hearing and impartial trial. This is remarkably the case with Christian missionaries in a heathen country; and was still more eminently the experience of Him "who came to his own, and his own received him not." And even in our own land, and in reference to our most popular institutions, the result is not wholly reversed. The voluntary agent of public benefit has done compara