BENEFICIAL EFFECTS, &c.

CHAPTER I.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE CHRIS

TIAN CHARACTER.

ALL thoughtful and benevolent persons must feel the most devout gratitude to PROVIDENCE for the blessings Christianity has dispensed to the world; and with equal gratitude will they appreciate its value, in the daily occurrences of domestic life, in the constant intercourse we have with each other, and in the respective situations of Parent and Child, Brother and Sister, Husband and Wife,

B

Friend and Relative.-In these social connexions, it may truly be said to have dispensed peace and good-will towards men; and to have blessed society with a degree of happiness and comfort, unknown before, and which can spring from no other source.

In every age of the world, human nature has been the same; - equally under the dominion of evil passions, and bad principles; and throughout the whole of sacred and profane history, we read of little else, than vices and crimes produced by envy, hatred, and malevolence.

The Psalms of David abound with complaints of the malice of enemies, the slander of false tongues, the oppressions of private tyranny, and the ingratitude of friends.-Immersed as he was in the affairs of state, and extensive concerns of

a mighty empire, they seem to have made much the largest part of his misery. His complaints are uttered in language so beautiful and interesting, yet so familiar to our own feelings, that we look around us for the same scenes that he describes.

But in his days, the blessed balm of Christianity had not been dispensed to mankind: David had been taught the healing virtue of forgiveness; nor had he learned the duty of praying for his enemies. He had not heard that just and reasonable`declaration, that he must expect forgiveness of his own sins, in the exact proportion that he forgave others their trespasses against him. Hence it may be inferred, that the bitter resentment which he expresses towards his enemies, would be a heavy crime in a disciple of CHRIST.

That the world is full of misery, is no new observation: but mankind do not seem aware, how much of that misery is of their own fabrication; at least they do not apply the remedies, which the GOD of Comfort and Consolation has vouchsafed them; they lament over the sorrow, without considering the cause, or guarding against the effects.

Most of our trials spring either from our own, or the vices and passions of others; and for those disorders of the mind, which peculiarly bring their own punishment, the doctrines of Christianity are a certain preventive, and a neverfailing antidote.

The sorrows which seem to proceed more immediately from the hand of Heaven are less afflicting, than the unjust accusation, the envious calumny, and the slanderous report. And the heart that rankles with