the faithful advice of a friend may have? Who can tell the consequences which may flow from a word of serious and affectionate counsel? And who can describe that joy of heart, which must arise to him who has redeemed a human being from guilt, and saved a soul from eternal death?

But this exercise of christian benevolence is not to be confined to the reformation of the guilty. All need to be enlightened with clearer views of christian truth, to be more strongly convinced of their obligations and duties, to be more deeply impressed with the motives of the gospel, and to have their religious affections rendered more vigorous, more tender, and more operative. We are bound, as Christians, to produce these effects on all whom we can influence, and to strive on every fit occasion, to render our intercourse with others a means of strengthening their principles of piety, and leading them to lives of more exalted purity, benevolence, and godliness. If opportunities of directly advancing this end are not often given, or if timidity or diffidence discourage us from immediately improving them, we can at least instruct and edify by our own example; and it should be our serious and constant endeavor, by letting our light of piety shine before men, to persuade them to glorify by their lives our common Father in heaven.

I have thus endeavored to set before you a few

of the opportunities which are constantly occurring to all, in every condition of life, of doing good to others. Some of them may, at first sight, appear trivial; but the sum of happiness we may produce by a right improvement of them, is great and extensive. We are to remember too, that the principle and habit of benevolence are strengthened by every exercise, whether the effect produced by each single exertion be important or trifling. Great occasions for deeds of benevolence seldom occur to any of us; and not at all It becomes us, therefore, to carry this christian temper into common life, and to manifest and strengthen it by those minor acts of charity and kindness, which our daily intercourse with others constantly demands.

to some.

The views which we have taken should lead us to feel the extent and continual recurrence of the requirements of christian benevolence. Let us faithfully endeavor to fulfil them, that we may be indeed the disciples of him, who when on earth, "went about doing good;" and may at last be the accepted servants of that God, who "sends his rain on the just and on the unjust," and bestows his mercies, with parental liberality, even on the ungrateful and disobedient.

SERMON X.

CAUSING OTHERS TO OFFEND.

MATTHEW XVIII. 6.

WHOSO SHALL OFFEND ONE OF THESE LITTLE ONES WHICH BELIEVE IN ME, IT WERE BETTER FOR HIM THAT A MILLSTONE WERE HANGED ABOUT HIS NECK, AND THAT HE WERE DROWNED IN THE DEPTH OF THE SEA.

In the original language, the text conveys a meaning somewhat different from that, which the English reader would derive from our translation. The word here rendered offend, should be rendered cause to offend. Our Saviour is not designing to reprove those, who irritate his disciples; but those, who would in any way withdraw them from their christian profession, weaken their faith, unsettle their principles, or cause them to neglect or violate his commands. The language of our Saviour leads us to regard this as a sin of high enormity; for there is hardly any one which is more solemnly denounced. "Whoso shall cause one of these little ones to offend, it were better for him that he were drowned in the depth of

the sea. Alas, for the world, because of causes of offending! It must needs be that causes of offending come;, but wo unto that man, by whom the cause of offending cometh! Yet, solemn and comprehensive as the prohibition is, it relates to a subject of duty, which many are accustomed entirely to overlook, and which few, perhaps, consider in a sufficiently serious light.

It is wonderful to remark the powerful influence, which one being exerts on the character of another. Let any one look back on the past, and he will find with astonishment how little his own character has been formed by his own exertions, and how constantly it has been receiving impressions from deliberate instruction, occasional conversation, and casual or habitual intercourse with others. We seem to be almost passively acted upon by those around us. Their remarks are giving a turn to our minds, and opening them to new views of life and duty; they are imperceptibly changing our feelings, impairing the liveliness of some, and quickening others to animation and vigor; and our intercourse with them, in all its various influences, seems to give an almost entire direction to our modes of thinking and acting. This influence is reciprocal. While they are thus operating upon us, we are, in equal unconsciousness, operating on them. The expression of

our views and opinions, the frequent manifestations of our dispositions and feelings, and the general course of our conduct, are exerting a silent and powerful influence, in changing and forming their sentiments, feelings, and habits. To this, as to every other kind of influence, a deep responsibility is attached. We are equally accountable for the effect, which we are thus silently producing on the consciences, moral feelings, and conduct of others, as for the effect which we may, in any way, have on their external situation and temporal welfare. And the obligation is very imperative upon us, to render this influence a means of their moral improvement, and to watch carefully over ourselves, lest we cause them to offend. I hope it may serve to put us habitually more on our guard, to remark on some of the modes in which we may cause others to offend.

1. Our conversation is a means by which we exert a powerful influence on the minds of those about us; and we may, in this way, affect the faith of others.

We sometimes find men in society, who, from a proud unwillingness to hold opinions which are common to others; from excessive self-conceit; from vicious dispositions and habits, joined with an ignorance of the evidences of Christianity; are unbelievers in its truth. And it is generally the