him were they to expose to him all the horror of his situation; they are always sons of consolation, never sons of thunder. This is not what the Apostle calls the kindness of zeal and charity; it is rather a meanness which cannot be excited and elevated to any thing noble; and which the great interests of the glory of God and the salvation of men leave as indifferent and unaffected as they found it. It is a timid and indolent disposition, which leads a person to fear equally whatever would disturb his own repose, or trouble that of others; and which makes his corrections and instructions always bear the soft and easy marks of his natural temper. This does not at all resemble that kindness which is the fruit of the holy spirit; it is merely the effect of natural constitution.

We should mistake still more were we to confound the holy kindness of which we speak with that soft complaisance which, by the aid of false science, substitutes erroneous rules of conduct in place of the strict precepts of the gospel; and which prefers the opinions of men of the world to the maxims of Christ. This complaisance is a cruel kindness, which kills instead of curing; it is a dark science which seeks rather to palliate crimes than to correct them; and which, under a pretence of not driving sinners to despair, authorizes them to hope against hope. It is an unhappy refinement of these latter times, which, unable to reconcile the severity of ancient rules with the corruption of modern manners, has led many to persuade themselves they have found new directions, more favorable to the passions, and more conformable to the manners of the age. Thus the standard of duty, which is immutable, has been changed, in proportion as morals have changed; and the precepts of the gospel have been reconciled with the maxims of the world, although the gospel pronounces an anathema against the world. That mildness then which tends only to justify men in their sins is very different from Christian charity. To flatter men

in their sins is not to love them; it is to disguise and sweeten a poison for them, to the end that they may swallow it without fear; it is to leave at the bottom of their hearts a putrifying ulcer, and to apply only softening and palliative remedies, which do not prevent the evil from increasing, and only. remove from the patient all anxiety concerning himself.

On the other hand, we must equally avoid that extravagant severity which tends only to lead sinners to despair of mercy, that zeal which, always armed with terror and rigor, leads its possessors to forget that Christ came not to call the righteous but the wicked; and that it was not by such severity that he drew to him publicans and sinners. Zeal should be so wisely directed that the sinner may be neither flattered, nor discouraged; that he may feel the real danger of his situation, and not despair of a remedy; in one word, that he may be made to know what he owes to God, and, under a lively sense of his own insufficiency, be induced to apply to Christ for salvation.

A truly charitable zeal assumes different forms, according to the different characters of men. Sometimes it threatens, it frightens, it exhibits only terrible and distressing objects; at other times, it consoles, it encourages the desponding, it calms the fearful. But it is always the kindness of true charity which furnishes it with expressions either of consolation or of terror-which borrows sometimes the arms of holy indignation, and sometimes those of tenderness. It disavows the violence, the haughtiness, the hardness which are sometimes honored with the name of zeal, but which are only sallies of human passion. The zeal which seeks to ruin sinners, to dishonor them, and to publish the faults it cannot correct, is not the zeal which springs from charity; for charity derives from the sins of men a subject of secret lamentation, not of public declamation and censure; it seeks not to cover the wicked with shame

before men, but to inspire them with that secret confusion, which will lead them to repent before God; and whatever tends to disgust sinners and injure their reputation is foreign from that true zeal of which charity is the principle.

It often happens, that under a false pretence of zeal, some think themselves authorized to say every thing against hardened and obstinate sinners. They give way to the impetuosity of a violent natural temper; they declaim against individuals in public conversation; they almost point them out with the finger, in their public discourses; they characterise them by such pointed and striking traits that nobody can mistake them; and then applaud themselves; as if a minister of love and reconciliation could become, without profanation, a public minister of animosity and censure.

Ministers cannot be too much on their guard against these excesses. By giving way to them, they render their ministry not only unprofitable but odious; because to the aversion which the wicked naturally have for religion they add a hatred of those who preach it to them. By this means sinners are exasperated; they show resentment and manifest a secret pleasure in defying and vexing those who publicly censure and condemn them.

But true zeal secures the respect even of those whom it reproves and condemns; if it does not restrain the wicked from sin, it at least makes them in their understandings, approve of virtue. He who is actuated by this is so tenderly affected with the situation of his fellow men, who are exposed to ruin, that he tries by the tenderest methods to attract and allure them to attend to the salvation of their souls ; and if he sometimes goes to excess, it is an excess of mildness and tenderness, not of rigor and hardness. If his success does not correspond to his cares and attentions, his tears and sighs are the only revenge which he takes for the ingratitude of sinners; his

love for them increases even with their sins; the nigher he sees them to destruction, the more is his tenderness alarmed and awakened; he never loses sight of them; their danger excites his compassion, their continued obduracy under his instructions awakens emotions of pity, not of resentment; and it is never passion and chagrin, but love alone which dictates his remonstrances. It is hardly possible but that a pastor of this character will find the hearts of people sensibly affected with his cares and tenderness; and have the consolation of seeing his ministry and labors crowned with success. Such is the kindness of that zeal which springs from charity.

3. But, thirdly, that zeal which is the fruit of charity will not only prevent all that severity and hardness in our remonstrances, which are the effect of ill nature and impetuosity of temper; and all that impatience and discouragement which the hardness of sinners, and the unprofitableness of our labors, with regard to them, are calculated to produce; but further, it will cause us to behold with pleasure, and without jealousy, the zeal and labors of our brethren in the ministry, accompanied with more success, and with more blessings, than ours. "Charity

envieth not."

That low jealousy which induces any to envy the success of others, is wholly incompatible with true zeal. It is a shameful disposition, which causes those who possess it to be afflicted even with the conversion of sinners, the progress of the gospel, the glory of Jesus Christ and his grace, when it is by the ministry of another that God works these wonders. It is not a wish to promote the salvation of their fellow men that actuates such persons; it is the vain honor of being themselves the instruments and ministers of this. The glory of God does not interest them any further than they find their own glory connected with his. How different from this was the Apostle

Paul? Provided that Christ was preached, he rejoiced to see the gospel flourish, even by the ministry of those who sought to lessen him in the esteem of Christians. Moses also wished that all his brethren might receive the spirit of prophecy, and all the other miraculous gifts with which the Lord had favored him. And shall we, my brethren, desire to be alone, to divide the glory and success of the holy ministry with no one?

This spirit of jealousy among ministers is a great evil in the Church; and it is an evil of long standing. Alas! even at the commencement of the preaching of the gospel, this spirit appeared. Jealousy added new rigors to the sufferings of the great Apostle; and the splendid and immense successes of his apostleship induced some to view, with delight, those successes stopped by his bonds. Is it then astonishing that this evil which showed itself in the midst of those prodigies of zeal, of holiness, of disinterestedness, of charity, of patience, which then honored the ministry, should appear in the midst of the corruption of modern manners? People hide it from themselves; but it spreads abroad fruits so much the more bitter, as its root is more deeply concealed in the heart; it is disguised under the specious names of zeal and charity; but what zeal is that which the increase of the glory of God and the knowledge of his name fills with sorrow and regret?

This, however, is a scandal which exists in the Church; it is a kind of abomination in the holy place. The similar employments of ministers ought to unite them, but they are sometimes found to divide them. Those who ought to be united in the strongest bonds of affection look on each other with a jealous eye; they mutually lessen and undervalue the talents and successes of one another. When the successes of their brethren are spoken of, they ascribe it to a popular prejudice in their favor; they hear praises bestowed on others with an air whith