He whose bosom is locked up against compassion is a Barbarian ;-his manners are brutal-his mind gloomy and morose and his passions as savage as the beasts of the forest.

WHAT kind of man is he, who full of opulence, and in whose hand abundance overflows, can look on virtue in distress, and merit in misery, without pity? Who could behold without tears, the desolate and forlorn estate of the widow, who in early life, brought up in the bosom of a tender mother, without knowing care, and without tasting of necessity, was not befitted for adversity;---whose soul is pure as innocence, and full of honor ;---whose mind had been brightened by erudition under an indulgent father;---whose youth, untutored in the school of sorrows, had been flattered with the prospect of days of prosperity and plenty ;-one, who at length, by the cruel adversity of winds and seas, with her dying husband, is wrecked in total destruction and beggary; driven by ill fortune, from peace and plenty; and from the bed of ease, changes

"shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there "be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

9. "For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

10. "But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is "in part shall be done away.

11. "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a "child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away "childish things.

II. "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to "face: now I know in part; but then I shall know, even as also I am "known.

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13. "And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity."

her lot to the dank dunghill, for relief of her weariness and pain;--grown meagre with necessity, and sick with woe ;---at her bosom hanging her famished infant, draining off the dregs of parental life, for sustenance; bestowed from maternal love---yielding existence to support the babe.--Hard-hearted covetousness and proud titles, can ye behold such an object, dry eyed ? ---Can avarice grasp the mite which should sustain such virtue ?---Can high life lift its supercilious brow above such scenes in human life; above such miseries sustained by a fellow-creature ?---If perchance the voice of the unfortunate and wretched widow is heard in complainings, when wearied patience and relaxing resignation breathe a sigh, whilst modesty forbids her supplica tion; is not the groan, the sigh, more pathetic to your ear, you rich ones, than ali the flattering petitions of a cringing knave, who touches your vanity and tickles your follies; extorting from your very weaknesses, the prostituted portion of debased charity.---Perhaps the fatal hour is at hand, when consolation is required to close the last moments of this unfortunate one's life: can the man absorbed in pleasure roll his chariot wheels past the scene of sorrow without compassion, and without pity see the last convulsion and the deadly gaze which paint misery upon the features of an expiring saint!-If angels weep in heaven, they weep for such:-if they can know contempt, they feel it for the wealthy, who bestow not of their superfluities, and snatch not from their vices what would gladden souls sunk in the woes of worldly adversity-The eyes of cherubims view with delight the exercise of such benevolence as forms the character of the good Samaritan : -saints touch their golden lyres, to hymn humanity's

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fair history in the realms of bliss; and approbation shines upon the countenance divine of omnipresence, when a man is found in the exercise of virtue.

WHAT should that human wretch be called, who, with premeditated cruelty and avarice, devises mischief whilst he is conscious of his neighbour's honesty;— whilst he sees him industriously, day by day, labouring with sweaty brow and weary limbs, toiling with chearfulness for bread,-on whose exerted labour an affectionate and virtuous wife and healthy children, crowding his narrow hearth with naked feet, depend for sustenance ;--- whilst he perceives him, with integrity more than human, taking scrupulously his own, and wronging no man to satisfy his hunger or his wants; ---whilst he sees him with fatigued sinews, lengthen out the toil of industry, from morn to night, with unremitting ardor, singing to elude repining, and smoothing his anxieties and pain with hope, that he shall reward his weariness by the overflowings of his wife's chearful heart, and with the smiles of his feeding infants ?---What must he be, who knows such a man, and by his craft or avarice extorts unjust demands, and brings him into beggary?-What must he be, who sees such a man deprived by fire or water of all his substance, the habitation of his infants lost, and nothing left but nakedness and tears,---and seeing this, affords the sufferer no relief?---Surely in nature few such wretches do exist! but if such be, it is not vain presumption to proclaim, that like accursed Cain, they are distinguished as the outcasts of God's mercies, and are left on earth to live a life of punishment.

THE objects of true charity, are merit and virtus in distress ;---persons who are incapable of extricating themselves from misfortunes which have overtaken them in old age ;---industrious men, from inevitable accidents and acts of Providence rushed into ruin ;--widows left survivors of their husbands, by whose labours they subsisted;---orphans in tender years left naked to the world.

WHAT are not the claims of such, on the hand of charity, when you conipare them to the miscreants who infest the doors of every dwelling with their importunities? wretches wandering from their homes, shewing their distortions and their sores to prompt a false compassion; with which ill-gotten gains, in concert with vagabonds, they revel away the hours of night which conceals their iniquities and vices.

CHARITY, when misapplied, loses her titles, and instead of being adorned with the dress of virtue, as• sumes the insignificance, the bells and feathers of folly.

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LECTURE XII.

ON BROTHERLY LOVE.

WE will speak of brotherly love, in this lecture,

in that degree which solely appertains to masons.

THE necessity there is for the exertion of brotherly regard among masons in the lodge, is obvious to every one:-peace, regularity, and decorum, are indispensible duties there:-all resentment, and remembrance of injuries, should be forgotten; and that cordiality ought to be warm among us, which brings with it chearfulness and rejoicing:-the true worshippers of the Deity, men who held just notions of the principles of nature, in the times of barbarous ignorance, durst not publicly practice the one, or promulgate the other: but happy is our estate, in this lettered age and this land of liberty, we profess our sentiments with freedom, and without fear; we exercise our religious principles under a full toleration; and as social beings we assemble in the lodge, to enjoy the pleasures of friendship, and the breathings of true benevolence.

AFTER the business of the lodge is dispatched, we are assembled to open out the chearfulness of our hearts without guile; for here are no tale-bearers, censors, or revilers among us; our lodge is sacred to silence:-hence we may say figuratively, "it is situate "in the secret places, where the cock holdeth not his "watch, where the voice of railing reacheth not, where "brawling as the intemperate wrath of women, can"not be heard."