while strong, in demonstrative elements, and warm in emotional qualities, it divides off from the general piety of the Church of God, in those fine and tender qualities which generate the assiduities of grand philanthropy. We have indeed large "Beneficial Societies;" and we may be proud of these grand organizations which spread from town to town, from city to city, from state to state, and which serve to save individuals and families, in times of sore distress, from deep and utter want; and aiso to give relief and offer decency and propriety in the offices which pertain to the burial of the departed. But you will notice that the principle of commutation is well nigh as large an element in these institutions as is the benevolent. The matter of dealing is no small feature in these organizations. It is an arrangement in which the idea and the fact of quid pro quo is a necessary contingent
No fault is to be found with this. Indeed it is wise, prudent, worthy and commendable. But what I maintain is that that large philanthropy in self-sacrificing endeavors for the miserable, is a lost factor in our church life. Where are the Sisters of Mercy? Where the devoted brotherhoods? Where the unostentatious gifts and legacies which build up noble houses for the destitute, for the blind, for the orphan, for the widow?
6. This feature of Christianity is yet to be produced. We have got to get down to the fineness of Christian sensibility, to the gracious sweetness of Christian love before we shall see such fruits of righteousness, in our churches. We have got to emerge from the coarseness and the rudeness which characterize the first passage of a people into the Christian system; and to enter into that more advanced stage of the Christian life which yields the primal qualities of the martyr life.
7. But now the question arises—What is the remedy for this notable defect? Let me suggest a simple outline of Christian duty:
(a) And first of all, let me say that, whatever we do, let it be distinctively Christian. Diffusiveness, I beg to say, means defeat. If we take ignorant and weak men, women, and especially children, under our care, they must be taught a Christianity with bones and muscles. No