18. We shall, if we walk by these rules, have many opportunities of doing good, which we can have on no other plan, and we shall find much peace and pleasure, which on no other plan can be enjoyed.

19. This plan would soon unite all parties in one, and win the world itself over to the side of Christ. A union of spirit would bring the churches nearer to a uniformity of belief and practice every day. Unkindness in Christians towards one another, confirms all in their errors, and drives them farther into extremes. Uncharitableness is the great schismatic, and love is the mighty healer of the church's wounds. And whenever Christians shall be united in heart, and united in effort, truth and righteousness will soon prevail throughout the earth.

20. It is therefore my determination to act in the spirit of Christian kindness towards all denominations. I will neither write nor speak an unkind word of any sect of Christians in the world. They are my brethren, and I will treat them with a brotherly affection. What I see wrong in them I will endeavour to correct, but I will do it as one who has no interest but the prosperity of religion, and the welfare of my fellow men. What I see good in any sect, I will commend, and imitate. I will adopt every custom and every sentiment of other sects as far as I can find them true and right, and I will let fall every peculiarity of my own as soon as I shall find it wrong. I used to feel very differently towards other sects, and my conduct was different too; but I was wrong. Uncharitableness is of the devil, and I renounce it altogether and for ever. Love is the element of the Christian, and in this element I will breathe, and live, and move to my dying day. What a pity if Christians cannot love one another; and how foolish to pretend to brotherly love, while we harass and slander one another! And how can we pretend to love sinners, if we cannot love saints? We have been wrong; and it is high time to enter on a better plan. We have fought too much against one another, and too little against sin. Let us turn away our weapons from our brethren, and let us use them only against the common foe. "Let us walk as becometh the Gospel of Christ; and let us stand fast

in

one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the Gospel."

RELIGIOUS PARTIES.

THERE are some precepts of the New Testament which appear to be entirely overlooked by professors, or else altogether misunderstood. One is that given in the fourteenth chapter of Luke, beginning at the twelfth verse:-" Then said Jesus also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours, lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: and thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just."

No two things can be much more contrary to one another than these words of the Saviour, and the practice of many of those who profess to be his followers. An improvement has taken place in some churches of late; but a few years ago, the practice of most churches with which I was acquainted was in direct opposition to the Saviour's words.

The custom was to have two or three rounds of parties every year, and in some places they would have round after round from the beginning of the year to the end. At many houses there were both dinner and supper, and tea and dessert as well; and at almost all there would be either dinner and tea, or tea and supper.

At some of these parties the expense would not be less than five or ten or fifteen pounds; and seldom would it be as little as three or four.

And yet not one poor person was present, nor one that was maimed, or blind, or lame: the feast was wholly for their friends, their brethren, their kinsmen, and their rich neighbours.

There was not one present who needed a dinner; not one who had not bread enough and to spare; not one

who did not intend to return the compliment, and make a similar feast in his turn.

So far were the persons who formed those parties from calling the poor, the lame, and the blind, that, if one of those needy and helpless creatures had presented himself, he would have been sent away as an intruder, without any inquiry being made into his case.

The highest end that was aimed at in those parties was, by bringing together the wealthier members and friends of the societies with which they were counected, to promote a mutual acquaintance, and a friendly intercourse with one another. The improvement of each other in religious knowledge, in heavenly-mindedness, and in the art of doing good, was never thought of; and if it entered into the heart of one or two to attempt to make them subservient to those ends, their thoughts were frustrated by the mightier and more earthly influence of the rest. One or two individuals I knew in one place, who always proposed some worthy end, in calling together their friends, but they did not often succeed; while with the great majority nothing but custom and the gratification of a refined and politer kind of selfishness was aimed at.

At the best of those parties, the chief part of the conversation was about politics or the merits of public characters, or some matters of church polity: or perhaps it would consist of disputes upon controverted points in theology, history, or philosophy.

At many of them the time was spent in telling foolish and laughable anecdotes, in proposing and solving riddles, in vying with each other in jesting and wit, or in childish play with conversation cards, and not uncommonly in calumny and evil speaking. Sometimes there would be music and singing, in which profane and sacred pieces would follow one another, as if in impious and unnatural mockery.

And I do not see how the conversation and business of these parties could be better managed, unless their character had been altered altogether. How could they converse about Jesus Christ, about self-denial, and about

doing good, while they were spending Christ's money in every kind of luxury? How could they speak of brotherly love, or compassion for souls, while they were wasting the time and talents given to make them useful to their neighbours, in excess and folly? They must have reproved each other, if they had spoken on those subjects; and either have entirely given up their parties, or changed the principles on which they were conducted.

If they had begun to read the Bible, they could hardly fail to have met with passages to censure their proceedings. They certainly could not have read the works of the Prophets, without finding such proceedings as theirs condemned as sinful and offensive to God. They could hardly have read the history of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ, without discovering that they did not resemble the character of either the one or the other.

And if they had read the writings of the Apostles, they must have felt that they were out of their places, and acting more after the manners of benighted heathens, than after the customs of the ancient Christians.

At some of these feasts there would be three or four courses of dishes, and in each course four, five, or six different kinds of food. There would be mutton and beef, and pheasants and partridges and hares. Then there would be hot and cold pies, various kinds of tarts and puddings, jellies, fruit-cheeses, custards, and preserves. Then there would be raisins, apples, melons, almonds, grapes, figs, nuts, oranges, pine-apples, macaroons, biscuits, and gingerbread.

At the beginning, the middle, and the end, there were the still more dangerous articles, ale, porter, wine, spirits, and tobacco. Wine was tasted before dinner,- it was drunk at dinner by such as preferred it to ale or porter, and it was drunk throughout the afternoon till tea, and after tea throughout the evening. Brandy was drunk after goose, and brandy and wine were put into the sauces and puddings. Brandy was drunk through the afternoon by some, and either brandy, or rum, or whiskey, or gin was drunk by both men and women at the close, to arm them against the cold night air.

These parties would sometimes last from one o'clock

in the afternoon till eleven or twelve at night. I have known them break up so late as one, and in some instances I have known the preacher and his friends jeered by the watchman for their late hours, as they have been passing through the street home.

The bad effects of these parties were almost infinite. All that frequented them were injured in their souls. I never knew one who made or attended them, that prospered in religion. They were always languishing. They made no progress in religious knowledge; they never seemed to rise above the world; they never manifested the noble and unrestricted and ardent benevolence of the gospel. Here and there you might find in party-loving churches a man of a generous and Christian spirit: but you would not find him ford of those parties. Those who gave themselves to the love of feasting parties, began immediately to decline in piety.

Those parties were often ruinous to young Christians. When persons first give themselves heartily to God, all fleshly indulgences, and trifling conversation, and waste of time, seem criminal to them. Religion appears to them the one thing needful; its pleasures are their only portion, and its exercises are their chief delight. They have no relish for the pleasures of the flesh and of the world; their hearts despise them, and shrink from them as things unnatural. If those young disciples are kindly watched over by elder Christians-if they are wisely and piously counselled and guided, they thrive and flourish like the trees planted by the rivers of water, and grow like the cedars of Lebanon. But take them to those parties, teach them to eat and drink like heaps of flesh,

pour into their ears the ceaseless stream of earthly conversation, draw them from their seriousness to mirth and laughter,—let them see religious people feasting and spending their time as if the solemn truths of the gospel were fables only, and as if they were born to please themselves and serve the flesh, and you ruin them at once. The freshness of their piety soon passes away, and their spirits droop as the flower that is scorched with a burning sun, or nipped with the frosty wind. At first the young Christian is full of uneasiness, and his mind