faithfulness,, we must never connive at evil. This injunction will be

crowded slums of our mammoth cities. May every piece of ground be

rained upon by gospel influences!

6. Another thing must not be overlooked; in order to

warmly commended by certain brethren whose only notion of

pruning a tree is to cut it down! A gardener comes to a gentleman's

house, and when he is told that the shrubs are a little overgrown, he

answers, "I will see to them." In a few days, you walk round the

garden. He has seen to them with a vengeance; he has done the

garden, and done for it! Some persons cannot learn the balance of

virtues; they cannot kill a mouse except by burning down the barn.

Did I hear you say, "I was faithful, I never connived at evil"? So far,

so good; but may it not happen that, by a bad temper, you yourself

produced more evil than that which you destroyed? "Keep that child

quiet," says the mother to the nurse, and the nurse immediately

throws it out of the window. She has obeyed her mistress, and

effectually quieted the child; but small will be her praise. So you fly

into a passion, and you "give it" to the people, because they are not

all they ought to be: are you all you ought to be? Do you say, "I will

let them know that I am master here"? Is that so? Are you master?

But you are, perhaps, moved to answer me by saying, "Do not

you, yourself, hold a high position in your own church?" I do; but

how have I gained it? I gave no power but that which gentleness and

love have brought me. How have I used my influence? Have I sought