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    is a state of moral discipline * will frequently relieve us from our difficulties . - With captious igno * ratine we blame the parts ; but wHen we extend our views from the individual to the whole , the rays of truth frequently burst

    through the cloud , and teach us that all is just and good . But suffering does exist , and tbe calls of humanity and religion loudly demand our attention .

    They direct us to exert ourselves for its diminution and prevention . They direct us to make the happiness of others pur own , and to pursue with steadiness the means of increasing it ; Not that benevolence is confined to endeavours

    to ease the bed of pain , and to supply the wants of poverty : its sphere is more extensive , it enters into every social action , and , united with piety , forms the best foundation of even every

    personal < iuty . But here is a wide field- for active utility . To visit the sick ; to relieve the distressed ; to become the father , brother * , friend of the needy ; to obtain the blessing of him who was ready to perish , —wipers- is the heart so callous to * th < 6 feelings of humanity 5 as riot to warm with the idv * a ! But our exertions for the in *

    crease of happiness and the . diminution of misery , must be directed by prudence . The Christian ' s ' object is to do all the good he can ; and as his powers are limited he must so direct them that

    they may' be . as efficacious as possible . Herein consists the difference in xvalue * between the efforts of the man « rif comprehensive soul , and of him whose views are bounded by ignorance ; the one wi $ h an ecju ^ l portion * of bene-

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    volence and general ability to < Jd good , , will perforiii much less service to his fellow creatures than the other . The disposition is what principally renders the individual valuable in the sight of him who knoweth the " motives ; but he who takes not the mea&s

    to which wisdom directs , as increasing his capacity of benevolence , does not da all the good he can , and consequently , his cha'racter is deficient .

    Two ill consequences obviously result , from neglecting the dictates of prudence in the ' * exertion of benevolence ; we stand too probable a chance of sapping its very foundations ;—and , we are unjust to others .

    To take as an example pecuniary -beneficence . Indiscriminate charity is seldom ' useful-ta the objects of it ; arid if it were ipore frequently sq > the same sum bestowed utron more

    worthy objects , and in a manner more likely to serve them , must be more widely beneficial . In general it maybe pronounced injurious to society ; and , since there must be limits to our

    exertions , while so in any cases ex > st , in which we may apply . thenv to greater advantage , these should furnish the mode of direction . Indiscriminate charity - is better than none , though its fruits are usually to be expected only in

    the bosom of the giver ; but is it not in general the result of indolent , selfish sensibility ?—at any rate , if the capacity of the stream is limited ^ let it not be directed over the barren sands , but to fertilize the meadj or to supply thfi useful labours © f the mechanic . The pains v of sympathy ' are * spring of disinterested ' boievo *

    Untitled Article

    130 On the Proper Direction of Benevolent E * xerti 6 n *

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1808, page 130, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2390/page/10/