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    who have repaid the love of kindred with ingratitude , may here encounter the piercing rehuke which may be the precursor of a " godly sorrow . " It is the object of them all to shew that religion is the only safe foundation of friendship , the increase of religion its chief object ; and religious communion its noblest enjoyment : while the influence of human affections is reciprocal in deepening and strengthening religious impressions and motives :

    * ' No doubt , religious considerations alone ought to be , and are , sufficient to withstand the power of temptation . But when , as may happen in minda which are far from rejecting them , the attention given to them is imperfect , or when their influence is weakened by the strength of opposing passions , their place may be supplied , or their dictates seconded , with happy effect , by thoughts of a more human origin—thoughts that will take their stand by our affections , and plead the cause of heaven in the language of earth—thoughts

    of the reproaches which we shall read , if we do not hear them , in the altered countenance of friends—thoughts of the anguish which will wring the manly bosom of a father , of the tears which will long be shed in secret by a mother or a sister—if the friend , if the brother , if the child should dash down the hope built on him into shameful ruin . But besides the encouragement to honourable p erseverance , and the powerful dissuasives from yielding to any disgraceful inclination , which he has who feels depending upon himself the

    hope and honest pride of a virtuous family , he has the satisfaction , on every occasion which brings a rational pleasure to himself , to receive a reflection , and , in that reflection , an increase of his own contentment , from the glad looks and warm hearts of his kindred and friends . No virtuous bope can dawn upon him *—no prospect of happiness open before him—but it is made brighter by the sincerity of their congratulation . Like the light of a beautiful morning ' , his joy is not one single beam or of one single colour , but is repeated to him again and again from a variety of objects , touching and gilding every point of the scene upon which he turns his grateful eye , and , as it is

    reflected from each , borrowing some additional charm . Loudly as the advocates of folly ' s pleasures may sound their praises , thickly as they may twine the roses with which they crown their idol , there is no enjoyment which they can boast , comparable to the fulness of pure delight which swells up in the hearts of virtuous friends and relatives with the thought or the sight of each other's happiness . If there can be on earth any anticipation of the feelings with which the spirits of the just made perfect will carry on their interchange of sentiments and affections , it must be in the house or the righteous , in the ready kindness , the mutual good wishes , the honest and hearty congratulations , the common , pervading flow of complacency , satisfaction , and joy , which may be imagined—nay , which , I trust , has often been felt in the

    intercourse of a virtuous and united family /*—Mutual Support and Comfort of Virtuous Kindred , p . 84 . " In the tedious hours of absence , how powerful is the influence of religion to calm the anxieties and keep alive the sympathies of friendship I Friends who have a lively faith , a firm confidence in an omnipresent God , need never consider themselves as separate or far distant from each other . Mountains

    inay intervene , oceans may roll between them $ one may dwell on the bosom pfthe boundless deep , the other far inland , in the valley among the hills , yet are they not apart ; they have a bond of union of which the world thinks not ; tjiey are and feel themselves united in Him ' who is never far from any one of us . ' but * in whom / at every instant of time , we live , and move , and have our being-. ' God is with them as their common Father , Benefactor , and Friend . He is with them also as the benignant hearer of their mutual prayers

    and intercessions for each other : these , how distant soever the offerers , like flames of the same altar , meet and mingle as they ascend , ap accepted sacri-4 ce before his throne . Others may hold a tardy intercourse by embassy or

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    454 Sermons for Families .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1829, page 454, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2574/page/6/