cut off many of the causes of wretchedness, and to
heal it wherever it was found. At her command, wherever she has been duly
acknowledged, many of the evils of life have already fled. The prisoner of
war is no longer led into the amphitheatre to become a gladiator, and to
imbrue his hands in the blood of his fellow-captive for the sport of a
thoughtless multitude. The stern priest, cruel through fanaticism and
custom, no longer leads his fellow-creature to the altar, to sacrifice him
to fictitious Gods. The venerable martyr, courageous through faith and the
sanctity of his life, is no longer hurried to the flames. The haggard
witch, poring over her incantations by moon-light, no longer scatters her
superstitious poison among her miserable neighbours, nor suffers for her
crime.

But in whatever way Christianity may have operated towards the increase of
this energy, or towards a diminution of human misery, it has operated in
none more powerfully than by the new views, and consequent duties, which it
introduced on the subject of charity, or practical benevolence and love.
Men in ancient times looked upon their talents, of whatever description, as
their own, which they might use or cease to use at their discretion. But
the author of our religion was the first who taught that, however in a
legal point of view the talent of individuals might belong exclusively to
themselves, so that no other person had a right to demand the use of it by
force, yet in the Christian dispensation they were but the stewards of it
for good; that so much was expected from this stewardship, that it was
difficult for those who were entrusted with it to enter into his spiritual
kingdom; that these had no right to conceal their talent in a napkin; but
that they were bound to dispense a portion of it to the relief of their
fellow-creatures; and that in proportion to the magnitude of it they were
accountable for the extensiveness of its use. He was the first, who
pronounced the misapplication of it to be a crime, and to be a crime of no
ordinary dimension. He was the first who broke down the boundary between
Jew and Gentile, and therefore the first, who pointed out to men the
inhabitants of other countries for the exercise of their philanthropy and
love. Hence a distinction is to be made both in the principle and practice
of charity, as existing in ancient or in modern times. Though the old
philosophers, historians, and poets, frequently inculcated benevol