ristic of the Divine beneficence, the inference is
irresistible. If man is bound by the condition of his being, to imitate
God in his moral character and conduct, he must cherish the same abiding
principles of benevolence, and carry the same steady hand in diffusing
good. The ardor of his love may never cool; his hand of charity never
weary. He must be god-like. With permanency and uniformity of conduct,
imitative of his own, our Holy Sovereign will be well pleased. But with
him who is wavering in his principles; vacillating and impulsive in his
purposes of good; at one time toiling for others with the utmost
earnestness, and then, forgetful of their wants and woes for months
together, he must be displeased. How unlike our Great Exemplar. He was
_always_ doing good. "The labor of his life was love." Reader, would
you please your compassionate Savior? Go, and do likewise.

III. _From the necessity of system to success in any kind of business_.
One cannot accumulate wealth, acquire learning, rise to distinction in
any of the professions or trades without system. Even the pleasures of
life depend much on regularity; otherwise they cloy and become insipid.
He, who is unsteady in his habits, now indulging in ease, and now
straining every muscle; who, as some excitement arouses him,--such
perhaps as the fresh inculcation of economy and industry, flares up and
bustles about, resolves that his business shall henceforth be prosecuted
with vigor and managed with precision, and in a few days relapses into
his old, careless, inefficient habits, heedless alike of prudence and
precept, gives little promise of success in any department of life. Or
should one be perseveringly industrious, but suffer his affairs to lie
in confusion, like the material world at its birth, he would be deemed
at best but a busy-body. If he intends to succeed, he must have some
established principles and a fixedness of purpose, which will prompt to
accuracy and method, would be the universal decision of the wise. This
is reasoning correctly. But must men practise on system in providing
the means of personal supply and gratification; while in the Divine work
of relieving the sorrows and wants of others, all system is matter of
indifference? Is order so important in the _accumulation_ of property;
while the _diffusion_ of it, in obedience to God's commands, may be
safely left to the spontaneous impulses of feeling? The more important
any busin