his " great heaviness and continual sorrow of heart" arise, but from the conviction of his mind, that, whilst they continued to reject the Saviour, they were under the wrath of God ? And whence arose his unabated efforts in their behalf, " that by any means he might save some," if he did not consider them all as in danger of perishing in their sins ? Permit me, then, to ask, if they be indeed, nationally considered, in such a state, are we guilty of no inhumanity, whilst we use no efforts for their welfare ? Were we to see a multitude of them shipwrecked, and to refuse to make exertions for their preservation, when the means of preserving them were in our hands, there would be but one sentiment in the whole world respecting our conduct ; and we ourselves should be amongst the foremost to condemn those who should so violate all the feelings of humanity. Yet is not this the very conduct of which we have been guilty ? We have seen that unhappy nation sinking into perdition, and have had at our command that which is sufficient to save the zvhole world ; yet have we never tendered to them our assistance, nor used any means for their salvation. And in what light Almighty God views this conduct, we may judge from what he spoke respecting the Ammonites of old : " An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord ; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the Lord for ever ; because they met you not with bread and with water in the way when ye came forth out of Egypt1." Now, if God ex- pressed such indignation against them for not admi- nistering to his people temporal relief, what must he not feel against us, who, with the bread of life and the water of life in rich profusion in our hands, have never stirred one step to supply their wants, or to make them partakers of our benefits ? The parable of the good Samaritan is familiar to us all : and there is but one sentiment amongst us respecting the con- duct of the priest and the Levite towards the wounded Jew, when compared with that of the Samaritan.
Deut. xxiii. 3, 4.