to them''. Are they distressed on account oi painful hereave- metits? he will labour to assuage the anguish of their minds by tender assiduities and suitable consolations'^.
If their trials be of a spiritual nature, he will labour to bring them to that heavenly Physician, who will apply " the balm of Gilead " to their souls. If a sense of guilt appal them, he will lead them to " the fountain opened for sin," and encourage them with assurances that " the blood of Jesus Christ will cleanse them from all sin ''." If they be sorely tempted by Satan, he will endeavour to counteract the wiles and devices of their great adversary, and to direct them to that adorable Saviour, whose " grace shall be sufficient for them®." If they be de- jected on account oithe hidings of GocT s face , he w'lW "strengthen their weak hands, and confirm their feeble knees, and say unto their fearful hearts. Your God ivill come and save you^."]
2. Upon those who, though unconscious of their state, are really in a pitiable condition —
[Does he behold a poor drunken man staggering in the streets? he cannot laugh at his frantic gestures, but is ready to weep over him, as he would over a maniac or an idiot that was lacerating his own flesh, or beating his head against a wall. The scoffing infidel, the proud Pharisee, the profane sensualist, the self-deceiving professor, and the bitter persecutor, all in their turn call forth his compassionate regards. He mourns over them, well knowing the misery which they are bringing on themselves^: and, instead of despising them on account of the superiority of his own character, he longs, if possible, to "turn them from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God." If he see any hopeful signs in them, " he travails in birth with them, till Christ be formed in them**." Even if they be incorrigibly obstinate, he will not presently give up all hope, but will still watch for opportunities of doing them good. Filled with compassion towards them, he will, if possible, " save them with fear, pulling them out of the fire'." If he himself be evil entreated by them, he is affected with pity rather than with anger ; and laments, not so much the injury which he suffers from them, as the injury they do unto their own souls*'.]
Such is the merciful man : O that there were in all of us such a heart !
*> Job xxix. 11, 16. c 1 Thess. iv. 13, 14, 18.
^ Zech. xiii. 1. 1 John i. 7.
c Eph. vi. 10—18. 2 Cor. xii. 7—9. f Isai. xxxv. 3, 4.
s So did David, Ps. cxix. 136. Jeremiah, Jer. ix. 1. Paul, Phil. iii. 18, 19. Christ himself, Luke xix. 41. h Gal. iv. 19. ' Jude, ver. 22, 23.
■^ 2 Cor. xii. 15. Luke xxiii. 34.