alleviate the miseries of suffering humanity?-nothing to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, instruct the ignorant, and reclaim the wandering? —nothing to cheer the disconsolate, and chase away the gloom of penury?-nothing to dispel the darkness from the cabin of sorrow, and light up a smile in the aspect of wo?

SO POOR -as to

Who, among the sons or daughters of men in this land of freedom and plenty, of light and knowledge, is so destitute of power, or means, or influence be unable, ABSOLUTELY unable, to do anything-to contribute a mite, to give a cup of water, or a morsel of bread, or rag of covering, to a needy and suffering mortal, in token of regard to the noble example of his Savior? Few are they who can not copy his philanthropy, and, by some charitable deeds, show their attachment to Him, who, though he was rich, became poor-spent his days in doing good, and laid down his life for the benefit of a weeping and a suffering world.

Another motive to charity is found in the express direction of Heaven. This direction is contained in the revelation of the Divine will: "The poor shall never cease out of the land."-"If thy brother be waxen poor, then shalt thou relieve him, that he live." may "Thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor shut thy hand against thy poor brother; but thou shalt open thy hand wide unto him, and thou shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need in that which he wanteth."

How reasonable, just, and benevolent, are these requi

sitions! They are worthy of being written upon the arches of the sky-to be read and known by all the nations of the earth. They are filled with the spirit of charity and fraternal affection. They contain the great principles of true Odd-Fellowship, no less than of practical Christianity. They are the foundation of every benevolent society, and form the golden chain that unites and binds together the members of every charitable association. Were these principles carried out in action, what a change would be produced in every land of suffering and want! No pining children of indigence and wretchedness would pain the eye, or pour upon the ear their tale of need. Hunger would be fed, and nakedness would be clothed; while Pity would extend her balm of healing to every wound," and, by the radiance of her smiles, light up with joy a benighted world.

Another incentive to charity is drawn from the promises of future reward. The promises of reward found in the gospel are made alone to those who do good, and in the spirit of true benevolence seek to promote, by the performance of good works, the happiness of man. On this condition all the gospel promises of reward in a future world are made. If the condition be not fulfilled-if the required "good works" be not done-the promise fails, and there can be no claim to the promised reward. Without those deeds of charity and kindness to our fellow-men which the gospel enjoins, all our hopes and expectations of happiness in another world are delusive and vain.

And the amount of the reward will correspond to the amount of our good works—not as works of merit, but as the visible expressions of that charity which consists in love to God and benevolence to man.

The magnitude of these works is estimated, not by their outward splendor, but according to the ability and means of those by whom they are performed. The poor widow, who gave her only mite, received as great a reward as if she had bestowed the wealth of a kingdom, for she gave all that was in her power; and had she possessed the treasures of the world, she could have done no more. The bestowment of a crust of bread, a rag of clothing, or a cup of water, upon the naked and famishing, may prove a richer favor than the bestowment of a crown while these charities are withheld, and the former may entitle the bestower to higher reward than the giver of the latter.

And these works decide the character and the future destiny of men. It is not the place of their birth, the society to which they belong, or the circle in which they move; it is not the fire of their zeal, the strength of their faith, or the noise of their professions; it is not their attachment to forms, their devotion to sect, or their adherence to creeds, adopted by the pride and wisdom of this world, and for which men have fought and shed each other's blood-that determines their condition in another state but it is their good works; their deeds of charity, mercy, and kindness, to the poor and the destitute — to

the widow and orphan, and him who hath none to help him; deeds flowing from the noble principles of "friendship, love, and truth," and which constitute the BRIGHTEST TRAIT in the character of true Odd-Fellowship, as well as in the character of true Christian philanthropy. And when poverty shall be stripped of its rags, and wealth of its splendor-when the poor and the rich-when the monarch on the throne and the beggar in the street-shall stand upon the same level, and when all the distinctions of names, sects, and creeds, shall vanish away, then will the GOOD WORKS which men have done to one another stand forth in all their lustre, and not the least in the train lose its reward.

To these motives we might add the example of the virtuous in other times, whose names and deeds are inscribed upon the tablets of history for the instruction and imitation of successive generations. Though dead, they yet speak by their example, left in the record of their generous deeds. In this history is found the doings of the prince of the East and the widow of Zarepta. The one clothed the naked from the fleece of his flock; while the other, surrounded by famine, with but a handful of meal in her barrel, and but little oil in her cruse, for herself and son, reached out her hand of charity, and gave, nobly gave a part of her little all to the famished prophet. And here is found the poor widow who, in the midst of indigence, cast her two mites, which were all her living, into the treasury of benevolence. And here, too, is the record of

her who poured her box of ointment upon the feet of her Lord, as the testimony of her generous charity. Nor is the conduct of the liberal Martha here forgotten, in so often opening her hospitable cottage to "the man of sorrows," and spreading her table for his own and the entertainment of his companions.

In this history of benevolence, in later times, the name of HOWARD stands conspicuous, as the bright mirror reflecting the image of charity. He is here seen as the Christian philanthropist, as the true Odd-Fellow, going from city to city and from kingdom to kingdom; and, with an eye beaming with love, and a heart filled with sympathy, entering into hospitals, diving into prisons, plunging into dungeons and in these gloomy abodes of sickness and disease, suffering and sorrow, searching out their inmates, exploring their avenues, surveying their wretchedness, amid cold and hunger, amid poverty, pestilence, and death, that he might do some GOOD WORK for the alleviation of distressed humanity. Here he is beheld regardless of life, of health, of every social endearment-shrinking from no toil, flying from no danger, complaining of no fatigue; but, in spite of all the difficulties met in his way, going forward on his errand of mercy and in his labors of love—measuring the heights and depths of human misery, that he might shed a ray of light upon its gloom, and lessen its dimensions, by the deeds of a heavenly charity. What a noble example! What a spectacle of moral grandeur and sublimity, on which the world may stand and