Chap. XXIX. KINDNESS MOST EFFECTUAL. 601 



appetite or passion, to recognise and distinguish the Divine 

 voice, whether uttered from within by the intimations of 

 conscience, or speaking from without in the language of the 

 inspired oracles ; they presuppose that vigour of reason may 

 consist with feebleness of understanding ; and that the power 

 of discriminating between religious truth and error does not 

 chiefly depend on the culture or on the exercise of the merely 

 argumentative faculty. The Gospel, the especial patrimony 

 of the poor and the illiterate, has been the stay of millions 

 who never framed a syllogism. Of the great multitudes who, 

 before and since the birth of Grotius, have lived in the 

 peace and died in the consolations of our faith, how incom- 

 parably few are they whose convictions have been derived 

 from argumentative works like his ! " 



We prefer to use the words of this able writer rather than 

 our own, to express the belief that our divine religion suits 

 the lowest as well as the highest of our race. But in 

 dealing with the different classes of the human family the 

 teaching must be adapted to the individual circumstances. 

 The stately ceremonial, the ritual observances, the sedative 

 sermon, and the austere look of those who think it right to 

 indulge in a little spiritual pride, may suit some minds ; but 

 the degraded of our race in every land must be treated in 

 somewhat the same manner as is adopted in dealing with 

 the outcasts of London. Whether we approach the down- 

 trodden victims of the slave-trade in sultry Africa, or our 

 poor brethren in the streets, who have neither warmth, 

 shelter, nor home, we must employ the same agency to secure 

 their confidence, — the magic power of kindness — a charm 

 which may be said to be one of the discoveries of modern 

 days. This charm may not act at once, nor may its effects 

 always be permanent ; the first feeling of the wretched, of 

 whatever colour, may be that of distrust ; or a suspicion that 

 kindness is a proof of weakness ; but the feelings which 

 the severity of their lot has withered will in time spring 



