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A
HOPEFUL YOUTH
[SEIM.
VII.
a
love
of
beneficence. And this
our Lord Jesus prac-
tised
abundantly,
even
to those whom he
did
not
say
-
ingly
enlighten and
convert.
by
his gospel
;
for it
was his
character,
that
he
went
about
doing
good.
Acts
x.
38.
5.
This
love
of Christ
includes
in
it
compassion
for
the young
man,
and
some
degree
of
sorrow to think
that
he
should
miss
of heaven;
that
he should
be
so
hardened
in
self
-
confidence,
so
puft up
with a conceit
of
his own
righteousness,
and
so
hard
to be convinced
of
his weakness
and guilt,
as to
stand
to
it
boldly,
that
he
had kept
all the
commandments
of God
:
and
at
last,
that
he should
be
so
entangled
with
a
love to money,
as
tet
despise the
treasures of
heaven,
and
to
let Christ and
salvation
go.
Such
a mournful
pity did
our Lord
express
to
Jeru-
salem, in
the
days
of
his
flesh;
O
Jerusalem,
Jerusa-
lem, which
killest the prophets,
and
stonest
them
that
are
sent unto
thee:
How often
would
I
have
gathered
thy children together,
as
a
hen
doth
gather
her
brood
under her
wings,
and ye
would
not!
Luke
xiii.
34.
And
he mingled
the tears
of
love
and
sorrow when
he
came
near
the gates
:
for
the same evangelist tells
us,
that
he
beheld
the
city,
and wept over
it,
with this melting
lan-
guage,
"
If
thou hadst
known, even
thou,,
in
this
thy
day, the things
that
belong
to thy
peace
;
but
now
they
are
hid from thine
eyes,"
Luke
xix. 41, 42.
When
we
behold
a
noble palace,
a
well
-
contrived
garden, a
piece
of
painting
of
uncommon
art
:
"
It
is
pity,
we
cry,
that
suet
a building should
be
reduced
to
ashes,
such
a
garden overspread
with
desolation
and
disorder,
or
such
a
picture
be
all
defaced." We
have a
sort
of
pity for these
inanimate beauties, and
we are
ready
to
mourn their danger or
ruin.
And
the passion is
innocent and
becoming:
But
the
grief
and
the
love rise
higher
still,
when
we
see
a
living soul,
a
fellow
-
creature
of our
own
rank, a
man,
or
woman dressed
in
agreeable
accomplishments,
ànd
yet making haste
to wilful de-
struction:. Such love
and such
grief
are
comely for
a
wise
and good man,
and
they became
our
Saviour
well..
Blessed
Savio.ur
!
that
ever
thy love should
lay
itself out
on
such objects, as would awaken thy
grief,
and
give
thee
so
painful
a
compassion
!
But
this
was only in the
days
of
his flesh
:
He
pities mankind
now
under
their