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man, in making my escape from my cottage, I had not time to bring off my cow, which was the support of my family. The enemy will drive her away, and I shall never find another so good." Fenelon, availing himself of his privilege of safe conduct, immediately set out accompanied by a single servant, and drove the cow back himself to the peasant.' By thus walking according to the law of overcoming evil with good, he gained the affection of all. The peasantry loved him as their father-and long after his death, their tears would flow when they said, "there is the chair on which our good Archbishop used to sit in the midst of us; we shall see him no more." What a crown of unfading glory the law of love gave him!

The next illustration is that of Oberlin.John Frederic Oberlin was born in the city of Strasburg, near the frontiers of France and Germany. At the age of 26, and in the year 1767, he became pastor of a parish in a region of country fifteen or twenty miles from Strasburg, called the Ban de La Roche, whose inhabitants were semi-barbarians; their schools were nominal; many of their teachers could not read; the different villages could not communicate with each other from want of bridges and roads;

* See Channing's Miscellanies, p. 182.

their agriculture was of the rudest kind; while their language was almost unintelligible to refined ears. These evils were doubly entailed upon them by their invincible ignorance, the mother of superstition.

Among these people Oberlin settled; and his only means of defence, were, a heart overflowing with good will to them, and a disposition so cultivated in the school of Christ, as to constantly make the law, "overcome evil with good," his

rule of action.

And most nobly did those

means serve him. When he exhibited a desire to make improvements among them, the people of his charge became enraged, and even waylaid him for his destruction. But, by throwing himself among them, unarmed and with a kind yet firm and collected manner, he subdued their resentment. By uniformly pursuing a course of mild instruction, he obtained their confidence, until by his influence and example, they successively opened roads between their villages and Strasburg, they reared more comfortable buildings, they adopted a better mode of cultivation, they built good school-houses, and obtained more experienced teachers. Very soon, by the directions of this extraordinary man, the barren wilderness began to smile with well cultivated fields, neat and convenient dwellings,

while happiness entered every abode, and religion was found on every family altar.

wants.

All this change was accomplished by the law of kindness, connected with an ardent perseverance and a knowledge of human nature and its And not only did he subdue all hearts around him, but his Christian conduct has obtained for him' an honorable fame in all the nations where his name is known. When he died, which took place in 1826, the love of him was so universal and strong, that the inhabitants of the remotest village in his parish, though it rained in torrents, did not fail to come and take the last look of their "dear father." His funeral procession was two miles in length; and so strongly had his benevolence and kindness penetrated all hearts, that tears flowed from both Catholic and Protestant eyes, while regret for his loss and respect for his memory, animated all minds alike. His gravestone now stands in the "church yard among the mountains," and there is recorded on it the simple and expressive fact, that he was for " "fifty-nine years the Father of the Ban de la Roche." ""*

The next illustration in the law of kindness, is found in the conduct of William I. Reese, a

* See Universalist Expositor, volume 3: p. 119, and Penny Magazine, volume 7: p. 220.

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clergyman of the Universalist denomination.He was pastor of the Universalist society in Buffalo, N. Y. He entered upon his charge in the year 1834, during the Summer of which, Buffalo was filled with dismay and mourning by a dreadful visitation of Cholera. But while the angel of death was strong in his work, sweep ing crowds to the tomb, Mr. Reese was active in visiting the sick, irrespective of their faith or condition. Armed by the spirit of Christian love, which destroyed the fear of contagion, he devoted his days and nights to administering relief, consolation and sympathy to the dying and the mourning. And in this work of kindness, so full of moral sublimity, he was smitten by Cholera, and died, September 6, 1834. But so conspicuous was his devoted love, that it won the respect and admiration of all sects, disarmed bigotry of its frown, and procured a place for his memory in the hearts of multitudes in Buffalo, who had no confidence in his faith, His funeral was attended by crowds belonging to all denominations, so universally was he esteemed. Well was it said of him :

"Friend of the friendless! when high o'er the land
The swift-winged pestilence, with gory hand
Waved death's black banner through the la'bring air,
In the lone aisle was heard thy rising prayer:
And gently bending over the bed of death,
Thy soothing voice relieved the fal'tring breath;

Calming the fired soul in the dissolving strife,
And pointed heavenward to eternal life!"

The fact now to be exhibited, shows in a lively manner, how an extraordinary instance of kindness has softened the asperities of opposition to a sect, whose peculiar forms and tenets are disbelieved by the mass of American people-I mean the conduct of the Sisters of Charity, an association of females in the Roman Catholic communion, who have dedicated themselves wholly to benevolence. During the time when the angel of death, in the shape of Cholera, raged in Philadelphia, in the Summer of 1832, a number of the Sisters of Charity from Montreal, voluntarily assumed the noble duty of attending the sick in that city. though they were constantly in danger of being infected with the awful pestilence, and of being consigned to the tomb in a few hours, yet, armed with a Christian spirit, they watched the sick, and hovered around the couch of death, like angels of mercy, courageous in their benevolence when others were fleeing in abject fear. And when asked why they, Catholics as they were, should be so ready to assist Protestants and the opposers of their faith, the answer in substance was, that to see a fellow-being, no matter of what name or sect, in distress, was sufficient to excite their endeavors to remove

And

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