See marking the temper of the father and mother, and is forming his views of piety from it." The Saviour was the embodiment of kindness. him, when on a mock trial for life, smitten by an officer, meekly, and with a countenance beaming with kindness, while he looks at the wicked man, and exclaims, "If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why smitest thou me?" John xviii. 23. See him on the cross, carrying out his divine precept, "love your enemies," when he prays for the forgive ness of his murderers. When the Jews accused before him a woman of adultery, and were clamorous to have her stoned, he cast a kind look upon her, as he saw the deep feeling of repentance kindling in her heart, and said, hath no man condemned thee? No man, Lord, she replies. "Neither do I," says the compassionate Jesus, "go in peace, and sin no more." O what multitudes of the vicious would have been saved, that are forever lost, if the Savior's example had been followed towards those outcasts of society. After Peter had so cruelly denied Christ, when hanging on the cross, what a look of tenderness and compassion he casts upon Peter? And no wonder that "he went out and wept bitterly. "It is in vain to disguise the fact, that the largest share of the squallor and filth, the poverty and intemperance, the prostitution and fraud, which exist in every community, may be fairly charged to the follies, unnatural rules, vicious fashions, and demoralizing examples of society. What is it but unkindness of community, that takes from multitudes of the poorer people, all hope of rising in prosperity, and by condemning them to perpetual drudgery, causes many of them, through despair, to become thieves and prostitutes? What is it but the unkindness of community, that. because a female has taken one mis-step, she is driven deeper and deeper into dens of vice, even when exhibiting an earnest desire to repent and return to virtue?" If the divine precepts, "Do as you wish others to do to you; love your enemies, overcome evil with good; if thy brother err, ye who are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness; if thine enemy hunger, feed him, if he thirst, give him drink; for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head," were generally observed by the professed followers of Jesus, war, slavery, oppression, and every evil would be banished from the globe; and it would be one great paradise, and mankind would be one great band of brethren, their hearts knit together by the heavenly chain of love. God's word assures us, that such a state of things will occur, when the Savior shall sit on "David's throne," "and all the kingdoms of earth shall become the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ." For a number of the facts in this work, the writer is indebted to several articles on the "Law of Kindness," by G. W. M., published in the "Evangelical Magazine," at Utica, N. Y., for 1839 C. MORLEY. THE POWER OF KINDNESS. EFFECTS OF KINDNESS ON DUMB ANIMALS. On the Lion. A traveller from Europe, as he was riding a horse through a forest in Asia, heard groans, as of either a human being or a beast in distress, dismounted from his horse, and went in the direction of the noise, and to his astonishment, he beheld a huge lion rolling, and apparently in extreme agony. As he approached him, he discovered that a thorn had pierced his foot. He extracted it with his knife, and the lion, being immediately relieved from his distress, arose and licked the hand of his benefactor, and then cast an expressive look in his face, as if he wished to say, "I thank you for your kindness. You have not only relieved my pain, but saved my life. I will henceforth devote it to you. For you I will live, for you I will die." As the man resumed his journey, the lion trotted after him like a dog, and thus followed him for several months. At length, as he made arrangements to return by water, he intended to take his favorite companion with him, but the captain would not permit it. As the ship set sail, the lion commenced a mournful |