r kindred; a brother
among the brotherhood of Love, so long as Mercy and Affliction shall
meet in the common thoroughfare of Life!

"'Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ!'
Think not, O my brethren, that this applies only to almsgiving--to that
relief of distress which is commonly called charity--to the obvious duty
of devoting, from our superfluities, something that we scarcely miss, to
the wants of a starving brother. No. I appeal to the poorest among ye,
if the worst burdens are those of the body--if the kind word and the
tender thought have not often lightened your hearts more than bread
bestowed with a grudge, and charity that humbles you by a frown.
Sympathy is a beneficence at the command of us all--yea, of the pauper
as of the king; and sympathy is Christ's wealth. Sympathy is
brotherhood. The rich are told to have charity for the poor, and the
poor are enjoined to respect their superiors. Good: I say not to the
contrary. But I say also to the poor, '_In your turn have charity for
the rich_;' and I say to the rich, '_In your turn respect the poor_.'

"'Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.'
Thou, O poor man, envy not nor grudge thy brother his larger portion of
worldly goods. Believe that he hath his sorrows and crosses like
thyself, and perhaps, as more delicately nurtured, he feels them more;
nay, hath he not temptations so great that our Lord hath exclaimed, 'How
hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of heaven?'
And what are temptations but trials? what are trials but perils and
sorrows? Think not that you can not bestow your charity on the rich man,
even while you take your sustenance from his hands. A heathen writer,
often cited by the earliest preachers of the gospel, hath truly said,
'Where-ever there is room for a man, there is place for a benefit.'

"And I ask any rich brother among you, when he hath gone forth to survey
his barns and his granaries, his gardens and orchards, if suddenly, in
the vain pride of his heart, he sees the scowl on the brow of the
laborer--if he deems himself hated in the midst of his wealth--if he
feels that his least faults are treasured up against him with the
hardness of malice, and his plainest benefits received with the
ingratitude of envy--ask, I say, any rich man, whether straightway all
pleasure in his worldly possessions does not fade from his heart, and
whether he does not feel what a wealth o