s, _disinterested benevolence_. Truly, "It is more blessed to give
than to receive;" for without the good will the generous deed implies,
whatever else we have, we must have sorrow.

But how little of this spirit is evinced by man in his fallen state.
Those ties of love, that bound us to our Creator and to one another, are
sundered; as a race, severed from the governing Centre of all, each has
chosen a centre for himself, and is moving on in darkness and ruin;
selfishness the rule, self-interest the end.

Benevolence is not, therefore, natural to man. To practise it requires
the greatest effort; it is reascending to that lofty height whence we
have fallen. Hence the importance of System in the great work of
beneficence.

System in action implies a principle from which it proceeds.
Fluctuating opinions and feelings produce fickleness of conduct; while
settled convictions, stability of affections, and fixedness of purpose,
give birth to persevering and methodical action. A system of
beneficence must be founded on abiding principles and dispositions.

_I proceed to show in the first place, the Duty of Systematic
Beneficence thus founded_.

I. _I argue the duty of systematic beneficence from the analogy of
nature_. The Author of nature is the perfection of order. Whatever he
does, he does systematically. He proceeded in the great work of
creation with regularity. Order moulded the planets, and every star
that gems the evening sky; it launched them forth in their orbits, and
guides their glorious way, producing "the music of the spheres." Order
stretched the very layers of the everlasting rocks like ribs around the
earth, and shaped the crystals of the cavern. There is order in the
structure of every spire of grass, of every flower and shrub, of every
tree and trembling leaf; in the mechanism of every animal, from man in
his godlike attitude, to the smallest microscopic tribes. All organic
existences are preserved in being, nurtured, grow and mature, according
to certain laws. Even the winds, that stir the petals of the flowers,
breathing fragrance and health, and the tornado, that bows the forest
and dashes navies, obey established principles. Now, shall there be
order all around me, and in my physical frame, in the flowing blood, in
the heaving lungs, and chiseled limbs, while the accountable actions of
this finely-knit and symmetrical form, especially the loftiest actions
for which it was made, the dif