“What might not be done by men—­by men of talent, of standing, of wealth, of leisure?  How speedily, under their well-directed beneficence, might a whole country change its physical, intellectual, and moral aspect; and assume, comparatively speaking, the face of another Eden, a second garden of God.  Why then do they not diffuse thus extensively the seeds of knowledge, of virtue, and of bliss?  I ask not for their pretences; they are as old as the lust of lucre, and are refuted by the example which we have been contemplating:  I ask for the true reason, for the inspiring principle of their conduct.  It is this—­let them look to it when God shall call them to account for the abuse of their time, their talents, their station, their ’unrighteous mammon’—­it is this:  they believe not ’the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.’  They labor under no want but one, they want the heart.  The bountiful God add this to the other gifts which he has bestowed upon them.  I turn to the other sex.

“That venerable mother in Israel who has exchanged the service of God on earth for his service in heaven, has left a legacy to her sisters:  she has left the example of her faith and patience; she has left her prayers; she has left the monument of her Christian deeds; and by these she being dead, yet speaketh.  Matrons, has she left her mantle also?  Are there none among you to hear her voice from the tomb, Go and do thou likewise?  None whom affluence permits, endowments qualify, and piety prompts, to aim at her distinction by treading in her steps?  Maidens, are there none among you who would wish to array yourselves hereafter in the honors of this virtuous woman?  Your hearts have dismissed their wonted warmth and generosity, if they do not throb as the revered vision rises before you.  Then prepare yourselves now, by seeking and serving the God of her youth.  You cannot be too early adorned with the robes of righteousness and the garments of salvation in which she was wedded, in her morning of life, to Jesus the King of glory.  That same grace which threw its radiance around her, shall make you also to shine in the beauty of holiness; and the fragrance of those virtues which it shall create, develope, and ennoble, will be ’as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed.’

“Yea, let me press upon all the transcendent excellence of Christian character, and the victorious power of Christian hope.  The former bears the image of God; the latter is as imperishable as his throne.  We fasten our eyes with more real respect and more heart-felt approbation upon the moral majesty displayed in walking as Christ also walked, than upon all the pomps of the monarch or decorations of the military hero.  More touching to the sense and more grateful to high heaven is the soft melancholy with which we look after our departed friend, and the tear which embalms her memory, than the thundering plaudits which rend the air with the name of a conqueror.