Were this disposition in exercise, it would cut off all ground of envy and jealousy; it would remove the cause of most of the contentions that arise in society; and mitigate, in a wonderful degree, all the ills of life.  Indeed, this principle lies at the foundation of all social enjoyment.  The reciprocity of mutual affection depends upon the exercise of a self-sacrificing disposition; and the society where this does not exist is intolerable.  Nor is it feeling or interest alone that must be given up.  There is yet a more difficult sacrifice to be made, before we can be, in any considerable degree, comfortable companions. It is the sacrifice of the will. This is the last thing the selfish heart of man is disposed to yield.  He has taken his stand, and the pride of his heart is committed to maintain it.  He deceives himself, and compels conscience to come to his aid; while, in reality, it is a matter with which conscience has nothing to do, for the point might have been yielded without doing violence to that ever-wakeful monitor, whose office is thus perverted, and made to subserve the purposes of stiff-necked obstinacy.  A disposition to yield to the judgment and will of others, so far as can be done conscientiously, is a prominent characteristic of that charity which seeketh not her own; while an obstinate adherence to our own plans and purposes, where no higher principle than expediency is concerned, is one of the most repulsive and uncomfortable forms of selfishness.

A selfish person never willingly makes the smallest sacrifice of feeling or interest to promote the welfare or happiness of others.  He wraps himself up in his own interests and pursuits, a cheerless and forbidding object.  He would gladly know no law but his own will.  He has a little world of his own, in which he lives, and moves, and has his being.  He makes every one, with whom he comes in contact, contribute something to his own selfish purposes.  His overweening desire to promote his own interests, disposes him constantly to encroach upon the rights of others; or, if not to encroach upon their rights, to take advantage of their good nature, to drag them into his service.  You might as well walk for pleasure in a grove of thorn-bushes, or seek repose on a bed of nettles, as to look for comfort in the society of selfish persons.

VII.  Charity is not easily provoked.  “It corrects a sharpness of temper, and sweetens and softens the mind.”  It does not take fire at the least opposition or unkindness, nor “make a man an offender for a word.”  One of the servants of Nabal described his character in this significant manner:  “He is such a son of Belial that a man cannot speak to him.”  There are many such sons and daughters of Belial.  They are so sulky and sour, so fretful and peevish, that you can hardly speak to them, but they will snap and snarl like a growling watch-dog; and if they were equally dangerous, it might not be less necessary to chain