Him, and are received by Him, who has purchased it for you. I have shown that if your faith in him is real, it will certainly prove itself by the spirit of charity. And where can charity be more usefully employed, than in taking children out of the way that leadeth to destruction, and placing them in the road that leadeth unto life, even unto life eternal?

3 John i. 12.

104

SERMON VII.

THE SUREST MODE OF BENEFITING THE

POOR.

ACTs iii. 6.

Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none-but such as I have, give I unto thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.

THESE will be remembered as the words of Peter to one who had been lame from his birth; and whom they laid daily at one of the principal gates of the temple at Jerusalem, that he might ask alms of those who were entering. The apostle perceived it to be a proper time for exercising the power entrusted to him. What you expect, he said, I cannot bestow on thee; silver and gold are not mine to give; but such as I have, give I unto thee. I endue thee with the power with which other men are endued, but which has been withheld from thee. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth rise up and walk. "And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered

with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God."

This short history, brethren, appears to me capable of important application, if I use it to illustrate the service which one class of men have power to perform, the benefits they can bestow on others. That they should leave nothing undone which can be done beneficially, is acknowledged by all who profess the Gospel of Christ. The principle of Christ's religion is to "do good unto all men;" to "love our neighbour as ourselves;" to consider his wants, his interests, as our own. It becomes, therefore, our duty to inquire in what manner he may be best assisted by us; how we may best discharge our stewardship towards him: that He who has dispensed to every one their several talents, when he comes to take account, may receive again "his own with usury."

I. I begin by inquiring what one class of mankind cannot do for those beneath them.

We will suppose one whom God has blessed with wealth; and who desires to act upon the apostle's precept-"Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be rich in good works; ready to distribute, glad to communicate; lay

ing up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come."1

What, then, with these worldly means to employ, and this heavenly disposition to actuate him, what benefit is he capable of imparting to his fellow-creatures? what improvement can he effect in their condition?

He cannot, by any employment of his wealth, by any freeness of distribution or willingness of communication, effect a permanent change in the state of those below him in the social scale. He cannot turn dependence into independence. He cannot reverse the original decree, that man shall eat bread in the sweat of his brow.

Suppose him, for a moment, to attempt this, and, with such design, to divide his fortune with the unendowed families around him. Thus he exempts from those wants which urge to labour, perhaps ten, perhaps twenty, perhaps fifty families. But what is really done by this? What are they among so many? The general state of the world, the real aspect of the community, remains the same.

No, it may be replied; and with some show of reason. The argument requires that all who have wealth should use it in like manner; that 1 Timothy, vi. 17.

all who are rich in this world's good, should share it with those who have none; and thus we see, not twenty or fifty families, but a whole community at ease.

This may beguile us at the first glance, like the mists in the horizon which deceive the fainting traveller; but carry your eye onward, look one moment longer, and you must perceive that thus we take away the source from which all income is derived. If there is no labour, there is no harvest; if industry is stopped, the flow of wealth is stopped; and instead of seeing a state of things in which the wealth of one is subservient to the interests of many, though some have more of that wealth than others, you see a state in which all are destitute: not some rich and many poor, but all alike reduced to indigence.

It is enough to hint at this. I need not carry the subject further. The ordinance of God is, that " man is born to labour." And when we can take winter out of the year, and make all a perpetual spring, we may take labour out of the world, and place man once more in Paradise.

In this sense, the answer of the apostle to the cripple at the temple gate must be the answer of the most benevolent amongst us. Silver and gold have I none, by which to profit