Micah vi. 7. those purposes. Other obligations did fignify a willing- SERM. nefs to render a due homage to God: this really and im- XXXI. mediately performs it. They were fladows or images well resembling that duty, (parting with any thing we have for the fake of God, and for purchafing his favour,) whereof this is the body and fubftance. This is therefore preferred as in itself excelling the reft, and more estimable in God's fight; fo that in comparifon or competition therewith, the other feem to be flighted and rejected. I will, faith God, have mercy, and not facrifice: and, Will Hof. vi. 6. the Lord be pleafed with thousands of rams, or with ten thoufands of rivers of oil? Will he? that is, he will not be pleased with fuch facrifices, if they be abftracted from the more delightful facrifices of bounty and mercy. God never made an exception against these, or derogated from them in any cafe: they abfolutely and perpetually are, as St. Paul fpeaketh, odours of a fweet fmell, facrifices ac- Phil. iv. 18. ceptable and well-pleafing to God. And the Apofile to the Hebrews feconds him: To do good, faith he, and to Heb. xiii. communicate, forget not; for with fuch facrifices God is well pleafed. By thefe, all other works and all enjoyments are fanctified: for, Give alms, faith our Lord, of Luke xi.41. what ye have; and, behold, all things are pure unto you. Such charitable perfons are therefore frequently pronounced bleffed, that is, in effect inftated in a confluence. 16. of all good things. Bleed is he that confidereth the poor, Pfal. xli. 1. fays the Pfalmift; and, He that hath a bountiful eye is Prov. xxii. bleffed, faith Solomon; and, He that hath mercy on the 9. xiv. 21. poor, happy is he, faith the Wife Man again; and, Blessed Matt. v. 7. are the merciful, faith our Lord himself. So in grofs and generally. Particularly alfo and in retail, the greatest bleffings are exprefsly allotted to this practice; profperity in all our affairs is promised thereto. Thou, faith Moses, Deut. xv. fhalt furely give thy poor brother, and thine heart fhall not 10. be grieved that thou giveft unto him; because that for this thing the Lord thy God fhall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou putteft thine hand unto. Stability in a good condition is ordinarily confequent thereon: fo the prophet Daniel implies, when, advifing king Nebuchad XXXI. 2, 3. SERM. nezzar to these works, he adds, If it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity. Deliverance from evil incumbent, Dan. iv. 27. protection in imminent danger, and support in afflictions, are the fure rewards thereof: fo the Pfalmift affures us: Pfal. xli. 1, Bleffed, faith he, is he that confidereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. The Lord will preferve him and keep him alive, and he fhall be bleffed upon earth; and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies. The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing; thou wilt make all his bed in his fickness. Security from all want is likewife a recompence proper thereto : for, Prov.xxviii. He that giveth to the poor fhall not lack, faith the Wife Ifa. lviii. Man. If thou draw out thy foul to the hungry, and fatisfy 10, 11, 12. the afflicted foul, then shall thy light arife in obfcurity, &c. Thriving in wealth and estate is another special reward: Prov.xi. 25. for, The liberal foul shall be made fat; the fame author 27. 29. Luke xiv. 14. gives us his word for it. Even of the good things here below, to those who for his fake in this or any other way Matt. xix. do let go houfes or lands, our Lord promiseth the return of a hundredfold, either in kind, or in value. So great encouragements are annexed to this practice even in relation to the concernments of this tranfitory life: but to them befide God hath deftinated rewards incomparably more confiderable and precious, spiritual and eternal rewards, treasures of heavenly wealth, crowns of endless glory, the perfection of joy and blifs to be difpenfed at the refurrection of the just. He that for my fake hath left Matt. xix. houfes or lands, fhall receive a hundredfold now at this time, (or in this prefent life,) and in the world to come Shall inherit everlasting life; fo infallible truth hath affured us. They who perform these duties are faid to Luke xii. make themfelves bags which wax not old, a treasure that 33. xvi. 9. faileth not in the heavens; to make themfelves friends of the unrighteous mammon, who, when they fail, (when they depart, and leave their earthly wealth,) will receive them 1 Tim. vi. into everlasting habitations; to lay up in fiore for themfelves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. Such rewards are promifed to the obfervers. 29. Mark x. 29, 30. 19. 8. And correfpondently grievous punishments are de- SERM. figned and denounced to the tranfgreffors of thefe duties; XXXI. the worst of miferies is their portion and doom: they, for being fuch, do forfeit God's love and favour; they lose his bleffing and protection; they can have no fure poffeffion, nor any comfortable enjoyment of their eftate; for He, faith St. James, fhall have judgment without mer-James ii. cy, who fheweth no mercy. And of fuch a perfon it is faid in Job, That which he laboureth for he fhall reftore, and Job xx. 18, fhall not fwallow it down: according to his fubftance shall 19. the reftitution be, and he shall not rejoice he hath oppreffed, and forfaken the poor. therein; because (Not only because he hath unjustly oppreffed, but because he hath uncharitably forfaken the poor.) If by the divine forbear lxxiii. 12. ance fuch perfons do feem to enjoy a fair portion in this Pf. xvii. 14. life, (profpering in the world, and increasing in riches,) they will find a fad reckoning behind in the other world: this will be the refult of that audit; Woe be unto you, Luke vi. 24. rich men, for ye have received your confolation; (fuch rich men are meant, who have got, or kept, or used their wealth bafely; who have detained all the confolation it yields to themselves, and imparted none to others;) and, Remember, Son, thou didst receive thy good things in this Luke xvi. life; (fo didft receive them, as to fwallow them, and spend 25. them here, without any provifion or regard for the future in the use of them ;) and, Caft that unprofitable fervant Matt. xxv. (who made no good use of his talent) into utter darkness. Such will be the fate of every one that treasures up to him- Luke xii. felf, and is not rich unto God; not rich in piety and cha- 21. rity, not rich in performing for God's fake works of bounty and mercy. 9. It is indeed most confiderable, that at the final reckoning, when all men's actions shall be strictly scanned, and justly fentenced according to their true defert, a special regard will be had to the discharge or neglect of these duties. It is the bountiful and merciful perfons, who have relieved Chrift in his poor members and brethren, who in that day will appear to be the fheep at the right hand, and fhall hear the good Shepherd's voice uttering 30. Matt. xxv. SERM. those joyful words, Come, ye blessed of my Father, enter XXXI. into the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat; 34, 35, 36. I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; I was naked, and ye clothed me; I was fick, and ye vifited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me. He doth not fay, because you have made goodly profesfions, because you have been orthodox in your opinions, because you have frequented religious exercifes, (have prayed often and long, have kept many fafts, and heard many fermons,) because you have been ftaunch in your converfations, because you have been punctual in your dealings, because you have maintained a specious guise of piety, fobriety, and juftice; (although, indeed, he that will come off well at that great trial, must be responsible, and able to yield a good account in refpect to all those particulars;) but because you have been charitably benign and helpful to perfons in need and diftrefs, therefore bleffed are you, therefore enter into the kingdom of glorious blifs prepared for fuch perfons. This proceeding more than intimates, that, in the judgment of our Lord, no fort of virtue or good practice is to be preferred before that of charitable bounty; or rather that, in his esteem, none is equal thereto : fo that if the question were put to Athanafi- him, which is one of them to Antiochus, (in Athanafius's works,) which is the most eminent virtue ? our Lord would refolve it no otherwife than is done by that father, affirming, that mercifulness is the queen of virtues; for that, at the final account, the examination chiefly proceeds upon that; it is made the fpecial touchftone of piety, and the peculiar ground of happinefs. On the other fide, thofe who have been deficient in these performances (uncharitable and unmerciful perfons) will at the laft trial appear to be the wretched goats on the left hand, unto whom this uncomfortable fpeech fhall by the Matt. xxv. great Judge be pronounced; Depart from me, ye curfed, 41, 42, 43. into everlafting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry, and ye gave me no meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave no drink; I was a firanger, and ye took me not us, tom. ii. in; naked, and ye clothed me not; fick and in prison, and SERM. ye vifited me not. It is not, we may fee, for having done XXXI. that which in this world is called rapine or wrong, for having pillaged or cozened their neighbour, for having committed adultery or murder, or any other thing prohibited, that these unhappy men are said to be formerly impeached, and finally condemned to that miferable doom; but for having been unkind and unmerciful to their poor brethren 5: this at that high tribunal will pass for a most enormous crime, for the capital offence; for this it is that they shall be curfed, and caft down into a wretched confortfhip with thofe malicious and mercilefs fiends, unto whofe difpofition they did fo nearly approach. Thus it appears how mighty a firefs God in the holy Scripture doth lay upon thefe duties, fo peremptorily commanding them, fo vehemently preffing them, so highly commending them, fo graciously by promises alluring us to the performance, fo dreadfully by threatenings deterring us from the neglect of them. What an affront then will it be to God's authority, what a diftruft to his word, what a contempt of his power, his juftice, his wisdom, what a despite to his goodness and mercy, if, notwithstanding all these declarations of his will and purpofes, we fhall prefume to be uncharitable in this kind! There are also confiderations, (very many, very clear, and very strong,) which discover the great reasonableness and equity of thefe laws, with our indifpenfable obligation to obey them; the which indeed with greater force do exact thefe duties from us, and do more earnestly plead in the poor man's behalf, than he can beg or cry. If we either look up unto God, or down upon our poor neighbour, if we reflect upon ourselves, or confider our wealth itself, every where we may difcern various reafons obliging us, and various motives inducing us to the practice of these duties. In regard to God, * Οὐκ ὅτι διηρπάκασιν, οὐδ ̓ ὅτι σεσυλήκασιν, οὐ μεμοιχεύκασιν, ἢ ἄλλο τι τῶν ἀπηγορευμένων πεποιήκασιν, ταύτην τὴν τάξιν κατακριθέντες, ἀλλ' ὅτι μὴ Χρισὸν διὰ τῶν δεομένων τεθεραπεύκασιν. Greg. Νaz. Orat, 16, |