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 lofe 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 13. in Job, That which he laboureth for he fhall reftore, and Job xx. 18, fhall not fwallow it down: according to his fubftance fhall' the reftitution be, and he shall not rejoice therein; because he hath oppreffed, and forfaken the poor. (Not only because he hath unjustly oppreffed, but because he hath uncharitably forfaken the poor.) If by the divine forbear

19.

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 treafures 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 moft 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 fleep at the right hand, and fhall hear the good Shepherd's voice uttering

30.

Matt. xxv.

SERM. thofe 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 vifted me; I was in prifon, and ye came unto me. He doth not say, 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 fasts, and heard many fermons,) because you have been ftaunch in your conversations, because you have been punctual in your dealings, because you have maintained a fpecious 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 respect 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 such 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 : so 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 otherwise 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 touchstone of piety, and the peculiar ground of happiness. On the other fide, those who have been deficient in these performances (uncharitable and unmerciful perfons) will at the last trial appear to be the wretched goats on the left hand, unto whom this uncomfortable speech fhall by the Matt. xxv. great Judge be pronounced; Depart from me, ye curfed, 41, 42, 43. into everlasting 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 stranger, and ye took me not

us, tom. ii.

in; naked, and ye clothed me not; fick and in prifon, 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 pafs for a most enormous crime, for the capital offence; for this it is that they fhall be curfed, and caft down into a wretched confortship with thofe malicious and mercilefs fiends, unto whose difpofition they did fo nearly approach.

Thus it appears how mighty a ftrefs 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 distrust to his word, what a contempt of his power, his juftice, his wisdom, what a defpite 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 alfo confiderations, (very many, very clear, and very ftrong,) which difcover the great reasonablenefs and equity of these laws, with our indispensable obligation to obey them; the which indeed with greater force do exact these 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 itfelf, 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 Tâv dequénwv riðigœæcúzarı. Greg. Naz. Orat, 16,

SERM.

XXXI.

of dif

course.

1. We may confider, that, by exercifing of bounty and mercy, we are kind and courteous to God himself; by II. Head neglecting those duties, we are unkind and rude to him: for that what of good or evil is by us done to the poor, God interprets and accepts as done to himself. The poor have a peculiar relation to God; he openly and frequently profeffeth himself their efpecial friend, patron, and protector; he is much concerned in, and particularly chargeth his providence with their fupport. In effect therefore they shall furely be provided for, one way or Pf. xxii. 26. other; (The poor fhall eat and be fatisfied: God will fave the afflicted people: The Lord preferveth the Strangers, he Ifa. xli. 17. relieveth the fatherless and widow. When the poor and

xviii. 27.

cxlvi. 9.

needy feek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Ifrael. will not forfake them :) but out of goodness to us, he chooseth, (if it may be, we freely concurring therein,) and beft liketh, that it should be done by our hands; this conducing no less to our benefit, than to theirs; we thereby having opportunity to fhew our refpect to himfelf, and to lay an engagement on him to do us good. God therefore lendeth the poor man his own name, and alloweth him to crave our fuccour for his fake. (When the poor man afketh us in God's name, or for God's fake, he doth not ufurp or forge, he hath good authority, and a true ground for doing fo :) God gives him credit from himself unto us for what he wants, and bids us charge what he receiveth on his own account; permitting us to reckon him obliged thereby, and to write him our debtor ; engaging his own word and reputation duly to repay, fully Prov. xix. to fatisfy us. He that hath pity on the poor, lendeth to the Lord; and that which he hath given, will he pay him Matt. xxv. again, faith the Wife Man: and, Inafmuch as ye have done it to the leaf of my brethren, ye have done it unto me, faith Heb. vi. 10. Our Saviour: and, God is not unrighteous to forget your

17.

40, 45.

work and labour of love, which ye have fhewed toward his name, in that ye have miniftered to the faints, and do minifter, faith the Apostle. What therefore we give to the poor, God accepteth as an expreffion of kindness to him

XXXI.

felf, being given to one of his friends and clients, in re- SERM, spect to him; he regards it as a teftimony of friendly confidence in him, fignifying that we have a good opinion of him, that we take him for able and willing to requite a good turn, that we dare take his word, and think our goods fafe enough in his cuftody. But if we ftop our ears, or shut our hands from the poor, God interprets it as a harsh repulfe, and an heinous affront put upon himself: we doing it to one who bears his name, and wears his livery, (for the poor man's rags are badges of his relation unto God,) he thereby judges, that we have little good-will, little refpect, little compaffion toward himfelf: fince we vouchfafe not to grant him fo mean a favour, fince we refuse at his request, and (as it were) in his need, to ac, commodate him with a small fum, he juftly reputes it as an argument of unkindly diffidence in him, that we have forry thoughts of him, deeming him no good correspondent, little valuing his word, fufpecting his goodness, his truth, or his fufficiency.

2. We by practising those duties are juft, by omitting them are very unjuft toward God. For our goods, our wealth, and our estate are indeed none of them fimply or properly our own, so that we have an abfolute property in them, or an entire disposal of them: no, we are utterly incapable of such a right unto them, or power over them: God neceffarily is the true and abfolute proprietary of them. They are called the gifts of God: but we must Ecclef. v. not understand that God, by giving them to us, hath 19. vi. 2. parted with his own right to them: they are depofited with us in truft, not alienated from him; they are committed to us as stewards, not transferred upon us as mafters: they are fo ours, that we have no authority to use them according to our will or fancy, but are obliged to manage them according to God's direction and order. He, by right immutable, is Lord paramount of all his creation; every thing unalienably belongs to him upon many ac

counts.

He out of nothing made all things at firft, and to every creature through each moment a new being is conferred by his prefervative influence: originally there