which our Saviour intimates in that saying of his, Give Alms and all things are clean unto You. By Mercy, fays Solomon, Iniquity is purg'd, Prov. 16. 6. and the Son of Sirach, Water will quench a flaming Fire, and Alms make an Atonement for Sins, Ecclus 3. 30. Το which we may add that of St Peter, tho' I know it is interpreted fometimes in another Senfe, Charity covers a multitude of Sins. Without doubt We may with a well-grounded Confidence hope, that this our dayly Prayer will be graciously heard, Forgive Us our Debts, when by having fhewn Mercy to the Poor, we have made God, or rather God has made himself, our Debtor.

Indeed there are fo Great and Glorious things to be faid, and truly faid, of Bounty to the Poor, that the only danger is left we fhould carry our Opinion of it beyond its Bounds, and by fetting too great a Value upon our Good Works in our own Eyes, make 'em not only of no Value at all, but even Sinfull and Abominable in the Eyes of God. And this we fhould do, if we fhould think that by their Efficacy, they could cleanfe us from Guilt, or that upon the Score of their inherent Worth, God were oblig'd to forgive us our Sins, or that in ftrict Juftice and of Condignity they merited an Everlafting Reward. This were impiously to Equal Ourfelves with God, to

come

come to terms and drive a bargain with our Maker, and which is the higheft of all Impieties, facrilegiously to rob Chrift of the Merits of his Sufferings, whofe Blood only can wash away Sin. To do good and to distribute are indeed Sacrifices of a sweet fmelling Savour unto God, and Offerings in which he declares himself well-pleas'd, yet by their own Efficacy can no more atone for Sin than the Old Legal Sacrifices could, which had all their Virtue from that One perfect Oblation, which they were all but Figures and Shadows of, even That which was once for all offer'd up by our Saviour on the Crofs. In fhort, Good Works inftrumentally conduce to, and are indifpenfable Conditions, but not meritorious Caufes of Salvation. Without God's favourable Acceptance of em thro' Chrift's Merits, we must own that our beft Deeds are but as Drofs, and We ourselves but unprofitable Servants.

And here let no Patron of the Romish Merit object, that this Doctrine is any Difcouragement to the Works of Charity, or that it cuts off all Plea to a Recompence for our Chriftian Obedience at the hands of God. What? because we dare not arrogantly and falfly plead Defert, have we no other Plea? Yes and a much furer too. God be ever bleffed for it, there are other Attributes of his that oblige Him in his

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Transactions with Men as much as his Juftice can. Such are his Mercy and Truth, which are here met together. He looking upon us thro' Chrift has exprefsly promis'd a plentyfull and glorious Reward to very mean and unproportion'd Performances: which Promife tho' meer Grace induc'd him to make, yet, when made, his Effential Veracity and Justice ftand oblig'd to fee perform'd. And from the Confidence of this, we have in all reason as ftrong and enforc ing Motives to raise our Minds to the higheft and moft heroic Acts of Chriftian Charity, as if every fuch fingle Act could by its own intrinfick Worth merit an Eternal Weight of Glory. Since in the Natural course of things it is plain, that the chief Excitement to undertake any Performance is not so much a Perswasion of the Merit of our Work, as the Affurance of the Certainty of our Reward:

Which naturally leads to the II. thing propos'd to be confider'd in the Text, and that is the promis'd Reward.

And here we may take notice in general, that it is too fine a Notion, which fome Men with more Zeal than Knowledge, to speak the most Charitably of 'em, have advanc'd; namely, That God and Goodness are so excellent in their own Nature, that

the

the One is to be Worship'd and Obey'd, and the Other Study'd and Practis'd merely and folely for their own Sakes. That we ought not to have an Eye to Reward: This being a low Principle unworthy of a Chriftian, making our best Performances selfish and mercenary, and thereby Deftructive of all that is good in our Love and Obedience. This I affirm to be as falfly as it is fpeciously and ambitiously faid, and I don't know, which is the greater Pride, thus to flight a Reward from God freely offer'd, or to challenge one of Him as juftly deferv'd. He who knows whereof we are made and what is the chief Spring of Action in us, never bids us Work, but he bids us Hope, and to difregard his glorious Promifes is as great an Affront to the Divine Majefty, as to dif obey his Righteous Commands; as on the Other hand to believe and embrace what he has promis'd is as high an Act of Religion, as to do what he has Enjoyn'd. Indeed Faith and Good Works ought never to be Separated, yet by St Paul's Suppofition it is poffible to have Faith without Charity, but it is impoffible to have Charity without Faith. For it is Belief in Chrift that turns Natural Works into Chriftian Ones; The Relyance upon God's Word and doing good for his fake is that which ennobles and fpiritualizes Munificence, and makes

it become Charity. So that the Duty we are treating of, could not be itself without Refpect to the Promise, it might be an Exercife of good Nature but none of Faith, it might be a Moral Virtue not an Evangelical Grace; it might be a Giving to the Poor, but not a Lending to the Lord.

I come now laftly to confider the particular Promise made to this Duty in the Text, Caft thy Bread upon the Waters, and after many days thou shalt find it. Which all Expofitors agree to be understood both of a Temporal and Eternal Reward, and that in these Words Charity has the Promise of the Life that now is and that which is to

come.

ift. Of the Life that now is, which obviates that great Difficulty which the Devil is wont to throw in our Way, and the Covetous Worldling fo readily lays hold of for Excufe, namely, the fear of Exhaufting our Estates by too liberal Contributions and reducing Ourfelves to the fame Neceffities that we relieve. But this is a moft Unchristian as well as a moft Unreasonable Fear, a moft Ungodly as well as a most Unmanly Diftruft. ft. A moft Ungodly One, because there is nothing thro' the whole Book of God fo frequently and expressly promis'd, as that thefe Worldly Goods are

fo