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And I do not know what can be more proper and seasonable to be recommeded and infifted on to you at this Time, and on this Occafion, than thefe Two Things; for the putting them in Practice, makes up the whole Defign of this Meeting.

We are here so many Brethren met together to Rejoyce, and to do Good: To Rejoyce together in the Senfe and Acknowledgement of God's Mercies and Bleffings to us, and in the Enjoyment of Society one with another: And to do Good, not only by increasing our Friendfhip and mutual Correfpondence, but by joining together in a chearful Contribution to those our Country-men that need our Charity. To entertain you therefore upon thefe Two Points, feems to be my proper Business.

But in treating of them, I fhall make bold to invert the Order in which they are put in the Text, and fhall firft fpeak of doing Good, though it be last named; and fhall afterwards treat of Rejoycing. The Truth is, doing Good, in the Order of Nature, goes before Rejoycing; for it is the Foundation of it. There can be no true Joy in the Poffeffion or Ufe of any Worldly Bleffings, unless we can fatisfie ourselves we have done fome Good with them. It is the doing Good that fanctifies our other Enjoyments, and makes them Matter of Rejoicing.

Now in treating of this Argument, I shall briefly endeavour thefe Three Things. First, I fhall earneftly recommend to you the Practice of doing Good, upon feveral Confiderations,

Secondly,

Secondly, I fhall reprefent the Practicablenefs of it, by fhewing the feveral Ways which every Perfon (though in the meanest Circumftances) is capable of doing Good.

Thirdly, I fhall make Two or Three Inferences, by way of Application.

I begin with the firft Thing, feriously to recommend the Practice of doing Good.

But where shall I begin to fpeak, either of the Obligations that lie upon us, or of the Benefits and Advantages that do accrue to us by doing Good in our Lives? Or having begun, where fhall I make an end? The Subject is fo copious, that the Study of a whole Life cannot exhaust it. The more we confider it, ftill the more and the weightier Arguments will present themselves to us, to engage us in the Practice of it; and the more we practise it, ftill the more shall we defire fo to do, and the more happy and bleffed fhall we find ourfelves to be.

For, to do Good, is nothing else but to act according to the Frame and Make of our Beings. It is to gratifie thofe Inclinations and Appetites that are moft ftrongly rooted in our Natures; fuch as Love and natural Affection, Pity and Compaffion, a Defire of Friends, and a Propensity to knot ourselves into Companies and Societies. What are all these but fo many Stimuli, fo many powerful Incitements of Nature to put us upon doing good Offices one to another?

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To do Good is the End of all those Acquifitions, of all those Talents, of all those Favours and Advantages that God hath blefs'd us with; it is the proper Ufe we are to put them to. If we do not employ them this way, we are fo far from being better for them, that we are much worse. What will fignify our Wit and good Humour, our Strength of Reason and Memory, our Wisdom and Knowledge, our Skill in Arts, and Dexterity in managing Business, our Wealth and Greatness, our Reputation and Intereft in the World; I fay, what will all thefe fignify, if they do not render us more useful and beneficial to others? That which fets the Price and Value upon every worldly Bleffing, is the Opportunity it affords us of doing Good.

To do Good, feems to be the Foundation of all the Laws of Nature, the fupreme univerfal Law; it is that by which the World is fupported; and take that away, all would prefently fall into Confufion. And perhaps, if it were particularly examin'd, it would be found, that all the other natural Laws may be reduced to this, and are ultimately to be refolv'd into it. It it a Question, whether there be any natural Standard, whereby we can measure the Vertue or the Viciousness of any Action, but the Influence that it hath to promote or hinder the doing of Good? This is That, that feems to ftamp Vertue and Vice.

To do Good, is the great Work, for the Sake of which we were fent into the World, and no Man lives farther to any purpose, than as

he

he is an Inftrument of doing Good. Be our Lives otherwise never fo bufie and full of Action, yet if others receive no Benefit by them, we cannot give ourselves any tolerable Account of our Time, we have in effect liv'd idly, and done nothing.

To do Good, is that, which of all other Services is most acceptable to God: It is that which he hath laid the greatest Stress upon in the Scriptures ; it is that which he hath, with the most earnest and affectionate Perfuafives, with the ftrongeft Arguments, with the greatest Promifes, and with the most dreadful Threatnings, enforc'd upou us; it is that which he hath chofen before all Sacrifices and all Religious Worship, ftrictly fo called, to be ferv'd with; it is that which he hath appointed for the great Expreffion both of our Thankfulness for his Benefits, and of our Love and Devotion to him: Laftly, it is that which Mofes and the Prophets make the Sum of the Old Law, and Chrift and his Apostles the Sum of the New.

And very great Reason there is for it; for to do Good, is to become most like to God. It is that which of all other Qualities gives us the Refemblance of his Nature and Per1.Joh.4.8. fections; for perfect Love and Goodness is the very Nature of God, and the Root of all his other Attributes; and there was never any Action done, any Work wrought by him, throughout the vaft Tracks of infinite Space, from the Beginning of Time to this Moment, but was an Expreffion of his Love, and an In

ftance

ftance of doing Good, (nay, I doubt not to say, the most severe Acts of his Juftice and Vengeance have all been fuch.) And therefore with great Reason hath our Bleffed Lord told us, that the Way to become the Chil. Mat. 5. dren of our Heavenly Father, is to do Good 44, 45• to all, with the fame Freedom and Unrefervedness that God makes his Sun to shine upon the World.

And of this our Bleffed Saviour himself was the most illuftrious Example that ever appeared in the World; fo that to do Good, is that which doth most truly and perfectly render us the Disciples and Followers of Jesus, makes us really be what we pretend we are. His whole Life (as the Gospel tells us) was but a continual going about doing Good. The great Defign of his Coming from Heaven, and of all that he spoke, and of all that he did, and of all that he fuffer'd upon Earth, was the benefiting of others. And he hath left it as the great diftinguishing Badge and Character whereby his Difciples fhould be known from other Men, that they fhould John 13. love one another, even as he had loved them, that 34, 35is (as his Apoftle expounds them) they Johu 3. fhould love and do Good to that Degree, as as to lay down their Lives for their Brethren.

But to do Good, is not only our greatest Duty, but our greatest Intereft and Advantage, which is that that Solomon chiefly refers to in the Text. It is certain that.no Man can take a more effectual way to render his Being in the World happy and comfortable to him

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