: For it is in the Gospel, that we must seek full information on the subject of this most important duty. It is there, and there alone, we are instructed to behold the poor as we ought to behold them; to consider (if I may use such apparently strange expressions) their pre-eminence, their dignity, and those especial privileges with which they are invested under the new economy. The world was redeemed by one who, for that purpose, did not disdain to appear in the form of a poor man; one who, while "the foxes had holes, and the birds of the air had nests, had not where to lay his head." I speak to them that "know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that we, through his poverty, might be rich." His appearance in this state has cast a glory round it, and forces us to view it in a new light; so that although to the bodily eye nothing appears but what is base, mean, and contemptible, yet the interior eye of the understanding, enlightened from above, discovers the person of the Sa God's high prerogative to exalt and to | What, then, will riches avail?-Much every abase he putteth down one and setteth up way, if they have been bestowed in chaanother. The history of the world is but rity; if the thought of death-that most a comment on this text. Empires, whose profitable and salutary of all thoughts, that stamina seemed to have been composed of epitome of true philosophy-shall have iron and brass, are seen to decay and per- excited you, through life, to "consider the ish; while others, little thought of, arise poor." from the dust and flourish in their places. That the same thing happens respecting families and individuals, the chronicles of the times contain abundant evidence; and instances will occur to your minds of revolutions in this way sudden and decisive as that mentioned by the Psalmist in another "In the morning it is green, and groweth up; but in the evening it is cut down, dried up, and withered!" To these rapid changes citizens of commercial states are more liable than others. A fleet puts to sea laden with the precious commodities of the east or the west. At the word of the Creator the stormy wind ariseth; the vessels are dispersed; they sink in the mighty waters; the fortunes and the hopes of the owners go down with them. The failure of one person affects many others; and these breaches on private credit cause us, ever and anon, to cast an anxious eye toward the public, and to think what might have been the effect of an insurrection and a conflagration. To the riches of this country is more peculiarly applicable that which the wise man saith of them in gen-viour, the images of his poverty, the citieral " They make themselves wings," yea, their wings are ready made; they are prepared at the shortest notice, to "fly away," and leave a nation poor indeed! Thus weighty and powerful are the reasons why we should not trust in riches so emi-equality of mankind, and, while its precepts nently uncertain; without taking into the account examples, in which the Almighty sometimes makes bare his holy arm in a more tremendous manner. zens of his kingdom, the heirs of his promises, the stewards of his blessings. Let it be allowed me, in passing, barely to suggest a hint in favor of the religion which has thus furnished a remedy for the in shall be obeyed by the rich, has provided for the welfare and comfort of the poor. But in what measure, it may be said, are these precepts to be obeyed? How are we But whether riches leave you, or not, yet to proportion our donations to our fortunes? a little while-and it can be but a little The number of those who call upon us for aswhile before you must leave them. How-sistance is daily increasing; and so are the ever gay and prosperous you go through expenses of life, which render us less able to life, death will certainly strip you of all, assist them. and leave you more truly destitute than the neediest wretch that was ever laid at your gate. Neither land nor money can accompany you to the grave. The hour must come and while we speak it is hastening forward when strength will droop, beauty will fade, and spirits will fail; when physicians will despair, friends will lament, and all will retire; when from the palaces of the city, and the paradises of the country, you must go down to the place where all these things are forgotten, and take up vour residence in the solitude of the tomb. VOL. II. 26 In answer to these questions, it might, perhaps, be asserted, that, were the Christian principle firmly rooted in the heart, they would never be asked. True charity stands not in need of being told how much it should give. It is in its nature free and unbounded, as the air diffused through the spaces around us, or the light which flows in every direction from the centre, for the support and animation of the world. It fulfils the law, or rather, goes beyond all law, and of its own will effects that wherein law itself fails. It not only "works no ill to its neighbor ;" it does him all the good in its power, and wishes it could do him more.-This much might be replied in general. But as this is a part of our subject which comes home to men's business and bosoms; as, through the infirmity and corruption that are in us, the divine principle may at times be upon the decline, and the selfish principle likely to gain the ascendant, it may not be improper to dwell a moment longer upon it, and to lay down a rule or two, the observance of which will greatly conduce towards sustaining the one and repressing the other.* The first rule shall be this: Let every person, at those seasons when he is in the receipt of his income, lay aside a certain proportion, as he is disposed in his heart, for charitable uses; and let it be, ever after, sacred to those uses. A bank of this kind would enable a man to answer bills of considerable value at sight, which otherwise not being able to do, or at least not without great inconvenience, many opportunities of succouring the distressed must needs be lost. The money being once appropriated, he feels not the loss, nor grudges the payment when demanded. Thus he is always giving, and has always something to give. The second rule, if you please, may be the following Practise economy, with a view to charity. The same charity, which is desirous of doing the utmost for the benefit of its poor neighbor, is likewise very ingenious in devising the ways and means of doing it. And though, in the present state of society, it be not required, that the opulent should sell their possessions, and divide the produce among the indigent, or that persons of all ranks and conditions should live in the same style; yet, surely, no one can survey the world, as it goes now among us, without being of opinion, that something-and that very far from inconsiderable—something, I say, might be retrenched from the expenses of building; something from those of furniture, some thing from those of dress, something from those of the table, something from those of diversions and amusements, public and private, for the relief and consolation of the many who have neither a cottage to inhabit, garments to cover them, bread to eat, medicine to heal them, nor any one circumstance in life to lighten their load of misery, or cheer their sorrowful and desponding souls, in the day of calamity and affliction. Certainly a man would be no loser, who should sometimes sit down to a less profuse and costly board at home, if, at his going abroad, : "when the ear heard him, then it blessed him; and when the eye saw him, it gave witness to him; because he delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him if the blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon him, and he caused the widow's heart to sing for joy."-Beneficence is the most exquisite luxury, and the good man, after all, is the genuine epicure. Here then is a mine opened, which, when worked by economy, under the direction of prudence, will be found inexhaustible, furnishing a constant and ample revenue for the disbursements of charity, to the profit of multitudes, without oppressing or injuring any one human being. Nay, from that diversion (if it can be called such) under the effects of which the nation now groans through all its powers, the evil might soon be extracted, could a law be positively carried into execution, enacting, that the sums respectively lost and won should be applied to the same blessed purpose. The amusement might continue, and pleasure be employed in the interest of virtue. The supplies thus provided, let us advert to the expenditure. Of the poor, some are both able and willing to work. When these are forced to beg because no one will hire them to dig, their lot is truly pitiable. The most excellent method of showing charity to such is by finding them employment, which at once relieves their wants, and preserves them from temptation. Every scheme that policy can devise should be put in practice at this time, when so many thousands that have been engaged at the hazard of their lives, in our defence and protection, by sea and land, must otherwise be reduced to starve, to steal, or to emigrate. Individuals blessed with affluence, have a noble opportunity of adorning their estates, while, with this farther end in view, as citizens, they most effectually serve their country, and as Christians they shall by no means lose their reward. The community should strain every nerve in the cause. Days of peace should be days of improvement. Designs of public utility should be forthwith entered upon. Returning and increasing commerce will suggest many. The encouragement of manufactures, the establishment of new fisheries in different parts of the kingdom, the cultivation of waste lands, of which (strange to tell!) there are thousands of acres lying within a few miles of the metropolis-these are the objects which rival statesmen should unite to prosecute. Let us hope we shall live to see the day when they will do so. "In the multitude of the people is the strength of the king." Provide employ-answering the several ends proposed, the ment, and you will never want people, nor Report now to be recited, will best inform will those people want food. Hands will you. flock where there is work to be done, and between working and eating the connection is indissoluble.* Here the REPORT was read. In the second class of the poor may be The case itself speaks so forcibly to your ranked those who are able to work, but not feelings, and calls so loudly for your kind willing. These compose a band very formi- assistance, that it renders needless any long dable to society. To maintain them in idle- exhortation from the preacher. The exness, is to render them every day more so. penses annually incurred by the several They must be inured to labor by wholesome hospitals you find to exceed their certain discipline. You cannot show them a greater revenues; and therefore they must depend, kindness. Thus, and thus only, can their fe- for support, on the farther donations of the rocity be tamed, and their passions subdued; benevolent. Suffer not the blaze of charigood principles may in time take the place ty, which now burns with so much heat of bad ones, and habits of industry by degrees and splendor, to die away for want of lastbe formed and matured. To effect this ending fuel. You have heard how useful these by these means is the design (and a most ad- establishments have proved; be it your enmirable design it is) of one part of those many charitable institutions, for which this great and flourishing city is so deservedly famous throughout the world, and for which I have the honor this day to appear as an unworthy advocate. Another part of them is calculated to diminish, as much as may be, the numbers of this class of poor; it goes directly to the root of the disorder, and endeavors that the good principles and habits above-mentioned may from the very beginning be implanted in the young and tender mind, by a virtuous and well conducted education, thus sowing the seeds of felicity for future ages. deavor to make them permanent. Whatever can be spared (and with proper management much by every one may be spared,) let it be lodged as a treasure-a treasure to yourselves, as well as to them-in these public repositories-It is lodged in good hands, and will be employed, to the uttermost farthing, as your hearts can desire. Did I plead only for one of them, attention would be due; let me not lift up my voice in vain when I lift it up for them all. " Among those actions," says the great moralist of the age-" among those actions which the mind can most securely review with unabated pleasure, is that of having In the most ample and munificent manner contributed to an hospital for the sick."is provision made by others of them for a But we have a more sure word, a word third class of poor, such, I mean, as are will- which cannot fail, which shall stand fast for ing to work but not able; for of whatever ever-a word of promise, that he who has nature the disability may be, or from what- been the means of giving comfort to the ever cause it may have proceeded, whether sick, besides being blessed with prosperity from casual hurt, from the languor of disease, in the days of health, shall, when himself or from a distempered mind, immediate help in sickness, be comforted with comfort from is at hand. All the pressing miseries inci- above. "Blessed is he that considereth the dent to man have here their peculiar houses poor; the Lord will deliver him in time of of reception and relief, where the most con- trouble. The Lord will preserve him and summate skill, medical and chirurgical, that keep him alive, and he shall be blessed upon can be obtained by him who is the possessor the earth; and thou wilt not deliver nim of millions, is readily and cheerfully exerted into the will of his enemies. The Lord will for the ease and recovery of the poor t-strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: institutions these, unknown, unthought of, in thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness." the polished ages of Greece and Rome-pe- The same gracious hand will conduct him, culiar to the days of the Gospel-the boast of Christianity (were it capable of boasting,) the ornament and glory of this great emporium!-how effectual they have proved in in perfect safety, through the valley of the shadow of death, to that holy and heavenly hill, where he shall be hailed by the thousands he has relieved, and see the face of that Redeemer, for whose sake he has relieved them. DISCOURSE XXXIX. CHARITY TO THE BRETHREN OF CHRIST. MATTHEW, Xxv. 40. inasmuch as ye unto you, say And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I YET once again, by the favor of the Al-everlasting happiness or everlasting misery; mighty, we have lived to see the return of for there is no middle condition of one or this holy season; again we are assembled the other we must inevitably partake. The in the house of God, to turn our thoughts Scripture, from whence my text is taken, toward the second advent of our Lord. The will afford us considerable assistance in the church by her services on this day directs inquiry, and enable us to form some sort of us to do so; and we will obey her. In the opinion beforehand, where our lot is likely portion of Scripture selected for the Gos-to fall. pel, his appearance and the forerunners of Our Lord, according to St. Matthew's it are marked out for our contemplation; account, being at the eve of his sufferings, signs above, and terrors beneath; the earth the history of which commences at the distressed and perplexed, the powers of next (the 26th) chapter, closes his divine heaven shaken, men's hearts failing them instructions to his disciples with a represenfor fear, and for looking after those things tation of his future proceedings on the great which are coming-the trumpet sounds and awful day. "When the Son of man," through all the regions of the grave, says he, "shall come in his glory, and all 66 Arise ye dead, and come to judgment:" the holy angels with him, then shall he sit the everlasting doors are unfolded: the upon the throne of his glory; and before King of glory, triumphant Messiah, Lord him shall be gathered all nations; and he of men and angels, appears in the resplendent robes of celestial majesty: the armies in heaven follow him in procession, down to this lower world: the throne is set; the books are opened: the dead are judged; and that sentence is passed from which there lies no appeal. shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd (in the evening) divideth his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left." To the former he first addresses that inexpressibly sweet invitation, mercy to the last rejoicing against judgment, and delighting to give the inheritance which it had spared no pains to purchase-"Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Now be pleased to observe the reason upon which this invitation And are we-you and I-concerned in it is founded. "For," saith Christ, "I was all? As certainly as we are now met to-an hungered, and ye gave me meat; I was gether in this place; no man or woman who thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was has ever been, or ever will be born, can a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, claim exemption-"We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ." Is all this true? Most assuredly it is. No person who hears me at this moment dares even to think it is not. A monitor within bears a faithful testimony to what I say, and will not suffer infidelity or doubt to intrude. Some little degree of curiosity, I should therefore hope, may have been excited, to inquire into the grounds upon which will be passed an irreversible sentence, either to and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me." The righteous, very few of whom, out of the innumerable multitudes that are to be then assembled, ever saw their Lord in the days of his humiliation, wondering what this should mean, reply,| The character of the Christian religion with all the submissive earnestness of affec- is most exactly portrayed in those few tion, "Lord, when saw we thee an hun- words, which describe the life of its Foundgred, and fed thee; or thirsty, and gave er "He went about, doing good;" active thee drink;" or relieved thee in any of the in beneficence, always in motion, for some other circumstances of which thou art salutary purpose, to relieve the distresses, pleased thus to speak? The words of the and comfort the sorrows of poor mankind. text contain his most gracious answer- He expects that they who profess to be his "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye followers, should be such more especially have done it unto one of the least of these in this respect. Of the disciple Tabitha it my brethren, ye have done it unto me." is testified by the Holy Spirit, in the Acts Let us consider the works to be done, of the Apostles, that "she was full of good the principle on which they are to be done, works and alms-deeds which she did." and the acceptance they will be sure to find. The garments wrought by her own hands I. The works to be done-" Inasmuch as for the poor, were produced before the ye have done it." By a Christian there is apostle, to prove that she had not been idle; always something to be done. It was never that she had been employed; that she had intended that he, of all men, should be idle. been well employed. She obtained the peProvidence has given him powers and op- culiar favor of a resurrection to this life, to portunities, and will require an account of show, I suppose, that all like her will obthe use that has been made of them. In tain one to a better.-What a sad reverse the Gospel we are told of a servant, styled have we in the case of the rich glutton! the unprofitable servant. Instead of im- He appropriated to his own luxury the proving the talent committed to his trust, means put into his hands to do good to he had hidden his Lord's money in the others. And where is he now? You hear earth; he had buried his faculties in sloth his voice requesting of the wretched object and sensuality; they had produced nothing. that had lain neglected at his gate, a drop Dreadful was his punishment, and it was in of water to cool his tongue."-Wretched kind; he was bound hand and foot, and cast man that he was! so to lose the opportuniinto outer darkness: as he would do nothing ties which shall never return!-But why when he had the power, that power was should I multiply instances, or say any more taken from him, and he now could do noth- upon this part of the subject, when our ing, but reflect for ever on his own misery, Lord, in the Scripture before us, has deand the happiness he had lost. clared, that his gracious invitation, "Come, have performed these works of charity? How can it be made to us, if we have not performed them? From the necessity of performing then, pass we, therefore, II. To the principle upon which they must be performed. Respecting the men of the world, it can-ye blessed," will be made only to such as not be said that they are always idle: they are often busily employed; they are doing something; they are doing much; but it is mischief; mischief to themselves, mischief to others. And to very few of those whose exploits fill the volumes of history, and engage the attention of ages, can it be truly said, "Well done, good and faithful servant." The unprofitable and the workers of iniquity will be bound with the same chain. Of doing evil we frequently think-if we think at all-with abhorrence, and, it is to be hoped, labor to keep ourselves from it. But the crime of doing nothing, with the penalty annexed to it, is not recollected. That we have often, notwithstanding all our care, "done those things which we ought not to have done," we must be sensible; out who is he that duly considers how often he has "left undone those things which he ought to have done." They are the sins of omission, that will crowd the account at the last day, more in number than the hairs of our heads. The thought would cause our hearts to fail us, should God be extreme to mark them. By faith we are saved; but faith without works is dead; it is no more faith, effectual to salvation, than a dead corpse is a man; it is a tree without fruit: notwithstanding all its professions, it will be sentenced to the axe and to the fire. The proper fruit of faith is love; love of God who has done so much for man; love of man for whom God hath done so much. Love can work no ill to its neighbor; its nature is to work him all the good in its power; it branches forth into every office of charity mentioned by our Lord; it feeds the hungry; gives drink to the thirsty; clothes the naked; lodges the stranger; visits and comforts the sick, and those that are in prison. It may not be able literally and personally to do all this; but it provides for this being done, by freely and liberally contributing that money which answers every thing. |