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SERMON XIX.

2 CORINTHIANS, CHAP. IX. VERSE 7.

Every man according as he purposeth in his heart so let him give, not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver,

THE frequency with which the duty of almsgiving has of late been recommended; the perspicuity with which it has, on many occasions, been explained; the force of argument by which its necessity has been proved to the reason, and the ardour of zeal with which it has been impressed upon the passions, make it reasonable to believe that it is now generally understood. and that very few of those who frequent the public wor ship, and attend with proper diligence to instruction, can receive much information, with regard to the excellence and impor tance of this virtue.

But as most of the crimes and miseries of our lives arise rather from negligence than ignorance; as those obligations which are

are

best known are sometimes, from the security to which the consciousness of our knowledge naturally betrays us, most easily forgotten, and as the impressions which made upon the heart, however strong or durable they may at first appear, are easily weakened by time, and effaced by the perpetual succession of other objects which crowd the memory and distract the attention; it is necessary that this great duty should be frequently explained, that our are dour should be rekindled by new motion, our conviction awakened by new persua sions, and our minds enlightened by frequent repetitions of the instructions, which, if not recollected, must quickly lose their effect.

Every man who has either applied him. self to the examination of his own conduct with care proportioned to the importance of the inquiry, or indulged himself in the more frequent employment of inspecting the behaviour of others, has had many opportunities of observing with how much difficulty the precepts of religion are long preserved in their full force; how insensibly the ways of virtue are forsaken, and into what depravity those, who trust too much to their own strength, sometimes fall by neglecting to

press forward, and to confirm their resolution, by the same methods as they at first excited it. Innumerable temptations continually surround us, and innumerable obstructions oppose us. We are lulled with indolence, we are seduced by pleasure, we are perverted by bad examples, and we are betrayed by our own hearts. No sooner do we, in compliance either with the vanities or the business of life, relax our attention to the doctrines of piety, than we grow cold and indifferent, dilatory and negligent. When we are again called to our duty, we find our minds entangled with a thousand objections; we are ready to plead every avocation, however trifling, as an exemp tion from the necessity of holy practices; and, because we readily satisfy ourselves with our excuses, we are willing to imagine that we shall satisfy God, the God of infinite holiness and justice, who sees the most secret motions of our minds, who penetrates through all our hypocrisy, and upon whom disinclination can be never imposed for inability.

With regard to the duty of charity, it is too common for men of avaricious and worldly dispositions to imagine that they may be saved without compliance with a command

so little agreeable to their inclinations; and therefore, though perhaps they cannot always resist the force of argument, or repel conviction at its first assault, yet, as they do not willingly suffer their minds to dwell upon reasonings which they scarcely wish. to be true, or renew, by frequent recollection, that sense of their duty which they have received, they quickly relapse into their former sordid insensibility, and, by indulging every consideration which can be applied to the justification of parsimony. barden their hearts, and withhold their hands: and, while they see the anguish of misery, and hear the cries of want, can pass by without pity and without regard; and, without even feeling any reproaches from their hearts, pray to God for that mercy which they have themselves denied to their fellow-beings.

One of the pleas which is alleged in justification of the neglect of charity, is inability to practice it; an excuse, when real, to which no objection can be made; for it cannot be expected that any man should give to another what he must himself want in the same degree. But this excuse is too frequently offered by those who are poor only in their own opinion, who have habituated themselves to look on those that are above,

rather than on those that are below them, and cannot account themselves rich while they see any richer; men who measure their revenues, not by the wants of nature, but by the demands of vanity; and who have nothing to give, only because they will not diminish any particle of their splendour, nor reduce the pomp of their equipage; who, while their tables are heaped with delicacies, and their houses crowded with festal assemblies, suffer the poor to languish in the streets in miseries and in want, complain that their fortunes are not equal to the generosity of their minds, and applaud their own inclinations to charity and mercy; inclinations which are never exerted in benefi cence, because they cannot spare any thing from their appetites and their pride.

Others there are who frequently delight to dwell upon the excellency of charity, and profess themselves ready to comply with its precepts whenever proper objects shall be proposed, and an opportunity of proper application shall be found; but they pretend they are so well informed with regard to the perversion of charity, and discover so many ill effects of indistinguishing and careless liberality, that they are not easily satisfied with the occasions which are offered them.