He SERM.III.

He ftrives

pafs a right Judgment on any Part.
will not arraign a Man's general Conduct
for two or three particular Actions; as
knowing, that Man is a changeable Crea-
ture, and will not cease to be fo; till he is
united to that Being, who is the fame ye-
fterday, to day, and for ever.
to outdo his Friends in good Offices, and
overcome his Enemies by them. He thinks
he then receives the greatest Injury, when
he returns and revenges one: For then he
is overcome of Evil. Is the Perfon young
who has injured him? He will reflect, that
Inexperience of the World, and a Warmth
of Conftitution, may betray his unpractifed
Years into feveral Inadvertencies, which a
more advanced Age, his own good Senfe,
and the Advice of a judicious Friend, will
correct and rectify. Is he old? the Infir-
mities of Age, and Want of Health, may
have fet an Edge upon his Spirits, and made
him fpeak unadvifedly with his Lips. Is he
weak and ignorant? he confiders, that it is
a Duty incumbent upon the wife to bear
with those that are not fo. Ye fuffer Fools
gladly, fays St. Paul, feeing ye yourselves
are wife. In short, he judges of himself,
as far as he can, with the ftrict Rigor of,
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Juftice;

SERM.III. Juftice; but of others, with all the Softenings of Humanity.

From charitable and benevolent Thoughts, the Transition is unavoidable to charitable Actions. For wherever there is an inexhaustible Fund of Goodness at the Heart, it will, under all the Disadvantages of Circumstances, exert itself in Acts of fubftantial Kindness. He, that is fubftantially good will be doing good. The Man, that has a hearty determinate Will to be charitable, will feldom put Men off with the mere Will for the Deed. For a fincere Defire to do Good implies fome Uneafinefs, till the Thing be done : And Uneafinefs fets the Mind at work, and puts upon the Stretch to find out a thousand Ways and Means of obliging,

it

which will ever escape the Unconcerned, the Indiffe

rent, and the Unfeeling.

The most proper Objects of your Bounty are the Neceffitous. Give the fame Sum of Money, which you bestow on a Person in tolerable Circumftances, to one in extreme Poverty; and obferve, what a wide Difproportion of Happiness is produced. In the latter Cafe it is like giving a Cordial to a fainting Perfon; in the former it is like

giving Wine to him, who has already SERM.III. quenched his Thirft. Mercy is feafonable in Time of Affliction, like Clouds of Rain in the Time of Drought.

And among the Variety of neceffitous Objects, none have a better Title to our Compaffion, than thofe, who, after having tasted the Sweets of Plenty, are, by fome undeserved Calamity, obliged, without fome charitable Relief, to drag out the Remainder of Life in Mifery and Woe; who little Thought they should ask their daily Bread of any but of God; who, after a Life led in Affluence, cannot dig, and are ashamed to beg. And they are to be relieved in fuch an endearing Manner, with fuch a Beauty of Holiness, that, at the fame Time that their Wants are fupplied, their Confufion of Face may be prevented.

There is not an Inftance of this Kind in Hiftory fo affecting, as that beautiful one of Boaz to Ruth. He knew her Family, and how she was reduced to the lowest Ebb: When therefore fhe begged Leave to glean in his Fields, he ordered his Reapers to let fall feveral.Handfuls with a feeming Careleffness, but really with a fet Design, that she might gather them up without being afhamed.

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SERM.III afhamed.

Thus did he form an artful Scheme, that he might give, without the Vanity and Oftentatian of giving; and he receive, without the Shame and Confufion of making Acknowledgments. Take the Hiftory in the Words of Scripture, as it is recorded in the Book of Ruth. And when She was rifen up to glean, Boaz commanded bis young Men, faying; Let her glean even among the Sheaves, and rebuke her not: and let fall also fome of the Handfuls of Purpofe, and leave them that she may glean them, and reproach her not. This was not only doing a good Action; it was doing it likewise with a good Grace.

It is not enough we do no Harm; that we be negatively good; we must do Good, pofitive Good, if we would enter into Life. When it would have been as good for the World, if fuch a Man had never lived; it would perhaps have been better for him, if he had never been born. A fcanty Fortune may limit your Beneficence, and confine it chiefly to the Circle of your Domeftics, Relations and Neighbours; but let your Benevolence extend as far as Thought can travel, to the utmoft Bounds of the World Just as it may be only in your

Power

Power to beautify the Spot of Ground that SERM.III. lyes near and close to you; but you could wifh, that, as far as your Eye can reach, the whole Prospect before you was chearful, that every Thing difagreeable was removed, and every Thing beautiful made more fo.

I have dwelt fo long upon this last Virtue, that I have not Time to difcourfe upon the reft. One Duty, however, I fhall just touch upon, which will engage us to Performance of all the Reft; and that is, frequent Self-Examination, or Self-Reflection.

We need not look far to meet with Perfons who, though they have a competent Knowledge of the World, know not what manner of Spirit they are of; condemning the Want of Charity in others, with all the Acrimony, Fiercenefs and Uncharitableness imaginable; cenfuring People for the Defect of Candour and a Sweetnefs of Difpofition, with that merciless Keenness and Eagerness of Spirit, which fhews them to be, whatever others are, in the very Gall of Bitterness: Now the Ufe of such an Obfervation, is not fo much to arraign them, as to fufpect yourself. For he never knew himself rightly, who never fufpected himfelf.

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