SERM. phy had a fair Hearing, as it would be to VIII. refufe to exert any one Act of our Reason. Now where after all is the Seat of Liberty? And who is the free Man? Does it confift in a Power of oppofing the Truth, fitting loose to every thing, and in cloging the Wheels of the grand Machine of Human Nature? Or, is a Man therefore free, because he can, or will do fo? No. Liberty is not a fluctuating thing, an Indifference to Truth or Falfhood, but a happy Situation of the Mind to Truth only; and he is more or less free, whose Mind is more or less fituated that Way. Philosophy cannot give us that Situation, because it cannot direct us to abfolute Truth; but if we do not prevent it, it will lead us to that that can, which is to Faith, and this is all it can do. Thus then it appears, that Faith alone can give us Liberty, and that they, who promise it upon any other Foundation, are themselves the Servants of Corruption. And thus does that Faith, which was to the Jews a Stumbling-Block, and to the Greeks Foolishness, and to every Unbe liever liever ever fince, Nonsense and Abfurdity, SERM. triumph over all the Wisdom and Philo- VIII. fophy of Man: And among the many great and excellent Advantages that attend it, this one is moft remarkable, which is the redeeming the captivated World from the Bondage of Corruption into the glorious Liberty of the Children of God. It only remains for us, who are thus call'd to Liberty, to take care not to turn it into Licentioufnefs; and to remember what I have already often obferv'd, that this Liberty does not authorize us to do Right or Wrong, Good or Evil: People may indeed call this Liberty, because they find in themselves a Power to do so, but the true Christian Liberty directs us only to what is Right and Good. In short, Liberty is the Abfence of Slavery, of every thing that can lay an Incumbrance upon the Mind; and the more we enjoy of it, so much the more shall we be like that Divine Being, who is the Sum of Liberty, as he is the Sum of all things. SERM. IX. SERMON IX PRO V. iii. 27. Withhold not Good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the Power of thine Hand to do it. HOEVER confiders the infinite Variety of Accidents in Life, and tq IX. to difcharge, there is another Sort, which SERM. First, That Charity is a Debt, which we Secondly, I fhall bring fome Arguments to perfwade you chearfully to discharge it. First then I am to prove, that Charity is a Debt. To do good, and to affift and help our Fellow-creatures, which I here mean by Charity, and which I apprehend is implied in the Text, is no more than what we owe each other; as is plain both from the Old and New Teftament. "Tis what the Law teaches, and the Gospel excels in. To do good and to communicate forget not, is a noble Precept of Chriftianity; and to do unto all Men, as you would they should do unto you, is the Law and the Prophets, The Jews are commanded in Leviticus to be compaffionate towards thofe that were in Diftrefs. If thy Brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee 1 SERM. thee, then thou shalt relieve him yea, IX. tho' he be a Stranger, or a Sojourner, that live with thee. And to take in a he may other |