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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

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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.

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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
W true State and Condition of
Man, how fubject he is to an

infinite Variety of Accidents in Life, and
how liable to the Frowns as well as the
Smiles of Providence, will not wonder at
the Precept of the Wife Man in the
Text, nor be at all furprized to find, that
it is a Duty incumbent upon all Men to
do all the Good they can, according to their
Circumftances and Abilities in the World.
For befides that kind of Debt, which
the Laws of our Country we are obliged

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IX.

to difcharge, there is another Sort, which SERM.
we are obliged to the Payment of, over
and above what thofe Laws have made
any Provifion for; which is that of Cha-
rity. From the Words of the Text I shall
endeavour to prove,

First, That Charity is a Debt, which we
owe Mankind.

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
ftill greater compafs and extent of Charity,
they were to love their Neighbours as them-
felves. Now Self-Preservation, and a natu-
ral Care and Concern for ourselves, every
one knows, is one of the first things we
discover any Apprehenfions of; and to owe
our Neighbour a Love like this, is a Debt
of no fmall Confequence; a Debt it is,
which we shall always owe, as long as we
have a Being. For though there are some
Duties, fuch as the Relative Duties fub-
fifting between Children and Parents, Ma-
fters and Servants, &c. which upon the
Death of either do immediately cease and
become void, because the Reason of them
ceases with them; yet as long as there are
any Men in the World, that have any
Wants to be relieved, fo long will Charity
be a Debt by the Law of God. St. Paul,
teaching the Romans to render every Man
his Due, tells them, that they should owe
no Man any thing, but to Love one an-
other: So that after we have discharged all

other

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