But

ufe of it, hath now made itself wings, and is no where to be found, though lamented with tears and forrow; With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again, is here prophetic of their fate, who have been flack in mercy, unwilling to diftribute. The ftony heart fhall have its portion among the ftony-hearted. What blind and dangerous infatuation rules all thofe who will not perceive the truth, or liften to the admonition of the Moft High. Chrift, in order to foften this defperate obduracy of the human heart, exprefsly faith, That whosoever will first seek the kingdom of God, and do the works of righteousness, all other needful things fhall be added unto bim: a fure promise that he fhall never want. mark the perverfe maxims of a covetous. world, they will shut up their bowels of compaffion, till they think they have enough for themselves and families, (making their own vain defires the ftandard of the fufficiency) and then they think they fhall be inclined to lend an ear to mifery. But this is not the trial God appoints; he will not have the comforts of the body preferred to the improvement of the foul. The care of the latter is the first thing to be confulted. We are not (as one of the fathers well obferves) to entertain any fear of our wordly welfare being injured, in confequence of fulfilling his commandments, while through neglect of a chriftian frame of mind, we pofitively expofe the health and life of our immortal fouls to imminent danger. By fo doing, we ferve mammon, and forfake God. We dread left our perishing property fhould be decreased, but we have no fear of perishing ourselves. We do not attend to the fpirit of this clear, and unanswerable queftion, which cannot be too often mentioned, and enforced : What shall a man profit, though he gain the whole world, and lofe bis own foul? Thus do people madly prefer what they fhould fet loose to, and hate what they

fhould love. They are negligent where they should

be

be careful, and provident where there is lefs need. The ungracious fear of wanting, by cultivating a fpirit of mercy, is as ill grounded as the idleft apprehenfion of fools or children. Never was there an inftance of a man's being reduced to poverty, or forjaken of God, by indulging a merciful conduct, under the influence and direction of chriftian judgment; but innumerable are the inftances of the bleffing of the Lord upon the fubftance of the compaffionate foul, as affured in the text, and as may be proved from numberlefs paffages of fcripture. Whofoever ferveth God conftantly, and unfeignedly, in his particular calling, God will not fuffer him to decay, much lefs to perifh. The Lord teacheth us, by the words of Solomon; That the fon of righteousness (that is, the merciful) shall not perish for bunger; and for the fame reafon, David alfo thus addreffes the merciful, O fear ye the Lord, all ye that be his faints, for they that fear him lack nothing. They who endeavor to please him, by obeying his precepts, they fhall want no manner of thing that is good. When the prophet Elijah was even in the wilderness, God rendered a raven inftrumental to the preferving of his faithful fervant; morning and evening he was fupplied with fufficient fupport. Likewife Daniel when condemned by the wicked to the lion's den, for being faithful to his God, the Lord miraculously defended him; and this we may receive as an exact interpretation, and fulfilling of David's faying, The lions do lack and fuffer bunger, but they which feek-the Lord, shall want no good thing, that is, nothing that is abfolutely profitable and proper for them; for, in the judgment of the world, the righteous may feem to want many things that the vain and wicked think effential to happiness, because they prefer the delight of the creature more than the love of the Creator. Thus Daniel, while the beafts that expected to be fed with his flesh, roared for hunger,

and the defire of the prey, even on which they had no power (though it was prefent before them), be, in the mean time, was fupported by God, whose flesh was intended by his enemies for the lions. Thus is the care and love of God exemplifted towards all who ferve him; and can we doubt, that He will be lefs mindful of us, if we honor his holy word, and feed his poor who cry unto us for bread? Does He not fupply mankind with pro-, fperity far beyond their best deserts? and will He fuffer fuch as truft in him to need the neceffaries of life? Let us not be faithless, but believing. Can we fufpect, that he who feedeth Chrift, will be forfaken of Chrift? and what doth our Lord fay; In as much as ye do it to one of thefe little ones, ye do it unto ME. Will He deny earthly things to us, to whom, if we obey him, He hath promifed heavenly things? -NEVER-Let not the bufy enemy of your fouls perfuade you to diftruft the Lord. Depend upon it, your charitable deeds will never endanger your temporal welfare. He who is alive to acts of generous pity, fhall never experience difgraceful poverty hinffelf. It is exprefsly contrary to God's own word! to his most holy promises! It is against Chrift's nature, as our friend; as a God of love and juftice to allow it! The devil only is at the bottom of all fuch idle and unworthy fears. Let us therefore perfevere in every act of chriftian duty, while the day of trial is allotted us, nor ever fuffer a fufpicion to prevail, that God's goodnefs will not abundantly defend us from any injury that can poffibly follow a charitable courfe of life. He will never defert us in this fhort paffage to our proper home; and if we pafs our time in the exercise of thofe works which the Lord Jefus Chrift hath recommended to us in his own example, we fhall finally receive the prize of everlasting glory, and live with him for ever, in his bleffed kingdom. Our good works, infpired and affifted by his Holy Spirit,

Spirit, will both prepare us for, and follow us into eternity; and when our day of warfare here is ended, we shall be received by Him who hath obtained the victory for us, with this transporting and promised welcome, Well done good and faithful fervant, thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. That we may excite each other continually to good works, and finally attain to this bleffed harvest of our christian labour, God of his infinite mercy grant, through the merits and mediation of Jefus Chrift his only Son our Lord, To whom, &c.

VOL. II

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