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 most 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 Chriftian Liberty directs us only to what is Right and Good.

very,

In fhort, Liberty is the Abfence of Slaof 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

PRO V. iii. 27.

IX.

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

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 Circumstances and Abilities in the World. For befides that kind of Debt, which by the Laws of our Country we are obliged

to

IX.

to discharge, there is another Sort, whichSERM.
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,

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

Secondly, Ifhall 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 Gofpel excels in. To do good and to communicate forget not, is a noble Precept of Christianity; 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

SERM. thee, then thou shalt relieve him; yea, IX. tho' he be a Stranger, or a Sojourner, that

he may live with thee. And to take in a ftill greater compafs and extent of Charity, they were to love their Neighbours as themfelves. Now Self-Prefervation, and a natural Care and Concern for ourfelves, 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 fubfifting between Children and Parents, Mafters and Servants, &c. which upon the Death of either do immediately ceafe and become void, because the Reason of them ceafes 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 another: So that after we have discharged all

other

other Debts, yet Love and Charity is a SERM. Debt we shall still owe. And our Bleffed IX. Saviour puts it out of all doubt, in that remarkable Paffage in St. Luke, where having been talking of the unjuft Steward, he thus concludes, And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another Man's, who fhall give you that which is your own? From which it is evident, that the good things of this Life are not properly our own; and that we are only Stewards, and are accountable for 'them to our Mafter, from whom we received them: For though that which is tranflated another Man's, is rendered by fome, Things foreign, or without us, yet both Interpretations will amount to the fame thing in this cafe; for it will follow from both, that we are not Proprietors of thofe good things, but are only entrusted with the Care of them, to dispose of them to those that want; the Neglect of which is here made a manifeft Breach of Truft. And indeed this is the voice of Nature likewife, as well as ScripFor what can be more reafonable,

ture:

than that, as every thing we have comes

from