4. This virtue of benevolence is the fulfilling of the law, and contains every kind of virtue that has our fellow-creatures for its object. Every other is virtually comprehended in this. "Thou shalt not commit adultery'; thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not covet; thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour," are all beautifully comprehended in this: for "love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." Other virtues are only so many modes of established behaviour, liable to be disor. dered by circumstances; but love is abstinence from injury, af fording protection to the oppressed, pity to the poor, bounty to the needy, candour and indulgence in doubtful cases. It gives sweetness in every thing that renders human nature amiable. It is that in the new man which human nature is to the old, and sends forth streams of life circulating to the remotest parts of the body. I do not ask, my brethren, what particular virtue you have, but how much are you under the influence of this? for just so much virtue we have as we have of this spirit and character. Let not any one be fearful of mistaking here, or making a system of legality, as it is called, of this virtue. I am afraid none of us abound so much in good works as to be in any danger of exhib iting them too profusely. The more we see of our defects, the more we shall feel ourselves unprofitable servants.

5. The spirit of benevolence is the spirit of heaven, that which will reign in heaven itself. There we must abandon ourselves; there at last commences the reign of disinterestedness; there the highest will enjoy the happiness of the lowest; the felicity of one will be the felicity of all, for we shall be one with each other; there rivalships, jealousies, and the pursuits of ambition, of separate or vested rights, will no longer be known. The happiness of heaven will not be diminished by being shared; it cannot be confined by appropriation; it will be something which every man can enjoy without injuring another, for it is the enjoyment of God himself, the best and purest of all beings.

You need not wonder that the exercise of Christian benevolence, then, is so important a bond of the Christian profession, that it has so many points of pre-eminence that it is the very spirit of the virtues, and that Jesus Christ will invite those who have it, saying, "Come, ye children of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."

Our Saviour places the acceptance of men not upon their dispositions, but upon their actions; upon what they have done, not what they have merely believed or felt, or in any undefined state of mind. When we hear benevolence enforced, the subject is attractive and charming, and many mistake the love or admiration for the practice of it; but it must appear in active life. It is one thing to be charmed when we have no other temptation, and another thing to act in perfect conformity with the principle. It is upon their practice of benevolence that the righteous are rewarded, and the reprobation of the wicked proceeds on the neg VOL. IV.-X X X

lect of it. You may find many persons who are always praising it; yet it is evident, from their actions, that it does not tincture their conduct, it does not conquer their selfishness; and that which does not conquer is defeated, and must be condemned at the last day.

II. I shall now make a few observations on the mode of doing good. It seems as though one principal cause that so little good is accomplished is, that persons do not act upon system in their distributions of benevolence. In their own business they see the importance of such a method of proceeding; but in Christian charity they never form any plan of conduct. In fact, nothing good and great can be effected without plan; and hence, it is proper to secure the principle of charity by some system. If, for example, men intend to do good, and yet never appropriate any part of their property for the purpose, they will be surprised how little they actually accomplish. Were every person to assign some particular part of his income for the purpose, he would find himself under no temptation to withhold his charity; while, on the contrary, when a person acts only from the impulse of feeling, he is in great danger of letting selfishness swallow it up.

With regard to the mode of doing good in visiting the sick, we find it was in person: "I was sick, and ye visited me." "Pure and undefiled religion is this: to visit the fatherless and widow in their afflictions." I am afraid this practice is much neglected. There is often a defect in the means of doing good, from improperly bestowing it. It is necessary to exercise patience and discrimination. The Apostle James represents religion as visiting the sick and afflicted. It will solace the minds of the poor, and convince them that they are not beneath their fellow-creatures. It will be a cordial to their spirits, and keep alive the best sentiments of the heart. The practice might be recom mended by contrast, for it will add pleasure to those who have the conveniences of life, and are enabled to extend relief to others in less fortunate circumstances. Appropriate, then, some part of your time. Do not say that you have no time; time is given for this purpose.

It is not necessary to say (as notice was given of our intention, last Sabbath, to make a collection for the poor this afternoon) that you will have an opportunity of doing it. You have before exercised your generosity, my friends, on similar occasions; and, if the language of the text is not sufficient to persuade you to do it now, it would be great presumption in me to say any thing. If this subject is properly attended to, it will engage your hearts in this duty. Recollect in what light it is represented to us. Jesus Christ never seemed to clothe himself in majesty and splendour but when speaking of charity. "When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as

a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."

Who are the sheep? The imitators of Christ in his benevolence. And who are the goats? Those who shut their hearts against the poor, who neglect that charity which consists in relieving them. Each of your characters is here represented. Heaven itself is open to receive you; and hell is open. Each person is represented as being surprised; each is astonished. The wicked are astonished at their crimes, the righteous at their virtues presumption and unbelief had covered those of the one, and a veil of humility had concealed the other. "Then shall the righteous say, Lord, when saw we thee a hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?" They were astonished to find that this acknowledgment was in consequence of their kindness to the disciples of their Lord. They were ready to think they had received a great reward in having tasted the sweets of doing good, and having enlarged the bounds of their best feelings; but Jesus Christ will take away that veil which humility had thrown over them, and say, "Come, ye blessed of my Father... inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." The wicked will express their astonishment when he will say, "I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee a hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?" "It is true, we did despise the sorrows of thy brethren, but we saw nothing in them but trembling limbs, decrepitude, meanness, and poverty; we saw nothing of that glorious power of thine; and how could we suppose there was any alliance with thee, the Lord of glory?" "But these," he will intimate, were the representatives of my humiliation and sufferings; and, as the carnal Jews overlooked them in the days of my flesh, so have you in my members: 'Inasmuch as ye did it not to them, ye did it not to me. Depart, ye cursed.' " What an astonishing change in condition is here, when all the emblems of authority and power, and splendour and greatness, and wisdom and fame, which distinguished them in this world, shall have passed away, and when nothing will remain untouched but that holiness which is the image of Christ! Oh, the blindness of the rich, when they have it in their power to relieve the disciples of their Lord!

Let those who believe in these solemn representations tremble lest they should incur this condemnation. This is not, my brethren, a theatrical display of the glory of the Son of Man; but your

eyes shall see and your ears hear. The goats and the sheep are in this assembly, and the everlasting destiny of all present will soon be determined..

We do not mean to assert that Christianity was intended to restore the order of the primeval world by making the poor rich; but that every man should consider all that he possesses as put in his power in trust, to be employed in devotedness to Christ. There must, indeed, in society, be rich and poor, high and low: these have their momentary use, but they are only like figures exhibited amid transient scenes and a passing show. How miserable is the man who repines at his situation! Miserable will be the rich, and miserable the poor, if they do not recollect that these are only temporary distinctions.

Let every one of us seriously reflect upon the solemn declarations of the text, and, whenever we contemplate a pious poor man, consider that we see an image of Christ, a temple of the Holy Ghost, who, if we neglect and despise him, will sit at last as an assessor of our destiny. Yes, before that very despised individual shall we be placed and judged. Be afraid lest you despise Christ in his image, and become numbered among those who did not know their Lord in his brethren, because they were diseased and in misery. Be apprehensive, lest by your conduct you should give occasion to Jesus to say, "As ye did it not to one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it not to me: depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire'

LXXXVI.

THE BLESSEDNESS OF GIVING.*

ACTS, xx., 35: Remembering the words of the Lord Jesus how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

[Preached at Marc-street, Hackney, June 24, 1827, on behalf of the Bristol Baptist College.]

THIS is part of a very affecting discourse delivered by the Apostle Paul at Miletus. Being unable to visit Ephesus, he sent thither for the elders, and took leave of them under the persuasion that they should " see his face no more." His discourse is indicative of the fervent piety which animated him; and none can read it without a conviction, that "in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but, by the grace of God, he had his conversation in the world." He shows that he was actuated in all things by the purest motives. He had shown the Ephesians, both by precept and example, "how that labouring they ought to support the weak ;" and he exhorts them to "remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more

⭑ Reported in the Pulpit, vol. viii.

blessed to give than to receive." It is probable, from his calling these words to their remembrance, that he had communicated them in the course of the three years during which he had exercised his ministry among them. It is remarkable that, with the exception of what is recorded in the four Evangelists, no words of our Lord are recorded with the exception of this solitary passage, nothing is said of the blessedness of giving above that of receiving. This may show us the great uncertainty of tradition, and how improper it is to depend upon it for the support of an important doctrine, when we cannot obtain one saying of Jesus Christ but as it is recorded. Those who build partly on Scripture and partly on tradition, build partly on a rock and partly on the sand;, partly on the word of God, and partly on the word of men. But, not to detain you by such remarks, though we are naturally led to them, I pass on to illustrate, explain, and enforce this seeming paradox uttered by the Saviour. To say that "it is more blessed to give than to receive," may certainly be considered as a paradox. It is a principle to which men are very slow to assent, and on which very few act. Most Christians are of another mind : or, if they admit the propriety of the sentiment, they do not act under a conviction of its importance. To seize with eagerness every opportunity which presents itself for giving, is far from being the conduct of many who bear Christ's name. I would, therefore, assign some reasons why "it is more blessed to give than to receive." On the blessedness of receiving it is quite unnecessary to say a word: the wants of men lead them naturally to understand this. It is more blessed to give than to receive" for several reasons, which I shall now adduce.

I. Every Christian will regulate his desire of happiness by its tendency to glorify God. Nothing, however, tends so much to glorify God as the exercises of charity. Men generally extol this virtue. As to the exercises of justice, they are demanded even by law; and the character of the man who is merely just will not excite admiration. But, to be charitable, which is not demanded or enforced by any human law; to bestow where there can be no prospect of return; to relieve the helpless; to rescue the oppressed; to supply the needy; and to persevere in all this without any seeming motive but the wish to do good-this is generally accounted a high branch of virtue. If we look at the most distinguished instruments of glorifying God upon earth, it will be found that they have been the most benevolent and kind. The very act of dispensing alms is a source of pleasure, and has much to excite us to it: but if we be truly the servants of Christ, we shall see that by administering to the wants of the necessitous, or by aiding institutions of kindness and benevolence, we are capable of bringing much more glory to God than in any other way. This is an evidence of our desire to glorify God, of which all men are capable of judging; and we may see from this the propriety of the motive contained in those words of our Saviour, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."