the One is to be Worship'd and Obey'd, and the Other Study'd and Practis'd, merely and folely for their own Sakes: That we ought not to have an Eye to Reward; This being a low Principle, unworthy of a Chriftian, making our best Performances selfish and mercenary, and thereby Deftru&tive of all that is good in our Love and Obedience. 'This I affirm to be as falfly,as it is fpeciously and ambitiously faid; and I don't know, which is the greater Pride, thus to flight a Reward from God freely offer'd, or to challenge one of Him as juftly deferv'd. He who knows whereof we are made,and what is the chief Spring of Action in us, never bids us Work, but he bids us Hope, and to difregard his glorious Promises, is as great an Affront to the Divine Majefty, as to dif obey his Righteous Commands; as on the Other hand, to believe and embrace what he has promis'd, is as high an Act of Religion, as to do what he has Enjoyn'd. Indeed Faith and Good Works ought never to be Separated; yet by St. Paul's Suppofition, it is poffible to have Faith without Charity, but it is impoffible to have Charity without Faith. For it is Belief in Christ that turns Natural Works into Christian Ones; The Reliance upon God's Word, and doing good for his fake, is that which ennobles and fpiritualizesMunificence,andmakes

it become Charity. So that theDuty we are treating of, could not be itself without Refpect to the Promise, it might be an Exercife of good Nature, but none of Faith, it might be a Moral Virtue, not an Evangelical Grace; it might be aGiving to the Poor, but not a Lending to the Lord.

I come now, laftly, to consider the particular Promise made to this Duty in the Text, Caft thy Bread upon the Waters, and after many days thou shalt find it. Which all Expofitors agree to be understood, both of a Temporal and Eternal Reward, and that, in these Words, Charity has the Promife of the Life that now is, and that which is to

come.

ift, Of the Life that now is, which ob viates that great Difficulty which the Devil is wont to throw in our Way, and the Covetous Worldling fo readily lays hold of for Excufe, namely, the fear of Exhausting our Estates by too liberal Contributions, and reducing Ourselves to the fame Neceffities that we relieve. But this is a moft Unchriftian, as well as a moft Unreasonable Fear; a moft Ungodly, as well as a most Unmanly Diftrust. ft, A moft Ungodly One, because there is nothing thro' the whole Book of God fo frequently and expressly

promis'd, as that thefe Worldly Goods are

fo

fo far from being in danger to be loft or thrown away, that they are no better way fecur❜d to Us,than by being difpens'd to the Indigent and Needy: and that this Duty is attended with all the Bleffings of this Life.

I fhall mention but a few Texts out of many that affure us of this infallible Truth: And firft, as foon as Mofes had given that remarkable Command in Deuteronomy 15. of Giving Willingly and Plentifully to the Poor, he thus enforces it: Because for this thing the Lord thy God fball bless thee in all thy Works, and in all that thou putteft thine hand unto. He that giveth unto the Poor, fays the Wifeft of Men, ball not lack: and again,The liberal Soul fhall be made fat, and he that watereth fhall be water'd also himself, Prov.11.25. Nor is this a tranfient, but a durable Blef fing; nor enriches only the Prefent, but provides for Pofterity. David tells us from his own Experience, I have been Young and now am Old, yet have I not feen the Righteous,that is the Charitable, forfaken, nor his Seed begging their Bread, Pfal. 37. 25. And his Son Solomon affures us, A good Man leaves an Inheritance to his Children's Children, and the Wealth of the Sinner is laid up for the Just; He that by unjust Gain encreafeth his Subftance, he shall gather it for Him that will pity the Poor. 'Tis the Son of Sirach's Advice therefore, Ecclus 29. 11. Lay up thy Treasure acB 4 cording

but

cording to the Commandments of the Moft High, and it shall bring thee more Profit than Gold. Riches that are kept, profit not in the day of Wrath, but but up Alms in thy Storehouses, and it fball deliver Thee from all Affliction, it shall fight for Thee against thine Enemies, better than a mighty Shield or frong Spear. Can any One, that reads thefe, and many other the like Texts,and pretends that he believes the Scripture to be the Word of God, have the leaft Apprehenfion that his Charity fhould ever make even his Worldly Condition worse, or waste or diminish his Substance? Nay, can any One, that is a true Believer of God's Word, doubt, but that by Exercifing this Godlike Virtue he fhall increase, or at least bless and fanctify, what he has?

But further, 2dly, It is an Unreasonable Miftruft, to fear, that our Alms or Good Deeds to the Poor, tho' never fo liberal, if within the compafs of Prudence and Difcretion, which few have need in this Cafe to be advis'd not to tranfgrefs, fhould ever bring any Man into Want or Diftress. Let every One confult his own Experience, and confider if this be not true in what he has obferv'd in the World. Who ever knew an Eftate impair'd by Charity? by Love of our Brethren? But by Love of Ourfelves, how many? By Luxury, by Prodigality, by Love of the World, by the very Defire of encreas

ing and multiplying, how many? These are the ways that Providence has taken care fhould deftroy Riches, that the Sin may appear in the Punishment, and the Caufe in the Effect. These are the Wings that Riches most usually take to themselves, when they fly away, and then as the Wife Man fpeaks, what Profit has he that labour'd for the Wind? Ecclef. 5. 16. The beft and fecurest way to fix these Uncertain and Fleeting things,even in a Worldly Senfe, is to lay 'em up where it is impoffible they fhould be loft. Whatever is beftow'd in Charity is ftill our Own, the Satistaction of having done Good, lives within us, and can never be ftollen or spent. Quas dederis, folas femper habebis,Opes, was the Saying even of an Heathen. The Riches that we give, are thofe Only that we shall always have. What Care,what Caution do the wealthy Worldlings take about Securities? and yet how often is all their Care and niceft Circumfpection defeated, and all their Riches, fo cautioufly Secur'd,dwindled into a notch'd Stick, or an useless piece of Parchment and Wax? But what is bestow'd on the Poor and Needy, is ever Ours; fubject to no Casualties of Water or Fire, and out of the Reach of a breaking Banker or fraudulent Conveyancer; fo Ours, as even ftill to blefs and encreafe the Heap out of which it was taken.

But