But as most of the crimes and miseries of our lives arise rather from negligence, than ignorance; as those obligations which are best known, are sometimes, from the security to which the consciousness of our knowledge naturally betrays us, most easily forgotten, and as the impressions which are made upon the heart, however strong or durable they may at first appear, are easily weakened by time, and effaced by the perpetual succession of other objects, which croud the memory, and distract the attention; it is necessary that this great duty should be frequently explained, that our ardour should be rekindled by new motion, our conviction awakened by new persuasions, and our minds enlightened by frequent repetitions of the instructions, which, if not recollected, must quickly lose their effect.

Every man, who has either applied himself to the examination of his own conduct with care proportioned to the importance of the enquiry, or indulged himself in the more frequent employment of inspecting the behaviour of others, has had many opportunities of observing, with how much difficulty the precepts of religion are long preserved in their full force; how insensibly the ways of virtue are forsaken, and into what depravity those who trust too much to their own strength, sometimes fall, by neglecting to press forward, and to confirm their resolution, by the same methods as they at first excited it. Innumerable temptations continually surround us, and innumerable obstructions oppose us. We are lulled with indolence, we are seduced by pleasure, we are perverted by bad examples, and we are betrayed by our own hearts. No sooner do we, in compliance either with the vanities, or the business, of life, relax our attention to the doctrines of piety, than we grow cold and indifferent, dilatory and negligent. When we are again called to our duty, we find our minds entangled with a thousand objections; we are ready to plead every avocation, however trifling, as an exemption from the necessity of holy practices; and, because we readily satisfy ourselves with our excuses, we are willing to imagine that we shall satisfy God, the God of infinite holiness and justice, who sees the most secret motions of our minds, who penetrates through all our hypocrisy, and upon whom disinclination can be never imposed for inability.

With regard to the duty of charity, it is too common for men of avaricious and worldly dispositions, to imagine that they may be saved without compliance with a command so little agreeable to their inclinations; and therefore, though perhaps they cannot always resist the force of argument, or repel conviction at its first assault, yet, as they do not willingly suffer their minds to dwell upon reasonings, which they scarcely wish to be true, or renew, by frequent recollection, that sense of their duty which they have received, they quickly relapse into their former sordid insensibility, and, by indulging every consideration which can be applied to the justification of parsimony, harden their hearts, and withhold their hands; and while they see the anguish of misery, and hear the cries of want, can pass by without pity, and without regard; and without even feeling any reproaches from their hearts, pray to God for that mercy, which they have themselves denied to their fellow-beings.

One of the pleas, which is alledged in justification of the neglect of charity, is inability to practise it; an excuse, when real, to which no objection can be made; for it cannot be expected, that any man should give to another what he must himself want in the same degree. But this excuse is too frequently offered by those who are poor only in their own opinion, who have habituated themselves to look on those that are above, rather than on those that are below them, and cannot account themselves rich, while they see any richer; men who measure their revenues, not by the wants of nature, but by the demands of vanity; and who have nothing to give, only because they will not diminish any particle of their splendour, nor reduce the pomp of their equipage; who, while their tables are heaped with delicacies, and their houses crouded with festal assemblies,2 suffer the poor to languish in the streets in miseries and in want, complain that their fortunes are not equal to the generosity of their minds, and applaud their own inclinations to charity and mercy: inclinations which are never exerted in beneficence, because they cannot spare any thing from their appetites and their pride.

Others there are, who frequently delight to dwell upon the excellency of charity, and profess themselves ready to comply with its precepts, whenever proper objects shall be proposed, and an opportunity of proper application shall be found; but they pretend that they are so well informed, with regard to the perversion of charity, and discover so many ill effects of indistinguishing and careless liberality, that they are not easily satisfied with the occasions which are offered them. They are sometimes afraid of encouraging idleness, and sometimes of countenancing imposture, and so readily find objections to every method of charity that can be mentioned to them, that their good inclinations are of very little advantage to the rest of mankind; but however3 they congratulate themselves upon their merit, and still applaud that generosity by which calamity was never softened, and by which want never was relieved.

But that all these imaginary pleas may be once more confuted, that the opportunity of charity, which Providence has this day4 put into our hands, may not be neglected, and that our alms may be given in such a manner as may obtain acceptance with the great Judge of all the earth, who has promised to shew mercy to the merciful, I shall endeavour to lay before you,

First, the importance and necessity of the practice of charity.

Secondly, the disposition of mind, which is necessary to make our alms acceptable to God.

Thirdly, the reasonableness of laying hold on the present opportunity for the exercise of our charity.

And, first, I shall endeavour to shew the importance and necessity of the practice of charity. The importance and necessity of charity is so evident, that as it might be hoped that no proof could be necessary, so it is difficult to produce any arguments which do not occur of themselves to every reasonable and attentive mind. For whither can we turn our thoughts, or direct our eyes, where we shall not find some motive to the exercise of charity?

If we look up to heaven, which we have been taught to consider as the particular residence of the Supreme Being, we find there our Creatour, our Preserver, and our Judge; our Creatour, whose infinite power gave us our existence, and who has taught us, by that gift, that bounty is agreeable to his nature; our Preserver, of whose assistance and protection we are, every day and every moment, in need, and whose favour we can hope to secure only by imitating his goodness, and endeavouring the assistance and protection of each other; and our Judge, who has already declared that the merciful shall obtain mercy, and that in the awful day, in which every man shall be recompensed according to his works, he that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly.

If we cast our eyes over the earth, and extend our observations through the system5 of human beings, what shall we find but scenes of misery and innumerable varieties of calamity and distress, the pains of sickness, the wounds of casualty, the gripings of hunger, and the cold of nakedness; wretches wandering without an habitation, exposed to the contempt of the proud, and the insults of the cruel, goaded forward, by the stings of poverty, to dishonest acts, which perhaps relieve their present misery, only to draw some more dreadful distress upon them?6 And what are we taught, by all these different states of unhappiness? what, but the necessity of that virtue by which they are relieved; by which the orphan may be supplied with a father, and the widow with a defender; by which nakedness may be cloathed, and sickness set free from adventitious pains; the stranger solaced in his wanderings, and the hungry restored to vigour and to ease?

If we turn from these melancholy prospects, and cast our eyes upon ourselves, what shall we find, but a precarious and frail being, surrounded on every side with danger, and besieged with miseries and with wants? miseries, which we cannot avert by our own power, and wants which our own abilities cannot supply? We perceive ourselves wholly unable to stand alone, and compelled to solicit, every moment, the assistance of our fellow-creatures; whom perhaps our Maker enables us at present to repay by mutual kindness, but whom we know not how soon we may be necessitated to implore, without the capacity of returning their beneficence.

This reflection surely ought immediately to convince us of the necessity of charity. Prudence, even without religion, ought to admonish every one to assist the helpless, and relieve the wretched, that, when the day of distress shall come upon him, he may confidently ask that assistance which he himself, in his prosperity, never did deny.

As it has pleased God to place us in a state, in which we are surrounded with innumerable temptations; so it has pleased him, on many occasions, to afford us temporal incitements to virtue, as a counterbalance to the allurements of sin; and to set before us rewards which may be obtained, and punishments which may be suffered, before the final determination of our future state. As charity is one of our most important duties, we are pressed to its practice by every principle of secular, as well as religious, wisdom; and no man can suffer himself to be distinguished for hardness of heart, without danger of feeling the consequence of his wickedness in his present state; because no man can secure to himself the continuance of riches, or of power; nor can prove, that he shall not himself want the assistance which he now denies, and perhaps be compelled to implore it from those whose petition he now rejects, and whose miseries he now insults. Such is the instability of human affairs, and so frequently does God assert his government of the world, by exalting the low, and depressing the powerful.

If we endeavour to consult higher wisdom than our own, with relation to this duty, and examine the opinions of the rest of mankind, it will be found, that all the nations of the earth, however they may differ with regard to every other tenet, yet agree in the celebration of benevolence, as the most amiable disposition of the heart, and the foundation of all happiness. We shall find that in every place, men are loved and honoured, in proportion to the gifts which they have conferred upon mankind, and that nothing but charity can recommend one man to the affection of another.

But if we appeal, as is undoubtedly reasonable and just, from human wisdom to divine, and search the holy Scriptures, to settle our notions of the importance of this duty, we shall need no further incitements to its practice; for every part of that sacred volume is filled with precepts that direct, or examples that inculcate it. The practice of hospitality among the patriarchs, the confidence of Job, amidst his afflictions, arising from the remembrance of his former charity.

The precepts of the prophets, and the conduct of the holy men of all times, concur to enforce the duty of attending to the cries of misery, and endeavouring to relieve the calamities of life.

But surely all further proof will be superseded, when the declaration of our blessed Redeemer is remembered, who has condescended to inform us that those who have shewn mercy shall find mercy from him,7 that the practice of charity will be the great test by which we shall be judged, and that those, and those only, who have given food to the hungry, and raiment to the naked, shall, at the final doom, be numbered by the Son of God amongst the blessed of his Father.8

There can nothing more be added to show the necessity of the practice of charity; for what can be expected to move him, by whom everlasting felicity is disregarded; and who hears, without emotion, never-ending miseries threatened by Omnipotence? It therefore now remains that we enquire,

Secondly, How we may practise this duty, in a manner pleasing to him who commanded it; or what disposition of mind is necessary to make our alms acceptable to God.

Our Saviour, as he has informed us of the necessity of charity, has not omitted to teach us likewise how our acts of charity are to be performed. And from his own precepts, and those of his apostles, may be learned all the cautions necessary to obviate the deceit of our own hearts, and to preserve us from falling into follies dangerous to our souls, while we imagine ourselves advancing in the favour of God.

We are commanded by Jesus Christ, when we give our alms, to divest ourselves of pride, vain-glory, and desire of applause; we are forbidden to give, that we may be seen of men, and instructed so to conduct our charity, that it may be known to our Father which seeth in secret.9 By this precept it is not to be understood, that we are forbidden to give alms in publick, or where we may be seen of men; for our Saviour has also commanded, that our “light should so shine before men, that they may see our good works, and glorify our Father which is in heaven.”1 The meaning, therefore, of this text is not that we should forbear to give alms in the sight of men, but that we should not suffer the presence of men to act as the motive to our charity, nor regard their praise as any object to our wishes; a precept surely reasonable; for how can that act be virtuous, which depends not upon our own choice, but upon that of others, and which we should not have performed, if we had not expected that they would have applauded it?

Of the same kind, though somewhat different in its immediate, and literal acception,a 2 is the instruction contained in the text, in which we are taught by St. Paul, that every man ought to give according to the purpose of his own heart, not grudgingly, or of necessity; by which it is commanded, that we should, as our Saviour had already taught us, lay aside, in the distribution of our alms, all regard to human authority; that we should give according to the purpose of our own hearts, without respect to solicitation or influence, that we should give, because God has commanded, and give cheerfully, as a proof of ready and uncompelled obedience; obedience uncompelled by any other motive than a due sense of our dependence upon the universal Lord, and the reasonableness of observing the law of him by whom we were created.

There are likewise other rules to be observed in the practice of charity, which may be gathered, at least consequentially, from the holy Scriptures; and which the common prudence of mankind at the same time evidently prescribes. It is necessary that, in bestowing our alms, we should endeavour to promote the service of God, and the general happiness of society, and, therefore, we ought not to give them, without enquiry into the ends for which they are desired; we ought not to suffer our beneficence to be made instrumental to the encouragement of vice, or the support of idleness; because what is thus squandered, may be wanted by others, who would use our kindness to better purposes, and who, without our assistance, would perhaps perish.

Another precept, too often neglected, which yet a generous and elevated mind would naturally think highly necessary to be observed, is, that alms should be given, in such a manner as may be most pleasing to the person who receives them; that our charity should not be accompanied with insults, nor followed by reproaches; that we should, whenever it is possible, spare the wretched the unnecessary, the mortifying pain of recounting their calamities, and representing their distress; and when we have relievedb them we should never upbraid them with our kindness, nor recall their afflictions to their minds by cruel and unseasonable admonitions to gratitude or industry. He only confers favours generously, who appears, when they are once conferred, to remember them no more.

Poverty is in itself sufficiently afflictive, and to most minds the pain of wanting assistance is scarcely balanced by the pleasure of receiving it. The end of charity is to mitigate calamities; and he has little title to the reward of mercy, who afflicts with one hand, while he succours with the other. But this fault, like many others, arises from pride, and from the desire of temporal rewards. Men either forget the common nature of humanity, and therefore reproach others with those misfortunes, to which they are themselves equally subject; or they expect from the gratitude, or applause, of those whom they benefit, that reward which they are commanded to hope only from their Father which is in heaven.

Such are the rules of charity, and such the cautions required, to make our alms pleasing to him, in whose name they ought to be given; and that they may be now given not grudgingly, or of necessity, but with that cheerfulness, which the Apostle recommends as necessary to draw down the love of God upon those by whom they are bestowed; let us consider,

Thirdly, the reasonableness of laying hold on the present opportunity for the exercise of our charity.

It is just that we should consider every opportunity of performing a good action, as the gift of God, one of the chief gifts which God bestows upon man, in his present state, and endeavour to improve the blessing, that it may not be withdrawn from us, as a talent unemployed;3 for it is not certain, that he, who neglects this call to his duty, will be permitted to live, till he hears another. It is likewise reasonable to seize this opportunity, because perhaps none can be afforded of more useful or beneficial charity, none in which all the various purposes of charity are more compendiously united.

It cannot be said, that, by this charity, idleness is encouraged; for those who are to be benefited by it are at present incapable of labour, but hereafter designed for it.4 Nor can it be said, that vice is countenanced by it, for many of them cannot yet be vicious. Those who now give, cannot bestow their alms for the pleasure of hearing their charity acknowledged, for they who shall receive it will not know their benefactors.

The immediate effect of alms given on this occasion, is not only food to the hungry, and cloaths to the naked, and an habitation to the destitute, but what is of more lasting advantage, instruction to the ignorant.

He that supports an infant, enables him to live here; but he that educates him, assists him in his passage to an happier state; and prevents that wickedness, which is, if not the necessary, yet the frequent consequence of unenlightened infancy and vagrant poverty.

Nor does this charity terminate in the persons upon whom it is conferred, but extends its influence through the whole state, which has very frequently experienced, how much is to be dreaded from men, bred up without principles, and without employment. He who begs in the street in his infancy, learns only how to rob there in his manhood;5 and it is certainly very apparent, with how much less difficulty evils are prevented, than remedied.

But though we should suppose, what reason and experience sufficiently disprove, that poverty and ignorance were calamities to those only on whom they fall, yet surely the sense of their misery might be sufficient to awaken us to compassion. For who can hear the cries of a naked infant, without remembering that he was himself once equally naked, equally helpless? Who can see the disorders of the ignorant, without remembering that he was born as ignorant as they? And who can forbear to reflect, that he ought to bestow on others those benefits which he received himself? Who, that shall see piety and wisdom promoted by his beneficence, can wish, that what he gave for such uses, had been employed in any other manner? As the Apostle exhorts to hospitality, by observing that some have entertained angels unawares,6 let us animate ourselves to this charity, by the hopes of educating saints. Let us endeavour to reclaim vice, and to improve innocence to holiness; and remember that the day is not far distant, in which our Saviour has promised to consider our gift to these little ones as given to himself;7 and that “they who have turned many to righteousness shall shine forth as the sun, for ever and ever.”8