same time to make their public acknowledgment of God's Deut. 26. 1, dominion over what they had, and of His mercy in bestow-2, 10. ing it upon them. Yea, they were to acknowledge this ver. 12, 13. their tribute of thanksgiving to God to be an hallowed and sacred thing. The same acknowledgment did David make, 1 Chron. 29. when himself and all Israel contributed so freely and libe- 11, 12, 14. rally towards the building of the Temple. And thus, whensoever you give any thing to the poor, as you ought to do, you do but your duty in acknowledging of God's propriety in what He hath committed to you; and all the reason in the world, that you, who have nothing but what you receive from Him, should perform the homage, and pay the rent, which He hath reserved for Himself and the poor, and of what He hath intrusted with you.

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15-18.

ch. 8. 11-14.

2. Secondly: He hath imposed this duty upon you, to make you always mindful of your dependence upon Him, and your obligations to Him, for what you do enjoy. A confluence of earthly enjoyments is very apt to make us forget God; it puffs men up with pride, and makes them have high and overweening conceits of themselves, and so to forget Him that is the Maker and Giver of all things; According to their pasture," saith God by the Prophets, Hos. 13. 6. so were they filled: they were filled, and their heart was exalted, therefore have they forgotten me." Thus Jeshurun Deut. 32. is said to have waxen fat, and then to have kicked, and been unmindful of his Maker. This God foresaw, and ch. 6. 10-12. therefore gave them a caution against it. Hence Agur feared riches, and prayed against them upon this account; "Give me," saith he, "neither poverty nor riches; feed Prov. 30. 8, me with food convenient for me; lest I be full and deny Thee, and say, Who is the Lord?" For so they who abound in the things of this world are too apt to speak, though not with their mouths, yet in their hearts, and say, "Who is the Lord?" as if it was below them to regard or mind Him. But now a constant and liberal distribution of what we have to the relief of the poor for God's sake, and in obedience to His commands, this will make us always mindful of our head-Landlord, and to lift our hearts to Heaven, to remember and think of Him that "gives us all things richly [1 Tim. 6. to enjoy." They that refuse to perform this duty imposed

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SERM. CXLVI.

upon them, do in effect deny God to be the Giver and Owner of what they have; and therefore cannot but soon forget Him. But to be always doing good upon earth, is the way to keep your hearts in Heaven, and make you mindful of God, and of His mercy and favour to you; as our Saviour also intimates unto us, where, speaking of alms, Matt. 6. 19- He saith, "Lay not up for yourselves treasure upon earth, but in Heaven;" "for," saith He, "where your treasure is, there will your hearts be also;" signifying, that without the performance of this duty, our hearts can never be, as they ought, in Heaven.

21.

3. Lastly, God requires this duty of you, and there is all the reason in the world you should perform it, because this is the means whereby God hath provided for such persons as, for reasons best known to Himself, He hath been pleased to make destitute of any other maintenance; for as God intended all along that there should be poor among us, so He still designed they should be maintained this way, even out of the charitable contributions of others, to which, for this end too, He hath given more than themselves have absolute necessity of. So that if you be able, and yet deny to relieve any one in want, you rob him of the maintenance which God hath provided, and put into your hands for him: for why should God give you more than you have real need of, but only that you might distribute it amongst such as do really need it? And therefore mistake not yourselves; what is necessary for the maintenance of yourselves and families is your own; but what you have over and above, as I believe there are but few here present but have something, that is only deposited in your hands for the use of the poor. He that might and could have made them yours, hath made you their stewards, putting their maintenance into your hands; and therefore have a care of embezzling of it, as also of denying it to them whose due it is; for if you do, Mal. 3. 8. you will not only rob the poor, but God too, as Himself hath told you; tithes being for the maintenance of His Ministers, Prov. 3. 27. and offerings for the relief of the poor. So that if ye would, as ye ought, pay every one their own, you must not withhold relief from the poor, whose debtors you all are.

Seeing, therefore, God hath been pleased so strictly to

require this duty of us, and there being so much reason that we should perform it, the performance of it cannot but be very grateful and acceptable unto God. As, on the other side, the neglect or omission of it cannot but be very displeasing and ungrateful unto Him; insomuch, that whatsoever we do unto the poor, God interprets it as done unto Himself; if we despise or neglect them, He looks upon Himself as despised and neglected by us; if we respect and relieve them, He reckons upon it as much as if we respected or relieved Him. And so we shall find at the day of judgment, as our Saviour Himself tells us; "Inasmuch as Matt.25.40. ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren,

ye have done it unto Me;" and so on the contrary. Hence ver. 45. the Wise Man saith, "He that oppresseth the poor re- Prov. 14.31, proaches his Maker; but he that honoureth Him hath mercy on the poor." This is the reason that prayers and alms should always go together, because both have respect to God, and are both alike acceptable to Him, if duly performed; as we see here Cornelius's were, the Angel himself being witness, that his "alms as well as prayers" went up "for a memorial before God." But as every thing which goes under the name of prayer is not truly so, nor by consequence acceptable unto God, so neither must we think that every little alms we give unto the poor will be approved of and accepted by Him, unless it be done in the manner which He hath prescribed us; for as there is a great art in praying aright, so is there in giving too: but the whole mystery of it, I think, may be reduced to these following rules.

1. First; whatsoever you give unto the poor, you must give it purely out of obedience to God, and for His sake that first gave it unto you. It is not enough that you give a little now and then to them that want it; that you may do and yet not perform this duty; for all alms, though they be given immediately to the poor, they ought to have respect to God, which not withstanding they cannot have, unless he that gives them does it out of a sense of his duty and obligations to God, and from a principle of sincere obedience to His commands: this being one great reason, as I have shewn, why God requires alms of us, that we may thereby

SERM. testify our acknowledgment of His power and dominion CXLVI. over us, and of His right unto and propriety in what we

have received from Him. But whatsoever it is we give, if we have not respect to God in the giving of it, we make no acknowledgment of Him in it, and so it faileth to be such alms as He hath required of us. Whereas, on the other side, be it never so little that we give, if we have respect to God and Christ in the giving of it, God will both accept of it, and reward us for it, as our Saviour Himself Mark 9. 41. assures us, saying, “For whosoever shall give you a cup of cold water to drink in My Name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward."

2. Hence, in the second place, alms, properly so called, must be universal, and not confined either as to object or time; you must not give them only to such as are of your own humour and disposition, or of your own sect and opinion, not only to such as you have been formerly, or may hereafter be obliged to; not only to them of your own kindred, neighbourhood, or acquaintance; not only to such as you have a particular affection for, or relation to; for if you give only to such, it is not in obedience to God's command, but upon the account of these or the like circumstances which the persons you give to lie under, that you are so charitable to them. And, therefore, if you would give alms indeed, you must do it indifferently to all, or to any which you know or think to be in want, without respecting any thing else but God's command. Neither is this a duty to be performed only now and then when you are in a good humour, or when the doleful complaints of indigent persons make strong impressions upon you, and so move you to pity and compassion towards them; or when the practice of others, in whose company you are, shames you into a compliance with them in giving; or when you have an opportunity to promote some design, or get some credit to yourselves by it. He that gives only upon such occasions as these are, never rightly gives at all; for it is plain that it is the occasion only that moves him to it, without any respect to God's commands: so that he that would perform this duty as he ought, must be constant and uniform in the practice of it, as being still induced to it, only upon this

account, because it is God's will and pleasure he should do it.

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2 Cor. 9. 7.

3. Hence also, in the next place, you must not give your alms with any reluctancy and unwillingness, as if angry that God hath imposed it upon you, but you must do it with a "cheerful heart, and a willing mind." Every Deut.15.10. man," saith the Apostle," according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity; for God loveth a cheerful giver." "He that sheweth mercy with Rom. 12. 8. cheerfulness." And verily, when you give an alms to the poor, you have more cause to rejoice that gave it, than they have that receive it, it being "more blessed to give than to Acts 20.35. receive." For what a mercy is it, that God hath not only provided you necessaries for yourselves, but hath enabled you also to supply others; wherein there is a double mercy, for which you can never be sufficiently thankful, in that you have not only wherewithal to give, but have hearts also to give it, which you are to look upon as two distinct blessings, and such as very seldom go together; for many would give if they had it, and many have it but will not give; and therefore, if you have both estates and hearts also to give, you have infinitely more cause to rejoice in giving, than they have to whom you give it. And this you may be sure God takes special notice of, in every act of charity you do perform, still observing whether you give with your hearts as well as hands; which if you do not, He will not reckon it as any act of charity at all. Hence likewise, if you would give alms to purpose, you must not put off the giving of them till you die, as many are wont to do, never giving any thing to others, until they can keep nothing themselves: for although you may then give something in your last will and testament to the poor, thanks will not properly be due to you for that, but to your mortality: for should you never go out of the world, you would never give any thing to the poor that are in it. And therefore do not give less now, because intend to give more when die. you Remember it was the alms which Cornelius gave while living, not those he gave upon his death-bed, "that went up for a memorial before God."

you

4. Fourthly; You must not content yourselves with giving