many diligently, ftrengthen what is weak, and add what is deficient; that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. Whatever due Instruction I may have omitted to give you, it ought to have been, and is, your Concern to fupply it to yourselves: and if I have in any Measure performed that Duty as I ought; remember, Improvement will be expected from you, in Proportion to the Advantages, which you have enjoyed. Through God's Mercy, fome of you, that were bad, I have Cause to think are become good; and fome, that were good, become better: but alas, how few are thefe, amongst the thoufands, of whom this Parish confifts! O may there prove to be more, than are come to my Knowledge! Elfe I must give Account of the Success of my Miniftry with Grief: for the largest and best Part of it hath been employed on You: and fain therefore would I perfuade myself, that it will be found to have produced a tolerable Share of good Effect. For what is our Hope, or Joy, or Crown of rejoicing? are not even ye, in the Prefence of our Lord Jefus Christ, at his Coming? But however I have failed hitherto, let me not, I beseech you, fail now to obtain, that if ever I have faid any Thing to you, which raised any one Christian Purpofe or Defire in your Hearts, you would at length fet yourselves to recollect and accomplish it; and that if you have experienced nothing of this Kind from my Preaching, you James i. 4. + Heb. xiii. 17. ‡ 1 Theff. ii. 19. would would the more confcientiously open your Breafts to the Impreffions of that, which you will attend next: for glad fhall I be, to have promoted your spiritual Welfare, be it only by this final Requeft; and to learn, that the Seed, which fhall be fown from henceforward, yields beyond Comparison a more plentiful Harveft, than that which preceded. For God is my Record, if I may prefume to adopt the Apostle's Words, how greatly I long after you all, in the Bowels of Jefus Chrift; and this I pray, that your Love may abound yet more and more, in Knowledge and all Judgment; that ye may approve the Things that are excellent, that ye may be fincere and without Offence till the Day of the Lord, being filled with the Fruits of Righteoufnefs, which are by Jefus Chrift, unto the Glory and Praife of God *. Let then your Converfation be as becometh the Gospel: that whether I come and fee you, or be abfent, I may bear of your Affairs, that ye ftand faft in one Spirit, with one Mind; not as in my Prefence only, but now much more in my Abfence, working out your own Salvation with Fear and Trembling: for it is God that worketh in you, both to will and to do ‡, Understand me not to mean taking an abfolute and final Leave of you. As long as I am in this Tabernacle, to speak the Language of St. Peter, I fhall think it meet, if defired and able, to flir you up, by putting you in Re Phil. i. 8-11. + Ver. 27, ‡ Phil. ii. 12, 13. R 4 mem membrance*. But this is the laft Time I fhall stand here in that peculiar Relation to you, which I have born fo long. And now therefore, Brethren, to conclude with pronouncing over you the folemn Farewell of St. Paul, I commend you to God, and to the Word of his Grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an Inheritance among all them which are janctified. There may we meet again, never to part more! * 2 Pet. i. 13: † Aas xx. 32. SER SERMON X. Preached before the Governors of the London Hofpital, or Infirmary, for the Relief of Sick and Diseased Perfons, especially Manufacturers, and Seamen in Merchants-Service, &c. at the Parish-Church of St. Lawrence-Jewry, on Wednesday, February 20, 1754. ROM. xii. 8. He that giveth, let him do it with Simplicity: be that ruleth, with Diligence: be that fheweth Mercy, with Cheerfulness. Ο F all the benevolent Feelings, which God hath planted in our Nature, Compaffion is the most valuable. For it prompts us the most directly to relieve the Miferable, whofe Diftreffes are much greater, than the Enjoyments of the Happy can be here below: and yet, without the Call of this tender Sympathy, we should, far oftener than we do, turn our Eyes from them, and leave them to their Fate. Perfons of all Ranks are frequently in Circumftances, that demand Pity. But the higher Part of the World have it more in their Power to avoid Sufferings, than the lowest : and it is easier to affift the latter effectually. Their Poverty alone, indeed, if they are well able to provide themselves Neceffaries, wants no Affistance. It is one requifite State in the Scale of Things, appointed by the Wisdom of Providence and allows them a very comfortable Enjoyment of Life. But if Work be fcarce, or their Families large, they may be grievously ftraitened, even in Health: and in Sickness, their Condition, though fingle, is lamentable; and, when married, often extremely fo. If only a Child be fick, they have feldom Leisure to attend it duly: but if the Parents are fick, all the Children must be neglected; and the Labour, which used to maintain them, ceafe. They are destitute, both of Knowledge what to do, and of Money to procure Directions and Medicines, nay, perhaps, proper Food. They follow, at random, the Suggeftions of Neighbours, no wiser than themfelves; or, after languishing long, and growing worse than they needed, have Recourfe for Cure, often to ignorant, often to rapacious Creatures; who, if they chance to recover, yet strip them of all, and load them with Debts, that disquiet the reft of their Days; and too commonly drive them to deftructive Cordials, which unhappily the moft Needy can afford; or defperate Acts of Injuftice to others, or Violence to their own Perfons. Religion, |