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better able to relieve him, if by soliciting his cause and begging relief for him, which he perhaps is ashamed to do for himself, we can any way contribute to his succour and support, we stand strictly obliged to it by the laws of mercy: and this, if we can do no more, will be as acceptable to God as the most liberal alms. For where the deed is impossible, God always accepts the will for it, and reckons in all these good works to our account, which he knows we would do, if we were able. But when he hath furnished us with means, as well as opportunities, to relieve the necessitous, he expects the deed as well as the will from us; knowing that we cannot sincerely will the deed, if, when it is in our power, we do not effect it. Hence is that of the Hebrews, xiii. 16. To do good, and to communicate, forget not; for with such sacrifice God is well pleased. And accordingly the apostle bids Timothy, 1 Tim. vi. 17, 18, to charge them that are rich, i. e. whose enjoyments do exceed their necessities, that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate. And how necessary the deed is to the sincerity of the will, when it is in our power, that passage of St. John doth fully evidence, 1 Ep. iii. 17. But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? This therefore is an act of mercy indispensably due from us to those who are in necessity, to contribute according to our ability towards their relief and support; and accordingly alms, which signifies a gift to one that is in need, comes from the Greek word ἐλεημοσύνη, and that from ἔλεος,

which signifies mercy; which plainly denotes it to be one of the greatest and most principal acts of mercy that we owe to the miserable.

CHAP. III.

Of almsgiving, as to the manner of performing it; and some motives thereunto.

WE have seen that almsgiving is one of the principal acts of mercy; and it being so, I shall more largely insist upon it, and endeavour to shew,

First, The manner in which it ought to be performed and

Secondly, To press the performance of it by some considerations.

I. The manner in which this duty of almsgiving ought to be performed, and that in these following particulars :

First, It ought to be performed with a good and merciful intention.

Secondly, Justly and righteously.
Thirdly, Readily and cheerfully.
Fourthly, Liberally and bountifully.
Fifthly, Timely and seasonably.
Sixthly, Discreetly and prudently.

1. This duty of almsgiving ought to be performed with a good and merciful intention; not merely to court the applauses and commendations of men, to bring our names in vogue, or to serve our secular designs; but chiefly and principally to express our gratitude and duty to God, and confidence in him;

who hath not only filled our cup, but crowned it with an overflowing plenty, thereby enabling us to relieve others, and thereby constituting us trustees for the poor and needy, with a strict and inviolable charge to give them their food in due season; to which he hath annexed a bill of credit under his own broad seal, to repay us the principal of our alms with a thousand-fold interest. With respect therefore to these mighty reasons, and out of a tender commiseration to our poor brethren, we ought to perform our alms; that so, like curls of holy incense, they may ascend to heaven, and breathe a sweet smelling savour into the nostrils of God; for it is by this alone that they are consecrated into an acceptable sacrifice to him, and rendered true piety and devotion: whereas if we give our alms merely or mainly to be seen of men, or to serve a worldly interest, they proceed not from mercy, but self-love. And since all acts that are materially good do receive their form and denomination from the intention, such pharisaical alms can be denominated neither pieties nor mercies, but are a sordid traffick for applause and interest; and hence our Saviour cautions us, Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward, Matt. vi. 1, 2.

2. This duty of almsgiving ought to be performed with justice and righteousness, that is, we ought not to give that in alms which is none of our own, sup

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posing it hath a rightful owner, to whom we can make a restitution of it. For what we have wrongfully got is none of ours, but his whom we have wrongfully deprived of it; and to him we are bound in conscience to restore it, in case he be living, and we know where to find him; if not, to his lawful heirs or assigns: but if either the party be dead whom we have wronged of it, or we cannot find him, or any heir of his, that can lawfully claim it, it is not only lawful but necessary for us to bestow upon the poor and needy. For where there is no visible owner, the property reverts immediately into the hands of the supreme Lord of the world, who hath settled it as a pension on the poor, to eke out the narrow provisions which his providence hath made for them. But to give alms out of those unlawful gains, which we are obliged in justice to restore to the rightful owners, is to make ourselves the thieves, and the poor the receivers. For to do alms is to give away something of our own to remedy another's want or misery; and therefore to give away one man's right, to supply another's necessity, is not so much an alms as a robbery. By this rule, therefore, debtors that owe more than they can pay are obliged in conscience not to entrench upon their justice by their mercy, nor to disable themselves from being just to their creditors by being merciful to the poor. For though to relieve the poor be nakedly and abstractedly good, yet it is to be considered, that particular actions are good or bad according as the circumstances are which adhere to them: and when

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that action which is nakedly good happens to be clothed with an evil circumstance, it is so far evil and unlawful. And therefore when my relieving

the poor is accompanied with this evil circumstance, of defrauding my creditors of their due, I am so far bound in conscience not to relieve them; because if I do, I must relieve them unjustly. This therefore we are especially to take care of, that our alms be just and righteous.

3. This duty of almsgiving ought to be performed readily and cheerfully. For this is the apostle's own direction. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity : for God loveth a cheerful giver, 2 Cor, ix. 7. And indeed if we give alms out of a principle of mercy and compassion, it is impossible but we must do it cheerfully; because by compassion we make others' miseries our own, and so by relieving them we relieve ourselves, and are partakers with them in the comfort of those reliefs we afford them. For when I see a man struggling with want, and groaning under a sharp necessity, if I relieve him, I ease and refresh my own yearning bowels; and the human nature within me, which is common to us both, doth by a kind of sympathetic motion exalt and raise up itself, and swells with a generous pleasure. So that if mercy be the spring of my alms, they will flow with a free and cheerful current, because all the while I am watering others, I shall feel the refreshment of my own streams, When therefore we bestow our alms with a grudging and unwilling mind, it is plain that it is not mercy, but shame, or fear, or importunity that moves us; and if so, there is no virtue in them, nor can we expect that any reward should attend them. For to contribute towards another's relief because we are ashamed or afraid to do otherwise, is rather paying a tax than

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