the poor? Matt. xix. 21. The whole system of christianity tends to charity; the doctrines to charity; the duties to charity; the promises to charity; the ordinances, which assemble us in one house, as members of one family, where we eat at one table, as children of one father, all tend to establish the dominion of charity.

The actions of Jesus Christ preach charity to us, for all his life was employed in exercises of benevolence. What zeal for the salvation of his neighbors! Witness his powerful exhortations, his tender prayers, his earnest intreaties. What What compassion for the miseries of others! Witness his emotions, when he saw the multitudes fainted, and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd, Matt. ix. 36. Witness the tears he shed at the grave of Lazarus, and over ungrateful Jerusalem. We have, in a few words, an abridgment of the most amiable life that ever was: He went about doing good, Acts x. 38.

Jesus preached charity in his preparation for death. You know what troubles agitated his mind at the approach of this terrible period. You know what difference there is between his death and our death. As we draw near to death we approach a throne of grace: but Christ went to a tribunal of vengeance. We go to our Father: he went to his judge. We are responsible for our own sius: but upon the head of this victim lay all the crimes of the people of God. Amidst so many formidable objects, what filled the mind of Jesus Christ! Love, Now, holy Father, I am no more in the world, said he, but these are in the world, keep through thine own name those, whom thou hast giv en me, that they may be one as we are, John xvii. 11. As if he had said, Father, take me for the victim of thy displeasure, let me feel all its strokes,

give me the dregs of the cup of thine indignation to drink; provided my beloved disciples be saved, my joy will be full.

In fine, Jesus Christ taught us benevolence by his death; for greater love than this hath no man, that a man lay down his life for his friends, John xv. 13. There was neither a wound in his body, nor an incision in his hands or his feet, nor a drop of his blood, that was shed, which did not publish benevolence. His love supported him against the fears of death, the terrors of divine justice, and the rage of hell. His love extended even to his executioners, and, less affected with his own pains than with the miseries, to which their crimes exposed them, he fetched, as it was one of his last sighs, a sigh of love, and ready to expire said, Father forgive them, they know not what they do, Luke xxiii. 34.

Such is the gospel. Such is your religion. Now I ask, my brethren, can a man imagine himself a disciple of such a master, can he aspire at such noble promises, can he admit such truths, in one word, can he be a christian and not be charitable? Have we not reason to affirm, that benevolence is the essence of christianity, the center to which the lines of all christian virtues tend?

3. A third reflection, that is, that benevolence triumphs over the horrors of death, ought to have great weight with us. A meditation of death is one of the most powerful of all motives to guard us against temptations, agreeably to a fine saying of the son of Sirach, Whatsoever thou takest in hand, remember the end, and thou shalt never do amiss, Eccles. vii. 36. This thought hath a peculiar influence in regard to charity.

In effect, what is death? I consider it principally in two views, first, as a general shipwreck, in

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which our fortunes, titles and dignities are lost. We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out, 1 Tim. vi. 7. Next, I consider it as the time of examination and judgment, for it is appointed to all men once to die, and after that the judgment, Heb. ix. 27. The moment of death is a fatal period, in which are united the excesses of our youth, the distractions of our manhood, the avarice of our old age, our pride, our ambition, our impurity, our covetousness, our treacheries, our perjuries, our calumnies, our blasphemies, our lukewarmness, our prophanations; all these crimes will form one black cloud, heavy, and hanging ready to burst on our heads.

These are two just views of death, and ideas of these make, if I may be allowed to say so, the two most formidable weapons of the king of terrors, the most terrible of all terrible things. But the benevolent man is covered from these attacks.

The charitable man need not fear a deprivation of his fortune, for in this respect he does not die. He hath prevented the ravages of death by disburdening himself of his riches. He hath eradicated the love of the world. He hath given to the poor what would otherwise have fed avarice. Yet, let. me recollect myself, the charitable man doth not impoverish himself by his benevolence. He hath sent his fortune before him. These are scriptural ideas. He, that hath pity upon the poor, lendeth unto the Lord, and that, which he hath given, will he pay him again. Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations, Prov. xix. 17. Luke xvi. 9. At death the christian beholds these friends opening their arms to receive him. I recollect here an epitaph said to be engraven on the tomb of Atolus of Rheims.

He exported his fortune before him into heaven by his charities, he is gone thither to enjoy it. What a fine epitaph, my brethren! Happy he, who, instead of such pompous titles as the vanity of the living puts on the tombs of the dead, under pretence of honoring the merit of the deceased, instead of such nauseous inscriptions as feed pride among the bones, worms and putrefaction, objects so proper to teach us humility, happy he, who has a right to such an epitaph as that just now mentioned! He exported his fortune before him into heaven by his charities, he is gone thither to enjoy it. Happy he, who instead of splendid funeral processions, and a long train of hired attendants, who seem less disposed to lament death than to increase the numbers of the dead, happy he, whose funeral is attended and lamented by the poor! Happy he, whose funeral oration is spoken by the wretched in sobs and sighs and expressions like these, I was naked, and he clothed me, I was hungry, and he fed me, I lived a dying life, and he was the happy instrument of providence to support me!

A charitable man need not fear death considered as a time of account. What saith the scripture concerning charity in regard to our sins? It covereth a multitude, 1 Pet. iv. 8. Daniel giveth this counsel to a guilty king, Break off thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor, chap. iv. 27. Not that our scriptures authorize a sacrilegious commentary, such as some sinners make upon these passages. Under pretence, that it is said, charity covereth a multitude of sins, or that it puts away our sins, (the sense of the first is disputed, and we will not now explain it) under this pretence, I say, some christians pretend to make a tacit compact with God. The import of this contract is, that the sinner shall be allowed by God for the sake of his

of our souls. But should this king survive some disgrace, should he be banished from his kingdom, and abandoned by his subjects, then his real friends would be discovered, and he would prepare them a thousand rewards. This is an image of Jesus Christ. In vain prostrating ourselves at the foot of his throne we say to him, a thousand times over, Lord thou knowest that we love thee. Pehaps this profession of esteem may proceed more from a love of the benefits than of the benefactor, who bestows them. Banished from his heavenly court in the persons of his members, forsaken by his subjects, covered with rags, and lodged in an hospital, he comes to try his real friends, solicits their compassion, presents his miseries to them, and tells them at the same time, that his condition will not be always thus despicable, and that he shall be soon re-established on his throne, and that then he will recompense their care with eternal felicity; this is the meaning of the words just now read, I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat, I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink. Grand motive to charity! Immense weight with a soul the least animated with ingenuousness and fervor! I am not surprised, however, that motives so strong in themselves are frequently ineffectual with us. Always confined in a sphere of sensible objects, taken up with the present moment, contracted within the limits of our own small circle, we never look forward to futurity, never think of that great day, in which God will judge the world in righteousness, and fix our eternal doom. But who is there, who is there, that in the presence of all mankind, in the presence of all the angels of heaven, in the presence of the whole universe, and in the presence of God himself, can bear this reproof from the mouth of the Son of God, I was an hungred,