The will of God is, That all men fhould be faved, and come to the knowledge of the truth. The means of falvation He himself has appointed. If we fincerely feek after, accept of, and clofe with thefe; if we perfevere in the use of these means, and in well-doing; we fhall certainly receive the end of our faith, even the falvation of our fouls. We fay, in well-doing; for we all know what St. James affirms, that faith without works is dead. It is of no more ufe than a dead man is to the world. Now, there are an infinite number of good works, useful to men, and acceptable to God. But every man and every order of men, have fome duties, fome good works, fo peculiarly belonging to their place and circumstances, that all others would be useless, if these should be omitted. For indeed Chriftian virtue confifts in this-that every duty have its proper place and concern. For instance: The first duty and concern of a Minifter of the gospel is, to take care of the flock committed to his charge; of a parent, to take care of his children; of a magiftrate, to preferve peace, and to do justice; of fervants, to be faithful to their masters; of the rich, to take care of the poor; and of the poor, to be content with their condition. And if a man should be never fo zealous in ether inftances of well-doing, and neglect thefe these relative duties, and fuch as peculiarly belong to his condition of life, he would want one of the fureft marks of his being under the conduct of the Spirit of God; and of reaping the fruits of his labours, and the reward of a faithful servant. This order of Providence, therefore, being first regarded; the next thing that a good man will do, will be to confider, how he may be most useful in his generation? And having before his eyes the words of the apostle, immediately going before the text, Whatsoever a man foweth, that shall be alfo reap: he that foweth to the flesh, fall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that foweth to the fpirit, fall of the fpirit reap life everlasting; he concludes from these words, that whatever is unneceffarily laid out upon the body, is all entirely loft at death, .when that body fees corruption. And that whatever can be fpared, and is bestowed in promoting the glory of God, and the good of mankind, that this is laying up a treasure in heaven, and that we hall reap the fruits thereof to all eternity. He therefore resolves to look beyond the grave, and to make some provision for a life that is to laft for ever. Now, if a Christan, thus affected, and thus refolved, fhould defire to know how (as Solomon fpeaks, Prov. xi. 18.) he may fow in righteoufness, fo as to reap a fure reward; one can perhaps, direct him to a better charity fomething like this before us, where the bodies and fouls of the poor are provided for; where parents receive both relief and comfort in the care that is taken of their children; where fo many children are taught to know and to fear God. By which charity many thousands have been, and many thousands are like to be, refcued from extreme poverty, and the confequences of it, which are, too often, want of inftruction, grofs ignorance, great temptations to vice, and a proneness to run into it. By which charity the number of evil examples will be every day leffened; a great many families, knowing and fearing God, will (in his good time) be established; a great many of thefe, in all probability, gratefully remembering the method and way by which they were raised, will hereafter contribute towards continuing this way of well-doing to future generations. In the mean time, neither they that are the managers, nor they that contribute towards this good work, will have any reason to defpond. It is feed fown; and it will have its increase most certainly. We fee it fo in the common course of husbandry:-When the corn is fown, it is left to the ordinary providence and bleffing of God, who gives an increase according to the goodness of the ground, and the means made ufe of to improve it. Now, 4 Now, the kingdom of heaven is compared to feed fown in the ground, to give Chriftians an idea, and an affurance, that their fpiritual labours, their endeavours for the good of their fouls, will as certainly be recompenfed as their temporal labours for the support of their bodies. They fhall fee the fruit, and they fhall receive the reward, of their labours. They will fee thofe, whom they have plucked as firebrands out of the fire, giving God eternal praises for his goodness in making them the inftruments of their converfion and falvation. And they will find the Lord of heaven and earth, who needs none of our services, yet condescending to accept our poor endeavours, and to reward them beyond our utmost wishes. Sufficient, one would hope, to make us bear with patience all the difcouragements we can poffibly meet with! Happy will it be for us, if the frequent occafions of this kind we meet with, fhall make us more careful fo to hufband the talents wherewith we are intrufted, as that we may always have whereof to offer a testimony of our gratitude to our great Benefactor. And the good Lord accept of and give a bleffing to all our charities, and grant that they may obtain for us this comfort, that fo much as we have given to God, and to these good |