diflike. Whether a good Man, who is a SERM.III. Misbeliever in fome Points, without any Faultinefs or Irregularity of Will, will be damned for his erroneous Way of Thinking, may be a Question among fome People; but I think it admits of none, that a Man will be damned for an uncharitable Way of thinking and acting.

3dly, You must not pass a hard precipitate Cenfure upon a whole Nation or Coun try. Can any Thing good come out of Nazareth? was a low, confined, ungenerous Thought: Goodness is not limited to, or excluded from, any Place: The Good are diffused throughout all Nations, all Sects, all Perfuafions, all Ranks and Orders of Men. True Charity ever dwells with a Largeness of Soul, which takes in all Mankind, fincerely wishing, that all, who are in any material Error, may embrace the Truth; and all, that embrace it, may hold a pure Faith in a pure Confcience. And I question whether a generous fpirited Way of Thinking, a noble and exalted Ardor of Soul, with ftrong Paffions, which fometimes tranfport a Man into Exorbitances, be not, upon the whole, much more commendable; than an infipid Regularity, and VOL. II. G a flat

SERM.III. a flat Correctnefs of Life, which creeps on in one dull Tenor, without ever everflowing: with too little Spirit to reach any Heights in Virtue; too languid Paffions to be guilty of any flagrant Vice: Juft as the Critics have preferred the Sublime in Writing, with a great many Inaccuracies and Inequalities, to a Middling Stile, though very faultless.

In fhort, true Charity is to deteft nothing but Vice; and to defpife nothing but contracted, illiberal Notions, which would confine God's Favour, and most certainly limit our Affections, within a narrow Circle. Form as amiable Sentiments as you can, of Nations, Communities of Men, and Individuals. If they are true, you do them only Juftice; if falfe, though your Opinion does not alter their Nature, and make them lovely; you yourself are more lovely, for entertaining fuch Sentiments. When you feel the bright Warmth of a Temper thoroughly good in your own Breaft, you will fee fomething good in every one about you. It is a Mark of a Littleness of Spirit, to confine yourself to fome minute Part of a Man's Character ; a Man of generous, open, extended Views; will grafp the whole of it; without which he cannot

pafs

He SERM.III.

pafs a right Judgment on any Part.
will not arraign a Man's general Conduct
for two or three particular Actions; as
knowing, that Man is a changeable Crea-
ture, and will not ceafe to be fo; till he is
united to that Being, who is the fame ye-
fterday, to day, and for ever. He strives
to outdo his Friends in good Offices, and
overcome his Enemies by them. He thinks
he then receives the greateft Injury, when
he returns and revenges one: For then he
is overcome of Evil. Is the Perfon young
who has injured him? He will reflect, that
Inexperience of the World, and a Warmth
of Conftitution, may betray his unpractifed
Years into feveral Inadvertencies, which a
more advanced Age, his own good Senfe,
and the Advice of a judicious Friend, will
correct and rectify. Is he old? the Infir-
mities of Age, and Want of Health, may
have fet an Edge upon his Spirits, and made
him fpeak unadvifedly with his Lips. Is he
weak and ignorant? he confiders, that it is
a Duty incumbent upon the wife to bear
with those that are not fo. Ye fuffer Fools
gladly, fays St. Paul, feeing ye yourselves
are wife. In fhort, he judges of himself,
as far as he can, with the ftrict Rigor of
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Juftice;

SERM.III. Juftice; but of others, with all the Softenings of Humanity.

From charitable and benevolent Thoughts, the Tranfition is unavoidable to charitable Actions. For wherever there is an inexhauftible Fund of Goodnefs at the Heart, it will, under all the Disadvantages of Circumftances, exert itself in Acts of fubftantial Kindness. He, that is fubftantially good will be doing good. The Man, that has a hearty determinate Will to be charitable, will feldom put Men off with the mere Will for the Deed. For a fincere Defire to do Good implies fome Uneafinefs, till the Thing be done: And Uneafinefs fets the Mind at work, and puts it upon the Stretch to find out a thousand Ways and Means of obliging, which will ever escape the Unconcerned, the Indifferent, and the Unfeeling.

The most proper Objects of your Bounty are the Neceffitous. Give the fame Sum of Money, which you bestow on a Person in tolerable Circumftances, to one in extreme Poverty; and obferve, what a wide Difproportion of Happiness is produced. In the latter Cafe it is like giving a Cordial to a fainting Perfon; in the former it is like

giving Wine to him, who has already SERM.III. quenched his Thirft. Mercy is feasonable in Time of Affliction, like Clouds of Rain in the Time of Drought.

And among the Variety of neceffitous Objects, none have a better Title to our Compaffion, than thofe, who, after having tasted the Sweets of Plenty, are, by some undeserved Calamity, obliged, without fome charitable Relief, to drag out the Remainder of Life in Mifery and Woe; who little Thought they should ask their daily Bread of any but of God; who, after a Life led in Affluence, cannot dig, and are ashamed to beg. And they are to be relieved in fuch an endearing Manner, with fuch a Beauty of Holiness, that, at the fame Time that their Wants are fupplied, their Confufion of Face may be prevented.

There is not an Inftance of this Kind in Hiftory fo affecting, as that beautiful one of Boaz to Ruth. He knew her Family, and how she was reduced to the loweft Ebb: When therefore she begged Leave to glean in his Fields, he ordered his Reapers to let fall feveral Handfuls with a feeming Careleffness, but really with a fet Design, that fhe might gather them up without being ashamed.

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