SERMON VI

On ALMS.

By SAMUEL CHARTERS Minifter of Wilton

Preached in the Old Church of Edinburgh on the 1st of June 1788.

LUKE, Xi. 41..

But rather give Alms of fuch things as you have, and behold all things are clean unto you.

OWE

WE no man any thing, but to love one another. Love is a debt which we ftill owe. When juftice is fulfilled, liften to the voice of mercy. Give alms of fuch things as you.

have.

1. A man muft provide for his own, and: fupply the wants of his children, in preference to others; nor fhould a child bestow on any who are lefs nearly connected what his pa rents need. The first thought of a dutiful child, when he has any thing to spare is, Do my parents need it? If they do, the voice of nature, and the law of God, demand it for them.

2. Poor brothers and fifters have the next aim. Among children of the fame family,. re ought to be a mutual attachment, ten

der

der and inviolable; upon every proper occafion, teftimonies of it fhould be given.. While; thefe are with-held from a brother or fifter that hath waxed poor, felf-approbation in relieving others is not entire.

3. Attend to the claim of gratitude. Favours received fhould never be forgotten. Recollect thofe to whom you have in any way been obliged or indebted. If any who inftructed, or patronifed, or affifted, or confoled you, be now in want; feize the opportunity of teftifying your gratitude: to neglect it, will be matter of reproach and felf-condemnation. They who have been beneficent, tho not to us, are entitled to fympathy in diftrefs; it is co-operating with Providence, to fhew mercy to the merciful.

4. Is your friend reduced to ftraits? Calk to mind the mutual confidence and fympathies and endearments by which your hearts were united. They who paint friendship in strong, colours, fpeak of it as rendering all things. common. Though this idea is not to be rea, lifed, yet he who hefitates to open his heart and his hand in the day of adverfity, deferves not the name of Friend. Inquire if the friend of your youth has any children in want, and extend your friendly regards to them.

5. Poor relations, though distant, should be acknowledged. To prevent one of them from becoming a charge on the public, is better than to beftow the fame fum on promifcuous charity. If any man or woman that

believeth

believeth have widows, let them relieve them, and let not the church be charged; that it may relieve them that are widows indeed. 1 Tim. V. 16. A needy man is referred to his rich relations, and often left to their bounty: tho' a prodigal, he is an object of compaffion; and it is a blemish on the character of his rich relation not to fhew it.

6. Servants fallen into poverty, should be remembered by those whom they have served long and faithfully, and it is pleasant to be able to relieve them. A man of wealth and benevolence might extend his view of this reIation Seafaring men are employed in the fervice of the merchant; the hands employed by a manufacturer, work for his profit; tenants labour, and their landlords reap the fruit: fuch as are difabled or worn out in these fervices, awaken compaffion in a Christian mafter. The relation of master and fervant, once a fyftem of flavery and oppreffion, is transformed by Christianity into a law of liberty and a bond of love.

7. Neighbourhood is a relation which af fords opportunities of indulging compaffion with effect. The poor, who are daily under our eye, and whofe ftraits we know, excite our fympathy. It becomes neceffary, for the cafe of our own minds, to do fomething for them. A little does them good. They are thankful for a little. The crumbs from our table may be a meal to them; our fire may

warm

warm them; and the cloaths which we have ufed may clothe them. Teach your children compaffion to poor neighbours, and employ them in works of mercy.

2. Sympathy, if indulged, will fuggeft many objects of compaffion.

The man who lives in profperity, and reflects on the changeablenefs of it, will fympathife with the unfortunate who have feen better days, and be difpofed to relieve them with that liberality and delicacy which he himself would expect, were his riches to make to themfelves wings, and flee away.

They who have rifen from a low eftate, might look back on the pit from whence they were digged, and feel for those who are yet labouring in it. Having known in their own experience, the hardship and struggles and repulfes which poor man has to meet with, they can take a kindlier intereft in his con cerns; they are qualified to direct and affif them.

They who have known the heart of a firanger, and met with kindness when far from their friends, are prompted by the memory of what they felt, to inquire after the friendless ftranger, and to comfort him. Love ye therefore the stranger, for ye were firangers in the land of Egypt. Deut. x. 19.

The man who has fuffered bondage in all its horrors, remembers thofe that are in bonds,

as

as bound with them; he becomes their zealous compaffionate friend and interceffor. Mr Howard was a prifoner in France; and to his fufferings there, he afcribes his benevolent labours.

Dr Swift felt the approach of lunacy, and founded an hofpital for lunatics.

People in good circumftances, who are vifited with difeafe, and who feel how painful it is amidst all the comfort which friends, and attendants, and medicines, and cordials can give, are led to feel for poor neighbours under the fame vifitation, and to fend thofe aids and comforts which a fick bed needs, but which poverty cannot reach.

Widows, who have friends and guardians to their children and a liberal provifion, might think of thofe who are widows indeed. While your hearts fink, and the fhadow of death darkens your remaining comforts, you can fympathife with the joyless defponding spirit of one who is left with children poor and friendless. By alleviating her forrows, you alleviate your own.

They who were orphans from their early years, look back with a fympathifing heart on those who follow in the fame dark de fenceless path. While we remember with gratitude friends whom Providence raifed up to take us by the hand and bring us forward, we are happy to become inftruments under the fame providence of befriending the friendlefs, and being the orphan's stay.

They