great Kindneffes, it puts us to the blush; we are afhamed to be fo highly obliged: but the joy of doing them is pure and unmixed; and this our Saviour hath told us, Acts 20. 35. It is more blessed to give than to receive. And fome good Men have ventured to call it the greatest Senfuality, a piece of Epicurifm; and have magnified the exceeding Indulgence of God, who hath annexed future Rewards to that which is fo amply its own Recompence.

These two advantages this Pleasure of doing good hath above all other Pleasures whatfoever.

(1.) That this Satisfaction doth not only just accompany the Act of doing good, but it is permanent and lasting, endures as long as our Lives. The very remembrance of fuch charitable Deeds, by which we have been really helpful and ferviceable to others; our after-reflection upon the good we have done in the World, doth wonderfully refresh our Souls with a mighty joy and peace, quite contrary to all other worldly and corporeal Pleasures. There are indeed fome Vices which promise a great deal of Pleasure in the commission of them; but then at beft it is but fhort-liv'd and tranfient, a fudden flash presently extinguish'd. It perishes in the very enjoyment, like the crackling of thorns under a pot, as the wife Man elegantly expreffes it; it prefently expires in a fhort blaze and noise, but hath very little heat or warmth in it. All outward bodily Pleafures are of a very fugitive volatile nature,

there's

there's no fixing them; and if we endeavour to make up this defect by a frequent repetition and conftant fucceffion of them, they then foon become naufeous; Men are cloyed and tired with them. Nor is this yet all, these sensual Pleasures do not only fuddenly pafs away, but also leave a fting behind them, they wound our Confciences, the thoughts of them are uneafy to us; Guilt and a bitter Repentance are the attendants of fuch indulging our felves; Sadness and Melancholy come in the place of all fuch exorbitant Mirth and Jollity. These are the constant abatements of all outward unlawful Pleafures. Whereas that

which fprings from a Mind fatisfied and well pleafed with its own actions, doth for ever affect our hearts with a delicious relifh; continually ministers comfort and delight to us; is a never-failing Fountain of Joy, such as is folid and fubftantial; fills our Minds with good Hopes and cheerful Thoughts; and is the only certain ground of true Peace and Contentment.

(2.) This Pleasure and Joy that attends doing good doth herein exceed all fleshly delights, that it is then at the highest when we stand in most need of it. In a time of Affliction, old Age, or at the approach of Death, the Remembrance of our good deeds will strangely chear and fupport our Spirits under all the Calamities and Troubles we may meet with in this state. By doing good we lay up a Treafure of Comfort, a Stock C

of

of Joy against an evil day, which no outward thing can rob us of. But now it is not thus with bodily Pleasures; they cannot help us in a time of need, they then become miferable, flat and infipid; the Sinner cannot any longer taste or relish them : nothing remains but a guilty fense, which in fuch time of diftrefs is more fierce and raging, especially at the hour of Death.

Yet even then, when all our former inordinate Pleasures fhall prove matter of Anguifh and Torment to us; when all the Flowers of worldly Glory fhall be withered; when all earthly Beauty, which now doth fo tempt and bewitch us, fhall be darkned and eclipfed; when this World and the fashion of it is vanished and gone; when the pangs of Death are just taking hold of us, and we are ready to step into another World, What a seasonable and comfortable Refreshment then will it be to look back upon a well-fpent Life? to confider with our felves how faithfully we have improved those talents God hath intrufted us with, how well we have husbanded our Time, Eftates, Parts, Reputation, Learning, Authority, for the Glory of God and the good of other Men? The time will furely fhortly come, wherein you fhall vaftly more rejoice in that little you have laid out or expended for the benefit of others, than in all that which by fo long toil and drudgery in the World you fhall have faved and purchased. They are

not

not your great Poffeffions, Lands or Eftates, nor your Dignities and Titles of Honour, nor your eminent Places and Trufts, nor any external Advantages you have purchased or acquired, that at fuch a time will yield you any true Peace or comfortable Hope. What use you have made of them, and what good you have done with them, is that which your Confcience will then enquire after, and accordingly pronounce its Sentence.

3. To do good is the most Divine and Godlike thing. By it we do most especially become like unto God, who is good, and who doth good; and not only like him, but we refemble him in that which is his very Nature and Effence, and which he esteems his greateft Glory for fuch is his Goodness, which doth as it were deify all his other Attributes and Perfections.

There is no Quality or Difpofition whatever, by which we can fo near approach the Divine Majefty, as this of Beneficence, and delight in doing good. As for Knowledg and Power, the evil Spirits partake of them in a greater degree than the best Men; but a Man thews nothing of God fo much as in doing good. By contributing to the contentment of other Men, and rendring them as happy as lies in our power, we do God's work, are in his place and room, perform his Office in the World; we make up the feeming Defects of his Providence, and one Man thereby beC 2

comes

comes as it were a God to another. Hence this Employment must needs be the highest Accomplishment and Perfection of our Beings. It is the only Argument of a brave and great Soul, to extend his care and thoughts for the good of all Men; and not to do fo, is a certain indication of a little narrow Spirit, contracted within it felf and its own paltry con

cernments.

4. This is the very end of all the Bleffings and feveral Advantages God hath vouchfafed to Men in this life, that by them they might become capable of doing good in the World; this is the proper ufe they are to be put to, for which they were defign'd by the Author and Donor of them: and if they are not employed to fuch purposes, we are falfe to our Truft, and the Stewardship committed to us, and fhall be one day feverely accountable to God for it. For the Almighty and Sovereign Lord and Disposer of all things both in Heaven and Earth hath affigned to every Man his particular Place and Station in this World; hath given him his part to act on this great Theater, hath furnished him with Powers and Abilities of Mind and Body fitted for feveral uses; in the due and regular improvement and management of which, every one may in fome measure be helpful and ferviceable to others. This our Saviour illuftrates by his excellent Parable of the Talents, St. Matth. 25.

There