fublime Pleafure wherewith it is attended. And This likewife is a Return for which we fhall not tarry many Days: Acts of Beneficence immediately communicating a noble Delight to thofe who exercife 'em; and that Delight being repeated as often as we reflect on them. Unless our Souls are funk into the vileft Stupidity, we must needs be fenfibly touch'd with the Distresses we see others undergo; and this Fellow-feeling, being itfelf an Uneafinefs, will ftrongly incline us to endeavour the Removal of thofe Diftrefles which are the Caufe of it; and therefore when thro' our Means they are in any measure remov'd, a proportionable Eafe mult of Course return to our Minds, together with a large Share of the Satisfaction we pers ceive our Fellow-Creatures enjoying upon a Change of their Conditon.

Moreover, we having the Honour to be made after the Image and Likeness of God, who is Goodness itfelf, and from whom, as from an everflowing Fountain, every Bleffing we partake of is Original ly derived to be ready to Diftribute, and willing to Communicate, must be highly agreeable to the Frame of our Conftitution, and confequently prove a continual Fund of exalted Pleasure. For what it Pleasure but the Gratification of ut Teat

our natural Defires? And what can gratify the Defires of a rational Being more, than to do Good? and if Light and Beauty are pleafant to the Eye, becaufe proportion'd to the Faculty of Secing: If harmonious Sounds are entertaining to the Ear, because adapted to the Faculty of Hearing: If the rest of our external Senfes are in like manner diverted with Ob. jects fuitable to their respective Organs : It will follow by a Parity of Reason, that Perceptions far more delectable muft fpring up in our Souls from the Manifestation of of our Goodwill to'ards Men, which are fo agreeable to their Superior Nature, so conformable to their Divine Dignity. And if fo great a Pleafure will arife within from doing good to any Part of Mankind, how much greater fhall we feel in being helpful to those Branches of it whose Ne ceffities cry aloud for Affiftance; And if to deliver the Poor that crieth, and the Fatherless, and him that hath none to help bim; if to be Eyes to the Blind, and Feet to the Lame, if, by a feasonable Aid, to revive the dejected Spirits of a decaying Family, and caufe the Widow's Heart to fing for Jay, if it will vaftly transport us, by these, and fuch like Means, to make the miferable happy, render the Lives of

our needy Brethren comfortable upon Earth; what Streams of unutterable Delight muft overfpread our Minds, when we confider, that by inftructing the. Ignorant, discountenancing Vice, and cherishing Virtue, we are fitting Souls for Heaven?

Every Time we think of having been engag'd in fuch Designs as thefe, we cannot but rejoice and be exceeding glad: And this our Foy no Man taketh from us. Twill accompany us thro' every Circumftance of Life: Twill feafon the Enjoy ments of Profperity: 'Twill buoy us up under the Storms of Affliction: Twill cheer us when languishing upon a SickBed, and give us a Talle of the next Life before we depart out of This. So noble, fo extenfive, fo conftant a Pleasure, will from the Exercife of Liberality be imparted to us all in General.

And as for You in particular, who go down to the Sea in Ships, and caft your Bread upon the Waters in another Sense, even by occupying your Bufinefs in great Waters: For you who frequently fee the Works of the Lord and his Wonders in the Deep: What a mighty Complacency must it afford, to reflect upon the grateful Wishes of those who have been Partakers

of your Bounty, conftantly attending you for a profperous Voyage, and a happy Return! And when the formy Wind arifeth which lifteth up the Waves to be Mountains high, how great a Coinfort must it be to confider, that your Faith working by Charity, may be fuflicient to remove even thofe dreadful Mountains: And when you reel to and fro, and flagger like a drunken Man, and are at your Wit's End, lo that your Souls are ready to melt away. because of the Trouble; what a refreshing Cordial mult it adminifter to your drooping Spirits, to think that the Prayers of theje Children, whofe virtuous Education has been promoted by your Affiffance, are afcending for their Benefactors to the Mercy Seat, and may prevail for ftilling the raging of the Sea, and at the fame Time come down in kindly Gales to bring you lafely unto the Haven where you would be ? At least your tumultuous Thoughts may in fonie degree be calm'd with this Refic&tion, that tho' their Prayers fhould be heard for your temporal Deliverance, your Alms will nevertheless be prefented as a Memorial before the Moft High; and procure for you, through the Merits and Mediation of our bleffed Redeemer, a more blissful Admittance into a far hap

pier Port, as foon as you are launch'd duit into the Ocean of Eternity.

Which fuggefts, for a Conclufion of the Whole, the highest Encouragement to the Duty I have been recommending; and what ought to be our chief Joy, and Crown of Rejoycing, to wit, the Reward that awaits it in another World: Whether we fhall find this Reward in a few, or after many Days, we know not; but This we know, that if it fhould tarry; we have juft Reafon with Patience to wait for it, because it will furely come, it will hot tarry: And when it comes 'twill make anample Amends for the Time it has been delayed. For this, and this only, is equal to the vast Defires of an immortal Soul: It being Great, exceeding abundantly Great, beyond all that we can express or imagine, and the Duration of it to be measured by none who is unable ro Number the Days of Eternity. All the Enjoyments of the prefent Life are mixed and imperfect; and when most agreeable, but of a fhort Continuance: The Thread of our Life itfelf here being at beft but a Span long; and fo very flender, as to be eafily fnapt afunder, and made fhorter by ten thousand Accidents. Not fuch are the Joys which God has prepared in the next