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have been left unattempted? Our part is, to chufe out the most deferving objects, and the moft likely to answer the ends of our charity; and when that is done, all is done that lies in our power: The reft must be left to providence. What we beftow on thefe occafions, is given by us, not as unto men, but unto God; for his fake, and in obedience to his commands. And with him the value of our gift depends not on the fuccefs of it: For it is true, in this fenfe alfo, what the a poftle affirms, 2 Cor. viii. 12. that "if there be firft a willing mind, it is accepted, according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not According to that a man hath,” i.”e. a fincere intenfion of doing good; " and not according to that he hath not" in his power, the effectual accomplishment of that intention. Shall we repine at a little mifplaced charity, we, who could no way foresee the effect; when an allknowing, all-wife being (whom it is our duty and our happiness to imitate) fhowers down every day his benefits on the unthankful and undeferving? For he "maketh his fun to rife on the evil and on the good, and fendeth rain on the juft and unjust," Mat. v. 45 He hath bleffed us, even us, the most finful and ungrateful people in the world, with victory and triumphs, and a near prospect of peace, beyond not only our deferts, but our very hopes, and without any probability of our employing thefe bleffings to the good purposes for which they were intended-I mean, the advancement of his glory, and the falvation of our own fouls. "Be ye therefore merciful, as your heavenly Father alfo is merciful;" even to objects,

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that may, perhaps, prove unworthy of your bounty, and never anfwer the defign of it. And yet this I must say, in behalf of several of those ways of well doing which are now recommended to you, that they are, of all others, most likely to attain their end, and to bring forth fruit; Thofe, I more particularly mean, which relate to the education of poor children. For the force of education is fo great, that, by the means of it, we may mould the minds and manners of the young into what fhape, what form almost we pleafe; and give them the impreffions of fuch habits, as fhall ever afterwards remain: And therefore in the promoting of this fort of charity, we act under the pleafin view, and indeed under the utmost affurance, of fuccefs; if a due care be but taken by those, who have the conduct of our bounty. And it is a certain proof, that fuch a care hath always been taken by the worthy governors of these, and the rest of the city-charities; that they have thriven and profpered gradually from their infancy down to this very day: As they could never have done, if the integrity, and prudence, and Godly zeal of those, by whom they were adminiftred, had not been as confpicuous all along, as the excellence and usefulness of the charities themfelves. To this wife management it is owing, that the stream of beneficence, which at first was not great, hath, by feveral rivulets, which have fince fallen into it in its own course, wonderfully enlarged its current, and grown wider and deeper ftill, the further it hath flowed. Even to this day there are not wanting fome, who, truck with the beauty and usefulness of these U 2 charities,

charities, and obferving the care and fidelity with which they are directed, break through all the difficulties and obftructions that now lie in the way towards advancing them. Notwithstanding the general decay of traffic, and the growing weight of taxes, and the many rival-charities which have been lately erected; notwithstanding an univerfal diffolution of manners under which we groan; notwithstanding the prevalence of infidelity and prophanenefs, and of that irreligious fcorn with which good men and good deligns are now publickly treated; yet ftill, I fay, there are fome, who pleafe themfelves in patronifing and encouraging thefe ufeful defigns, and in rendring them every day more useful and more, amiable. May God continue the zeal of fuch perfons, and increase their number!

It will, I am perfuaded, conduce to this end, to have a true account of the prefent state and wants of the feveral foundations of charity, bclonging to this city, now laid before you.

[Here the REPORT was read.].

You have heard, what the prefent condition and exigencies of thefe feveral charities are; and I doubt not but you are difpofed and refolved, according to your feveral abilities, to do fomewhat. towards the fupply of them. Your own merciful temper, and the application I have already made of what has been offered under each particular head of difcourfe, might render a folemn and formed exhortation needlefs. You are thoroughly acquainted with the extenfive nature and influence

of

of thofe admirable defigns, and poffeft with a true fenfe of their beauty and usefulness: You have a near and daily experience of the uprightness, wifdom, and frugality with which they are conducted; the pityable perfons, relieved in these feveral ways, are conftantly under your eye and obfervation; and therefore I do, in their behalf, appeal to your own knowledge and very fenfes, which perfuade more powerfully than any arguments: If the moving objects themfelves, with which you familiarly converfe, be not cloquent enough to raise compaffion, mere words, I fear, will fcarce be effectual. However for the fake of thofe who have not fuch affecting opportunities, and yet may be well-inclined to works of mercy; fomewhat I fhall fay of the several inftances of charity, to which the report (now read to you) refers.

There is a variety in the tempers even of good men, with relation to the different impreffions they receive from different objects of charity.. Some perfons are more eafily and fenfibly touched. by one fort of objects, and fome by another: But there is no man, who, in the variety of charities now propofed, may not meet with that which is beft fuited to his inclination, and which of all others he would most defire to promote and cherish. For here are the wants of grown men and children; of the foldier, the feaman, and the artificer; of the difeafed, the maimed, and the wounded; of diftracted perfons and condemned criminals; of sturdy wandring beggars and loofe diforderly livers; nay, of thofe who counterfeit wants of all kinds, while they really

want

SERM. VII. want nothing but due correction and hard labour; at one view reprefented to you. And furely, fcarce any man, who hath an heart capable of tenderness, can "come and look on" all these fad fpectacles at once; and then "pafs by on the "other tide," without extending a merciful hand to relieve any of them.

Some may delight in building for the ufe of the poor; others in feeding and cloathing them, and in taking care that manual arts be taught them: Some, in providing phyfic, difcipline, or exercise for their bodies; Others in procuring the improvement of their minds by useful knowledge Some may please themselves in redreffing the mischiefs occafioned by the wicked poor; Others, in preventing those mischiefs, by securing the innocence of children, and by imparting to them the invaluable bleffing of a virtuous and pious education: Finally, Some may place their chief fatisfaction in giving fecretly what is to be diftributed: Others, in being the open and avowed inftruments of making and inspecting fuch diftributions. And whoever is particularly dif pofed to any one or more of thefe methods of beneficence may, I fay, within the compass of thofe different fchemes of charity, which have been proposed, find room enough to exercise his Chriftian compaffion. To go over them particularly-

Haft thou been educated in the fear of God, and a ftrict practice of virtue? was thy tender age fenced and guarded every way from infection by the care of wife parents and masters? and fhall not a grateful relish of thy own great felicity, in that

respect,

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