So that, whether we consider our fortune as a trust from God, or the _great good_ it enables us to do, or the great harm that it does to ourselves, if idly spent; on all these accounts it is absolutely necessary to make reason and religion the strict rule of using all our fortune.
15. Every exhortation in scripture to satisfy only such wants as God would have satisfied; every exhortation to be spiritual and heavenly, pressing after a glorious change of our nature; every exhortation to love our neighbours as ourselves, is a command to be _strictly religious_ in the use of our money. This use of our worldly goods, is so much the doctrine of the New Testament, that you cannot read a chapter without being taught something of it. I shall only produce one passage of scripture, which is sufficient to justify all that I have said.
_When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all his holy angels with him, then he shall sit upon the throne of his glory. And before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats; and he shall set the sheep on his right-hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right-hand, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked and ye cloathed me: I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall he say unto them on the left-hand, Depart from me ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry, and ye gave me no meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in; naked, and ye cloathed me not; sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. These shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal._
16. I have quoted this passage at length, because if one looks at the way of the world, one would hardly think Christians had ever read this scripture.
Some people look upon this text only as a general recommendation of _occasional_ works of _charity_; whereas it shews the necessity, not only of occasional charities, but of such an _entire charitable life_, as is a continual exercise of all such works of charity as we are able to perform.
You own that there is no salvation but in the performance of these good works. Who is it, therefore, that may be said to have performed these good works? Is it he that has _sometime_ assisted a _prisoner_, or relieved the poor or sick? This would be as absurd as to say, that he had performed the duties of _devotion_, who had sometime said his prayers. Is it, therefore, he that has _several times_ done these works of charity? This can no more be said, than he can be said to be the truly _just_ man, who had done acts of justice _several times_. What is the rule therefore, or measure, of performing these good works?
Now the rule is very _plain_ and _easy_, and such as is _common_ to every other _virtue_, as well as to charity. Who is the humble, or meek, or just, or faithful man? Is it he that has _several times_ done acts of humility, meekness, justice, or fidelity? No; but it is he that lives in the _habitual exercise_ of these virtues. In like manner, he only can be said to have performed those works of charity, who lives in the _habitual exercise_ of them to the utmost of his power. He only has performed the duty of divine love, who loves God with all his heart, and _mind_, and _strength_. And he only has performed the duty of these good works, who has done them with all his heart, and mind, and strength. For there is no other measure of our doing good, than our power of doing it.
17. The apostle _Peter_ puts this question to our blessed Saviour, _Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him, till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee until seven times, but until seventy times seven._ Not as if after this number of offences, a man might then cease to forgive; but the expression is to shew us, that we are not to bound our forgiveness by _any number_ of offences, but are to _continue_ forgiving the most repeated offences against us. If therefore a man ceases to forgive his brother, because he has forgiven him _often_ already: if he excuses himself from forgiving this man, because he has forgiven _several others_, such a one breaks this law of Christ, concerning the forgiving one’s brother.