Eccl. xi. L Cast thy bread tipon the waters : for thou shalt find
it after many days.
WHILST, in the purity of its precepts, the inspired volume exceeds all other books upon the face of the earth, it excels all other compositions in the variety
and richness of the images under which it exhibits our duty and urges the performance of it. The image under which hberahty is here inculcated is well understood in countries where the heat of the climate, uniting with periodical inundations, enables the hus- bandman to proceed in a mode of agriculture unknown ro us in the colder regions of the globe. In Egypt, for instance, where the Nile overflows the country periodically to a vast extent, it is common for men to cast their seed, their rice especially, upon the waters, whilst yet they are at a considerable depth. This might seem to be folly in the extreme : but experience proves, that, instead of losing their seed, they find it again, after many days, rising into an abundant crop. Such shall be the return which we also shall find to our efforts, if we exert ourselves,
I. For the relief of men's bodily wants —
Liberality to the poor is strongly insisted on in the Holy Scriptures. It is inculcated,
1. In a way of precept —
[Exceedingly clear and strong were the injunctions which
Grod gave on this subject to his people of old* So,
vinder the New Testament dispensation, we are enjoined to " labour with our own hands ;" and to " lay by us weekly, in proportion as God has prospered us," for the jmrjoose of re- lieving others^ Nay, so obvious is this duty, that the
man who lives not in the practice of it must be an utter stranger to the love of God in his soul*^: for " if he love not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen"^?"]
2. In a way of example —
[The good Samaritan shews us how we ought to exercise generosity, even towards those who, by reason of particular differences and distinctions, may appear to be most remote from us®. The widow, in giving her mite, which was all that she possessed, might be thought to have acted a very wild and extravagant part, especially when she gave it for a purpose to which it could bear no proportion, namely, the repairing of the temple : yet is that commended to us, by our Lord himself,
* See Deut. xv. 7 — 11. and cite the whole, b Eph. iv. 28. 1 Cor, xvi. 2. « 1 John iii. 17.
^ 1 John iv. 20. e Luke x. 33—37.