Brethren, let me, in conclusion, entreat you,
1. To merit this commendation —
[Verily, if the Christian world at large were addressed in such terms as these, it would be as keen a satire as the most
malignant infidel could utter But I must say, that if
you answer not, in some measure at least, to this character, you have no just title to the Christian name: you resemble those rather in the Church of Philadelphia, " who said that they were Jews, but did liei." " He who is a Jew in deed, must be a Jew imvardly; and have the circumcision, not of the flesh only, but of the Spirit also ; the praise of which is not of men, but of God'."]
2. To fulfil this duty—
[Need I say, that charity brings with it its own reward ? You may conceive that the indigent and distressed are greatly comforted by the seasonable relief that is administered to them : but this I tell you with confidence, that they who on Christian principles administer to their relief, are the happier of the two : for we have authority to declare, and it was a favourite saying of our Lord, that " it is more blessed to give than to receive."]
q Rev. iii. 9. "^ Rom. ii. 28, 29.
2 Cor. viii. 9. Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christy that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might he rich.
THE excellence of Christianity with respect to the mysteries it reveals, and the precepts it inculcates, is generally acknowledged ; but few see it with respect to the motives by which it enforces the performance of our duty. But in this last respect it differs as widely from all other religions as in either of the former; and claims an undoubted superiority over all the dogmas of philosophy, and over Judaism itself. The love of Christ in dying for us is not merely pro- posed as a tenet to be believed, but is urged as the most powerful, and indeed the only effectual, argu- ment for the quickening of us to an universal and