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here we must remember, that acts of beneficence to the poor are not things indifferent, which are left to the option of the individual, either to do, or to leave undone. They are claimed by the Lord, as a debt due to himself, for the blessings he has already conferred upon us. For thus he commands every true Israelite:-If thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee, then thou shalt relieve him; yea, though he be a stranger or a sojourner; that he may live with thee. Take thou no money of him, or increase but FEAR THY GOD; that thy brother may live with thee. Thou shalt not give him thy money upon usury, nor lend him thy victuals for increase. I am the Lord your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God. (Lev. xxv. 35-38.) As much as if the Almighty had said-I found you in poverty and in bondage; from these I freely re lieved you, and bestowed upon you a fruit ful land, and all the blessings of prosperity. In return for these favours, I claim your beneficence to the poor and distressed, whom I take under my own protection:

in relieving them, ye will honour me. Hence it is said by the wise king of IsraelHe that oppresseth the poor, reproacheth his Maker; but he that honoureth him, hath mercy on the poor. (Prov. xiv. 31.) And the Lord himself has declared-Them that I will honour; and they that shall be lightly esteemed. (1 Sam.

honour me, despise me,

ii. 30.)

But, because the nature of man is such that he cannot be, at all times, steadily attached to his duty by the recollection of past favours, we are further assured that beneficence to the poor is the requisite condition upon which we are encouraged to hope for the future blessing of God, upon all our worldly affairs. Thus it was, at the establishment of the church of Israel:-If there be among you a poor man, of one of thy brethren, within any of thy gates in thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother; but thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him.-Thou shalt surely give him; and thine heart shall not grieve when thou givest unto him: because that, FOR THIS THING THE LORD THY

GOD WILL BLESS THEE IN ALL THY WORKs, AND IN ALL THAT THOU PUTTEST THINE

HAND UNTO. This blessing we shall always have the opportunity of procuring: for, as it follows-The poor shall never cease out of the land; therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, thy poor, and thy needy, in thy land. (Deut. xv. 7-11.) And, in recollection of this promise, Solomon hath declared-He that hath pity upon the poor, lendeth unto the Lord: and that which he hath given will he pay him again. (Prov. xix. 17.)-He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed : for he giveth of his bread to the poor. (Prov. xxii. 9.)-And-He that giveth to the poor shall not lack. (Prov. xxviii. 27.) This promise of reward, even in the present state, is confirmed by our blessed Lord; who has also directed, that our acts of charity should not be performed with vain ostentation. When thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth that thine alms may be in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, himself shall reward thee openly. (Matt. vi. 3, 4.) Nor need any one to be discouraged from

aspiring after this heavenly recompense; since the same divine teacher has placed it within the reach of the most humble amongst us; having declared that, Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only, in the name of a disciple, shall in nowise lose his reward. (Matt. x. 42.)

The duties of religion advance in their importance, and enforce their claim to our attention, in proportion to the greatness of the reward annexed to their performance, as well as to their salutary effects upon human society. And our acts of kindness to the poor have the promise of a glorious reward, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come.

Our Lord, in describing the awful pro cess of that great day when the Son of Man shall come in his glory with his holy angels, and all nations shall be gathered before him to judgment, addresses his true followers in these gracious words :-Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you, from the foundation of the world: for I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat ; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was

a stranger, and ye ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited

took me in; naked, and

me; I was in prison, (Matt. xxv. 34-36.)

and ye came unto me. Christ had not, per

sonally, received these charitable attentions at the hands of the just; but he explains his own meaning:-Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Such is the recompense of beneficence to the poor and distressed. Let him who feels no ambition to merit this reward, by the seasonable boon of charity, open the Gospel in an hour of retirement, and seriously peruse the re mainder of this solemn passage.

To most of the duties here specified, the Christians of this land have manifested a laudable regard. They have fed the hungry, clothed the naked, and visited the sick and the prisoner. But one important duty still remains:multitudes of our poor brethren are, hitherto, strangers in the house of God, and we have not taken them in. Nor is their absence from the throne of grace to be wholly imputed to their own neglect :—we have not provided room for them,

This, surely, was not the intention of OUF

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