withhold this, is to withhold more than is proper. Sirs, you know the tendency of this. Long before the Mosaic dispensation of the law, we find that this was Jacob's vow: "The Lord shall be my God, and of all that thou shalt give me, I will surely give the tenth unto thee." It seems we do not sufficiently declare that "the Lord is our God," if we do not give a tenth to him. we approve ourselves "Israelites slight such an example as that Jacob. I will ascend a little higher. In one text we read that our father Abraham,

And how can indeed,” if we

of our father

gave Melchisedek the tenth of all." In another text we read of our Saviour Jesus, "Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedek." From hence I form this conclusion: the rights of Melchisedek belong to our Jesus, the royal high priest now officiating for us in the heavens. The tenths were the rights of Melchisedek; therefore the tenths belong to our Jesus. I do in my conscience believe that this argument cannot be answered; and the man who attempts it, seems to darken the evidence of his being one of the true children of Abraham.

I now renew my appeal to the light of nature: to nature thou shalt go; It is very certain that the Pagans used to decimate for sacred uses. Pliny tells us, that the Arabians did so. Xenophon in"forms us, that the Grecians had the same practice. You find the custom to be as ancient as the pen of Herodotus can make it. It is confirmed by Pausanias and Diodorus Siculus, and a whole army of authors besides Doughty, have related and asserted it. I will only introduce Festus, to speak for them all:" Decima quæque veteres Diis suis

66

offerebant."* Christian, wilt thou do less for thy God than the poor perishing Pagans did for theirs?" O, tell it not"-but this I will tell; that they who have conscientiously employed their tenths in pious uses, have usually been remarkably blessed in their estates, by the providence of God. The blessing has been sometimes delayed, with some trial of their patience: Not for any injustice in their hands; their prayer has been pure." And their belief of the future state has been sometimes tried, by their meeting with losses and disappointments. But then, their little has been so blessed as to be still a competency; and God has so favoured them with contentment, that it has yielded more than the abundance of many others. Very frequently too, they have been rewarded with remarkable success in their affairs, and increase of their property; and even in this world have seen the fulfilment of those promises; "Cast thy grain into the moist ground, and thou shalt find it after many days." "Honour the Lord with thy substance; so shall thy barns be filled with plenty." History has given us many delightful examples of those who have had their decimations followed and rewarded by a surprising prosperity of their affairs. Obscure mechanics and husbandmen have risen to estates, of which once they had not the most distant expectation. The excellent Gouge, in his treatise, entitled, "The surest and safest way of thriving," has collected some such examples. The Jewish proverb, " Decima, ut dives fias; Tithe, and be rich," would 'be oftener verified, if more frequently practised.

* The ancients offered to their gods the tenth of every thing.

"Prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not pour out a blessing upon you."

But let the demand of "liberal things" grow upon you: a tenth I have called the least; for some it is much too little. Men of large incomes, who would not" sow to their flesh, and of the flesh reap corruption," may and will often go beyond this proportion. Some rise to a fifth; and the religious Countess of Warwick would not stop at any thing short of a third. Gentlemen of fortune, who are my readers, would perhaps excuse me if I were to carry them no higher than this, and to say nothing to them of a Johannes Eleemosynarius, who annually made a distribution of all to pious uses; and having settled his affairs, said, "I bless God that I have now nothing left but my Lord and Master, Christ, whom I long to be with, and to whom I can now fly with unentangled wings." Yet I will mention to them the example of some eminent merchants, who, having obtained moderate and competent estates, have resolved never to be richer. They have carried on brisk and extensive trades, but whatever profits raised their incomes above the fixed sum, they have entirely devoted to pious uses. Were any of them losers by this conduct?

Not one.

II. was famous

The Christian emperor Tiberius for his religious bounties: his empress thought him even profuse in them. But he told her that he should never want money so long as, in obedience to a glorious Christ, he should supply the necessities of the poor, and abound in religious benevolence. Once, immediately after he had made a liberal distribution, he unexpectedly found a mighty treasure, and at the same time tidings

were brought to him, of the death of a very rich man who had bequeathed to him all his wealth. And men in far humbler stations can relate very many and interesting anecdotes of this nature, even from their own happy experience. I cannot forbear transcribing some lines of my honoured Gouge on this occasion :

"I am verily persuaded that there is scarcely any man who gives to the poor proportionably to what God has bestowed on him; but, if he observe the dealings of God's providence towards him, will find the same doubled and redoubled upon him in temporal blessings. I dare challenge all the world to produce one instance, (or at least any considerable number of instances,) of a merciful man, whose charity has undone him. On the contrary, as the more living wells are exhausted, the more freely they spring and flow; so the substance of charitable men frequently multiplies in the very distribution: even as the five loaves and few fishes multiplied, while being broken and distributed, and as the widow's oil increased by being poured out."

I will add a consideration which, methinks, will act as a powerful motive upon the common feelings of human nature. Let rich men, who are not" rich towards God," especially such as have no children of their own to make their heirs, consider the vile ingratitude with which their successors will treat them. Sirs, they will hardly allow you a tombstone; but wallowing in the wealth you have left them, and complaining that you left it no sooner, they will insult your memory and ridicule your economy and parsimony. How much wiser would it be for you to do good with

your estates while you live, and at your death to dispose of them in a manner which may embalm your names to posterity, and be for your advantage in the world to which you are going. That your souls may enjoy the good of paradisaical reflections, at the same time that others are inheriting what you have left to them.

I will only annex the compliment of a certain person to his friend, upon his accession to an estate: "Much good may it do you; that is, much good may you do with it.”

I hope we are now ready for Proposals; and that we shall set ourselves to "devise liberal things."

Gentlemen! To relieve the necessities of the poor is a thing acceptable to the compassionate God, who has given to you what he might have given to them, and has given it to you that you might have the honour and pleasure of imparting it to them; and who has said, "He that hath pity upon the poor, lendeth unto the Lord." The more you regard the command and example of a glorious Christ in what you do this way, the more assurance you have that in the day of God you shall joyfully hear him saying, "You have done it unto me." And the more humble, silent, reserved modesty you express, concealing even from the left hand what is done with the right, the more you are assured of a great reward in the heavenly world. Such liberal men, it is observed, are generally long-lived men; ("fructus liberat arborem;"*) and at last they pass from this into everlasting life.

Gathering the fruit relieves the tree.