Secondly, I fhall reprefent the Practicablenefs of it, by fhewing the feveral Ways which every Perfon (though in the meaneft Circumftances) is capable of doing Good.

Thirdly, I fhall make Two or Three Inferences, by way of Application.

I begin with the first Thing, feriously to recommend the Practice of doing Good.

But where fhall I begin to speak, either of the Obligations that lie upon us, or of the Benefits and Advantages that do accrue to us by doing good in our Lives? Or having begun, where fhall I make an end? The Subject is fo copious, that the Study of a whole Life cannot exhauft it. The more we confider it, ftill the more and the weightier Arguments will present themselves to us, to engage us in the Practice of it; and the more we practise it, ftill the more fhall we defire fo to do, and the more happy and blessed shall we find ourfelves to be.

"

For, to do good, is nothing elfe but to act according to the Frame and Make of our Beings. It is to gratify thofe Inclinations and Appetites that are moft ftrongly rooted in our Natures; fuch as Love and natural Affection, Pity and Compaffion, a Defire of Friends, and a Propensity to knot ourselves into Companies and Societies. What are all these but fo many Stimuli, fo many powerful Incite-, ments of Nature to put us upon doing good Offices one to another?

To

To do Good is the End of all thofe Acquifitions, of all thofe Talents, of all thofe Favours and Advantages that God hath blefs'd us with; it is the proper Ufe we are to put them to. If we do not employ them this way, we are fo far from being better for them, that we are much worse. What will fignify our Wit and good Humour, our Strength of Reafon and Memory, our Wifdom and Knowledge, our Skill in Arts, and Dexterity in managing Business, our Wealth and Greatness, our Reputation and Intereft in the World; I fay, what will all these fignify if they do not render us more useful and beneficial to others? That which fets the Price and Value upon every worldly Bleffing, is the Opportunity it affords us of doing Good

To do Good, feems to be the Foundation of all the Laws of Nature, the fupreme univerfal Law; it is that by which the World is fupported; and take that away, all would prefently fall into Confufion. And perhaps, if it were particularly examin'd, it would be found, that all the other natural Laws may be reduced to this, and are ultimately to be refolv'd into it. It is a Question, whether there be any natural Standard, whereby we can measure the Virtue or the Vicioufness of any Action, but the Influence that it hath to promote or hinder the doing of Good? This is That, that feems to ftamp Virtue and Vice.

To do Good, is the great Work, for the Sake of which we were fent into the World, and no Man lives farther to any purpose, than as

he

he is an Inftrument of doing good. Be our Lives otherwife never fo bufie and full of Action, yet if others receive no Benefit by them, we cannot give ourfelyes any tolerable Account of our Time, we have in effect liv'd idly, and done nothing.

To do Good, is that which of all other Services is most acceptable to God: It is that which he hath laid the greatest Stress upon in the Scriptures; it is that which he hath, with the most earneft and affectionate Perfuafives, with the ftrongest Arguments, with the greateft Promises, and with the most dreadful Threatnings, enforc'd upon us; it is that which he hath chofen before all Sacrifices and all Religious Worship, ftrictly fo called, to be ferv'd with; it is that which he hath appointed for the great Expreffion both of our Thankfulness for his Benefits, and of our Love and Devotion to him: Laftly, it is that which Mofes and the Prophets make the Sum of the old Law, and Chrift and his Apostles the Sum of the New.

And very great Reason there is for it; for to do Good, is to become most like to God. It is that which of all other Qualities gives us the Refemblance of his Nature and Per1Joh.4.8. fections; for perfect Love and Goodness is the very Nature of God, and the Root of all his other Attributes; and there was never any Action done, any Work wrought by him, throughout the vaft Tracks of infinite Space, from the Beginning of Time to this Moment, but was an Expreffion of his Love, and an In

ftance

ftance of doing Good, (nay, I doubt not to fay, the most severe Acts of his Juftice and Vengeance have all been fuch.) And therefore with great Reafon hath our Bleffed Lord. told us, that the Way to become the Children of our Heavenly Father, is to do good to all, with the fame Freedom and Unrefervedness that God makes his Sun to fhine upon the World.

And of this our Bleffed Saviour himself was the most illuftrious Example that ever appeared in the World; fo that to do Good, is that which doth most truly and perfectly render us the Disciples and Followers of Jefus, makes us really be what we pretend we are. His whole Life (as the Gofpel tells us) was but a continual going about doing Good. The great Defign of his coming from Heaven, and of all that he spoke, and of all that he did, and of all that he suffer'd upon Earth, was the benefitting of others. And he hath left it

Mat. 5.

44, 45

34. 35.

as the great distinguishing Badge and Character whereby his Difciples fhould be known from other Men, that they fhould love one another, John 13. even as he had loved them, that is, (as his Apoftle expounds them) they fhould love and do good to that Degree, as to lay down their Lives for their Brethren.

But to do Good, is not only our greatest Duty, but our greatest Intereft and Advantage, which is that that Solomon chiefly refers to in the Text. It is certain that no Man can take a more effectual way to render his Being in the World happy and comfortable to him

(accord

John 3.

16.

(according to the ordinary Course and Event of Things) in what Condition or Circumftances foever he is placed, than to do all the Good he can in his Life; fo that though a Man that lays out himself in this way, feems only to refpect the Good of other People, yet in true reckoning he moft confults his own Profit.

For to do Good, is the natural Way to raise us Friends, who fhall be oblig'd to contribute their Endeavours to the furthering our honeft Defigns; to the upholding and fecuring us in our Profperity, and to the fuccouring and relieving us when we are in any evil Circumftances. Such is the Contrivance and the Conftitution of this World, that no Man can fubfift of himself, but ftands in continual need of others, both for their comfortable Society, and their neceffary Affiftance in his Affairs. Now of all Men living, the good Man, who maketh it his Bufinefs to oblige all about him, is moft likely to be the best befriended.

To do Good, is the trucft Way to procure to a Man's felf a good Name and Reputation in the World; which as it is a Thing defireable upon many Accounts, fo it is a fingular Advantage to a Man for the carrying on his fecular Defigns. Nay, to do Good, is to embalm a Man's Name, and to tranfmit it with a Prov. 10. grateful Odour to Pofterity. The Memory of a good Man fhall be bleffed. And the Senfe of Mankind has always been, that too much. Honour could not be given to the Name of

7.

thofe