1. A Deliverance out of Trouble is promised, Ifa. lviii. 10. If thou draw out thy Soul to the Hungry, and fatisfy the afflicted Soul; then shall thy Light rife in Obfcurity: That is, thy Adversity shall be turned into Profperity; and the Lord (hall guide thee continually, and fatisfy thy Soul in Drought, and make fat thy Bones, and thou shalt be like a watered Garden, and like a Spring of Water, whofe Waters fail not. And Pfal. cxii. 4. Unto the Upright there arifeth Light in the Darkness: And to fhew what he means there by the Upright, it follows immediately; He is gracious, and full of Compaffion, and righteous. And Pfal. xli. 1. Blessed is he that confidereth the Poor, the Lord will deliver him in Time of Trouble.

2. God's Bleffing and Success is promised to all his Labours and Undertakings, Deut. xv. 7, 10. 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 thy Heart, nor fhut thine Hand from thy poor Brother. And Ver. 10. Thou fhalt Jurely give bim, and thine Heart shall not be grieved, when thou giveft unto him: Because that for this thing the Lord thy God fhall bless thee in all thy Works, and in all that thou putteft thine Hand unto.

3. The ftaving off of Troubles, and lengthening of our Tranquillity, is another Fruit of Mercy and Charity; and therefore the Prophet Daniel thus advises King Nebuchadnezzar, at that Time threatened with great Calamities, Dan. iv. 27. Wherefore, O King, let my Counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy Sins by Righteousness, and thine Iniquities by fhewing Mercy to the Poor, if it may be a lengthening of thy Tranquillity.

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4. Plenty

4. Plenty is likewife promised to the Merciful. He that gives to the Poor, faith Solomon, shall not lack, Prov. xxviii. 27. He that hath Pity upon the Poor, lendeth unto the Lord; and that which be bath given, will be pay him again, Prov. xix. 17. The liberal Soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth fhall be watered also himself, Prov. xi. 25. And Prov. iii. 9. Honour the Lord with thy Subftance, and with the first Fruits of all thine Increafe: So fhall thy Barns be filled with Plenty, and thy Preffes fhall burst out with new Wine.

5. Honour is likewife promifed him, Pfal. cxii. 9. He hath difperfed, he hath given to the Poor; his Righteousness endureth for ever; his Horn fhall be exalted with Honour. And in the fame Pfalm it is promised of the fame charitable and righteous Man, that He fhall be had in everlafting Remembrance.

6. Deliverance from Enemies is likewife promised him, Pfal. xli. 2. Speaking of him that confidereth the Poor, The Lord will preferve him, faith the Pfalmift, and keep him alive, and he shall be bleffed upon the Earth, and thou wilt not deliver bim into the Will of his Enemies.

7. God's Comforts are promised him in his Sickness. The Lord will firengthen him upon the Bed of Languishing: Thou wilt make all his Bed in his Sickness: Speaking of the fame charitable Man, Pfal. xli. 3.

8. There is a Bleffing promifed to his Pofterity, Pfal. xxxvii. 26. He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his Seed is bleffed.

9. But, more particularly, the Promise in my Text, in fo far as it relates to these temporal Blesfings, points at the Mercy which merciful Men VOL. I.

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fhall

fhall meet with both from God and Man, whenever they come to be in Diftrefs, and want it : Such as Relief in Poverty and Famine, and Mercy at the Hands of Enemies; God's Providence fo ordering Matters, that merciful Perfons, and merciful States and Communities, are mercifully treated in their Diftreffes and Calamities. And, on the other Hand, unmerciful Persons and Communities are in their Turn treated, by way of Reprifal, with the like Hard-heartedness they fhew to others.

II. So much for external Mercies; the Promife is no less true as to internal ones: Such as, 1. An Openness of Heart, which I take to be a great Bleffing, as well as a great Virtue; for it gives a Man the Enjoyment of what he has of the World: See Eccl. v. 19. Every Man to whom God bath given Riches and Wealth, and hath given him Power to eat thereof, and to take his Portion; and to rejoice in his Labour, this is the Gift of God. Whereas a penurious narrow Spirit, as it deprives others of the Comforts of our Charity, and obftructs all good Offices towards them; fo it deprives ourselves of the Ufe and Benefit of those good Things which we have in our Poffeffion. 2. Another great inward Bleffing attending the merciful Man, is a Contentment and Satisfaction with his own State and Condition; for he who is bountiful to others, is certainly delivered from thofe anxious and follicitous Cares, and from those troublesome, angry, and uneafy Resentments, which attend the covetous, difcontented Wretch 3. The merciful Man is likewife happy in being delivered from the cruel and uneafy Refentments of Revenge, a Paffion, which, of all

other

other, prey's most upon the Perfon in whofe Breaft it refides. 4. The merciful Man has the Pleasure of all his Neighbour's Bleffings as well as his own; that Love and Compaffion which reigns in his Heart toward his Neighbour, giving him a folid and real Satisfaction in the Eafe of their Calamities, as if it were the Eafe of his own. 5. He has likewife the unfpeakable Comfort of a good Confcience in all his Dealings towards his Neighbour, which is like the Bleffing of Health within, occafioning an inward Tranquillity of Mind, which is the most comfortable of all earthly Bleffings. 6. God has exprefly annexed the Promife of Pardon of Sin to this merciful Temper, Mat. vi. 14. If ye forgive Men their Trefpaffes, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. And our Lord has taught us to pray for the Pardon of our Sins, only upon Condition of our pardoning the Trefpaffes committed against us. Forgive us our Trefpaffes, as we forgive them that trespass against us. These are all firft-Rate Bleffings, fuch as are incomparably beyond the external ones. But there is one behind, which even exceeds them, and that is,

III. The Promise and Gift of eternal Life to the Merciful. This is the great Promife, to which it is but Reason that all the reft give Place, and in which they are all eminently fulfilled. Sell that ye bave, faith our Saviour, Luke xii. 33. and give Alms: Provide yourselves Bags which wax not old, a Treafure in the Heavens that faileth not, where no Thief approacheth, neither Moth corrupteth. And again, Chap. xvi. 9. I fay unto you, make to yourselves Friends of the Mammon of Unrighteousness; that when ye fail, they may receive P 2

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you into everlasting Habitations. And the great Promise annexed to that Charge given to the Rich to be charitable, 1 Tim. vi. 17. is this, Laying up in Store for themselves a good Foundation against the Time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal Life. This is that plentiful Harvest which fhall reward the plentiful Sowing. This is the good Measure heaped up, preffed down and running over, which thall be repay'd to the charitable Giver. The fame Reward too is promised to him who is merciful in forgiving, as well as in giving. Condemn not and ye shall not be condemned; forgive and ye shall be forgiven, Luke vi. 37.

From all which, and many more Paffages of Scripture, it is plain, that many Promises of temporal, fpiritual, and eternal Bleffings, are made to the Merciful; but the great Doubt is, concerning the Performance, especially of the temporal Promifes. For, one would think, to weigh the Thing in the Balance of carnal Reason, that one great Part of Mercifulness, I mean Bounty to the Poor, fhould rather impoverish than enrich Men, as withdrawing fo much from the Heap of their earthly Treasure. Yet both Scripture and Experience teach us the quite contrary Doctrine, namely, that Charity doth not impoverish, but fanctifies the reft, and brings God's Bleffing upon all that we have. Like the Widow's Oil, which ftill increased and multiplied, as long as it was poured out; or like living Fountains, which the more they are drawn, the Water flows both more plentifully, and more clear. Perhaps this may be à Mystery in Morals; and why should there not be Mysteries in them, as well as in Matters of Faith? Yet, for removing your Doubts and Scru

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