the rules of our church, to be admitted to the Sacrament till "he hath forgiven from the bottom of his heart all that his enemy hath trespassed against him, and hath made amends for that he himself hath offended." In her exhortation to the Sacrament she particularly forbids those to receive it" who are in malice or envy," and directs them, that " before they presume to eat of this bread and drink of this cup, they would reconcile themselves to their neighbours, be ready to make restitution and satisfaction according to the uttermost of their powers, for all injuries and wrongs done by them to any other; and be ready likewise to forgive others that have offended them, as they would have forgiveness of their offences at God's hand." Without such a disposition and preparation of mind, "the receiving of the holy Sacrament," she assures them, "does nothing else but increase their damnation." Those only who " are in love and charity with their neighbours" are encouraged by her to "draw near with faith, and take the holy Sacrament to their comfort;" and if, therefore, we have any regard for the directions, the authority, the commands of our church, we must conclude, that we cannot be good communicants, except, in the words of my text, we who love God love our brother also.

What hath been said upon this subject hath been so plain and practical, that no further application need be made of it; no other considerations are, we trust, necessary to recommend it to your practice. Let us therefore, if we would approve ourselves sincere Christians. and worthy communicants; if we would obey the commands and worthily remember the love of Christ, be careful to abound, to increase, to persevere in love to one another. And do thou, O God, "who hast taught us, that all our doings without charity are nothing

worth, send thy holy Spirit, and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of charity, the very bond of peace and of all virtues, without which whosoever liveth is counted dead before thee. Grant this for thy only Son Jesus Christ's sake."

SERMON XXXII.

PREACHED BEFORE THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
THE LORD MAYOR, &c.

LUKE XIV. 14.

And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just. THESE words were uttered by our blessed Saviour whilst he was a guest at the table of one of the chief Luke xiv.1. Pharisees. From what he had observed concerning the behaviour of those who were bidden, and of him who was the entertainer, he took an occasion to give proper advice to such who should be invited, and to such as should invite, to these festival entertainments. In the guests he took notice of an affected desire of preeminence, and to these he recommends a modest humility: in the entertainer he seems to have discovered a selfish design of making his court, and serving his own interest, under a false colour of friendship and hospitality; and to him therefore he prescribes a generous and disinterested bounty. He shows both to the guests and to the entertainer their great mistake in the pursuit of those several ends which they proposed to themselves, and proves to them, that by those very means which they took to compass their ends they were defeated of the designs they had formed, and that the best way to attain what they aimed at would be to use directly contrary methods. SMALRIDGE, VOL. II.

C

Luke xiv. 7-11.

Honour was the aim of the guests, and interest was the scope of the inviter; but the former, by an irregular pursuit of honour, met with disgrace; and the latter, by a wrong calculation of the advantage which he proposed, did the greatest prejudice to his own true in

terest.

He put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them, When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him; and he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee. For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. The proud and vainglorious man pursues an empty shadow, which, for that very reason because he pursues it, it is certain he shall never be able to overtake: but the modest and humble person hath the only true secret of gaining honour, which is sure to follow those who take the most care to run away from it.

Our Saviour having thus instructed the guests in the doctrine of humility, as the most proper method of arriving at true glory, doth in the next place address himself to him who bade him, in this manner: Luke xiv. When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompense be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: and thou

12-14.

shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just. Where interest is the principal aim of a man's actions, there, if he will be true to himself, he ought to pursue the greatest and most lasting interest: since therefore the inviter aimed at a recompense for his entertainment, he was mistaken in the choice of his guests; and, out of a foolish desire of a small advantage in hand, excluded himself from the hopes of a much greater reward in reversion.

Now, as the humility which our Saviour prescribes in the former case is not to be confined to our modest and decent behaviour when we are invited to a feast, but is to be extended to all other occasions of exercising this virtue, which is not here taught us as a piece of good-breeding, but as a necessary Christian grace; so, in like manner, the disinterestedness which our Saviour here enjoins is not to be restrained to the particular case of festival entertainments, but must reach to all other offices of humanity, lovingkindness, and beneficence towards each other. So that the doctrine here taught by our Saviour, when abstracted from that particular occasion upon which it was delivered, and applied to other cases of the like nature with it, and to which it is by parity of reason equally applicable, doth plainly amount to this, that we should not confine our offices of courtesy, friendship, or charity to those only from whom we may expect a return of the like good office; that we should be bountiful, generous, and merciful to those from whom we do not look for a repayment either in kind or value; that we should not, after a mercenary and selfish manner, so conduct our bounty, as it may best turn to account in the advancement of our temporal interest, but that we should so order and manage it as