in the beloved object, it is called the love of complacence. Love of benevolence is that disposition which leads us to have a desire for, or delight in the good of another; and that is the main thing in Christian love, yea the most essential thing in it, and that whereby our love is most of an imitation of the eternal love and grace of God, and of the dying love of Christ which consists in benevolence or goodwill to men, as was sung by the angels at his birth, Luke ii. 14. So that the main thing in Christian love, is good-will, or a spirit to delight in, and seek the good of those who are the objects of that love.

2. The most proper and conclusive evidence that such a principle is real and sincere, is, its being effectual. The proper and conclusive evidence of our wishing or willing to do good to another, is, to do it. In every case, nothing can be plainer, than that the proper and conclusive evidence of the will, is the act; and the act always follows the will, where there is power to act. The proper and conclusive evidence of a man's sincerely desiring the good of another, is his seeking it in his practice :for whatever we truly desire, we do thus seek. The Scriptures, therefore, speak of doing good,

as the proper and full evidence of love; and they often speak of loving in the deed or practice, as being the same thing as loving in truth and reality:-1 John iii. 18, 19: "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth :" "hereby we know that we are of the truth;" i.e. know that we are sincere. And again (James ii. 15, 16): "If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and any of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be you warmed and filled, notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body, what doth it profit?" There is no profit to them; and so there is no evidence of sincerity on your part, and that you really desire that they should be clothed and fed. Sincerity of desire would lead not merely to words, but to the deeds of benevolence. In the application of this subject, in conclusion, we may use it,

1. In the way of reproof.-If a truly Christian spirit disposes persons freely to do good to others, then all those that are of a contrary spirit and practice, may by it be reproved. A malignant and malicious spirit is the very contrary of the former, for it disposes men to

do evil to others, and not good; and so, also, is a close and selfish spirit, whereby men are wholly bent on their own interests, and unwilling in anything to forego their own ends for the sake of others. And they, also, are of a spirit and practice the very opposite of a spirit of love, who show an exorbitantly grasping and avaricious spirit, and who take every opportunity to get all they possibly can from their neighbors in their dealings with them; asking them more for what they do for, or sell to them, than it is truly worth, and extorting to the utmost from them by unreasonable demands; having no regard to value of the thing to their neighbor, but, as it were, forcing out of him all they can get for it. And they who do these things, are generally very selfish, also, in buying from their neighbors, grinding and pinching them down to the lowest prices, and being very backward to give what the thing purchased is really worth. Such a spirit and practice, are the very opposite of a Christian spirit, and are severely reproved by the great law of love, viz.: that we do to others, as we would have them do to us. The subject we have been considering, also,

2. Exhorts all to the duty of freely doing

good to others.-Seeing that this is a Christian duty, and a virtue becoming the gospel, and to which, a Christian spirit, if we possess it, will dispose us, let us seek, as we have opportunity, to do good to the souls and bodies of others, endeavoring to be a blessing to them for time and eternity. Let us, to this end, be willing to do, or give, or suffer, that we may do good alike to friends and enemies, to the evil and the good, to the thankful and the unthankful. Let our benevolence and beneficence be universal, constant, free, habitual, and according to our opportunities and ability; for this is essential to true piety, and required by the commands of God! And here several things are to be considered:

First, What a great honor it is, to be made an instrument of good in the world. When we fill up our lives with doing good, God puts the high honor upon us, of making us a blessing to the world; an honor like that which he put upon Abraham, when he said (Genesis xii. 2), "I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing." The very light of nature teaches, that this is a great honor; and therefore the Eastern kings and governors used to assume to themselves

the title of benefactors, that is "doers of good," as the most honorable they could think of (Luke xxii. 25); and it was a common thing in heathen lands, when those that had done a great deal of good in their life-time were dead, for the people, among whom they dwelt, to reckon them as gods, and build temples to their honor and for their worship. So far as God makes men the instruments of doing good to others, he makes them like the heavenly bodies, the sun and moon and stars, that bless the world by shedding down their light: he makes them like the angels, who are ministering spirits to others for their good: yea, he makes them like himself, the great fountain of all good, who is forever pouring down his blessings on mankind.

Second, Thus freely to do good to others, is but to do to them as we would have them do to us. If others have a hearty good-will to us, and show us a great deal of kindness, and are ready to help us when we stand in need, and for that end are free to do, or give, or suffer for us, and to bear our burdens, and feel for us in our calamities, and are warm-hearted and liberal in all this, we most highly approve of their spirit and conduct. And we not only