the passover with their loins girded, their shoes on their feet, and their staffs in their hands; that is, equipped in all respects as travellers. In the road to heaven we find the Church, which, like an inn, receives all that will come to it, and is open indifferently to people of all nations. The question is never put to any stranger, whether he is Jew or Gentile, Greek or Barbarian, bond or free: these distinctions are of no more account in the Christian Church than at an inn on the highway: all men being accepted, and their wants supplied in this place of accommodation. The master of it, standing before the door, and seeing the weary traveller pass by, calls out to him with the voice of hospitality and mercy-" Come unto me, all ye that travel and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you." In this place, the Samaritan is said to have tarried awhile with his charge, in order to settle things that were necessary toward his perfect recovery. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out twopence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him, and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again I will repay thee." By the host we are here to understand the ministers and rulers of the Church, to whom at his departure Christ committed the care of every returning sinner: and that they may be enabled to supply all their wants, he hath committed to them the Holy Scriptures under the form of the two Testaments, which it is the proper business of the host to expound, enforce, and apply for the support of those who are committed to their charge. The ministers of the Church are stewards of the mysteries of God; who are to keep that safe which is committed to their trust, and not to suffer their people to perish for lack of knowledge. Other duties are indeed required of them, such as mercy, charity, the administration of the sacraments, the power of absolution, in the distribution of which they are to act according to the exigence of particular cases-therefore it is added, "whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again I will repay thee." Our Samaritan then, who when he had made provision for the salvation of man, and committed his Church to the care of his ministers, went into a far country, will once more travel upon the same road, and make his appearance in his Church. The heaven must receive him till the time of the restitution of all things; when, according to his promise, he will come again, to inquire how far the trust hath been fulfilled. In the mean time, every faithful minister of Christ hath the comfort to reflect, that he is not only a steward, but a creditor of the Fountain of mercy and goodness; and be it soon or late, yet the time will certainly come, when "what he hath laid out shall be paid him again." On a review of the parable thus interpreted, some inferences naturally offer themselves. 1. From the condition and circumstances of the miserable object herein described, it appears that no man hath any thing to boast of, in the great work of his salvation. This wounded man doth not find the Samaritan, but the Samaritan finds him. How sensible soever he might be of his own misery, he knew nothing of the person who was able and willing to give him relief: and had he known it ever so perfectly, he was unable to seek after him. It is thus with every Christian: he does not find the Gospel, but the Gospel finds him. He doth not indeed so much as know his own misery, till he is told of it: nor hath he sense to seek for any relief till it is offered to him, and in some cases almost forced upon him against his will. Happy therefore and wise also is he, who submits himself with thankfulness to the mercy of God, for the saving of his own soul; even as this poor traveller committed himself to the hands of the Samaritan for the healing of his wounds. without Many there are who lie in the way of mercy, receiving any benefit. The TRUE SAMARITAN visits them with his institutions, his Scriptures, his sacraments, and would convey them to his Church from all the perils to which they are exposed: but they remain insensible of their misery; either denying that they have any wounds, or endeavouring to bind up and heal them in their own way. There is one sect of Christians in particular, who will have neither oil nor wine from the Saviour of mankind, rejecting both baptism and the supper of the Lord. Others, through sloth and carelessness, will lie bleeding to death, rather than be disturbed with the process of their own deliverance. A man who hath lain abroad in the field, naked and wounded, finds the benefit of an inn, and is sensible of the change: while they who are born and brought up from their childhood under the advantages of the Gospel, sink into stupidity, and become as indifferent to the means of grace, and all the mysteries of divine mercy, as if there were no such things to be heard of upon earth. O fools, and blind! do men ever behave in this senseless manner with respect to their bodily wounds? A man will give all that he hath for the saving of his life, while he neglects to have his soul saved, though it might be saved for nothing. This corporeal pain is felt and understood: while the misery of a soul wounded by the Devil, is never felt, or never complained of. It appears, secondly, that works of mercy are required of every follower of Christ for nothing can be plainer than the admonition which directs us to follow the example of this Samaritan. He who refuses this upon any consideration, conducts himself as if he were no neighbour to his fellow-creatures, nor they to him; but keeps himself in a lofty abstracted state, like that hateful tribe of Pharisees and hypocrites, whose felicity seemed to consist in a contempt for other men: and he who misunderstands this great duty toward his neighbour, which comprehends one half of the divine law, will have but a partial title to the inheritance of eternal life: like that narrow-minded teacher of the law to whom this parable was directed, and whose principles were condemned out of his own mouth. Lastly and chiefly, we are hence to learn the motive and source from which all our works of mercy are to be derived. The faith which receives the Christian redemption, and the gratitude which that faith will inspire, should lead us to the practice of goodness and mercy toward all mankind, as well as to those who are of the household of faith. Christ hath here proposed his own example to us, and we are to have compassion upon others, even our very enemies, as he had compassion upon us in the same state. Grant, therefore, O blessed Lord, that thy people may know how to value and imitate thy example, how meanly soever their spirit and their practice may be esteemed by a proud and mistaken world. Above all, grant that the ministers and stewards of thy mysteries, to whom thou hast committed the inestimable means of grace in thy Church, may not pass by, like the unprofitable Priest and Levite, but carry on that great work, which thou thyself didst descend from heaven to begin amongst us. As thou hast shewed thyself a neighbour to him that fell among thieves, let them go and do likewise. SERMON III. YE HAVE THE POOR WITH YOU ALWAYS, AND WH HEN we inquire into the economy either of the natural or the moral world, we are anxious to account for the origin of evil; so in the political world, a like question may be raised concerning the origin of poverty; how it comes to pass, that, as the text asserts, "we have the poor with us always?" Why could not all men have been born in the same station, and lived together on terms of equality, like the oaks of the forest, or the lilies of the field, or the cattle which feed upon a thousand hills? When we see but a little way into the constitution of things, we may perplex and distress ourselves with such questions: but when we see farther, we shall discover, that the general form and condition of society in civilized states, is as much the appointment of God, as the form and structure of the human body; and that the several orders of which it consists, are as necessary and useful to each other, and as fully display the wisdom of God, as the head of all government, and the author of all regularity; as the limbs, and members, and faculties of the body demonstrate his power and goodness as the Creator of the world. Man, without society, would be what the world was in its chaos, when it was dark, and void, and formless: and He who brought it out of that state, and divided the lights of the firmament, the clouds, the air, the waters of the ocean, and fixed the body of the earth, into their several distinct regions; hath with equal wisdom brought men out of their barbarous state, such as they would be in by nature, to be divided into classes, offices, and employments; each in due subordination, and all serviceable to one another; for there is no plan of God's establishing, in which all the parts do not work together for the good of the whole. Two societies were certainly formed under God's immediate direction, the commonwealth of Israel, and the Christian church; and in neither of these did he set men in a state of equality. The apostle St. Paul enforces a comparison between the body natural and the body ecclesiastical; shewing how God hath tempered all the members together, and that those which "seem to be more feeble" are necessary to the rest. We can all see that the strong are necessary to the weak, 1 Cor. xii. 22. |