Every seventh year the land was to have rest, and what was produced during that year was not to be reaped by the owners; it was to be for the poor, the fatherless, and the widow. And so it was with the vine-yards and the olive-yards; the fruit which they produced every seventh year, was not to be gathered by the owners, but left for the poor, for the fatherless, and the widow. Exod. xxiii. 10, 11. During the other six years, the owners of the soil were not to reap the whole of the produce. Thou shalt not reap the corners of thy fields, saith the Lord, thou shalt leave them for the poor and for the stranger.' Lev. xxiii. 22. Nor shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest, saith the Lord; it shall be for the poor, the fatherless, and the widow. And if in gathering in thy harvest thou shalt forget a sheaf, thou shalt not turn back to fetch it; it shall be for the poor, the fatherless, and the widow: that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thy hands. When thou beatest thine olive tree, though shalt not go over the boughs a second time; it shall be for the stranger, the father less, and for the widow. And when thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it afterwards it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.' The poor and friendless had also assigned to them a portion in the tithes and offerings; and they were also to be present at all the feasts which were appointed as occasions of rejoicing and thanksgiving to God, that they might eat and be satisfied, and that their souls might bless the Lord. At the end of every third year the children of Israel were to bring forth the tenth part of all their produce for that year, that the Levite and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow might come and eat and be satisfied. Deut. xiv. 28, 29; xvi, 9-11.

a stranger, or a sojourner: that he may live with thee. Thou shalt not give him thy money upon usury, nor lend him thy victuals for increase.' Lev. xxv. 35. And again; 'If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor shut thy hand from thy poor brother; but thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth. Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying the seventh year, the year of release is at hand: and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry unto the Lord against thee, and it be sin unto thee; thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the Lord thy God shail bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto. Therefore I command thee, saying, thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to the poor, and to thy needy in thy land. Deut. xv. 1-11.

This same regard to the poor, as is inculcated by the law of Moses, was inculcated by the prophets which were raised up from time to time among the Jews. On some occasions God visited them with terrible judgments for their sins, and to turn away his displeasure, they would call together the people for prayer, and offer extraordinary sacrifices; but God refused to hear their prayers, or to accept their sacrifices, until they had returned to their duty to their brethren. I will have mercy,' said God, and not sacrifice.' Instead of offering more cattle and corn to him, God wished them to give it to their poor and perishing brethren.

thou call this a fast, and an accept able day to the Lord?' As much as if he had said, "What I wish is, not that ye should make yourselves miserable, but that ye should try to make your brethren happy.' 'Is not this the fast that I have chosen? (he adds) to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and to bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? When thou seest the naked that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Act in this way, and thy light shall break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily; and blessings shall go before thee, and the glory of the Lord shall follow thee. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and He shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the practice of oppression, and deceit and fraud; and if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light break forth from obscurity, and thy darkness shall be as the noon-day; and the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones; and thou shalt be as a well-watered garden, and like a spring of waters, whose waters fail not." Isa. lviii.*

The duty of employing wealth in doing good, especially in relieving the poor and the afflicted, is repeatedly iuculcated throughout the whole of the Old Testament. The Psalms and the Proverbs abound with affecting lessons on this subject. "Blessed is he that considereth the poor; the Lord will deliver him in the time of trouble. The Lord will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth: and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies. The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness." 66 "He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth; but he that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he." "A good man showeth favour and lendeth he will guide his affairs with discretion. Surely he shall not be moved for ever: the righteous *Christianity Triumphant.

shall be in everlasting remembrance. He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord."* Spending money in luxurious living, and neglecting the poor and needy, were the leading sins which brought down ruin on the inhabitants of Sodom. "Behold this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy."+

The employment of property in doing good was considered as a duty in the days of Job, and Job was a striking example of attention to this duty. "When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me : because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me e; and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me my judgment was as a robe and a diadem. I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame. I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out."

We

4. The principle that we are to employ our property in doing good is carried to its farthest limits by the New Testament. As we have seen from passages already quoted, Christians are required by the religion of Christ, to employ their all in doing good, and to make doing good the great end and business of life. are taught to regard none of the things which we possess as our own, but to regard the whole as lodged in our hands by God, to be employed in promoting the happiness of mankind. We are to do good to all, not according to the measure of the world's liberality, but according to the measure of our ability. Mankind are represented as one great family, and we are taught to consider ourselves as stewards set over this family, as furnished by God, the great Father of the family, with wealth and influence on purpose that we may furnish to every needy member of the household a portion of meat,- -a sup

*Psalm xli. 1-3. Prov. xiv. 21.
Psalm cxii. 5—7.
Ezek. xvi. 49.
Job xxix. 11-16.

ply of his necessities,-in due season. And we are exhorted not to be weary in well-doing, but to be steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.

5. This is the principle and the way of life exemplified and inculcated by the character of the Redeemer, our great pattern. The story of the Saviour's life is summed up in these words, JESUS OF NAZARETH, WHO WENT ABOUT DOING GOOD. He did not choose to have much money, but the little that he had appears to have been devoted to the service of the poor. John xiii. 29. He had other kinds of blessings in abundance, and freely did he scatter them abroad. He healed the sick, he fed the hungry, he gave sight to the blind, and hearing to the deaf, and life to the dead. He had neither time nor resources for a life of ease and self-indulgence; his enjoyment was in blessing others, and one of his sayings was, IT IS MORE BLESSED TO GIVE THAN TO RECEIVE.

6. The Apostles trod in the steps of their blessed master. They consecrated their all to God, and employed their time, their talents, and their resources in the work of blessing mankind.

7. This was the practice of the early Christians generally. The spirit that animated them was the spirit of unbounded,universal love,and the manner in which they manifested their love is given in the Acts of the Apostles. The multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. Neither was there any among them that lacked for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles' feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.' The churches were so many communities of love. Each member made the welfare of his fellow-Christians his care; and all of them were united together, in efforts and in prayers, for the conversion and welfare of the whole world. The Apostles laboured spe*Acts iv. 32, 34, 35.

cially to make men rich in spiritual blessings; the deacons endeavoured to relieve men's temporal distresses, and the rest of the members were employed in furnishing to the deacons and apostles the necessary means of doing good, and in assisting them in carrying out their benevolent plans. The character of the early Christian women is given us in the case of Dorcas. "She was full of good works and alms-deeds which she did:" and when Peter, who was sent for on the occasion of her death, was introduced into the room where she was laid, the widows were speedily "gathered round him, weeping, and showing the coats and garments which she had made while she was with them."-Acts ix. 36.

"No sooner did the Gospel fly abroad into the world," says Cave, "than the love and charity of Christians became notorious as a proverb; and the Heathens themselves were accustomed to exclaim, 'See how these Christians love one another.'"

The primitive Christians were eminent for their regard both to the good of men's souls, and the welfare of their bodies. They were particularly anxious to save men's souls, by withdrawing them from the paths of ruin, and bringing them to the enjoyment of Gospel blessings. They not only prayed for men, and set them a godly example, but they laboured daily and earnestly, neither shrinking from danger, nor sparing expense to bring them to God. It is said of Pamphilius the Martyr, who lived in the early ages of the church, that among other instances of his charity, he used to bestow Bibles upon all that were willing to read them: and that for this purpose he had always great numbers of the sacred volume by him, that, as occasion served, he might distribute them: thus mercifully furnishing those with these divine treasures, who, in consequence of the high price of books in those days, were unable to purchase them for themselves. It is comparatively a little thing to circulate copies of the Sacred Scriptures in our days, since the art of printing has produced them in such abundance but to see a man, in those times, when every letter of each Bible had to be written with the pen, and when the cost of

a single volume must have been so serious a sum, thus undertaking to furnish Bibles freely to all who were willing to read them, must have required a vast amount of property. We find Chrysostom also so zealous for the conversion of the Gentiles to Christianty, that he maintained a number of ministers in Phoenicia for this end, partly at his own expense, and partly at the expense of other Christian friends, who chose to help him in this labour of love. "This was the good spirit of those days," says one, "that they entirely studied the happiness of men, and were eager freely to impart the treasures of the Gospel to all, and make all mankind as rich and happy as themselves."

Cyprian, upon his turning Christian, sold his estate to relieve the wants of others. After his entrance upon the ministry, his doors were open to all that came; and no widow ever returned from him empty. Cæsarius, the brother of Basil, when he died, made only this short will: I will that all my estate be given to the poor. Nazianzen reports of his father, that he was so kind to the poor, that he not only bestowed the surplus of his estate upon them, but even part of what was reserved for necessary uses. Of his mother, he says, that an ocean of wealth would not have filled her unsatisfied desire of doing good. He also tells us that his sister Georgiana was immenly liberal, that, like Job, she was eyes to the blind, feet to the lame, and a mother to orphans. Her estate was as common to the poor as to herself, and as much at their service as at her own. Her business was to scatter abroad her property in deeds of blessing, and according to the counsel of her Saviour, to lay up for herself treasures in heaven. Sozamen relates of Epiphanius, bishop of Salamine, in Cyprus, that he spent his whole estate in pious and charitable uses, relieving the needy, and such as were by shipwreck and the violence of the sea cast upon the coast. He also freely dispensed large sums that were lodged in his hands for benevolent purposes by other Christian friends, who had not the best opportunity of distributing their alms with their own hands; nor did he ever slacken in his bounty, so long

as he had any resources left at his disposal.

Palladius tells us of two brothers, Paesius and Esaias, sons of a wealthy merchant, who, when their father had died, disposed of their estates as follows:-The one gave away his whole estate at once, settling it upon churches for the relief of such as were in bonds: and betaking himself to a trade for a maintenance. The other kept his estate in his own post session, but built a large house for purposes of charity, and taking a few companions to dwell with him, entertained all strangers that came that way, took care of the sick, entertained the aged, gave to those that needed, and every Saturday and Lord'sday caused two or three tables to be spread for the refreshment of the poor, and in this way spent his life.*

8. A readiness to employ our wealth in doing good, is represented as inseparable from a true love to God, and those are represented as destitute of the love of God, who are unwilling thus to employ their wealth. "Whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?" 1. John iii. 17.

9. This mode of employing our property is required by the whole tenour of those precepts of the New Testament, which respect our duty to our fellow-men. How can a man, in the present state of mankind, love his neighbour as himself, and do good to all as he has opportunity, without being led to employ the whole of his wealth in doing good?

Such is the doctrine of the Gospel on the subject of wealth: it will neither allow us to lay it up for ourselves on earth as a protection against future want, nor to spend it in extravagance, nor to employ it simply as a means of gaining more wealth, with a view to placing ourselves among the rich and great ones of the earth: it requires us to employ the whole, and to employ it through the whole of our life, in doing good. The doctrine of the New Testament is uniform on this point. It does not in one place teach one thing, and in another place a contrary thing on * Christianity Triumphant.

Ans. 1. I should think the meaning of the word riches is generally understood, and needs no explanation. 2. Christ and his Apostles often spoke about the way in which riches should be used, without stating what was meant by the word; and I should think the word is as generally understood in our day as it was in theirs. 3. I think it is plain from the New Testament, that what men have more than food and raiment, more than what serves to procure for themselves and their families things needful to their welfare, is to be regarded as riches, and to such overplus, whether more or less, the remarks which we have made refer.

Ques. 2. Suppose a man, a working man, after he has paid for all that he requires for himself and his family, has ten shillings left, would you call that ten shillings so much wealth or riches?

Ans. Of course. I know not what else it should be called. A surplus of ten shillings is as truly so much treasure, as a surplus of ten pounds, or a surplus of ten hundred pounds. Ques. 3. And would it be wrong for such a man to keep his surplus ten shillings in his possession?

Ans. It would be wrong for him to keep it in his possession unemployed, if he had an opportunity of employing it in doing good. It would be wrong for him to lay it up for himself on earth, as a security or protection against future want; or to waste it in extravagance, or to employ it with a selfish intention of gaining more money. It would be his duty to employ it in doing good in some way, if he had the opportunity; and if he had not, it would be his duty to hold it in his possession, or at his

command, as a trust from God, to be employed for God when an opportunity does present itself.

Ques. 4. Then you do not consider it wrong in every case for a man to have money in his possession?

Ans. Of course not. Christ had money in his possession, and so had Paul at times.

Ques. 5. How much money is it lawful then for a man to have in his possession?

Ans. There is no law on the subject. It may be proper for a man to have a thousand pounds in his possession, under some circumstances, and it might be wrong for him to keep a thousand pence in his possession under other circumstances. It is not the amount which a man may have in his possession, or that a man may expend, that the Gospel speaks of, but the end for which he holds it, or expends it.

Ques. 6. But if it be lawful for a man to hold money in his possession, or to lodge it in another person's hands to hold for him, it must be lawful for a man to lay up money on earth, for that would be laying up money on earth?

Ans. It is not laying up money on earth that is forbidden, but laying up money on earth for ourselves. It is not only lawful to lay up money on earth, in some cases, but even necessary, and a duty. It may be my duty to publish a book that shall cost me fifty pounds. If I am to pay the printer ready money for the book, (and that I should consider myself bound to do, unless the printer should be disposed to print it on his own responsibility), I must have fifty pounds ready laid up somewhere against the time when the money is due.

But this would not be laying up treasure for myself. I should not be printing the book for myself; I should be printing it for the glory of God, and for the good of my fellowmen. The work from first to last would be a work of piety and charity. So far is laying up money from being forbidden in every case by the New Testament, that it is commanded in one case. The churches were, on one occasion, commanded, or at least exhorted, to lay up money every first day of the week, as the Lord might prosper them, in order that funds might be raised to send to