alms, to divest ourselves of pride, vain-glory, and desire of applause: we are forbidden to give, that we may be seen of men, and instructed so to conduct our charity, that it may be known to our Father which seeth in secret. By this precept it is not to be understood, that we are forbidden to give alms in publick, or where we may be seen of men; for our Saviour has also commanded, that our "light should so shine before men, that they may see our good works, and glorify our Father which is in heaven." The meaning, therefore, of this text is not that we should forbear to give alms in the sight of men, but that we should not suffer the presence of men to act as the motive to our charity, nor regard their praise as any object to our wishes; a precept surely reasonable; for how can that act be virtuous, which depends not upon our own choice, but upon that of others, and which we should not have performed, if we had not expected that they would have applauded it?
Of the same kind, though somewhat different in its immediate and literal acceptation, is the instruction contained in the text, in which we are taught by St. Paul, that every man ought to give according to the purpose of his own heart, not grudgingly, or of necessity; by which it is commanded, that we should, as our Saviour had already taught us, lay aside, in the distribution of our alms, all regard to human authority; that we should give according to the purpose of our own hearts, without respect to solicitation or influence; that we should give, because God has commanded, and give cheerfully, as a proof of ready and uncompelled obedience; obedience uncompelled by any other motive than a due sense of our dependence upon the universal Lord, and the reasonableness of observing the law of him by whom we were created.
There are likewise other rules to be observed in the practice of charity, which may be gathered, at least consequentially, from the Holy Scriptures; and which the common prudence of mankind at the same time evidently prescribes. It is necessary that, in bestowing our alms, we
