IV.

Mistakes corrected, and Liberality inculcated.

PREACHED AT THE CHURCH OF ST. LEONARD,
SHOREDITCH,

ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1824,

ON BEHALF OF THE SUNDAY AND NATIONAL SCHOOLS OF THAT PARISH.

MISTAKES CORRECTED,

AND

LIBERALITY INCULCATED.

ISAIAH XXxii. 5—8.

The vile person shall no more be called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful. For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the Lord, to make empty the soul of the hungry: and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail. The instruments also of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words even when the needy speaketh right. But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand.

It must be evident, to all persons paying the least attention to the subject, that we live in a day of peculiar and almost un

paralleled exertion, both in the intellectual and moral world. The various discoveries and improvements in the arts, the general extension of education, the increased and increasing circulation of God's holy Word, combined with the strenuous efforts of the Christian Church, for the conversion of Pagan and Mohammedan nations abroad, and for the instruction of the poor at home; these various points, together with a thousand others that might be mentioned, seem to present a picture which the philosopher, the patriot, and the Christian may behold with equal advantage and delight. And, would to God, that there were nothing to lessen those advantages, or to diminish that delight! I am aware that I touch a tender point; but it is one that must be adverted to. It were easy to flatter individuals, or societies; to speak only smooth things, to prophesy deceits; to make the heart of the righteous sad; and to strengthen the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his evil way. This would be to secure the friendship of the gay, the sensual, and the worldly. But

what saith the Lord? Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him, for they shall eat of the fruit of their doings; but say ye to the wicked, it shall be ill with him, for the reward of their hands shall be given them.

You mark, my brethren, the boldness. with which the character and blessedness of the righteous, and the character and doom of the wicked, are pronounced. So in the passage connected with my text, we find the prophet of the Lord distinguishing between different descriptions of persons. The vile person shall no more be called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful: for the vile person will speak villany; and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the Lord; to make empty the soul of the hungry; and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail. The instruments also of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right. But the liberal deviseth liberal things, and by liberal things shall he stand.