system of benevolent action, resting on any other foundation, falls
under the same condemnation; it contains no element of life, nothing
truly pleasing to God. Men may endeavor to find other bases on which to
rear schemes of charity; they may bring to the task the most penetrating
sagacity, and traverse again and again the secret windings of the mind,
to find some other lurking principle which can resist and subdue the
batteries of covetousness; but all their efforts will be vain. Whatever
they may erect will be built upon the sand; the winds and floods will
sweep it away. There is no foundation which can withstand the
underminings of the depraved heart, and the shocks of a depraved world,
but the rock of holy love.



PART II.

Systematic beneficence is capable of a twofold division. There is a
general or universal system, binding indiscriminately and equally on all
of every rank and condition; and a particular system adapted alone to
the circumstances of each individual. The latter stands related to the
former, as the edifice to the foundation on which it rests. This
distinction must be kept clearly before mind, if we would have definite
views of our obligations relative to this important subject. In the
ensuing discussion, I shall confine myself mainly to the general system;
believing that if God's people are correct in sentiment, rooted and
grounded in moral and christian principles, they will be substantially
correct in practise. And as the particular or individual system grows,
by a moral necessity, out of the other when fully embraced, being, in
fact, involved in the practical part of it, I propose to give but
occasional hints concerning it.