10 marks of a truly good deed by Beddome

What we do must

1. not be to gratify our inclination

2. promote our own interest

3. or please either the good or the great, but

4. in obedience to the will of God. To be acceptable it must likewise be

5. universal (ie in every situation)

6. and persevering; (not just when we feel like it)

7. not from mercenary,

8. but grateful motives;

9. not for life, but from life;

10. not that God may love, but because he hath loved us.

(Benjamin Beddome, “Sermon V, John iii. 7,” in Twenty Short Discourses, Adapted to Village Worship, or, The Devotions of the Family/Published from the Manuscripts of B. Beddome London: Samuel Burton, 1824, 29.)