Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A47323
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Charity directed, or, The way to give alms to the greatest advantage in a letter to a friend / written by Richard Kidder.
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Kidder, Richard, 1633-1703.
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1676
(1676)
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Wing K397; ESTC R32868
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32,292
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40
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so good an account The good man that shews mercy will not fail to receive it God hath promised great mercy to the man that shews it That he shall be blessed and delivered and strengthened on the bed of languishing and be made fat Prov. 22.9 Ps 41.1 Prov. 11.25 we shall need mercy e're long 'T will be seasonable on a sick bed in a storm or tempest in this or in another life If we shew it we may hope to receive it 'T is the best way to make our Sickness tolerable and our Death easie 'T was the Observation of one of the Ancients That in all his Reading he did not remember to have met with any Charitable Man that ever dyed an ill Death It is the most likely way to mercy upon our selves and our Posterity 'T is an Advantage to be born of merciful and Charitable Parents I doubt not but the Children of such men fare the better for the mercy that their Fathers shewed I have been Young and now am Old yet have I not seen the Righteous forsaken nâ—r his Seed begging Bread He is ever Merciful and Lendeth and his Seed is Blessed Psal 37.25 26. I doubt not but many men now Living do fare the better for the Charity of their Ancestors God pays them in their Children and Posterity The recompence is conveyed by the hand of Heaven that is not Discerned and when the Bread hath been many days upon the Water it is found again and falls into the hands of those that succeed them that first cast it away And though the Children of such men may meet with straits yet I doubt not but that they are the special care of heaven We read a sad Complaint of a VVidow who cryed to Elisha Thy Servant my Husband says she is dead and thou knowest that thy Servant did fear the Lord and the Creditor is come to take away my two Sons to be Bond-men 2 Kings 4.1 whose VVidow this was Child Paraphras Kimchi R. Sâ—lâ—m in loâ—um the Text tells us not but the Jewish writers do They say she was the VVidow of Obadiah and we have no cause to doubt it The Time and Character agree well Thy Servant did fear the Lord says she Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly 1 Kings 18.3 See now the Charity of this good man rewarded in his VVidow and his Sons He had in a time of Famine fed an hundred Prophets with Bread and water 1 Kings 18.4 And now God multiplies her little Oyl and by a miracle preserves the good mans VVidow and Rescues her two Sons The very Heathen could tell us that the gods dealt indulgently with some men upon the Account of their Parents and Ancestors Sen de benef l. 4. c. 32. That some men came to a Crown upon the Account of a good man that was one of their Ancestors And perhaps it would be no hard matter to reckon up a great many examples to this purpose But that will not be needfull 'T is enough God hath said that he will repay the mercifull man The good man serves God for greater ends than these worldly things He is satisfied that he serves a good master when he serves God and 't will be to him all one when God makes his word good He gives perfect credit to God and 't will be well for him whether he meet with a reward or his children after him whether he meet with it in this life or in the next I adde That to shew mercy to the poor is the best use that riches can be put to VVere it not for this poverty hath several advantages above them It hath less of care of envy and makes us less obnoxious to an account hereafter 'T is use gives riches a colour that makes them weighty and valuable Argento nâ—llus â—â—lâ—â— est nâ—si splendeat usu and nothing gives them so great a price as that they give us the advantage of doing kindnesses This is that which the Apostle directs rich men to viz To do good to be rich in good works ready to distribute willing to communicate laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life 1 Tim. 6.18 19. I might after all this put you in mind of many great examples to provoke us to do good to the needy Surely the heathen world will rise in judgement against many titular Christians and will condemn them Though they had not those obligations upon them to bind them nor that light to guide them nor those promises to incourage them nor those motives to excite them that we have yet they went beyond many of us What would they not do and suffer for the generall good of their Commonwealth What hardships or death did they refuse Curtius and the Decij devoted themselves to destruction for the safety of their Countrey Quin. Fabius sold his farm to redeem the Captives of the Commonwealth The Roman Caesar reckoned the day lost in which he had not done a kindness Another of the Heathen Emperors thanks the Gods as his phrase is for two things that he never wanted relief from others and then Marc. Antonin l. 4. S. 14. that when he desired to relieve a poor man he never wanted means to do it Their Philosophy had taught them that which we have not learnt from the school of Christ And yet we do not want great examples among the ancient Christians They loved one another greatly insomuch that the Heathen world took great notice of it VVe read of some men that made themselves slaves for the good of others And Paulinus though a Bishop sold himself to be a captive to ransom a widows son Their Charity was so great that they did not onely give their estates but very readily exposed their lives also for the sake of their brethren But there is nothing like the example of our Blessed Saviour He became a Man that he might bring us to God He made himself poor and mean that we might be rich and exalted and that he might make way for our Bliss he submitted to a shamefull and painfull Death A miracle of love That hath all its dimensions and that passeth all understanding Methinks we of all men should be taught of God to love one another and God having loved us so greatly should need no motive to perswade us to love one another VVe enjoy great blessings and live in the hopes of life and immortality of joyes that eye does not see nor hath ear heard nor hath it entred into mens heart to conceive what it is VVell then let us put these things together and we shall find our selves constrained to shew mercy 'T is in it self a blessed work and will make us like God and our Saviour VVe shall do a kindness to our selves and profit our neighbour at once This course will ease our account hereafter and adorn our Religion here 'T is an excellent way to exchange
Charity Directed OR The Way to Give ALMS TO THE GREATEST ADVANTAGE In a Letter to a Friend WRITTEN BY Richard Kidder Rector of St. Martin Outwitch in London Hieron ad Paulinum Tù Considera ne Christi Substantiam imprudenter Effundas id est ne immoderato judicio rem Pauperum tribuas non Pauperibus c. Sen. de Benef. l. 1. c. 1. Beneficia sine ullo delectu magis projicimus quam damus LONDON Printed for Thomas Parkhurst and Sold at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside and at the Bible on London Bridge 1676. CHARITY DIRECTED OR The Way to Give ALMS to the GREATEST ADVANTAGE SIR YOU have well Observed That of that little which men bestow in Alms-giving a very small part gains its end and turns to Account And you were pleased at several times to desire me to give my thoughts how a good Man may be Directed to give to the best Advantage I have not that Opinion of my self as to think I am fit to give you Advice nor that mean Opinion of you as to suppose you need it You have been Practised a great while in doing kindnesses and I do not believe that you need either Direction or Motive You are of the Number of those that are Taught of God to Love one another and would but others follow your Example there would not be so many Objects of Charity But since the Work it self carries with it so great an Invitation and you are pleased to desire it I shall very readily consent And if you conceive what I Offer may be of any Use dispose of this Paper as you please Now in Order to the Directingâ— good man to give his Alms to the best Advantage and that they may do the most good I shall speak to the following severals First I shall shew how he may so give as it may turn most to his own Account Secondly How he may so do it as may turn to the greatest Advantage of the Receiver Thirdly How he may so Order his Affairs as that he may have something to bestow And before I speak to any of these severals I shall take the Liberty to speak of the Necessity of giving Alms and of the Arguments and Motives from whence this Excellent Work may be recommended to us And I am very certain that there is great need that Men should be very earnestly excited to so good a Work at this time There are about this City of London some hundreds of Families you would believe me if I should say some thousands that are under very pressing Necessities And if there be not care taken very many amongst them will be starved And the great Poverty of these Families also hath been to them Unavoidable For it hath fallen upon them partly through Age partly through the number of Children and in great measure for want of Trade and Employment Nor would it be any hard Matter to give you an Account how it comes to pass that very many are not able to get their Bread by that Employment which sometime since afforded them a competent Subsistance But besides that I shall not need to acquaint you with it the thing it self will not Answer any part of my Design I am not Obliged to shew How Men have fallen into Calamity but to contribute what I can towards their Rescue and Relief And when my poor Brother is fallen into the Ditch I do not think my self Obliged to Represent how many ways there are of falling in but to do my utmost towards the lifting him out I shall therefore without any more of Preface shew what great Reason we have to Compassionate and Help our poor Brother to do him kindnesses and shew him Mercy God grant that our works of Mercy may hold some proportion to the Obligations that lye upon us to shew it First this is the end of our being what we are and of our enjoying what we do Possess that we might do good to others The Rich Man is Gods Almoner and Steward and the Poor are his Receivers He shall not need to busie his Head in Building larger Barns when there are so many Living Houses already Built to his hand The Empty and Hungry Poor are the best Granaries Our Talent was given us to be laid out to the Honour of our Master and the benefit of our Fellow-Servant â—rigen Hom. in S. Matth. Vnaquaeque anima venit in hunc Mundum cum aliquibus Dominicis pecuniis We do all of us come into the World with some of our Lords Money in our hand and this was given us not to hide in the Earth Mat. 25.25.27 but to Trade withal for our Brothers Advantage The Blind Man that carried the Lame upon his shoulders had the benefit of the Cripples Eyes for the use of his own Feet and it puts us fairly in mind how Useful we may be to one another And we ought to judge this the very Reason why we excell one another in any Gift or Endowment that we may be helpful to those to whom the Divine wisdom hath dealt out these Blessings more sparingly Job that great and good Man of the East understood this I was Eyes says he 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 He did not cause the Eyes of the Widow to fail nor eat his Morsel without the Fatherless he saw none perish for want of Clothing nor any Poor without Covering the Loins of the poor Blessed him and they were warmed with the Fleece of his Sheep Job 29.15 16. Chap. 31. v. 16. And yet at that time Job had seven Sons and three Daughters to provide for which is now the great Objection against works of Mercy This is also the End of our Spiritual Mercies The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to Profit withal 1 Cor. 12.7 In that sence also what we are we are for the good of one another In the Natural Body The Eye cannot say I have no need of thee nor the Head to the Foot I have no need of you v. 25. For as the Eye is useful to descry a danger so is the Hand to keep off the stroke and the Feet to run from it He that Lives and does no good Vt arbor in faecunda tanti est in pretio quanti lignum ejus in trunco Apulei Apol. pro seipso makes void the End of his Creation He is like an unfruitful Tree that Cumbers the Ground and is worth no more than its Trunk or Body may be improved unto He is the Worlds uneasie Load and Burden and may be spared without any miss or loss at all There is nothing more insignificant than the man that does no good He that Does nothing is more impertinent than he that Is not at all Vacua est vita quam non implet cura bene vivendi Impertinentior est qui nihil agit quà m qui