The Poor whom I have fed The Naked whom I have cloath'd The Prisoners whom I have discharg'd out of my own or other Mens Estates and to satisfy my own Compassionate Temper are as dangerous Questions as Is not this great Babylon which I have built Dan 4 30. for the House of my Kingdom by the Might of my Power and for the Honour of my Majesty In such Cases a Man does what he does not out of Gratitude to God or as a Faithful Steward of his Treasures not out of real tenderness for the Distress'd or because he can't bear their Wants while himself lives in Plenty but he does it to impose upon the unobserving World to be Talk'd of to be Prais'd and to have flattering Memorials and Monuments rais'd to him after Death which may serve to encourage Atheism and Hypocrisy and make the Friends of Libertinism believe That it 's no Matter what their Faith is if they be but free Disposers of their own or Industrious Distributers of other Mens Bounty Men of this Humour are easily known They 'l not wait modestly for the Commendations of others but every where and on every occasion proclaim their own Good Deeds None need to take care to spread their Glories and few of their commendable Actions shall be done in a Corner This was the Pharisaic way they did all their Good Works to be seen of Men and with respect to that Way our Saviour gives that admirable Caution Mat. 6.1 2. Take heed that ye do not your Alms before Men to be seen of them otherwise ye have no Reward of your Father which is in Heaven Therefore when thou dost thine Alms do not sound a Trumpet before thee as the Hypocrites do in the Synagogues and in the Streets that they may have Glory of Men Docet hic Christus exemplo Beneficentiae non posse Deo probari quae ideò fiant ut aut Laus captetur aut Gratia Grot. in loc Here says Grotius Christ instancing in Almsgiving declares That God cannot approve those things which are done to curry Favour or to purchase Praise Not but that Publick Occasions will require Publick Liberality and according to a Man's Station a good Example may be of excellent use but even in such cases a wise or humble man will rather give others leisure to applaud his Bounty than begin the Work himself Philo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo de Cherub p. 128. E. of old had a just Notion of this way If says he you examine all things strictly you 'll see that Men cry'd up for their Liberality rather sell than bestow their Bounties and those whom we think Alms-Men are really Purchasers of what they get for when those who pretend to give hunt on the other hand for Honour and Fame expecting a Reward for their Bounty they sham us with a gaudy name and really strike a Bargain for none but Sellers take a Price for what they part with Aben. Ezra apud Grotium in Matt. 6. ◠and R. Aben Ezra gives this for a Rule If any Man gives Alms to the Poor let him not do it to get Honour or that he may boast of it to others for he who does so shows That he values the Praise of Men more than the favour of God Indeed our Saviour assures us that even such Men have their reward but it 's only what they aim at empty Breath and fleeting Air while the modest Christian sound in Faith and acting upon that Principle obtains the End of his Hope the Salvation of his Immortal Soul Above all then he mistakes who thinks Almsgiving is that Charity which shall cover a multitude of Sins He who has that Charity will according as God has blest him give Alms but the Cause and the Effects of that Cause are very different things Alms are frequently enjoyn'd and he who seeth his Brother have Joh. 3.1.7 need You shall find many who have not the Fruit of true Faith who are not of the Flock of Christ and yet as it appears they flourish in good Works of Mercy you shall find them full of Pity Compassion and given to Justice and yet for all that they have no Fruit of their Works because the chief Work lacketh Hom. 1. Of Good Works and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from Him how dwells the love of God in him is a severe Question but infers what we have been asserting all this while That Bounty to the Poor unless it proceeds from Faith and Love for they are inseparable can do the Giver no service whatever advantage the Receiver may have by it The Reward of Mercy is great if it rise from a sound and sincere Faith or at least from a ductile Mind willing to be instructed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Constit l. 8. c. 13. and to embrace it with all humility and readiness Thus in Clement's Constitutions we have that advice If you have wherewith give Alms with your own hands for the Expiation of your sins for by Alms and Faith sins are taken away Thus they go hand in hand and these things which God has joyn'd together no Man ought to put asunder A Man may give all his Goods to feed the Poor without Charity if he does so to support and bring Reputation to Heresy and so to propagate Disorders and Confusions in the Church of Christ As if only such a Faith as the Giver owns could be the Parent of such Works We have observ'd already how Julian by this means hop'd to have undermined Christianity and restor'd Paganism Marianae Rerum Hisp l. 4. c. 14. and 't was thus Lucilla made use of her great Wealth and Interests to encourage the Donatists And indeed it 's but reasonable that those who call themselves Christians and are none but have a design to break the Vnity of the Church of Christ should have or at least put on some very Popular qualities whereby to render their Heretical designs the less suspected For if I have once entertaind a great Opinion of a Man and his Conversation I shall be very unwilling to believe he intends ill or that his Opinions can be damning whose Person is so acceptable But when we talk of Heresy and Hereticks we are at a loss The Apostles sure by some mistake forewarn Christians often of Sacrilege Schism and Heresy as very great Sins The two former some who are touch'd too near have endeavour'd to lose in a Mist and would make us believe there are none guilty of such sins now a-days And for the last others who cry up one another for mighty Criticks reject the common Notion which the World has hitherto had of Heresy and it's Friends They tell us it 's not the Falshood of any Opinion that makes it to be a Heresy and the Person that holds it to be a Heretick Sermon on Mr. Firmin p. 110. but it 's the Clamour and Bustle made about it which makes both the first
his Maker He believes in God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost according to those Revelations they have made of themselves in Scripture and would rather believe the Prophets and Apostles honest Men than quibbling Sophisters His pure unspotted Love with respect to God must always believe in him depend on admire and adore him and when he remembers his own distance from God by Sin and God's Condescention to purchase Pardon and Grace for him by his own most precious Blood though in that state of Enmity That Faith which he has in him that Love which he has to him must make him always tender compassionate and merciful with respect to Men. We need to run to no false Opinions to excite us to Beneficence Wise Men wont pretend to gather Grapes of Thorns or Figs of Thistles This is a faithful saying and these things we of the Church of England affirm constantly That those who have believ'd in God might be careful to maintain good Works these things are good and profitable to Men. We would then have the Poor provided for we would encourage a just care for them we pretend in vain to be Christians if we forget our poor Brethren for we were poorer by far when our merciful Saviour made himself poor on our Accounts and extended his Compassion toward us If any one will give all his Goods to feed the Poor provided he wrongs none else by that Liberality and the Love of God constrains him may his Heavenly Father who sees in secret reward him openly He who gives to the Poor should give without Constraint without Grudging and with Pleasure for God loves a cheerful Giver He ought to give proportionably to what God has blest him with He who voluntarily devotes the Tenths of all he has to the support of the Poor does no more and none ever suffer'd yet by a Bounty so proportion'd What he gives ought to be his own i. e. not gotten by Address and Craft or by Violence for he who wrongs one to feed or cloath another gives Nothing and by such Sacrifices never pleases but offends his Maker But if the Rich in this world be sound in the Faith if they do good if they be Rich in Good Works ready to distribute willing to Communicate they lay up in store for themselves a good foundation that they may lay hold on eternal Life Here 's Love here 's Charity indeed enough to sanctifie their Alms and to make the Prayers of the Poor a Treasure of Eternal Blessings to them But since the Rich and Willing cannot perhaps tell readily where to bestow their Bounty without the Hands and Eyes of others V. Vitringam de Nominibus Ministrorum Ecclesiae Synagogae c. 5 surely we cannot in our own Church among Christians want some Man or Men of Honest report full of the Holy Ghost and Wisdom who therefore will neither deny his Being nor reduce him to the meanness of a Creature nor divert the treasures of the Poor to encourage such as by their Writings and Discourses do both who may be appointed over this Business Ill Men are commonly of the most active and stirring Tempers they know the least neglect ruins their Affairs Good Men suppose their Cause will manage and secure it self but though it will do so their Industry is not a whit the less requir'd and while the activity of Ill Men destroys them we have an infallible Assurance That it 's good to be zealously affected always in a good Cause Men sound in the Faith would not only be Faithful Stewards with regard to the Bodies of those in Want but they 'd be Pious Guardians of their Souls too They'd instil the Principles of sound Religion into them as well as relieve their outward Necessities and a Love to Mens Bodies must certainly yield to a tenderness for their Souls A Lazarus full of sores and starving may be carry'd by Angels into Abraham 's Bosom but without Faith its impossible to please God and by Grace both Poor and Rich must be sav'd and that not of themselves it is the gift of God Eph. 2.8 1 Thes 1.3 The Work of Faith the Labour of Love and the Patience of Hope will always be favourably remembred both by God and Men. I 'll never confide in that Man who will not believe his God and must suspect Him to be full of Trick and Design who represents his Maker as guily of Artifice and Chicanery in his Revelations of himself to the Children of Men. But he who is right and sincere in his Faith toward God I 'm sure will be trusty to his Neighbour He 'll be kind to both the Bodies and Souls of the Poorest He 'll visit the Fatherless and Widows in their Afflictions and keep himself unspotted from the World By such a Hand I 'll give what I can to feed the Poor I 'll live by Faith I 'll wait in Hope and act with Charity and never fear losing my Everlasting Reward Collect on Quinquages O God who hast taught us that all our Doings without Charity are nothing worth send thy Holy Ghost and pour into our Hearts that most excellent Gift of Charity the very bond of Peace and of all Virtues without which whosoever liveth is counted dead before Thee Grant this for thine only Son Jesus Christ's sake Amen Now to God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost Three Persons but One Infinite and Eternal God be given as is most due all Honour Glory Praise Power Might Majesty and Dominion now henceforth and for evermore Amen and Amen FINIS MYsteries in Religion Vindicated Or the Filiation Deity and Satisfaction of our Saviour Asserted against Socinians and others With Occasional Reflections on several late Pamphlets By Luke Milbourne a Presbyter of the Church of England The Doctrine of the Glorious Trinity not Explained but Asserted by several Texts as they are Expounded by the Ancient Fathers and Later Divines for the Satisfaction of such as doubt the Conviction of such as deny the Confirmation of such as believe this Mysterious Article of the Christian Faith By Francis Gregory D. D. and Rector of Hambleden in the County of Bucks An Answer to an Heretical Book called The Naked Gospel which was Condemned and ordered to be Publickly Burnt by the Convocation of the University of Oxford Aug. 19. 1690. With some Reflections on Dr. Bury's New Edition of that Book To which is added A Short History of Socinianism By William Nichols M. A. Fellow of Merton College in Oxford and Chaplain to the Right Honourable Ralph Earl of Montague All Three Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop ' s. Head in St. Paul 's Chuch-Yard BOOKS Printed for Brab Aylmer at the Three Pigeons in Cornhil SERMONS concerning the Divinity and Incarnation of our Blessed Saviour Preached in the Church of Sr. Lawrence Jewry By John late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury 8 vo Certain Propositions by which the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity is so explain'd according to the ancient Fathers as to speak it not Contradictory to Natural Reason together with a Defence of them in answer to the Objections of a Socinian Writer in his newly Printed Consideration on the Explications of the Doctrine of the Trinity Occasioned by these Propositions among other Discourses 4to Price 6 d. A Second Defence of the Propositions by which the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity is so explained according to the Ancient Fathers as to speak it not Contradictory to Natural Reason In Answer to a Socinian Manuscript in a Letter to a Friend Together with a third Defence of those Propositions in Answer to the newly Published Reflections contained in a Pamphlet Entituled A Letter to the Reverend Clergy of Both Vniversities in 4to Price 1 s. Both by the Right Reverend Father in God Edward Lord Bishop of Gloucester A Defence of the Blessed Trinity By Isaac Barrow D. D. late Master of Trinity College in Cambridge Never before Printed in 8vo Price 12 d. A Seasonable Vindication of the Blessed Trinity Being an Answer to this Question Why do you believe the Doctrine of the Trinity Collected from the Works of the most Reverend Dr. John Tillotson late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury and the Right Reverend Dr. Edward Stillingfleet now Lord Bishop of Worcester In 8vo Price 12 d.
hands give It 's a Reward which God only bestows which they seek and there 's no need of proclaiming it in the Ears of Men But he then who is God's chosen Instrument to be a common Benefactor will be the Humblest Man in the World Some who have been Careful for the Poor have been very defective in this Grace and have loved as well to be taken notice of for it as to do it This Charity doth not behave it self unseemly seeketh not her own is not easily provok'd thinketh no Evil. i. e. The Man of true Goodness or Charity shews no Impudence either in his Language or his Carriage He 'll vindicate himself but he 'll asperse none raise no Scandals spread no false News or Lyes be modest among his Superiors and affront none much less his Maker He studies the Publick Good chiefly and that as it is Publick and not meerly as suiting to his own Genius or Inclination He 'll be so far from Spite or Inveteracy that to the utmost of his power he 'll conquer the sudden Eruptions of his Passions and neither the Mismanagement or suppos'd Ingratitude of others shall force Him beyond the Bounds of Reason He has no jealous thoughts of others as if they intended ill when they did not He means no such thing himself and measures the Innocence of others by his own A Man may be very kind to the Poor and yet be rude and ill-manner'd study his own Humour only be mad for Trifles and jealous of every Body without a Contradiction Charity rejoyces not in iniquity but rejoyces in the Truth The sincere Christian takes no pleasure to see Innocence condemn'd or Merit unrewarded He 's not pleas'd when Falshood finds Favour though his own Interests may be advanced by it nor can he love Confusion though troubled Waters might be best for himself to Fish in He laughs not to see good Men disappointed of their just Hopes but when Truth and Honesty and real Worth is advanced he 's glad for the Publick though his own Honour should be clouded by it But it 's possible a large Almsgiver may be very defective in these respects True Charity beareth all things believeth all things hopeth all things endureth all things The Man of Charity is the great Pillar on whom all Publick Assairs may safely rest He adds Strength to a Cause and Efficacy to a good Design He 'll never divulge his Neighbour's Crimes much less Calumniate him but if he can with the veil of Love and Pity he 'll cover the Multitude of his Errors He 's ready to believe every thing that 's good of him and to suppose his Truth and Integrity where it 's not plainly obnoxious in his general Conversation He 'll live in hopes to see the Man who is Vicious and Extravagant at present mend and he 'll add his Counsel and his Prayers to his favourable Expectations He knows great Sinners have found Mercy by Repentance and why should he conclude that Man desperate to whom God still assords the means of Grace For Himself he fears no Calumny he starts at no Danger but is ready to be a Confessor or Martyr rather than to renounce that Sweetness of Temper which Christianity introduces or that Doctrine of Faith which his Master hath bequeath'd to him He 's not a Bigot for Errors nor a Patron of Blasphemies Heaven's his aim and Truth 's his way his Redeemer is the great Master of it and the Treasure of it is open'd to him in his Divine Revelations A Man very forward to relieve the Poor may be an open Calumniator credulous of every spiteful Reflection doubt of his Brother's Reformation when he 's in a safer Course than himself and prove a meer Ecebolius in his Religion when he 's in Danger of being call'd to Martyrdom We have seen then the Essentiating Characters of a truly good Christian if he have not this Grace of Charity he 's nothing He 's no more capable of Heaven or Happiness than an Adulterer or a Murderer This Love or Charity cannot subsist where sound Faith and well-grounded Hope are wanting A Man may give all his Goods to Feed the Poor and yet be without these therefore a Man may give all his Goods to feed the Poor he may have every place fill'd with the Memorials of his Beneficence and yet for want of them be damn'd eternally damn'd at last But Bounty to the Poor being an inseparable Attendant on true Evangelical Charity and there being a certain Blessing promis'd to him who provides for the Sick and Needy if we Translate that passage rightly for the Lord will deliver him in the time of Trouble Psal 41.1 By what Marks shall we know when the liberal Giver wants this sanctifying consummating Charity Then A Man gives all his Goods to support the Poor without this Charity when He does so without any sound Principles plainly and necessarily moving him to such Liberality A Man of a naturally buisy and active temper employing it in a good and plausible rather than in a destructive way to that Society in which he lives acts prudently for by that means he keeps himself out of harm's way he gets Reputation among the Neighbourhood and makes his Life easy and delightful for every Man even a profess'd Atheist on such Considerations will be apt to do good to others because their Blessings are at least safer than their Curses But the Reasons of this Bounty may cease the natural Constitution may flag Wealth and Greatness may make a Man scorn his former Fears slight the Vulgar and divert his Liberality Again A Man may have little particular Designs to carry on Kindness to the Poor may advance them but when they 'r accomplish'd nothing but Gratitude a Virtue soon laid by can oblige him to continue it These then and such like are insufficient Principles and won't make Almsgiving so much as the first Step to future Happiness Only true Faith where it has possession of the Soul is the unfailing Principle of universal Goodness Faith without Works is dead Jam 2.17 Rom. c. 3. c. 4. for it 's but a pretended Faith Works without Faith are useless for all Mens Works are imperfect and therefore in themselves unacceptable If a Heathen Man cloathe he Naked feed the Hunry and do such other like Works yet because he doth them not in Faith for the Honour and Love of God they are but dead vain and fruitless Works to him Homil. 1. Of Good Works Faith lays hold on a Saviour who having purchas'd Pardon for us by his own Immense Merits gives it freely to our impersect Works St. Paul and St. James are not at such odds as some imagine in this Doctrine St. Paul's Controversy was with those who were great Boasters of their own good Works who it may be Pharisee like gave Tyths of all which they possest by which the Poor as well as God's Ministers were plentifully provided for and he lets them know That it