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cause_n	great_a	see_v	time_n	5,907	5	3.3926	3	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50763	A method concerning the relief and employment of the poor humbly offer'd to the consideration of the king and both Houses of Parliament / taken out of Sir Josiah Child's writings ; with somewhat added which the late renowned judge Sir Mathew Hale, writ in his book intituled, A discourse touching provision for the poor.	Child, Josiah, Sir, 1630-1699.; Hale, Matthew, Sir, 1609-1676. Discourse touching provision for the poor.	1699 (1699)	Wing M1941; ESTC R385	10,758	24

A METHOD Concerning the Relief and Employment OF THE POOR Humbly offer'd to the Consideration of the KING and both Houses of PARLIAMENT Taken out of Sir Josiah Child's Writings With somewhat added Which the Late Renowned Judge Sir Mathew Hale Writ in his Book Intituled A Discourse touching Provision for the Poor May true Wisdom be given for the carrying on so Great and so Good a Work LONDON Printed by the Advice of some in Authority 1699. A METHOD Concerning the Relief and Employment OF THE POOR IN the Discourse of this Subject I shall first assert some Particulars which I think are agreed by common Consent and from thence take occasion to proceed to what is more doubtful 1. That our Poor in England have always been in a most sad and wretched condition some Famished for want of Bread others starved with Cold and Nakedness and many whole Families in all the out Parts of Cities and great Towns commonly remain in a languishing nasty and useless Condition Uncomfortable to themselves and unprofitable to the Kingdom this is confessed and lamented by all Men. 2. That the Children of our Poor bred up in Beggary and Laziness do by that means become not only of unhealthy Bodies and more then ordinary subject to many loathsome Diseases whereof very many die in their tender Age and if any of them do arrive to years and strength they are by their idle habits contracted in their Youth rendred for ever after indispos'd to Labour and serve only to stock the Kingdom with Thieves and Beggars 3. That if all our impotent Poor were provided for and those of both Sexes and all Ages that can do Work of any kind employed it would redound some Hundreds of Thousands of Pounds per Annum to the Publick Advantage 4. That it is our Duty to GOD and Nature so to Provide for and Employ the Poor 5. That by so doing one of the great Sins for which this Land ought to Mourn would be removed 6. That our fore-Fathers had pious Intentions towards this good Work as appears by the many Statutes made by them to this purpose 7. That there are Places in the World wherein the Poor are so provided for and employed as in Holland Hamborough New-England and others and as I am informed now in the City of Paris Thus far we all agree The first Question then that naturally occurs is How comes it to pass that in England we do not nor ever did comfortably Maintain and Employ our Poor The common Answers to this Question are two 1. That our Laws to this purpose are as good as any in the World but we fail in the execution 2. That formerly in the days of our Pious Ancestors the work was done but now Charity is deceased and that is the reason we see the Poor so neglected as now they are In both which Answers I humbly conceive the Effect is mistaken for the Cause For tho' it cannot he denied but there hath been and is a great failure in the Execution of those Statutes which relate to the Poor yet I say the Cause of that failure hath been occasioned by defe●t of the Laws themselves For otherwise what is the reason that in our late times of the Confusion and Alteration wherein almost every Party in the Nation at one time or other took their turn at the Helm and all had that Compass those Laws to Steer by and yet none of them could or ever did conduct the Poor into a Harbour of security to them and profit to the Kidgdom i. e. none sufficiently maintained the Impotent and employed the Indigent amongst us And if this was never done in any Age nor by any sort of Men whatsoever in this Kingdom who had the use of those Laws now in force it seemes to me a very strong Argument that it never could nor ever will be done by those Laws and that consequently the defect lies in the Laws themselves not in the Men i. e. those that should put them in Execution As to the second Answer to the aforesaid Question wherein want of Charity is assigned for another cause why the Poor are now so much neglected I think it is a scandalous ungrounded accusation of our Contemporaries for most that I converse with are not so much troubled to part with their Money as how to place it that it may do good and not hurt to the Kingdom For If they give to the Beggars in the Streets or at their Doors they fear they may do hurt by encouraging that Lazy unprofitable kind of Life and if they give more than their Proportions in their respective Parishes that they say is but giving to the Rich for the Poor are not set on Work thereby nor have the more given them but only their Rich Neighbours pay the less And for what was given in Churches to the Visited Poor and to such as were impoverished by the Fire we have heard of so many and great Abuses of that kind of Charity that most men are under sad Discouragements in Relation thereunto I write not this to divert any Man from Works of Chaity of any kind He that gives to any in Want does well but be that gives to Employ and Educate the Poor so as to render them useful to the Kingdom in my judgement does better And here by the way not to leave men at a loss how to dispose of what GOD shall incline their Hearts to give for the Benefit of the Poor I think it not impertinent to propose the Hospitals of the City and Poor Labouring People that have many Children and make a hard shift to sustain them by their industry whereof there are multitudes in the out Parts of this City as the best Objects of Charity at present But to return to my purpose viz. to prove that the want of Charity likewise that is now and always hath been in relation to the Poor proceeds from a defect in our Laws Ask any Charitable-minded Man as he goes along the Streets of London viewing the Poor viz Boyes Girles Men and Women of all Ages and Many in good Health c. why he and others do not take care for the setting those poor Creatures to Work Will he not readily answer that he wisheth heartily it could be done though it cost him some part of his Estate but he is but one Man and can do nothing towards it giving them Money as hath been said being but to bring them into a liking and continuance in that way % Question 2. Wherein lyes the defect of our present Laws relating to the Poor I answer that there may be many but I shall here take notice of one only which I think to be Fundamental and which until altered the Poor in England can never be well provided for or Employed and that when the said Fundamental Error is well amended it is almost impossible they should lack ei●●er Work or Maintainance The said radical Error I esteem to be the leaving it