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A30298
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An essay to revive the necessity of the ancient charity and piety wherein God's right in our estates and our obligations to maintain his service, religion, and charity is demonstrated and defended against the pretences of covetousness and appropriation : in two discourses written to a person of honour and vertue / by George Burghope.
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G. B. (George Burghope)
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1695
(1695)
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Wing B5732; ESTC R26568
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69,015
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226
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he doth but cheat himself of his Reward as well as God and his Neighbour of their Due For the general Rules of loving viz. effectively and to all the purposes of Good our Neighbour as our selves will oblige us to imploy a proportional Part of our Estates in that Duty The Rule of doing Good to all Men will oblige us to act as far as we are able and how far that is God knows better than we do our selves nor can we think to deceive him He sees the true extents of Self-preservation and what that doth require what we may spare together with the Thoughts of our Hearts and the Sincerity or Hypocrisie of our Intentions and will reward us accordingly 2. Tho' God hath not defin'd what Proportion he expects for the Uses of Piety and Charity yet we may well take an estimate of that by what he appointed to the Jews his old People for the hardness of whose Hearts he thought it best to prescribe particulars And that was every third Years second Tythe which was the thirtieth Part yearly The gleanings the restoring of the pledge and borrowing without use c. This was the settled Proportion of Charity and it was a Jews Righteousness Deut. 24. 13. That Duty which he was bound to do in Righteousness or Justice and without the doing of which he cou'd not be accounted a just or righteous Person For this was the Poors due which they might demand by Law and which it was Injustice to deny them But besides this there was a higher Degree of Charity which was to assist them on all Occasions and doing all manner of acts of Kindness to them over and above what the Law prescrib'd And this was the natural Effects of loving their Neighbours as their selves The assisting and providing for a wounded Man on the Way as the Samaritan did for the Jew he found betwixt Jerusalem and Jericho Luke 10. The extraordinary and occasional Acts of Pity were called Mercy or Goodness and the Man that us'd them was call'd a good Man Thus a righteous Man and a good Man seem'd to be distinguish'd The latter of more desert Rom. 5. 7. than the former Scarcely for a righteous Man one that is just and gives every Man his legal due and no more will one die tho' peradventure for a good Man the charitable Person who obliges Mankind by all manner of extraordinary Kindness some would even dare to die Possibly there may be found some Person that out of Gratitude and the desire of continuing such a common Blessing to Mankind wou'd lay down his Life for to redeem his Thus in Micah 6. 8. God requires us first as the lowest Duty to do justly and then secondly as a higher Perfection to love Mercy and then thirdly as the highest to walk humbly with our God And Nebuchadnezzar is exhorted by Daniel to break off his Sins of Justice Pride c. by righteousness by doing justly and making restitution c. and his iniquities of Cruelty and Tyranny by showing Mercy to the Poor c. This being set last as a higher Perfection than the first Finally where we read ελεημοσÏνη Alms in our Saviour's Sermon Matth. 6. 1. on the Mount some ancient Copies have it δικαιοσÏνη Righteousness And so the Vulgar Latin at this Day reads it Attendite ne justitiam vestram faciatis coram hominibus See that ye do not your Justice or Righteousness before Men. So that a Jewish Righteousness which was the paying of the settled Maintenance to the Poor was as to Degrees descending limitted below which they might not sink But the Jewish Mercy or Charity exceeded that and was not limitted as to Degrees ascending It was something above Righteousness and exceeding it but how much was left to Zeal joyn'd with Prudence to determine Now all this is only to give Light to the Place of our Saviour Matth. 5. 20. Except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of God Which thus understood teaches us That Christ expects that we shou'd at least excell the Scribes and Pharisees in our Liberality to the Poor and that our Works of Mercy ought to exceed theirs that God expects a higher Quota from the Christian than he did from the Jew in proportion to the greater Grace and Encouragements that he hath received under the Gospel This being laid down for a Principle the rest is left to every Man's Circumstances and to the Rules of Prudence only with the Apostle's Caution 2 Cor. 9. 6. He that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly §. XII The Summ of this Duty of Charity And now having I think fully silenced these importunate Prejudices give me leave Sir out of the Premises to conclude our Duty to be this That all Men watch all opportunities of mutual Assistance and Kindness but the Rich especially as having more Convenience and Power to do Good and from whom God will without doubt expect an Account accordingly Spend not therefore all upon your Self and Attendants nor let your Follies and Appetites engross all Charge your self every Year with some publick or private Good more or less according to your Ability and when the Year is ended be able to give God and your own Conscience an Account of it Put not off Charity till your death and then think it enough if your Executors give something at your Funeral which usually turns to little Account 'T is a sign of an earthly and sensual Mind to part with nothing while you are able to keep it and 't is no Thanks to give what we can keep no longer While we live our Charity cannot be perverted but when we are gone it may Tho' by the way it is no loss to us for God rewards according to our good Intentions not according to the Effects they may accidentally produce and 't is not the Iniquity of Mankind in abusing Gifts of Piety that shall rob the Donor of his Crown Let us do Good and trust God with the Issue This I note here having forgot to answer the latter part of the second Objection in its place * Pag. 39. But altho' I wou'd have every Man's Charity begin in his life-time yet I wou'd not have it end with it The more durable it is the more glorious and beneficial it the longer preserves the Fame of the Founder and is an increase of his Happiness by how much his Gift continues to do Good to Mankind It gathers Strength and Vertue by its Age. It is the best Tomb and Epitaph and therefore Conde tibi tumulum nec fide haeredis amori c. Build up your Pillar your self and see if possible your Work finished for there is no Work nor Device nor Wisdom in the Grave whither we are all posting §. XIII The Encouragements to Charity Having said thus much in settling the Duty I plead for and directing it there remains that I should speak of the Encouragements we
different in this World and the Levelling Principle has been found as impracticable as it is unreasonable God gave at first and since by his Providence continues to some more to others less but to every one in some measure a sufficiency Riches and Abundance like other good Gifts are from above and so is the Improvement too and tho' we ought to use a studious Care yet the Issue must be left to the Author For our Experience will affirm the truth of Solomon's Adage There is that Prov. 11. 24. scattereth and yet encreaseth and there is that withholdeth more than is meet but it tendeth to poverty As also that of the Apostle in a temporal Sence That it is not of him that planteth nor of him that watereth but of God to give the encrease Thus Families and Estates have their sometimes unaccountable rise continuance and decrease From mean Beginnings they arise to Greatness and for a few Ages shine like a Meteor and are admir'd and then sink like the same into their former obscurity and become extinct and unobserv'd amongst the Croud This worthy Sir is a Consideration useful in its kind to put you in mind of your House's Mortality as well as your own to depend upon and be thankful to that Power that has raised you up so far above others Not to be proud and disdain at those that are pass'd by whilst you are chosen to Honour and Estate but rather to fear because as your Estate is greater so is your Charge and Duty and so will your Account be For to whomsoever much is given of him much shall be required and to whom Men have committed much of him they will ask the more That you be kind loving and communicative to those below you especially for Interest will oblige you to those above and like the Sun warm and enliven every one within the Sphere of your Activity and that you wou'd live up to the End for which Providence design'd your Station that is that as you are rais'd up to a higher Capacity than others so you would do more good than others To apprehend truly what and how much that Good is it becomes you to consider two Things First The Use that Men commonly put their Estates to in this Age And then Secondly The Use that God has requir'd them to put them to and the Account that he expects of them accordingly §. II. The Vse of Estates and how commonly imployed with the best Account they can give of the same If you in the first place take a view of the World you will find that when a young Man begins to understand his Quality and that he is born or design'd to an Estate above others he begins to shake off his former Acquaintance and those that the state of Childhood and Ignorance had render'd his Familiars and to seek the Society of his Equals in Birth and Fortune and the Exercises that are proper to his Rank He overlooks his old Companions and will seldom and that in private only own that he knows them and that which we below think to be a spice of Pride is but necessary to his Place in the World to conciliate to himself the Honour and Reverence due to him When he hath found out a Companion of his Joys and his Griefs their great Care is to live up to the Character of their Houses and maintain the Honour of their Predecessors This is the Center to which all the Lines of the Circumference their Tables Attendants Equipage Houses Gardens and other Appendages of Nobleness and Gentility do and indeed shou'd tend And this is true down from the Noble-man to the Farmer and each Man in his several Degree aims at the Support and Credit of his House and Family For their Estates the Riotous waste and consume them the Covetous do what they can to hook in whatsoever comes within their reach and the provident and good Husband by his prudent management of what is left him increases what he has and finds an increase of Esteem and Respect proportionably In fine when every Man has acted his different Part upon the Stage of this World he settles it or the Law for him upon his Son or his Daughter or his nearest Relation This is the Summ of the Life of Man and the Account that he can give to his Maker in the other World must be accordingly And the best that can be given according to the usual management is this That they have husbanded their Charge to the best Advantage without fraud or oppression or wronging of any Man and with the yearly Product thereof they have fed and cloathed themselves their Children and their Servants And besides that have maintain'd their State according to their Degree and have at seasonable Times gratified their Appetites with suitable Pleasures This during their Lives and that when they died they left their paternal Estate with Additions to their eldest Sons the presumptive Heirs of their Dignities together with sufficient Provisions for their other Sons and Daughters And in defect of such Children then to their Nephews or Nieces or nearest Relations or in defect of these also which is rare to some of their Names or whom they best fansie This to pass by the Extorsion and unjust Methods of Covetousness and those profuse and extravagant ones of Sensuality not here to be named is the best Account that usually the best of Mankind can bring of what they have done here But for any eminent Act of Piety especially for the Glory of God and the Advancement of his Service either in their lives-time or at their death 't is very rare and extraordinary and a Work of wonder not imitation 'T is true natural Compassion Custom and Credit obliges Men to give something at their Gates but then 't is usually the Superfluities of Life and the Refuse of their Tables which otherwise wou'd stink and be corrupt and at their deaths some will commend a small Summ to the Poor to be distributed by their Executors which is no sooner received but spent But in these degenerate Times how few standing Acts of Piety and Charity do we find as Monuments of our Love to God and our Neighbour I wou'd not be thought to lessen any Man's Charity when I say that sometimes a merciful and generous Nature and possibly Glory may wring out of the Hands of our Heirs and Executors some good Remain But then as it is rare so it is thought a Work of Supererrogation not Duty that which is laudable but yet may be left undone without danger And where is the Man that thinks such Works necessary to Salvation or that God requires them and they will be advantageous to us in another World 'T was otherwise in Times of yore and not only Works of Charity but Piety were thought to be absolutely requir'd of God and therefore they cou'd not go out of the World without making a kind of Retaliation and Acknowledgment to God as well as