agreeable to the Principles of Nature and highly grateful to a Generous Temper in the Performance However Atheistical Persons to make way for their false and impious Principles think fit to scandalize Humane Nature representing Men as Wolves and Tygres and Beasts of Prey prone to tear and devour one another and at liberty to do it by their Natural Principles yet this is an impudent and malicious Slander of their own and the Devils devising whereby God is dishonoured and Mankind abused The Law of Love and Charity and Compassion is the first and most Ancient Law and has a direct foundation in Nature it self being interwoven in the very frame and contexture of our Bodies We are not hewn out of a Rock that is obdurate and insensible but are made up of the softer and more relenting Principles of Flesh and Blood which would incline us to be kind merciful and compassionate were it not that Pride Ambition Lust and Worldly-mindeclness Creatures of the Devil did by degrees corrupt and vitiate the true Principles and Inclinations of Nature and choak those seeds of Humanity which though oppressed lye deeply rooted in every mans heart But to a good and generous Temper nothing is so grateful and voluptuous as to do Good and discharge its Pity in some kind and charitable Office Nature it self is powerful within who with great Zeal intercedes in the behalf of the Poor and Afflicted and to be sure pleads heartily upon that Argument because she then pleads for Self that she may thereby allay the Pain of her Compassion and ease the distress of her own Bowels And surely any ingenious Person that has been exercised in the Practice of this delightful Duty of Charity will not esteem his Obligation to it to be any burden or heavy Imposition but will chearfully and joyfully take the advantage of every Opportunity of performing it for the very Pleasure and Satisfaction of mind that attends it Now though this is an Entertainment with which few Worldlings and ill natur'd men are acquainted yet to well affected Minds it is most pleasant and the parting with Riches in such a way is much more delightful than either the getting or spending of them upon themselves The Pleasure of thus doing Good is far greater than that of receiving it To relieve a Poor afflicted man in his Distress and to rescue him from the Evils with which he was oppressed is a God-like act resembling that of the Creation a Prerogative Royal of the Almighty communicated to poor mortal Creatures whereby they become what our first Parents vainly affected by their Disobedience even as Gods For he that is thus enabled to raise a poor forlorn Creature that is destitute of Help and give him Comfort a new and an unknown thing to him does as it were create such a man and bring him out of Nothing and he that relieves one faln from a prosperous State into Misery and Distress raises him in a manner from the Dead and endues him with a second Life Now what greater Dignity and Honour than this can Humane Nature be capable of or what should more reasonably satisfie the utmost Ambition of men than to be thus put in the Place of God himself to be clothed with the Robes of his Royalty and have the Signature of that Power which is Divine imprinted upon them And thus we see how the Practice of this Duty of Charity is both Delightful and Honourable and every way agreeable to the Inclinations of a great and generous Mind which was the first Encouragement proposed from the Nature of the Duty it self Secondly as the Performance of these Duties of Kindness and Charity is highly agreeable and grateful to our Natures so will the Reflection upon it give us great Consolation at the hour of Death And certainly there is nothing a man ought more to labour after than that he may so frame his Life that he may with Quiet and Confidence leave this World when God shall call him hence and if he cannot attain to this he can never esteem himself happy in any Condition whatsoever because those sad apprehensions he will have at that last and dreadful hour if he be not thus prepared will deface and utterly blot out the Remembrance of all the Joyes and the Pleasures of his former Life Now there is nothing does so cheer and revive a mans Spirit at his Death except the interest he apprehends in the merits of Christ as the Reflection upon the Good he has done in the World in his Life time then will his Alms and Oblations and all the Offices of Kindness he has done present themselves before him to his unspeakable comfort and support his fainting and drooping Spirit in that time of Natures great Distress When the Remembrance of all worldly Felicity and Greatness will bring nothing along with it but Torment and Vexation of Spirit The Epicure will find then but little Comfort when he shall consider with himself how he has spent the Portion of the Poor in Riot and Luxury and pampered his Lusts with that which should have refreshed their hungry Bowels The most Magnificent and Stately Monarch will not then be at all affected with the Pomp and Greatness of his former Life nor be pleased with the Remembrance of those great and bloody Exploits whereby he has made himself terrible to the Neighbouring Nations Though he has conquered and subdued Kingdomes and set up the Trophies of his Victories in every Place yet what Comfort will all this give him when he is at the point to die Will the Plains strowed with the dead Bodies of his vanquished Enemies be a Scene of Delight to his disturbed and disordered Fancy or the Lamentation of Widows and Orphans which his Sword has made be musick in his Eares and drive away the Melancholy from his Heart at that uncomfortable hour No the Memory of his former Oppressions and Cruelties will then torment him the frightful Ghosts of those thousands which for his Lust or his Ambition or his Avarice he has murder'd and destroy'd will stare him in the Face and make dreadful Impressions upon his guilty and troubled Mind and so he must needs leave the World in great Horrour and Confusion But the good Deeds of the just Comfort and refresh his Spirit when he lies upon his bed of languishing and so he surrenders up his Soul with Considence into the hands of God the Just and Righteous Judge It pleases him then to think that he has not been hurtful nor altogether unprofitable to the World having done something for the good of it before he left it especially if he have contrived the settlement of his Charity to succeeding ages he may then be content and well pleased to put off mortality and live in those Works of Piety he leaves behind for the Design and End of his Life having been only to do Good he will easily be disposed to die willingly when he knows he shall continue his doing of Good
after his Death he will without any Trouble part with Life because he is to enjoy the true benefits of it when he is dead living more desireably this way than in a natural Off-spring whereby most men fondly imagine they perpetuate themselves For the Affinity of Blood will soon be worn out and what Concern and Interest has a man in a distant Posterity besides he knows not how soon it may degenerate and prove unworthy to inherit his labours and this very Consideration cast a damp upon Solomon the wisest of men in the midst of his Greatness 2 Eccles 18.19 I hated said he all the Labour I had taken under the Sun because I must leave it to the man that shall be after me and who knoweth whither he shall be a Wise man or a Fool yet shall he have Rule over all my Labour wherein I have lahoured and wherein I have shew'd my self Wise under the Sun But a man that does what good he can in his Life time and then leaves the remainder of his Substance for an Inheritance to the Poor when he dies satisfies himself that what he leaves behind is disposed of to Pious uses according to his hearts desire and by this means he makes the most of this World that is possible enjoying it as much and as far as is consistent with this State of Mortality and perpetuates his Memory to the best Advantage to succeeding Generations which leads me to the third Encouragement proposed Thirdly Acts of Beneficence and Charity do after the best and most honourable way perpetuate our Names and Memories to Posterity A good Name says Solomon is as precious Oyntment and there is nothing which the more Ingenious part of mankind more earnestly affect than a good Reputation and to leave a fair remembrance of themselves and their Actions to the Ages that are to come but the greater part of men being blinded with Ambition and Vain-glory court a false Reputation and project rather to leave a great than a good Name behind them In vain do great Princes think to perpetuate their Memories by magnificent and stately Buildings of Stone or Marble for Posterity to gaze on which add nothing to their true Honour but are rather Records and Monuments of their Pride and Vanity In vain do the great Troublers of the world endeavour to be magnified in Story for their mighty Conquests a Gentile word in use amongst the great whereby Murder and Robbery are expressed in a more civil and courtly manner for instead of that Glory and Renown they think to get they bring in the opinion of all good and vertuous men a scandal and an everlasting infamy upon themselves For what are the great things they would have recorded of them to posterity that they have brought great Ruines and Desolations upon Mankind depopulated great Kingdoms and Countries and committed Crimes and Barbarieties too great for Justice to take notice of These are the worthy Atchievements they desire to have related which are so far from doing them any Honour that they are an eternal reproach to their Memories But the Actions of the just and good man who endeavours in his life-time to be beneficial to Mankind are as a sweet-smelling savour his beneficence and charity perfume his memory to all Generations he is remembred by the tokens of Goodness he has left behind him All good men will do him honour as a great Benefactor to the World rehearsing with praise and admiration the noble and generous Acts he did in his life-time how kind how good how courteous how bountiful he was how he relieved the poor protected the innocent comforted the afflicted and according to the utmost of his power advanced the happiness and prosperity of mankind Now such a Memorial as this is worthy to be recorded to posterity much to be preferred before a long and vain Inscription in Marble or Brass relating a pompous story of bloudy Slaughters that have been committed This is the good Name that is the true and proper Portion and Inheritance of the Just whereby he lives in the minds of the good and the vertuous with whom his Memory is precious and his Name honourable which was the third Encouragement to this sort of good works Fourthly and lastly these works of Charity lay a good and firm foundation for eternal life in the world to come as the Apostle particularly declares in 1 Tim. 6. v. 17 18 19. Charge them says he that are rich in this world that they be not high minded nor trust in uncertain riches but in the living God who giveth us all things richly to enjoy that they do good and that they 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 Where S. Paul gives counsel and direction how the rich should lay out their wealth to-the best advantage and improvement viz. that they should give it to the poor and that thereby they would make the best sort of purchase even a purchase of eternal life and secure a Treasure in Heaven where moths do not corrupt and where thieves do not break thorough and steal an Inheritance that is everlasting that fadeth not away that is eternal in the Heavens So that we see the onely way to preserve our Riches is thus to part with them for what we keep we are forced to leave behind but what we give away we carry along with us When Princes die they cannot carry away their wealth neither does any of their Pomp and their Glory follow them Naked came they into this world and naked must they return they brought nothing with them and 't is certain they can carry nothing out But the good deeds of the just and compassionate man follow him into the other world nay rather they go before to prepare a place for him and therefore our Saviour himself in Luke 16.9 gives us this advice that in our life-time whilest we have opportunity we should make us friends of our unrighteous mammon so he calls the riches of this World that so when we fail they may receive us into everlasting habitations By which we see that the poor which we relieve if they belong to the houshold of saith are so many Harbingers sent before to open the Gates of Heaven and to prepare a Place for us They will then bear Testimonie of our Deeds of Charity towards them in their Distress before God and his Holy Angels upon which Deposition of Theirs our Saviour the Just and Righteous Judge will pronounce that comfortable Sentence in the 15 Mat. v. 35. Come ye blessed of my Father and inherit the Kingdom prepared for you before the Foundation of the World for I was an hungred and ye gave me meat I was thirsty and ye gave me drink I was a Stranger and ye took me in naked and ye clothed me I was sick and ye visited me I
condescend to the meanest offices of Humanity and Kindness to the poor and the abject which he performed with great compassion thoroughout the whole course of his Life This was his constant practice as we find in the History of the Gospel to which his Doctrine was exactly suitable His Sermons and Discourses to the people were all to the same purpose he did not entertain his Disciples with nice and high-flown Speculations according to the vain way of the Gentile Philosophers which should onely amuse their minds with unprofitable and impracticable Notions that tended to no real and substantial good But his Doctrines were purely for the use and real benefit of mankind for the establishment of Peace and Love and Kindness in the world and for the restraining and curbing those immoderate Passions which made men mischievous or at best very uneasie to one another His Law was the perfect Law of Love and Charity according to the utmost extent in the greatest Comprehension that ever yet it was proposed to the world He commands us not onely to love our Neighbours and Friends with whom we peaceably and amicably live in the same civil Society but also that we love our enemies and those that hate us He commands us not onely not to revenge an injury which was the highest strain any Philosophers ever reach'd to in their Principles few so high in their Practice but instead of evil to return good to bless those that curse us and to shew kindness to those that despitefully use us He commands us to bestow our Charity not at large to any persons we may have a fancy and inclination to but he particularly determines it to our very Enemies If thine enemy hunger give him bread if he thirst give him drink These are the Principles of Humanity and Goodness he has recommended to the practice of the world refined and sublimated to the highest degree of Perfection that Humane Nature is capable of And thus we see how this Divine Law of Love and Charity is pressed upon all Christians both by the example and particular commands of our Saviour so that the observance of it is not left to our liberty for a Free-will Offering whereby we may supererogate but it is essential to true Christianity without which we can in no wise pretend to be the Disciples of Christ We are not therefore to think to apply this Discourse more particularly to Charity which I mainly design with the selfish and churlish Worldlings that whatsoever we can scrape together provided it be by means allowable by the Law is presently all our own and that when once we have got it into our clutches we may dispose of it as we please No man in this World is a Free-holder and an absolute Proprietor in respect of the Worldly Estate which he possesses but he has it from God under some certain terms and limitations who has made some Reserves and allotted some Pensions that are to be paid out to the Poor and the Distressed The Rich are only Gods Stewards and Almoners with whom he intrusts the Relief of their Necessitous Brethren Now if they spend the Portion of the Poor in Riot and Superfluity or any other way divert it from the use it was designed they are false to the Trust Almighty God has reposed in them they oppress and defraud the Poor and are upon the matter as Criminal as those that pick their Pockets and rifle their Houses for which their Great Lord will one day call them to a severe account And indeed if the Gospel were silent the common Principles of Natural Reason and Equity would in great measure enforce this Duty For can we suppose that God the Wise Creator and Governour of all things who regardeth not the high looks of the Proud and is no Respecter of Persons should be so favourable and partial to the Rich and to the Great as to bestow upon them such Plenty and Superfluity without some Reservation for the necessary Support at least of those who have the same Common Principles of Nature and are equally the Workmanship of his own Hands Or if Societies of men were joyned together meerly by compact can we reasonably think that the meaner and lower sort of People should ever willingly consent or quietly submit to so unequal nay so unjust an Establishment as that which raiseth some to so vast a height and greatness whilst they themselves are destitute of the necessary supports of Life without remedy Is it reasonable that the Head and some other of the more Honourable Parts of the Body should be filled with pretious Ointments and Perfumes decked and adorned in the most costly and extravagant manner while no care or regard should be had to the Feet and other viler Parts which do the common drudgery of the Body and are the chief support of the whole No there ought certainly to be a proportionable care for all the Members because they partake of the same Nature and perform their distinct functions in the common offices of Life And so ought it also to be in Societies of men the Rich and the Powerful and the Honourable who are maintained and supported in their Greatness by the Services of Meaner Persons are obliged in way of just Recompence to take such under their care and protection and out of their Superfluities as often as occasion requires make the low and mean Estate to which the others quietly submit for the sake of Order and Peace to be as supportable and comfortable as is possible Now if it be demanded in what way or after what proportion this Charitable Relief is to be distributed to Persons in Want and Distress I answer it is to be done without any bounds or limitation both for the Manner and the Measure but such as Christian Prudence shall direct and determine We ought out of our greater Experience and Knowledge to counsel and advise the Ignorant with our Power to defend and protect the Innocent from Oppression and with our Riches and Abundance to relieve the Wants and Necessities of the Poor and Indigent without any determinate stint but according to our Abilities and according to what the Exigence of others may require And in this Latitude and Extent are these Acts of Beneficence and Charity in a more peculiar way Duties of Gospel which was the first Particular But besides this obligation of Duty I shall as I proposed shew Secondly The farther Encouragements we have to the Performance of these Acts of Beneficence and Charity from their own nature in that First They are agreeable to the Principles of Humanity and highly grateful to a Generous temper in the very Performance Secondly They give us great satisfaction of Mind at the time of our Death Thirdly They make us live in the World after Death by perpetuating our Names and Memories Fourthly They lay a good and sure foundation for Everlasting Life in the World that is to come First These Acts of Kindness and Charity are
was in Prison and ye came unto me For verily I say unto you in as much as you have done it to these you have done it unto me enter therefore into the Joy of your Master And thus have I dispatched also the second general Head proposed the Encouragements that are for the Performance of this Duty of Charity from its Nature and Effects thorough the whole Course and Progress of it The Practice of it is pleasant to us whilst we live the Remembrance of it comfortable when we die the History of it is honourable to our Memories after Death and besides all this it layes a firm Foundation for everlasting Life in the World that is to come It now only remains that I proceed to the third and last thing proposed briefly to shew what are the Duties of those that are or have been relieved by others Charity as a more particular Application to this Assembly I shall instance in these two following Particulars 1. There is required Commemoration of the Kindness thus received 2. An hearty Endeavour to answer the Designs and Intentions of it 1. There is required a grateful Commemoration of the Kindness and the Charity thus received And this is a return which Nature it self and the common Principles of Gratitude dictate to all men He that can receive a Kindness and not be at all sensible of it is a Monster of Barbarity unfit to converse with Mankind and unworthy to receive any Offices of Humanity And therefore the least and lowest Degree of Acknowledgment we can make is to be heartily â—ffected with it and upon all Occasions endeavour to preserve and revive the memory of our Benefactors and that charitable Assistance we have received from them And certainly in a more special manner all that any way relate to this noble and ample Foundation have abundant Reason to magnify the Goodness of God for that plentiful Provision he has made for them by the pious Charity of our munificent Founder whose Memory we this Day celebrate upon which occasion our hearts ought to be enlarged with a grateful Sense of those great Mercies God has conveyed to us by his means You that are of the younger sort are to consider with your selves how great Obligations you have to a Pious Gratitude upon the account of those great Blessings you receive in this Place here are you nourished and bred up with that care as if you were in your own Fathers Houses with that Indulgence to your tender Age as if you were still under the wings of your Mothers Here are many of you rescued from the sad and grievous pressures of Poverty and the dreadful effects of it and delivered from the Calamities of a low and a base Fortune and the Temptations to which it usually exposes men to All things are here provided for your comfortable Subsistence without any Care or Pains of your own you are fed as the Young Ravens to which our Saviour alludes Luke 12. v. 24. you only open your Mouths call upon God and are filled with good Things You neither spin nor toil but are clothed as the Lillies of the Field and what is far more valuable than all this you have means afforded you of an ingenious and virtuous Education Your tender natures are seasoned with early Principles of Piety and good Literature whereby if you are not wanting to your selves you may be fitted for future Imployment in your several wayes to the Honour of God the Credit of the Founder the Comfort of your Parents the good of the Church and the Service of your King and Country All which great and signal Mercies cry aloud to you for a grateful Acknowledgment And you that are old and Gray-headed are under no less Obligations Consider with your selves how happily you may pass your declining age in this Place if you duly improve those Opportunities you do enjoy You have here a safe and quiet Retreat from the Cares and and the Troubles of Life being free from the noise and Buzzle of the World and at perfect leasure to compose your minds and fit your selves for your approaching end Death many times comes upon other men at unawares whilst they are in the hurry of business and engaged in a hot and eager pursuit after Worldly projects which makes him more dreadful when he appears but certainly those in your state of Life can never be surprized by Death because you have nothing else to do but to expect him and by staring him continually in the face his visage must needs become less terrible unto you In the mean while you have nothing to disturb your minds or distract your thoughts but are at liberty wholly to apply your selves to the Service of God to make your peace with him and patiently expect and wait till your great change come You are passed over the troublesome and tempestuous Sea of this World and are arrived at an harbour of Rest where all things are calm and quiet from whence you may look out and see the World round about you in Confusion and Distraction and every one as in a great storm tumbling and tossing up and down not knowing where to find any Secure and Resting Place whilst You enjoy Peace and Ease and Retirement a state of Life which the greatest Monarehs have envied and have resigned their Crowns and Empires and stript themselves of all their Worldly glory that they might only secure to themselves before their death some few such happy and quiet hours as you enjoy and therefore ought you also be seriously and thankfully affected for all those Advantages you receive from the hand of God let your hearts be filled with Thanksgiving and your mouths with his Praise Yea let all both Young and Old joyn together in consort singing Hallelujah and Anthems of Praise to the Name of the most High whose Goodness is infinite and whose Mercies are over all his Works But Secondly A bare Acknowledgment is not sufficient there is a farther duty required of those that live upon Charity which is that they answer the designs and intentions of their Benefactors by living according to the Rules prescribed them and by making Improvements answerable to the Encouragements they do receive And therefore to apply this more particularly the younger sort here ought with all possible diligence and industry to endeavour to improve themselves in Learning and Piety and Good manners for which purpose so Liberal a Maintenance is allowed And the Aged ought to sequester themselves from the World at least from the Cares the Lusts and the Vanities of it and attend carefully and constantly upon the Service of God and all holy Duties that so living soberly godlily and circumspectly they may be in a continual readiness and preparation to expect the summons of Death which they are daily to look for And all others of us who have at any time partook of the same Bounty ought to esteem our selves as great Debtors to the Publick for what we have this