Disciples may befit our Weakness Mar. 10.32 that as He went before them they were amaz'd and as they follow'd they were afraid yet by his Grace we may so far resemble him as that he will own us hereafter And 't is not above our Christian strength to form our Behaviour according to the advice of the Apostle Eph. 5.1 2. Be ye followers of God as dear children and walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God V. Thirdly Let it be consider'd That Christian Mercy is more especially exercis'd in providing for the necessities of the Soul and taking compassion upon it inasmuch as the Soul is nobler than the Body and all that belongs to it And this is coming nearest to the unspeakable Love of Christ who descended from the bosom of the Father for the saving of our immortal Spirits and If God so loved us we ought also to love another 1 Joh. 4.11 To refresh men under temporal and outward Evils is our certain Duty and as 't is Solomon's Remark concerning the day of prosperity Eccl. 7.14 and the day of adversity That God hath set the one over against the other so he hath set the plenty of the rich over against the poverty of the indigent that the one should be a support for the other But still to reform Sinners and propagate the Fear and Knowledge of God to bind up the broken Conscience and give light to them that sit in darkness and proclaim liberty to the captives of Satan to rescue men from dangerous Prepossessions and reconcile them to one another or to an offended God these are such Fruits of Mercy as are most acceptable to God Luk. 15.10 and create a joy in the presence of his holy Angels Our Saviour intimates to us That our souls are of greater value than the whole world Mat. 16.26 than all the Kingdoms of it all that Pomp and Glory which he saw and would not accept and so he graciously express'd his Esteem of them in contemning the World and dying for them And let us be as tender of them as he was and have as just an Opinion of their worth The custody of our own Souls is committed to us by our Maker and they cannot be lost unless we squander them away And we have frequent Opportunities of forwarding the Salvation of our Brethren nay we have several Obligations to it correspondently to the distinct relations of Life And so Pastours and Magistrates and Parents and Masters of Families have weighty charges of this Nature lying upon them and it behoves them to be watchful Ezek. 3.18 that the blood of others may not be requir'd at their hands Whereas on the contrary it will prove hereafter an ineffable pleasure to see the Harvest of our Charity in the Felicity of those whom we pull'd out of the Fire and rescu'd from the Entanglements of Vice or bred up in the Fear of God and in vertuous Callings And it will be an endless rejoicing if we shall meet in another World with the Orphans that we took into our Care and educated in Piety and if we have made any accession to the number of Saints and to the Praises of Eternity VI. The Fourth Consideration is That there is an ample Reward to encourage Mercy and Compassion and that both upon a moral and upon a religious Account If it be regarded morally 't is attended with the Blessing of inward Satisfaction and Comfort and 't is an inexpressible Delight to a generous mind to mitigate the Sufferings of other men and to raise up a fallen Brother and to vanquish the Evils of Fate And though there is a secret Grief in partaking with our Brethren in their miseries and in turning upon our selves the arrows that wound them yet the joy resulting from the Sense of having reliev'd them is a lasting Refreshment And he that can look upon his Works of Mercy and the Monuments of his Liberality and can pass in a mental Reflection through the Objects of his Charity surrounded with Prayers and Benedictions may have more solid Reason to rejoice than a Conquerour passing through a triumphal Arch. Moreover the taking Compassion upon others and succouring their Wants is a good shelter against such Afflictions as may befall our selves and they that have been of a kind and bountiful temper and have not been sparing in their Seed nor in their Labour will be sure to meet with Friends and proportionable Supplies in the Day of their Calamity For 't is true in this sense as well as in a more spiritual one that the liberal Soul shall be made fat and he that watereth shall be watered also himself Prov. 11.25 We know not how soon we may be surpriz'd by Crosses and Decays and none of us can plead an Exemption from the common Distresses and fatal Accidents of the World And therefore 't is the more fitting for us to remember them that are in bonds Heb. 13.3 as bound with them and them which suffer adversity as being our selves also in the body Again upon a religious account the recompences of a charitable disposition are very manifest And Prov. 11.17 The merciful Man as Solomon observes doth good to his own Soul but he that is cruel troubleth his own Flesh For as God hates an uncharitable and sanguinary Spirit so he is highly pleas'd with Works of Mercy and always returns them upon the Head of him that performs them The Beatitude runs thus Mat. 5.7 Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy they shall obtain it from God whose Distributions are most Valuable and they shall obtain it in many Blessings of this Life but most eminently in those of another World to their infinite compensation Eccl. 29.11 12 13. Shut up Alms in thy Store-houses saith the Son of Sirach and it shall bring thee more profit than gold it shall deliver thee from all afflition it shall fight for thee against thine Enemies better than a mighty shield and strong spear But the richest Advantage of it is that 't is the laying up of Treasures in Heaven and our expences upon the Poor will be repaid hereafter beyond all comparison with earthly gain for Christ himself hath engag'd his Word to us under the Figure of the good Samaritan Luk. 10.35 Whatsoever thou spendest when I come again I will repay thee We cannot forget our Saviour's account of the last Judgment what it is that Men will be punish'd for the neglect of and what it is that they will be rewarded for the performance of And this is a singular mark of Favour to acts of Charity that amongst all the Christian Graces they are pitch'd upon as chiefly instrumental in procuring Eternal Bliss and as turning the ballance for us in the terrible day of trial The reason whereof possibly is because they are the most natural Fruits of that Divine Love which
is the Fountain of all true Devotion and the Ornament of the blessed Spirits and is to remain with us for ever in the highest Heavens And hereupon when they proceed from the right Principle they imply the conjunction of other Christian Vertues and a fitness for the Kingdom of God VII I come now to the Second Point in my Text namely the peculiar Circumstances of the Object that was reliev'd by our Samaritan It was a Jew and by consequence one that hated him and his Religion and yet Go and do thou likewise Let this therefore be the first Observation from hence That old Quarrels and Animosities must not obstruct the Manifestations of our love nor bind our hands from doing good Mat. 5.44 when there is a Providential call to it For * Amicos diligere omnium est inimicos autem solorum Christianorum Tertul ad Scap. c. 1. 't is our Master's Command Love your Enemies and therefore when they come in our way we are rather to regard the original relation between them and us than any grounds of hatred that have sprung up since and are of a lower date and though I meet with one that is to me as a Jew to a Samaritan I must not be slow in his relief when I see him weltering in his Blood and calling out for my help Wherefore when Objects of Mercy are presented to us we are to separate their personal Qualities from their Wants and if they are Vnworthy in themselves or in respect of their Dealings with us yet there is a Worthiness in humane Nature which no Vices can devest a Man of and there are natural Bonds of Amity and an universal Consanguinity which no baseness can extinguish and when our common Nature is oppress'd it hath a right to Tenderness and Assistance from all of the same Race It was therefore a wretched perverting of the Law for the * Maimon Jews to teach that if a Gentile were in danger of Death they were not bound to deliver him and if he fell into the Sea they were not oblig'd to endeavour the taking of him out This is contrary to common Humanity for the antecedent Rights of Mankind are not to be defeated by subsequent Distinctions and every one in Misery is to be reliev'd not in proportion to his Merits but to his Distress let him be Jew or Gentile Righteous or Wicked Friend or Enemy He that takes pity on an Enemy hath gain'd the Victory over him and a noble Mind would not lose so fair an opportunity And whatever Discouragements there may be to his Bounty 't is a sufficient ground for it that he relieves not the Enemy but the Man and according to the Prophet's Expression he hides not himself from his own flesh Isa 58.7 If a Man is my Enemy let it be his Fault and not mine for why should I be Unnatural to him because he hath been so to me And since by Retaliation of Injuries I should seem to take him for my Pattern and that would be dishonourable for me it ought to be my Care that whatever Violence he offers me he may neither rob me of my Vertue nor of my good Name This therefore is a rule of both Testaments Prov. 25.21 Rom. 12.20 If thine Enemy be hungry give him bread to eat and if he be thirsty give him water to drink VIII Secondly I shall observe from the Case of our Samaritan That differences in Religion ought not to put any stop to our Christian love for we find that one who doth not worship at the same Altar with us may be our Neighbour and by consequence be worthy of our love The chief Contentions between the Jews and Samaritans were about Religion and this embitter'd them mightily against one another though they agreed in the Substance of it and differ'd only in a Circumstance For though * Mede Falkner some of great Learning tell us that the Samaritans worshipped God under the resemblance of a Dove and Circumcis'd their Children in the Name of it I take this to be a Jewish Calumny And though others accuse them not only of owning no Scripture besides the Books of Moses but also of ‖ Origen in Joh. p. 327. in Matt. p. 486. Epiphan Is Voss denying the Immortality of the Soul and the Resurrection and the World to come I do not think this Leaven of the Sadducees had got much amongst them in our Saviour's days if we abate * Orig. cont Cels p. 38. in Joh. p. 218. Walton Proleg XI their receiving of the Pentateuch alone But the ‖ Joseph l. 11. c. 8. l. 13. c. 6. grand Debate between the two Nations was concerning the Credit of their Temples and the local Confinement of God's Worship as 't is rightly stated by that notable Woman in the Gospel Joh. 4.20 9. Our Fathers worshipped in this Mountain and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship and yet we see what a Flame this one Controversie rais'd for many Generations and produc'd a kind of inveterate Antipathy between the contending Parties so that the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans nor have †Samaritan Epist ad Scalig to this every day 'T is so too often amongst Christians when from slight Causes of Dispute their tempers are sour'd by a long tract of Contention and Charity which is of unquestionable Necessity is lost for Questions that possibly will not be decided till the second Coming of Christ But from the Parable before us we may learn that the Jews and Samaritans ought to be Friends to one another and 't is a strange Descant upon their Case which is made by a * Maldon in Joan. p. 527. Learned Jesuite That the Jews hated the Samaritans the more bitterly because these pretended to the same Religion and so saith he true Catholicks hate Calvinists and all other Hereticks worse than they do Infidels God deliver us from such true Catholicks I am sure a true Christian hates no Man whatever and therefore instead of returning their hatred let us follow a much better Guide Bless them which persecute you Rom. 12.14 bless and curse not 'T is so far from Christian Charity to hate Schismaticks and Hereticks that 't is a peculiar Act of it to reduce and convert them And where our charitable endeavours meet with stubbornness we are to remember that it cannot be vanquish'd but by the Grace of God and when he is pleas'd to co-operate with our zeal it will certainly be victorious We are not told what return the Jew in this Parable made to his Deliverer But the mercy had been well repaid if he had brought the Samaritan to the Temple which God had appointed †In Johan p. 208. Origen observes that the Samaritans are the Figure of those that dissent from the Church and that their Mount Gerizim is by the Interpretation of the Word Division or Separation
And then we may conclude that the best healing for a wounded Samaritan is to * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basil T. 1. p. 320. guide him and his Sacrifices to the true Temple of God 'T is no Charity to flatter men in their mistakes to encourage their wandrings by mean Compliances and to betray them in the affairs of their Souls under the appearances of friendship and civility But 't is so to endeavour the gaining of them by softness and forbearance and gentleness to beware as much as we can of inflaming and exasperating their minds to treat them not as Adversaries but as misguided †Agnosce me fratrem agnosco te fratrem sed excepto schismate excepto errore exceptâ dissensione Augustin Supplem p. 86. Brethren and to pardon their weaknesses and hope well of their Salvation Many that worship here on this or that Mountain may meet us hereafter in the heavenly Jerusalem and then we shall be asham'd of our uncharitable discords To their own Master they stand or fall Rom. 14.4 and God is able to make them stand IX I need not insist longer upon the kindness of the Samaritan respectively to the Jew For there is no distance or enmity between us and them whose wants we come hither to relieve and in whose Name I am humbly to address my self to you that are the Givers or Managers of what is to sustain them Wherefore to excite your mercy and liberality and care towards them let this be the First Encouragement to it That they are not strangers or foreigners but have a particular alliance to us and are in a manner of the same Family with us And they are not Worshippers on a remote Mountain but Domesticks of our Communion and by this are entitled to your present relief Charity is impartial but not undistinguishing it rejects none that are in want but it may give a Preference And accordingly 't is an Apostolical Rule Gal 6.10 As we have opportunity let us do good unto all men especially unto them who are of the houshold of faith There is a growing Sect in this Nation of dark and unaccountable Principles of an unpopular behaviour and of declar'd enmity to the Church and Magistracy and Clergy and yet from despicable beginnings 't is risen to a strange increase by a compacted policy and the secret union of those that enter into it and in that by mutual assistances and correspondencies they keep their poor from appearing publickly and freely support the necessities of one another And let it be no offence to provoke you to Emulation Rom. 11.14 as S. Paul speaks and to quicken your charity by mentioning those who are continually making work for it Secondly Another incitement hereunto may be this that the foundation of your wealth and settlement was laid out of what was peculiarly * Ego Aethelbertus Rex tradidi Deo aliquam partem terrae juris mei Spelm. Concil p. 119. Ego Aethelulphus Rex portionem terrae mea Deo concedam Id. p. 350. Ego Adelstanus Rex mando Praepositis meis ut reddant de meo proprio decimas Deo Id. p. 402. Sacerdotes populum instruant de his quae de jure Deo sunt reddenda decimae scilicet res aliae Constit Edgar Nemo auferat Deo quod ad Deum pertinet Leg. Aethelr Quisque Deo jura ritè persolvito decimas reddito Leg. Canut Decima garba Deo debita est ideò reddenda Leg. S. Edwar. consecrated to God And then 't is the more necessary to offer him some proportionable requital and to cancel your Debt to the Church by providing for her Fatherless Children and Widows It was the ancient Notion That the †Augustin Ep. L. ad Bonif Isidor Pel. l. 1. Ep. 269. Prosper de Vit. Cont. l. 2. c. 9. Basil T. 1. p. 916. Epist 69. Revenues of the Church were the Patrimony of the poor and they were usually put into the Hands of the * Canon Apostol 38 40 41. Can. Antioch 24 25. Constitut Apost l. 2. c. 25 27. Aelfrici Canon 24. Greg. Nyssen Vit. S. Macr. Ambros Offic l. 1. c. 30. l. 2. c. 28. Bishops that the Surplusage above the decent Maintenance of the Clergy might be distributed to charitable uses And then it cannot be deny'd that what hath been built upon the Endowments of the Church ought to pay a Ground-rent of Charity Thirdly Let us consider that the more we have prosper'd by God's special Benediction upon our Industry and Labours the greater is our Obligation of making suitable returns in Piety and Mercy And he that gave us our Possessions did not make us the Proprietours but the Stewards of them God hath rais'd many of you to wealthy and honourable Employments and there is scarce any Dignity in Church or State any Profession or Calling or Rank which some of this Body have not advanc'd the Reputation of So that we may say to those of the other Tribes in the Words of * Apol◠c. 37. Tertullian Vestra omnia implevimus urbes municipia castra decurias palatium senatum forum And this as it confirms God's ancient Promises of Blessing the Seed of the Righteous so it reminds us that since by his kind Providence our branches are spread so far it becomes us in all places through which we pass to leave some footsteps of our vertuous Education and of the Principles instill'd into us by our religious Parents to whose Memory we cannot dedicate a better Monument than the Publick Fruits of their Cultivation and a Life answerable to their Instructions and Prayers Fourthly Let it be Consider'd that we claim a nearer Relation to the Church and solemnly call our selves The Sons of the Church of England and therefore we ought above all Men not only to be stedfast to her Communion but to do every thing that tends to the Honour and Establishment of it 'T is plain nothing can more Conduce hereunto than the good Works and Charity and Love and Innocence of those that enter into her Gates and accordingly let this be our way of standing up in her Defence and let us plead for our Communion by the Goodness of our Lives and the Tenderness of our Hearts and by walking suitably to the Scriptures which we have had an early Acquaintance with Lastly Since this is the time of commemorating our Saviour's Advent let us be excited to Charity and Love by reviewing the wonderful Mercies of it and by considering earnestly what he did in remembring Man who had forgotten himself in visiting the Earth under the Form of a Servant when it was overspread with Darkness and Destruction was marching through all the parts of the Universe and in Redeeming us by the Blood of his Cross when we were his Enemies and utterly unworthy of Salvation from him We cannot say here Go and do thou likewise we cannot approach to the mysterious height of his incomprehensible Love but we can do what is necessary for us we can adore and follow him at an humble distance and he will accept of our imperfect Obedience and enable us for higher Degrees of it and ensure to us an eternal Reward if we live sincerely according to his fundamental Prescription Joh. 15.12 This is my Commandment my great and distinguishing Commandment that ye love one another as I have loved you Rev. 1.5 6. To him that thus loved us and washed us from our Sins in his own Blood together with the Father and the Holy Ghost be Glory and Dominion for ever and ever Amen FINIS