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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62636	Several discourses upon the attributes of God viz. Concerning the perfection of God. Concerning our imitation of the divine perfections. The happiness of God. The unchangeableness of God. The knowledge of God. The wisdom, glory, and soveraignty of God. The wisdom of God, in the creation of the world. The wisdom of God, in his providence. The wisdom of God, in the redemption of mankind. The justice of God, in the distribution of rewards and punishments. The truth of God. The holiness of God. To which is annexed a spital sermon, of doing good. By the most reverend Dr. John Tillotson, late Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury. Being the sixth volume; published from the originals, by Raph Barker, D.D. chaplain to his grace.	Tillotson, John, 1630-1694.; Barker, Ralph, 1648-1708.	1699 (1699)	Wing T1264; ESTC R219315	169,861	473

of this Design and the Means how it is accomplisht This is Wisdom to fit Means to Ends and the more difficult the End the greater Wisdom is required to find out suitable and sufficient Means for the accomplishment of the End Now the wisdom of redemption will appear if we consider the case of fallen Man and what fit and proper and suitable Means the Wisdom of God hath devised for our Recovery 1. Let us consider the Case of fallen Man which was very sad both in respect of the Misery and the Difficulty of it 1. In respect of the Misery of it Man who was made Holy and Upright by God having by his voluntary Transgression and wilful Disobedience fall'n from him did presently sink into a corrupt and degenerate into a miserable and cursed Condition of which Heaven and Earth and his own Conscience bore him Witness Man being become a Sinner is not only deprived of the Image of God but is liable to his Justice here was his Misery 2. The difficulty of the Case was this Man could not recover himself and raise himself out of his own ruin no Creature was able to do it so that our help is only in God and indeed he is a merciful God and doth not desire our Ruin nor delight in our Destruction But suppose his Mercy never so willing to save us will not his Holiness and Justice and Truth check those forward Inclinations of his Goodness and hinder all the Designs of his Mercy Is not sin contrary to the Holy Nature of God hath not he declared his Infinite hatred of it hath not he threatned it with heavy and dreadful Punishment and said that the sinner shall die that he will not acquit the guilty nor let sin go unpunish'd Should he now without any satisfaction to his offended Justice pardon the Sinner remit his Punishment and receive him to favour would this be agreeable to his Holiness and Justice and Truth would this become the Wise Governour of the World who loves Righteousness and Order who hates sin and is obliged by the essential rectitude of his Nature to discountenance sin So that here is a conflict of the Attributes and Perfections of God The Mercy of God pities our Misery and would recover us would open Paradise to us but there is a flaming Sword that keeps us out the incensed Justice of God that must be satisfied and if he take vengeance of us we are eternally ruin'd if he spare us how shall Mercy and Justice meet together how shall God at once express his Love to the Sinner and his hatred to sin here is the difficulty of our Case II. Let us now enquire what Means the Wisdom of God useth for our recovery The Wisdom of God hath devised this expedient to accommodate all these Difficulties to reconcile the Mercy and Justice of God The Son of God shall undertake this work and satisfie the offended Justice of God and repair the ruin'd Nature of Man He shall bring God and Man together make up this Gulph and renew the Commerce and Correspondence between God and us which was broken off by Sin The work that God designs is the redemption of Man that is his recovery from a state of Sin and Eternal Death to a state of Holiness and Eternal Life The Son of God is to engage in this Design of our Redemption to satisfie the offended Justice of God toward us so as to purchase our deliverance from the Wrath to come and so as to restore us to the Image and Favour of God that we may be sanctified and be made Heirs of Eternal Life For opening of this we will consider 1. The fitness of the Person designed for this Work 2. The fitness of the Means whereby he was to accomplish it 1. The fitness of the Person design'd for this Work and that was the eternal Son of God who in respect of his Infinite Wisdom and Power the Dignity and Credit of his Person his dearness to his Father and Interest in him was very fit to undertake this Work to mediate a Reconciliation between God and Man 2. The fitness of the Means whereby he was to accomplish it and these I shall refer to two Heads his Humiliation and Exaltation All the Parts of these are very subservient to the Design of our Redemption I. The Humiliation of Christ which consists of three principal Parts his Incarnation his Life and his Death 1. His Incarnation which is set forth in Scripture by several Expressions his being made flesh and dwelling among us John 1.14 His being made of the seed of David according to the flesh Rom. 1.3 His being made of a woman Gal. 4.4 The manifestation of God in the flesh 1 Tim. 3.16 His taking part of flesh and blood Heb. 2.14 His taking on him the seed of Abraham and being made like unto his brethren Heb. 2.16 17. His coming in the flesh 1 John 2.2 All which signifies his taking upon him Humane Nature and being really a Man as well as God The Eternal Son of God in the fulness of time took our Nature that is assumed a real Soul and Body into Union with the Divine Nature Now this Person who was really both God and man was admirably fitted for the Work of our Redemption In general this made him a fit Mediator an equal and middle Person to interpose in this Difference and take up this Quarrel between God and Man Being both God and man he was concerned for both Parties and interested both in the Honour of God and the Happiness of Man and engaged to be tender of both and to procure the one by such ways as might be consistent with the other More particularly his Incarnation did fit him for those two Offices which he was to perform in his Humiliation of Prophet and Priest 1. The Office of Prophet to teach us both by his Doctrine and his Life By his Doctrine His being in the likeness of Man this made him more familiar to us He was a Prophet raised up from among his Brethren as Moses speaks and he makes this an Argument why we should hear him Should God speak to us immediately by himself we could not hear him and live God condescends to us and complies with the weakness of our Nature and raiseth up a Prophet from among our brethren We should hear him And then his being God did add Credit and Authority to what he spake he could confirm the Doctrine which he taught by Miracles Of his teaching us by his Life I shall have occasion to speak presently 2. For the Office of Priest He was fit to be our Priest because he was taken from among Men as the Apostle speaks fit to suffer as being Man having a body prepared as it is Heb. 10.5 and fit to satisfie by his sufferings for the Sins of all Men as being God which put an infinite Dignity and Value upon them the sufferings of an infinite Person being equal to the offences done

to our selves I. For the Explication of it By the immutability of God we mean that he always is and was and to all Eternity will be the same that he undergoes no changes either of his Essence and Being or of his Properties and Perfections In reference to the unchangeableness of his being he is said to be eternal incorruptible and only to have immortality In reference to his perfections he is always the same infinitely Wise and Good and Powerful and Holy and just Being from whence it follows that he is Constant and Immutable in all his Decrees and Counsels his Purposes and Promises We are uncertain and mutable in in our very Nature and Beings and in all those Qualities and Perfections which belong to us in all our Purposes Resolutions and Actions we are continually growing or decreasing in this or that quality and do frequently change from one extream to another from that which is more perfect to the contrary now knowing and then ignorant somtimes wise and oftner foolish stronger and weaker better or worse as it happens and as we order our selves continually waxing or waining in our Knowledge and Wisdom and Goodness and Power we frequently change our Minds and alter our Purposes and break our Promises and contradict our firmest and most serious Resolutions and speak a thing and do it not say it and do not bring it to pass but God is everlastingly the same in all his Perfections constant to his Intentions steady to his Purpose immutably fixt and persevering in all his Decrees and Resolutions I proceed to the II. Thing I proposed namely To shew that this Perfection is essential to God to be unchangeably what he is And this I shall endeavour to make manifest both from Natural Reason and from the Divine Revelation of the Holy Scriptures 1. From the Dictates of natural Reason which tells us that nothing Argues greater weakness and imperfection than Inconstancy and Change This is the great Vanity of all Creatures that they are uncertain and do not long continue in one state this is the vanity of the World in general that the fashion of it passeth away and of Man in particular that he is liable to so many natural changes by Age and Diseases and Death for which Reason he is said by the Psalmist to be in his best estate altogether vanity and that he is liable to so many moral changes to be deluded and deceived in his Understanding and to alter his Opinion so often to be so fickle in his Will and to change so often his Purposes and Resolutions according to the alteration or appearance of things We attribute Change and Inconstancy to Persons of the weakest Age and Understanding as Children who are liable to be tost to and fro and carried about with every wind as the Apostle speaks Eph. 4.14 Now if the Divine Nature were subject to change this would cast an universal Cloud upon all the Divine Perfections and obscure all other Excellencies and make them like the flower of the field which how gay and glorious soever is fading and perishing and the greater the Divine Perfections are the greater Imperfection would mutability be for as the corruption of the best things is the worst so the better any thing is so much the worse it would be to have it liable to Corruption and Change And as mutability in God would darken all his other Perfections so would it take away the Foundation and comfort of all Religion the ground of our Faith and Hope and Fear of our Love and Esteem of God would be quite taken away We could have no great Honour or Esteem for a Being that is fickle and inconstant if his Power and Justice were uncertain his Threatings would in a great measure lose their awe and force if his Truth and Faithfulness could fail no Promises and Declarations how gracious soever would be any security or firm ground of Trust and Confidence And this Reasoning is not the result of Divine Revelation but clearly founded in the natural Notions and Suggestions of our Minds as will appear by citing one or two Testimonies to this burpose of those who had no other Guide but Natural Light Plato in his Phoedo enquires Whether the most perfect that is God be always the same or sometimes thus and sometimes otherwise that is saith he whether that which is Equality and Goodness and Bounty it self receives any the least Change at any time and be not Constant and Uniform and of it self always the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is never in any wise upon any account subject to any Change or Alteration whatsoever To which he answers That it is necessary that he should be the same and always alike And lib. 2. de Repub. where he lays down the Fundamental Laws and Constitutitions of Religion he mentions these two which one would almost think he borrow'd from St. James but that he lived so long before him viz. First That God is the Cause of all good and and in no wise of any evil answerably to what our Apostle here asserts that God cannot be tempted with evil neither tempteth he any Man but that every good and perfect gift is from him Secondly That God doth not deceive us by making various Representations of himself to us sometimes in one form and sometimes in another for he is unchangeable and always the same and cannot 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pass out of his own Idea or be any other than what he is which he further confirms by this excellent Reasoning That which is the best and most perfect Being is not liable to any Alteration but such a Being is God and therefore he cannot be changed by any thing that is weaker and less perfect than himself and he cannot will to change himself for if he should it must either be for the better or for the worse it cannot be for the better for being already possest of all Perfection there can be no accession of any to him by any change and certainly there is no Wise Being as God is that will change for the worse and therefore he concludes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That being the goodliest and best Being that is possible he always continues simply the same Seneca likewise speaking of the immutability of God's Counsels l. 6. de Benef. Statuerunt says he quae non mutarent neque unquam primi consilii Deos poenitet The Gods make unchangeable decrees and never repent them of their first counsel 2. This will yet more clearly appear from the Divine Revelation of the Holy Scriptures which tell us that God is unchangeable in his Nature and in his Perfections in all his Decrees and Purposes and Promises In his essence and being Exod. 3.14 I am that I am this is his Name whereby he made known himself to the comfort of his People and to the terrour of the Egyptians their Oppressors Psal 90.2 From everlasting to everlasting thou art God Psal 102.27 Thou art

the Holiness of good Men. And it is a separation from moral imperfection that is from Sin and Impurity And this is call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the primary Notion of i● is Negative and signifies the absence and remotion of Sin And this appears i● those explications which the Scriptur● gives of it Thus 't is explain'd by opposition to Sin and Impurity 2 Cor 7.1 Let us cleanse our selves from a●● filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness where Holiness is opposed to all filthiness Sometimes by the negation of Sin and Defilement So we find holy and without blame put together Eph. 1.4 Holy and without blemish Eph. 5.27 Holy harmless and undefiled Heb. 7.26 'T is true indeed this Negative Notion doth imply something that is Positive it doth not only signifie the absence of Sin but a contrariety to it we cannot conceive the absence of Sin without the presence of Grace as take away crookedness from a Thing and it immediately becomes straight When ever we are made Holy every Lust and Corruption in us is supplanted by the contrary Grace Now this habitual Holiness of Persons which consists in a separation from Sin is a conformity to the Holiness of God and by this we may come to understand what Holiness in God is and it signifies the peculiar eminency of the Divine Nature whereby it is separated and removed at an infinite distance from moral Imperfection and that which we call Sin that is there is no such thing as Malice or Envy or Hatred or Revenge or Impatience or Cruelty or Tyranny or Injustice or False-hood or Unfaithfulness in God or if there be any other Thing that signifies Sin and Vice and moral Imperfection Holiness signifies that the Divine Nature is at an infinite distance from all these and possest of the contrary Perfections Therefore all those Texts that remove Moral Imperfection from God and declare the repugnancy of it to the Divine Nature do set forth the Holiness of God Jam. 1.13 God cannot be tempted with evil Job 8.3 Doth God pervert Judgment or doth the Almighty pervert Justice Job 34.10 12. Far be it from God that he should do wickedness and from the Almighty that he should commit iniquity Yea surely God will not do wickedly neither will the Almighty pervert judgment Rom. 9.14 Is there then unrighteousness with God God forbid Zeph. 3.5 The just Lord is in the midst thereof he will not do iniquity And so false-hood and unfaithfulness and inconstancy Deut. 32.4 A God of truth and without iniquity 1 Sam. 15.29 The strength of Israel will not lie Tit. 1.2 In hope of eternal life which God that cannot lie hath promised Heb. 6.18 That by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie Therefore you shall find that Holiness is joyned with all the Moral Perfections of the Divine Nature or put for them Hos 11.9 I am the holy one in the midst of thee that is the merciful one Psal 145.17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works Rom. 7.12 The commandment is holy and just and good Rev. 3.7 These things saith he that is holy he that is true Rev. 6.10 How long O Lord holy and true Psal 105.42 He remembred his holy promise holy that is in respect of the faithfulness of it Isa 55.3 The sure mercies of David 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the holy mercies of David which will not fail So that the Holiness of God is not a particular but an universal Perfection and runs through all the moral Perfections of the Divine Nature 't is the Beauty of the Divine Nature and the Perfection of all his other Perfections Take away this and you bring an universal stain and blemish upon the Divine Nature without Holiness Power would be Oppression and Wisdom Subtilty and Soveraignty Tyranny and Goodness Malice and Envy and Justice Cruelty and Mercy Foolish Pity and Truth False-hood And therefore the Scripture speaks of this as God's highest Excellency and Perfection God is said to be glorious in Holiness Ex. 15.11 Holiness is call'd God's throne Psal 47.8 He sitteth upon the throne of his holiness This is that which makes Heaven Isa 63.15 It is called The habitation of his holiness and of his glory as if this were the very Nature of God and the sum of his Perfections The Knowledge of God is called the Knowledge of the holy one Pro. 9.10 To be made partakers of a Divine Nature and to be made partakers of God's holiness are equivalent Expressions 2 Pet. 3.4 Heb. 12.10 And because there is no Perfection of God greater therefore he is represented as swearing by this Psal 60.6 God hath spoken in his holiness Psal 89.35 Once have I sworn by my holiness The Angels and glorified Spirits they sum up the Perfections of God in this Isa 6.3 And one cryed unto another and said holy holy holy is the Lord of hosts the whole earth is full of his glory Rev. 4.8 And they rest not day and night saying holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come There is no Attribute of God so often repeated as this in some Copies it is nine times II. I shall endeavour to prove that this Perfection belongs to God First From the Light of Nature The Philosophers in all their Discourses of God agree in this that whatever sounds like Vice and Imperfection is to be separated from the Divine Nature which is to acknowledge his Holiness Plato speaking of our likeness to God saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dan. 4.9 King Nebuchadnezzar calls God by this Title I know that the spirit of the holy Gods is in thee In a Word whatever hath been produced to prove any of God's Moral Perfections proves his Holiness Secondly From Scripture There is no Title more frequently given to God in Scripture and so often ingeminated as this of his Holiness He is called Holiness it self Isa 63.15 Where Heaven is call'd the habitation of his Holiness that is of God His Name is said to be Holy Luke 1.49 And holy is his name He is called the holy one Isa 40.25 The holy one of Israel Isa 41.20 The holy one of Jacob. 49.23 He is said to be holy in all his Works and Promises Psal 105.42 In all his ways and works Psal 145.17 This Title is given to each of the three Persons in the Blessed Trinity To God the Father in innumerable Places To God the Son Dan. 9.24 To anoint the most holy The Devil cannot deny him this Title Luke 4.34 I know thee who thou art the holy one of God And the Spirit of God hath this Title constantly given it the holy Ghost or the holy Spirit or the Spirit of Holiness The Scripture attributes this Perfection in a peculiar manner to God 1 Sam. 2.2 There is none holy as the Lord. Rev. 15.4 For thou only art holy Holiness is a communicable Perfection but no Creature can

like to it And the second is like unto it says our Saviour Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self like to it in the excellency of it and equal to it in the necessary obligation of it For this Commandment says St. John 1 Epist Chap. 4. v. 21 we have from him that he who loveth God love his Brother also The First Commandment indeed excels in the dignity of the Object because it enjoins the Love of God but the second seems to have the advantage in the reality of its Effects for the Love of God consists in our acknowledgment and honour of him but our righteousness and goodness extends not to him we can do him no real Benefit and Advantage But our love to Men is really Useful and Beneficial to them for which reason God is contented in many cases that the external Honour and Worship which he requires of us by his positive Commands should give way to that Natural Duty of Love and Mercy which we owe to one another I will have mercy says God in the Prophet Amos and not sacrifice And to shew how great a value God puts upon this Duty he hath made it the very Testimony of our love to himself and for want of it hath declared that he will reject all our other Professions and Testimonies of love to him as false and insincere Who so hath this worlds good saith St. John 1 Epist 3.17 and seeth his Brother have need and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him how dwelleth the love of God in him And again Chap. 4. ver 20. If any man say I love God and hateth his Brother he is a lyar for he that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen You see the Duty here recommended both in the Extent and in the Excellency of it let us do good I proceed to consider in the II. Place the Extent of this Duty in respect of its Object which is all Mankind but more especially Christians those that are of the same Faith and Religion Let us do good unto all men especially unto those that are of the houshold of Faith So that the Object about which this Duty is conversant is very large and takes in all Mankind let us do good unto all men The Jews confined their Love and Kindness to their own Kindred and Nation and because they were prohibited familiarity with Idolatrous Nations and were enjoined to maintain a perpetual Enmity with Amalek and the seven Nations of Canaan whom God had cast out before them and devoted to Ruin they looked upon themselves as perfectly discharg'd from all Obligation of Kindness to the rest of Mankind And yet it is certain that they were expresly enjoin'd by their Law to be kind to Strangers because they themselves had been Strangers in the Land of Egypt But our Saviour hath restored this Law of Love and Charity to its Natural and Original extent and hath declared every one that is of the same nature with our selves to be our Neighbour and our Brother and that he is to be treated by us accordingly when ever he stands in need of our kindness and help and to shew that none are out of the compass of our Charity he hath expresly commanded us to extend it to those who of all others can least pretend to it even our Enemies and Persecutors So that if the Question be about the extent of our Charity in general these two things are plainly enjoined by the Christian Religion 1. Negatively That we should not hate or bear ill-will to any man or do him any harm or mischief Love worketh no Evil to his Neighbour saith the Apostle Rom. 13.10 And this negative Charity every Man may exercise towards all Men without Exception and that equally because it does not signifie any positive Act but only that we abstain from Enmity and Hatred from Injury and Revenge which it is in every Man's power by the Grace of God and the due care and government of himself to do 2. Positively The Law of Charity requires that we should bear an universal good-will to all Men and wish every Man's happiness and pray for it as sincerely as we wish and pray for our own and if we be sincere in our Wishes and Prayers for the good of others we shall be so in our Endeavours to procure and promote it But the great difficulty is as to the exercise of our Charity and the real Expressions and Effects of it in doing good to others which is the Duty here meant in the Text and as I told you before does more particularly relate to the Relief of those who are in Want and Necessity And the reason of the difficulty is because no Man can do good to all in this kind if he would it not being possible for any Man to come to the knowledge of every man's Necessity and Distress and if he could no man's Ability can possibly reach to the supply and the relief of all men's Wants And indeed this limitation the Text gives to this Duty as we have opportunity says the Apostle let us do good unto all men which either signifies as occasion is offered or as we have Ability of doing or both as I shall shew afterwards So that it being impossible to exercise this Charity to all Men that stand in need of it 't is necessary to make a difference and to use Prudence and Discretion in the Choice of the most fit and proper Objects We do not know the Wants of all men and therefore the bounds of our Knowledge do of necessity limit our Charity within a certain compass and of those whom we do know we can relieve but a small part for want of Ability from whence it follows that tho' a man were never so Charitably disposed yet he must of necessity set some Rules to himself for the management of his Charity to the best advantage What those Rules are cannot minutely and nicely be determined when all is done much must be left to every man's prudence and discretion upon a full view and consideration of the Case before him and all the Circumstances of it but yet such general Rules may be given as may serve for the direction of our Practice in most Cases and for the rest every man's prudence as well as it can must determine the matter And the Rules which I shall give shall be these First Cases of Extremity ought to take the first place and do for that time challenge precedence of all other Considerations If a Person be in great and present Distress and his Necessity so urgent that if he be not immediately relieved he must perish this is so violent a Case and calls so loud for present help that there is no resisting of it whatever the Person be though a perfect Stranger to us though most unworthy though the greatest Enemy we have in the World yet the greatness of his Distress does so strongly plead

for him as to silence all Considerations to the contrary for after all he is a man and is of the same Nature with our selves and the consideration of Humanity ought for that time to prevail over all Objections against the Man and to prefer him to our Charity before the nearest Relation and Friend who is not in the like Extremity In other cases we not only may but ought to relieve our Friends and those that have deserved well of us in the first place but if our Enemy be in Extremity then that Divine Precept takes place if thine Enemy hunger feed him if he thirst give him to drink Secondly In the next place I think that the Obligation of Nature and the nearness of Relation does challenge a Preference for there is all the Reason in the World if other things be equal that we should consider and supply the necessity of those who are of our Blood and Kindred and Members of our Family before the Necessities of Strangers and those who have no relation to us There is a special Duty incumbent upon us and another Obligation beside that of Charity to have a particular Care and Regard for them In this case not only Christianity but Nature tyes this Duty upon us 1 Tim. 5.8 If any man provide not for his own especially for his Domesticks for them that are of his Family he hath denyed the Faith and is worse than an Infidel that is he doth not only offend against the Law of Christianity but against the very Dictates of Nature which prevail even amongst the Infidels And our Saviour hath told us that when our Parents stand in need of relief it is more acceptable to God to employ our Estates that way than to devote them to him and his immediate service and that it is a kind of Sacrilege to Consecrate that to God whereby our Parents may be profited and provided for in their Necessity Thirdly The Obligation of Kindness and Benefits lays the next claim to our Charity If they fall into Want who have obliged us by their former Kindness and Charity both Justice and Charity do challenge from us a particular consideration of their Case and proportionably if we our selves have been obliged to their Family or to any that are nearly related to them Fourthly Those who are of the houshold of faith and of the same Religion and Members of the same Mystical Body and do partake of the same Holy Mysteries the Body and Blood of our Blessed Saviour the strictest Bond of Love and Charity These fall under a very particular Consideration in the exercise of our Charity And of this the Apostle puts us in Mind in the last words of my Text let us do good unto all Men especially unto those that are of the houshold of faith God hath a special Love and Regard for such and those whom God Loves ought to be very dear to us And this perhaps was a consideration of the first rank in those times when Christians liv'd among Heathens and were exposed to continual Wants and Sufferings but it signifies much less now that Christianity is the general Profession of a Nation and is too often made use of to very uncharitable purposes to confine Men's Bounty and Benefits to their own Sect and Party as if they and none but they were the houshold of Faith A Principle which I know not whether it hath more of Judaisme or of Popery in it Fifthly After these the Merit of the Persons who are the Objects of our Charity and all the Circumstances belonging to them are to be valu'd and consider'd and we are accordingly to proportion our Charity and the degrees of it I shall instance in some particulars by which a prudent Man may judge of the rest Those who labour in an honest calling but yet are opprest with their charge or disabled for a time by Sickness or some other casualty these many a time need as much and certainly deserve much better than common Beggars for these are useful members of the Common-Wealth and we cannot place our Charity better than upon those who do what they can to support themselves Those likewise who are fallen from a rich and plentiful Condidion without any fault or Prodigality of their own meerly by the Providence of God or some general Calamity these are more especially Objects of our Charity and liberal Relief And those also who have been Charitable and have liberally relieved others when they were in Condition to do it or the Children or near Relations of those who were eminently Charitable and beneficial to Mankind do deserve a particular regard in our Charity Mankind being as I may say bound in Justice and for the honour of God's Providence to make good his Promise to preserve such from extream necessity And lastly those whose visible Wants and great Age and Infirmities do plead for more than ordinary Pity and do at first sight convince every one that sees them that they do not Beg out of Laziness but of necessity and because they are not able to do any thing towards their own support and subsistence There are innumerable Circumstances more which it would be endless to reckon up but these which I have mentioned are some of the chief and by proportion to these we may direct our selves in other Cases Sixthly Those whom we certainly know to be true Objects of Charity are to be consider'd by us before those who are strangers to us and whose Condition we do not know yea tho' in common Charity we do not dis-believe them because in Reason and Prudence we are obliged to prefer those who are certainly known to us since we find by experience that there are many Cheats and counterfit Beggars who can tell a fair Story and carry about Testimonials of their own making and likewise because we run the Hazard of misplacing our Charity when there are Objects enough besides where we are sure we shall place it right and Charity misplaced as it is in Truth and Reality no Charity in it's self so it is hardly any in us when we squander it so imprudently as to pass by a certain and real Object and give it to those of whom we are not certain that they are true Objects of Charity In this blind way a Man may give all his Goods to the Poor as he thinks and yet do no real Charity And therefore unless we be able to relieve every one that asks we must of necessity make a difference and use our best Prudence in the choice of the most proper Objects of our Charity And yet we ought not to observe this Rule so strictly as to shut out all whom we do not know without exception because their Case if it be true may sometimes be much more pitiable and of greater extremity than the case of many whom we do know and then it would be uncharitable to reject such and to harden our Hearts so far against them as utterly to disbelieve them