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A66348
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A sermon preach'd before the lord-mayor and Court of Alderman at S. Sepulchres-Church on Wednesday in Easter-week, A.D. MDCXC by William Wake ...
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Wake, William, 1657-1737.
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1690
(1690)
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Wing W265; ESTC R34698
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26,352
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43
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besides all Occasional Aâ—â—s of Charity on extraordinary Emergencies which was the least that God required of the Jews heretofore and is I believe the least that any Christian can reasonably presume shall be expected of him now And as we may justly suppose this to be the very lowest degree that is fit to be mention'd among Christians for the ordinary discharge of this duty So Thirdly On extraordinary Occasions such as those we before laid down 't is certain that this will by no means suffice Here we must set no bounds to our doing Good but what our want of Ability or Opportunity prescribes to us Charity indeed does not only allow but oblige us first to provide for our own And when that is prudently and moderately done what further remains tho' it be ours yet it is ours only in trust for the supply of the wants and necessities of our Neighbours And if the Exigences of the Poor be great and they cannot otherwise be supplied we must resolve rather to part with all that we can spare than to see them languish and perish for want of it And woe be to that man who indulges either his Covetousness or his Vanity with that for the lack of which his poor Brother perishes What our Saviour once pronounced against the rich Man in St. Luke shall become his Sentence Son remember that thou in thy life-time hast received thy Good things and likewise Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented And this may suffice for our second point of the Time and Measure of our doing Good Let us consider IIIdly To what Persons we are to do this to All Men Especially unto them that are of the Houshold of Faith 1st We must do Good unto All Men. It was the Opinion of St. Chrysostome that St. Paul design'd this part of my Text to be a reproach to the narrow-spirited Temper of the Jews who confined the greatest part of their Charity to such as were of the same Country or at least of the same Religion with themselves and to raise us up to a more generous and extensive practice of it 'T is true we find several Passages in the Law directing them to a concern not only for their own people but also for the strangers that were amongst them So Levit. XXV 35. If thy Brother be waxen poor and fallen into decay with thee then shalt thou relieve him yea tho' he be a Stranger or a Sojourner that he may live with thee And in those particular Precepts Deut. XXIV there is an express provision made for them at the 19th and following Verses When thou cuttest down thy Harvest in thy Field hast forgot a sheaf in thy field thou shalt not go again to fetch it It shall be for the Stranger for the Fatherless and for the Widow When thou beatest thine Olive-Tree thou shalt not go over the Boughs again it shall be for the Stranger for the Fatherless and for the Widow When thou gatherest the Grapes of thy Vineyard the shalt not glean it afterwards It shall be for the Stranger for the Fatherless and for the Widow But as in many other Cases they were but ill Interpreters of the Law so we find that in all these and the like places they understood by the Stranger a Proselyte one that worshipped the same God with them Or if they chanced to go farther as in those Instances of Charity before mentioned we are told in particular that they did so as to allow the Gentiles also a part in it Yet alas It was but a very small one viz. That they would not hinder them from taking what remained of their Gleanings after all their own poor had gathered what they thought good but permit them to carry away that which must otherwise have been left for the Beasts and Birds But the Christian's Charity must not be dispensed by any such scanty Measures as these He must love All men and for a proof that he does so he must as he has Opportunity do good unto All men 'T is not a Country much less a difference in Religion that must set bounds to his Beneficence But as God dispenses his Blessings to all the parts of the Earth indifferently Makes his Sun to rise and his rain to fall upon the just and unjust upon those who profess his true Religion and upon those who persecute their Brethren for professing of it So must the Christian follow his Example and be Merciful as his Father which is in Heaven is merciful Such must in general the Christians Love and Beneficence be But then as God himself though he is kind to the Vnthankful and Evil has yet a particular regard to his own Servants and even amongst them does in a more especial manner promise to favour such as we are now speaking of the Liberal and Charitable Christians above all others so ought we also to do We must as we have Opportunity Do Good unto all men But yet 2ly Especially to them who are of the Houshold of Faith By those who are of the Houshold of Faith we may understand either first more largely All Christians in general who in the Scripture Phrase are often called God's Houshold Ephes. II. 19. Or secondly more particularly those of whom the Apostle was speaking ver 6. Let him that is taught in the Word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things And in which soever of these two senses we take the Expression the Rule of our Text will hold good in both That we ought in a more especial manner to be careful to do Good to them beyond such others as we are not so particularly engaged to Nay but secondly and to carry this Reflection yet farther We may in the exercise of our Charity not only make a distinction betwixt Christians and others and among them prefer those chiefly who labour in the word among us but should even with respect to all others take care as far as we can to give to those first who either the best deserve or at least the most stand in need of our assistance For since the largest fortune is not enough to enable a man to relieve all and 't is certain that not only the wants of some may be much more urgent than those of others and so more fit to be consider'd by us but also that there are many and those commonly the most clamorous and importunate that are utterly unworthy to be regarded by us He who will Do Good with that prudence and discretion he ought to do must take all the care he can to distinguish between the one and the other of these that since he cannot be a Common Benefactor to all he may at least become so to them that the most deserve his Pity And 1st There are many who finding Begging not only a more easie and agreeable but sometimes a more profitable Employment too not
let us not be weary in well-doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not Which brings me to the last thing proposed Vthly To consider the great Engagement we have to the fulfilling of this Duty in that Glorious Reward which God has promised to the performance of it Among all the Arguments which either the Authority of Holy Scripture or the Common principles of Reason afford to us to stir us up to the practice of this Duty there is none that strikes so forcibly upon the minds of all sorts of Men as the Consideration of those great Blessings which God has promised to the diligent performance of it and of those severe Judgments which he will one day execute upon those that shall continue to neglect and disregard it Other reflections may serve to convince Men of the Justice and Reasonableness of such a practice and which indeed is so very clear that there are few so ill-natured and insensible as to deny it But this shews the Necessity of it Others may force us to confess it to be very titting that we should be thus kind and charitable to one another But this speaks with Authority and makes us resolve in good earnest so to be He that tells me how highly reasonable it is that I should do all the Good I can with the portion which God has given me * That for this end I have received it and to this end ought especially to employ it * That my riches are not my own but committed to me in trust for the Benefit of others as well as for my own use and that I shall be false to that trust if I do no Good to others by them * That I ought to express my Gratitude to God for his extraordinary Favours to me by being Bountiful to those who have not received so large a portion of him * That this will above any thing render me most like unto God and most beloved of Men * That the poorest person in the World is yet my Brother partaker of the same Nature and Constitution it may be of the same Promise of Grace too with my self and therefore that it will be highly not only un-Christian but even unnatural and inhumane not to have some sense and feeling of his Miseries In a word * That our Riches are very uncertain and we should consider that what is the Condition of many Thousands now but lately in as flourishing an Estate as our selves may for ought we know the next Year be our own if God for our Vncharitableness shall think sit to let us also fall into the hands of the same Cruel and Merciless men and therefore that we ought to think what we should judge reasonable for others in such a Case to do to us and then remember the Great Rule both of Nature and the Gospel and do even so unto them does certainly speak a great deal of Sense and may justly move my Assent to his Arguments But 't is the man who can draw aside the Vail and set Life and Death Blessing and Cursing before me and then make it appear upon such Grounds as I cannot deny or even doubt of that my Happiness or Misery both in this World and the other depends upon my Observance or Neglect of this Duty that will awaken all the Powers of my Soul and at the same time both convince and force to a compliance And such is the Argument we have here before us and from which therefore the Apostle concludes the necessity of our doing Good as a matter that would admit of no debate Be not says he deceived God is not mocked For whatsoever a man soweth that he shall also reap He that soweth to his flesh that is that either spends what he has on the sensual Enjoyments of the Flesh or else hoards it together to the Covetous satisfying the desires of it shall of the flesh reap corruption But he that soweth to the Spirit i.e. as the next Verses interpret it does good makes a wise and pious and charitable use of what he has shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting Wherefore let us not be weary in well-doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not Many are the Promises of the like kind which we meet with in other places of Holy Scripture And from all which it is obvious to conclude that if we have any regard either to our present Happiness or to our future Glory there is nothing wherein we ought to be more careful than by our Charity to establish our selves in both For 1st As to this Present Life What is it possible for any one to desire to make him a happy man in this World that God has not freely promised to the merciful and liberal Would he secure his Riches Would he confirm the Enjoyment of them both to himself whilst he lives and deliver them down in peace to his posterity when he comes to dye This Charity has the promise of above any thing besides He that giveth to the poor says Solomon shall not lack And in another place he gives this as the very reason of it Prov. xxii 9. He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed for he giveth of his bread to the poor And holy David confirms the truth of this Remark not only from the Promise of God but also from his own Experience Psal. xxxvii 25. I have been young and now am old yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging their bread He is ever merciful and lendeth and his seed is blessed For the LORD loveth judgment and forsaketh not his saints they are preserved for ever But the seed of the wicked shall be cut off The righteous shall inherit the land and shall dwell therein for ever Nay but would he do yet more Would he even encrease his Wealth and grow more prosperous in the Enjoyment of it 'T is a strange Assertion but yet by the Blessing and Promise of God a very true one that by giving it thus away he shall encrease it There is says Solomon that scattereth and yet encreaseth And would you know who that is He will tell you in the next Verse The liberal soul shall be made fat and he that watereth shall be watered also himself Would he provide himself a security amidst all the uncertain and many times miserable Varieties of this World And be safe even in the midst of all its Dangers Charity is the best defence the surest preservative against all Calamities Blessed is the man says David that considereth the poor and needy the LORD will deliver him in the time of trouble The LORD will preserve him and keep him alive and he shall be blessed upon the earth and not deliver him into the will of his enemies In short would he be blessed in all things that he putteth his hand unto and have every thing prosper according to his hearts