it were in fear of being laid up if it should be seen out of doores or at doores and the difficulty of the times is held to be a full apology for doing little in this kindeness And though now there is more need then ever in the poor yet because the times are hard and money goes out more comes in less then formerly men perswade themselves that therefore there was never more need of abatements of liberality Surely they are mistaken if the Preachers argument be good Eccles 11.2 Give a portion to seven and also to eight because thou knowest not what evill shall be upon the Earth Our argument of excuse is retorted with more force upon us Never such times to be liberal as when they are most dangerous Then we had need to give somewhat to secure the rest We assure our goods which are in danger by Sea with men and will not we assure them with God That which is charitably given is always sure money So the Heathen could say That which is laid out to the poor is always good money Nay it doth sanctifie it doth sometimes multiply the rest There is that scattereth and yet increaseth and there is that withholdeth more then is meet and it tendeth to poverty Prov. 11.24 Like the meal and the oyl after the Prophet had his part given him diminished not but more came 1 King 17. Like the loaves which multiplyed in breaking so there is a time when he that gives gets more then he that makes a long arm to reach that which is anothers And there is good reason in perillous times to be giving because this is the way to have Gods blessing in the time of trouble Blessed is the man that considereth the poor the Lord shall deliver him in time of trouble The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive and he shall be blessed upon the earth and thou wilt not deliver him into the will of his enemies The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing thou wilt turn for him all his bed in his sickness as the Psal in the 41. Psal 1 2 3. The poor you have always with you said our Saviour And we do not see by these times how it is not like to be so still with us But this we have no reason to complain of but to be thankful to God that he hath given us an ability to do good that he hath given us a minde to do good and that he hath provided for us objects to exercise this virtue upon God doth not only provide for us but also for our virtues he provides prosperity for the improvement of our humility he provides affliction for the improvement of our patience he provides poverty in others for the improvement of our charity What should Christians do if it were not for the poor And therefore it is said of one of the ancient Christians that he was wont to fall down upon his knees to bless God when he met with any poor body thinking that God had done him a great favour to lay in his way such an occasion of doing good We are not wont to be pleased with the providence of such objects he thanked God for them As if he had been mindeful of our Saviours sentence It is a more blessed thing to give then to receive Act. 20.35 Nay this giving is a way to receive too more then was given by what God will give Give somewhat and take somewhat was an old rule this is Gods Law Forgive and it shall be forgiven give and it shall be given good measure pressed shaken running over shall men give into your bosom Luk. 6.38 As if there were no such good husband as the liberal man as if he did thrive more by what God had in his hand of his then by what he had in his own hand It is received by God and it remaineth with him in Divine acceptation and he giveth thee his word a Bill for it his word in Scripture Prov. 19.17 He that sheweth pity to the poor lendeth to the Lord and the Lord will return him a retribution lendeth unto the Lord as upon use and the Lord will return him a reward or retribution Many have been undone by lending to men but no body ever lost by God And if men did believe this they would not be so miserable As faith works by love as the Apostle speaks so love would work by faith Did we give any credence to Gods faithfulness we could not make such scruples of a little courtesie to the poor In the 6. of St. Luke the 35. we have a precept to lend hoping for nothing again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so we must construe it in relation to the verse antecedent Some would interpret it as not despairing for so the word ordinarily signifieth we may easily compound the difference thus lend hoping for nothing again from man And this is against usury but also not despairing of a reward from God for the reward shall be great in heaven and ye shall be the sons of the Highest for he is kinde to the unthankful and to the wicked as it follows What will you give to be sons of the Highest What will you give Give give alms to the poor And yet thou givest him that which is Gods thou givest unto God that which is Gods thou givest him of his own and he will give thee more then is thine own He will give thee that inheritance which thou hast forfeited Some virtues in Christians seem to be operative from him as meekness and righteousness and yet they redound again to him in comfort and joy spiritually but this charity which seems to be most operative from him to God and others doth again return to him not only in his conscience spiritually but to his person temporally Had those who have professed faith unto justification been so careful as they should have been of good works it would never have been made such a controversie whether we be justified by good works but because men have separated good works from faith in their practice others have added good works to justification in the controversie Merit of good works came in as we may imagin upon this regard to raise the spirits of men to the performance of them And so that which was brought in in way of Rhetorick crept in afterwards into Divinity And the word which was not intended in the Fathers sense to this purpose received occasion to be urged so as if we might purchase Heaven by that which is due and not our own and not any way proportionable if it were more perfect If I would love my self indeed I would do more of this kinde because he loveth himself surely best who loveth himself in that which is best And this self-love the Philosopher commends which consists in the care and study of virtue Because this liberal action is not common do the more for there is the more need And if this argument were multiplyed it would
starve the virtue and the poor together Take it for an honour from God that he hath made thee able to be like him in doing good As he said it is good to be Gods Alms-man but it is better to be his Almoner Because the Papists think to merit by their good works do thou communicate more lest thou dost decline their errour by another Distinguish betwixt their Substantives and their Adjectives in Religion Shall not we pray or fast because they make a sat is faction in them Their actions in Religion are due in their substance their conceit of merit is added When two do the same thing it is not the same thing done as the rule is Because others herein deal with God by way of commutative justice wilt thou shew no mercy to the poor Because others require infinite use for their money given by manner of debt wilt not thou put out thy money to use upon Gods favour such use as will not bite thy neighbor and yet may increase thy own Let us vindicate our Doctrine from their slanders by our works And let us shew it to be as necessary for us to do good works as for them though we do not hold them to be meritorious and more because no man can rightly be said to be bound to merit but when salvation is freely given us we are the more obliged to do good works in duty and thankfulness and ingenuity We are not at liberty herein because we are plenarily redeemed by Christ without any purchase of ours but because we are thus redeemed we are more bound I have heard of one who commended in three sorts of men three several things good works of the Papist sound faith of the Protestant good chear of the Puritane But let the sound faith of the Protestant work by love and chear the poor that the Pontifician may be ashamed to impute the want of our practise to the severity of our tenet Whosoever separated that which is just from that which is profitable is under Socrates's curse as Clem. Alexandrinus hath it and to be sure he that separateth true charity from right faith is not like to have Gods blessing And he is not like neither to have a good word given him from man that will not do a good work to man Do not thou shut up thy bowels Christian but open thy heart and thy hand and do not say the times are hard for if thou pleadest that thou canst hardly live with that thou hast how shall they live who have nothing nor work but good works of others to live upon But charity begins at home Yes therefore communicate lay it out for advantage traffique with it Improve it Pay Tithes that you may be rich as the Jew said and scatter thy seed and give it to the poor that thou mayst have a good harvest Riches are rather in the use then in the possession said he in his Rhetoricks And he is rich not that hath much but that hath given much as St. Chrysostom Dorcas was full of good works which she had done Act. 9.36 She had done them as we may gloss and she was full of them We are full of nothing more then that we have done well Shall I give my bread and my meat But who said it Nabal and folly was with him The fool nabal hath said in his heart there is no God They think there is no God to whom these things in propriety do belong In respect of one another we have a propriety but in respect of God we are but as Stewards and dispensers of these things to all as they have need but specially to the houshold of faith All the world is Gods great house we are to take care of all but specially of his children Yet we cannot be deceived in the object if we finde him to be man God hath given him in his nature a ticket to thee for his entertainment If thou dost shut him out of thy house take heed God doth not shut thee out of heaven If he be bad yet it is good for thee to do him good that he may be better Thou canst not do ill in doing as God doth And he doth good to them who are not good Either thou art not good or thou hast been not good if thou art not good what would become of thee should God deal with thee as thou dealest with him if thou hast been naught remember what mercie God hath shewed to thee and do thou likewise Therefore let thy love be as universal as man There is no man a stranger to thy nature And did not he that made thee make him Have we not al one Father as is said Abraham said of Sarah that she was indeed his sister for she was the daughter of his father though not the daughter of his mother although the tearms be taken largely according to the manner of the language so he whosoever he is is thy brother and he is the child of thy Father God though he be not the childe of thy Mother Ierusalem which is above which is the Mother of us all as the Apostle speaks Were he thine Enemy yet thou must love him otherwise thou art not thy heavenly Fathers own childe A Christian is one that hath no enemy as one of the Fathers said he hath enemies and he hath not enemies he hath enemies to him such as hate him but he hath no enemies from him such as he hates There is not such another creature in the world as a Christian if he be right as there is not a worse creature in the world if he be false For then he is a white Devil and worse as white then as Devil What shall we do with him where shall we have him If he were not a promising Christian we would not trust him If he were not an hypocritical Christian he would not deceive us But a true real Christian is one of the Admirables under heaven Nay indeed there is none but he And declaratively towards men all that he is he is by charity whereby his spirit and affection goeth over all the world in an universal diffusion and would do had it efficacy good to all the Earth at once but would serve those which are good in a special intention First it wraps all men together in one community of notion but in particular consideration would prefer those whom God hath preferred Thou hast not where withal to give thy neighbor grace for it exceeds morality but have the grace to give more to those who are virtuous because it is more of charity As for any exhortations to this virtue there is no need of any to those who know more delight in it then in any thing else We have reason to love it for it is love He that doth not hath a misery in the negative greater then in the contrary St. Paul giveth it the prelacy 1 Cor. 13. ult Those three are the three Worthies amongst the Theological virtues And he
that was wrapt up into the third Heaven makes this the chief of the three because this will go up thither to be perfected there There is no more substantial virtue here for the very matter of it is substantial beside the morality of the affection and the spirituality of the end the very matter of this object is profitable unto others And so is not the matter of some other virtues 2. Other virtues even those two faith and hope they both draw towards us faith unites to the person and hope expects to the person but this charity as it hath relation to others puts from us and moves upon the inferior sphere of others Faith takes in into the minde hope looks out for the person but charity gives out Faith sees it and believes it as existent hope holds out the head to wait for it as coming but charity deals out that which is present to the use of others Without faith we could have no hope without hope we could not stay for our reward the heart would break but without charity faith were dead and hope too and the poor could not live and we should have no reward In the time of the Law none were to appear before the Lord empty at that great day none must appear before the Lord of glory empty of good works With such sacrifices God is well pleased Heb. 13.16 3. According to the minde of St. Paul Charity is the greater virtue of the three because charity is that virtue which shall remain in heaven because that is the fruitive virtue for by mediation of it we are joyned to God the chief good in glory Love is an affection of union unto the chief good which is the chief object and according to the degrees of the good which are apprehended so is the degree of this love and therefore the infinite good when it is acknowledged must infinitely ravish So the Schoolmen summum bonum the chief good being clearly seen doth ravish the will Therefore when in heaven we shall clearly see God to he the chief good we cannot chuse but infinitely as we are able desire him and delight in him for there we shal have as much as we can desire for it is alwayes present We are as in the Ocean of goodness and we have as much as we can take in Here we see him but confusely as it were to be the chief good and the interposition of other temporal good things doth hinder our clear sight of him yet according as we see him here we love him here but as the light in heaven shall be cleared so the love in heaven shall be perfected Faith which is in the nature of it imperfect though sufficient for its use shall sink into Vision Hope which is also imperfect in the nature though sufficient for its use that shall also sink into fruition those two graces shall not be perfected in heaven though they be imperfect here because their imperfection is in nature not in degree and therefore their imperfections shall not be made up in heaven but they shall cease in their acts which in the kinde of them were imperfect and accommodated only for this state here below but charity which hath alone the capacity of fruition proper to it that shall be perfected in heaven which was imperfect here because the imperfection of it was not in the nature of it but in the degree This virtue Theological in the nature of it is dispositive to go into the happiness of the chief good Here it hath not a full sight of the chief good but shall have in heaven then this virtue shall be always at ful And therefore he that hath not charity here which in the flame of it goeth up to God but with the heat of it warmeth those near it he shall not have glory for he hath not that which goes into glory by the perfection of its degrees He hath not that grace which shall be made glory Wherefore let not those talk of heaven which yet have nothing in them towards it God doth receive into the life of glory immediately upon his love of complacency which respects his children as being like him in goodness He cannot delight in for ever those who have not here some likeness to him and in what but charity For faith and hope belong not to God because they are imperfect in their kinde So then if we will not be charitable we must be miserable CHAP. VIII WE have spoken last of a virtue which makes more nearly a connexion betwixt obedience to the first and second Table and that is charity which hath the well-head plainly in the first Table for it is an internal duty the love of God yet streameth in the second Table to our Neighbour And this then may conveniently lead us to a little consideration of the point of piety wherein is the third part of our obedience to God And here God is the object of the internal and external act of our obedience for the actions of piety do not only regard him in his command and in the end of their performance but also in the object of the matter And therefore here comes in the godliness in a proper sense because here the matter respects God immediately For this shall every one that is godly make his prayer unto thee in a time when thou mayst be found Psal 32.6 This prayer is an act of piety wherein we acknowledge God in his Beeing and in his Attributes Omniscience Omnipresence Wisdome Power Justice Goodness Faithfulness to his promise He hath given us a commandement and a promise together of it Psal 50.15 Call upon me in the time of trouble and I will hear thee and thou shalt praise me This act of religious worship doth properly belong to God so he saith Call upon me in the time of trouble and I will hear thee and thou shalt praise me which personalities seem to be exclusive Call upon me and I will hear thee and thou shalt praise me our commandement is to God our hearing we have from God himself our object of praise is God himself We have no order to pray to Saint or Angel we have no certainty they do hear us we have no leave much less injunction to praise them because they cannot perform our requests Hereupon the Pontifician is put to distinctions two or three First they do not pray to Saints or Angels so as that by them the prayers of those on earth should be made known to God for they deny not that he hears them but so that by their merits and prayers those requests should receive accomplishment as Aquinas distinguisheth in his 2 da. 2 dae 83. q. 4. ar To which is added another distinction that the Saints or Angels are not immediate to God as if they were above Christ for they confess Christ to be the next Mediator to God but they are they say Mediators betwixt us and Christ To which two distinctions one text is sufficient