Power to encourage Piety and good Manners and all that is worthy of Praise amongst Men. And whilst we make it manifest to the World that Righteous Men are in their Distress so far from being forsaken of God that not only their Distress but their Innocence too and their Vertue shall be considered by Men we do effectually reprove Wickedness and Vice and preach Honesty and Piety And it is not unlikely but Charity thus placed besides the Good that it does to the Bodies of some will do good also to the Souls of others Upon such plain Reasons as these we should more especially do Good to the Houshold of Faith Whereby also we may without farther trouble avoid their Censures who carry their Respect to those whom God loves and honours beyond what I have been pleading for I mean those who reckon it to be no small Act of Piety to visit the Bones and the Ashes and other Reliques of Saints and Martyrs and to leave costly Presents at their Shrines and Sepulchres For it has been laid to our Charge with no little Confidence that we dishonour and contemn the dead Servants of God because we do not thus offer to ' em But we may I hope clear our selves without offence and say that we are as ready to honour the Dead as to relieve the Living Saints We are not well assured that the Bones and the Utensils to which so mighty a Regard is given are indeed the Remains of Saints But if we were yet we are not satisfied that there is any respect to the dead Bodies of the Saints beyond that of a decent and honourable Interment warranted by the Examples of the truly Primitive Church and that any Service to 'em beyond this is acceptable to God has wanted Proof hitherto and Defence as well as Proof But now we are very sure that the Bodies of Righteous and Godly Men are holy and the living Temples of God whilst they live with us in this World For this the Scripture saith We are sure that the Sacrifices of Alms which are Sacrifices when given for God's sake that with them I say God is well-pleased for this is affirmed in the Scripture We are very sure that they are doubly pleasing to him when they are presented to his living Members when they are distributed to the Houshold of Faith for this also is according to Scripture And in all these things there is such evident Congruity that Reason without any Dispute presently agrees to ' em In a word I do not read that any the least Promise is made to visiting and presenting the Ashes of the Dead nor that Christ will take these things when done in honour of his Servants as done to himself But I read that at the last day our having visited and relieved our feeding clothing and comforting the least of his true Servants that are with us will be so accounted and will be rewarded as if these things had been done to himself In as much as ye did it to the least of these ye did it also unto me All which being considered we may be sure that we are well guarded against the angry Reflections of our Neighbours if we take care to excel them in Charity to the Living as much as they imagin they out-do us in honouring the Dead And thus much for the Objects of Charity as they are specified in the Text. I am now to touch upon that Intimation of the Rewards of it which we have in the Text also As we have opportunity It is a true sence of these words to interpret them thus as often as occasions of Charity present themselves and as long as we are in a condition to do good Works of this kind But as I told you they have a plain reference to the three foregoing Verses Be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a Man soweth that shall he also reap For he that soweth to the Flesh shall of the Flesh reap Corruption but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap Life everlasting And let us not be weary in well-doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not As we have therefore opportunity let us c. i. e. as long as the opportunity or season of sowing in good Works lasts let us sow that we may reap plentifully when Harvest-time comes i. e. when the Rewards of Charity shall be given abroad as they will assuredly be in a better World if not in this also The Seed which he means as we find by the 6th Verse are the good things of this Life And as by sowing to the Spirit he undoubtedly meant doing good out of our worldly Store to All Men and especially to the Houshold of Faith so by sowing to the Flesh must on the other hand be meant the encreasing of our own Possessions and the serving of our own Pleasures I will not say providing for inordinate Lusts for this is more than the Text necessarily implies tho' that be sowing to the Flesh too So that we will set that aside and consider what the use of that Wealth will come to which is expended in things not to be blamed in goodly Houses and fine Cloaths and a plentiful Table and the like For this is sowing to the Flesh and the Apostle tells us that he that soweth to the Flesh shall of the Flesh reap Corruption i. e. at the end of this Life he shall find that all these things have perished in the using and can turn to no account for him now at last that there is no farther enjoyment of them and that the very remembrance of them which is all that is left hath neither Pleasure nor Profit in it And so he shall reap for this sowing nothing but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Corruption i. e. no increase but a loss of what he sowed Now true it is that thus we must all sow to the Flesh in some degree or other we must provide for our own Bodies and the needs of our Life and we may make a reasonable use of our Wealth for the innocent Pleasures of it too But this is that sowing which will yield no Harvest at last There is an Enjoyment for the time but when the use is over there is no farther Profit to be expected So that he is said by the Apostle to sow to the Flesh who does little or nothing else with the good things of this World that God has given him but only sets himself out with them and applies them wholly to the serving of his own Needs and Pleasures For by him that soweth to the Spirit he could not mean one that makes no use of his Wealth for supplying his own Needs and Necessities but one who does that and relieves others too Now of him it is said that he shall reap Life everlasting for tho' the Seed be it self of a transitory carnal and perishing Nature yet being thus disposed to a spiritual use being cast into such a Soil it
he shall need no other means of obtaining Everlasting Life than to become my Disciple 36. Do not think that I take that for granted which I ought to prove for you have already seen enough to convince you that I speak the Truth But as I told you before ver 26. Signs and Miracles will not work true Faith in you so long as you follow me for Temporal Benefits and have not learned to prefer Spiritual good Things and everlasting Life above Meat and Drink and all the Enjoyments of this World whatsoever V. 36. These Persons of whom our Lord said that they believed not were those very Men who the day before having seen the Miracle which he did said This is of a truth that Prophet that should come into the World Whereby it should seem that then they believed but that their Minds were now changed tho' upon no other reason than that they now perceived his great Design was to feed their Minds with good Doctrine and not to pamper their Bodies Which is a plain Instance how great an hindrance worldly-mindedness is to True Faith since in this Case the same Evidence which convinced these Men while they took our Saviour to be a Benefactor to their Bodies had lost all its force with them when they once perceived that his great Business was to save their Souls Some also of our Lord's Disciples were of this Disposition and it had the same effect upon them as you may see v. 64. 37. So that the reason why you believe me not is because you are not prepared by a good and honest Heart to receive the Truth And now I tell you that the Father who would have all to be saved does not expect that I should give a good account of any other Persons but such as are of a towardly and teachable Disposition These he hath committed to my special care and they will learn of me and not one of them shall want means requisite for his Conviction and Instruction But though I came to save the World v. 51. I am not bound to bring those to Faith and to Salvation that obstinately set themselves against all that Evidence which is sufficient for honest Minds V. 37. It seems very reasonable to interpret these Phrases of the Fathers giving some to Christ and drawing them by what our Lord said v. 26. that these Men followed him because they did eat of the Loaves i. e. not from a sincere desire of learning the Truth and attaining Eternal Life but for worldly Ends For on the one side the Lusts of these Men were the cause of their Unbelief on the other side our Saviour says that all who are given and drawn by the Father would believe and become his Disciples and none else Therefore the Father gives those only to Christ who are prepared by an honest Heart and willingness to learn The Phrase is an Allusion to what is often seen amongst us i. e. to a Man's committing the Care of educating a hopeful and promising Child to a wise and skilful Master with the expectation of having a good account of him at last Not but that these Expressions also imply the preparations of the Heart to be from the Lord Neither does this hinder but that our Lord must be understood to have done what was fit to prepare those whom he found so averse as these Men were See Notes on v. 45. But the meaning is that if Men obstinately persisted in their sensual and worldly Prejudices against the Truth God hath provided no Remedy for such Men. And therefore as St. Chrysostome shews we must not argue in this manner If every one whom the Father draweth or giveth cometh to Christ and none else then those whom the Father giveth not are discharged of all Fault and cannot justly be accused For says he these are vain words and meer pretences since the free Choice of our own Wills must go to the effecting of this Matter For to be taught and to believe depends much upon our own chusing 38. For in this matter as well as in all others I do what is as much the Fathers Will as my own And I came from Heaven to do it and cannot depart from it Observe therefore what I say 39. It was his pleasure to commit to my care all Persons of honest and well-disposed Minds that not one of them should be lost but that I should do all things which would bring them to Faith and Repentance and should take care of their Salvation from the First to the Last even till I shall raise them from the Dead at the last Day V. 39. Although the Wicked shall be raised up at the last day by the Power of Jesus as well as the Just yet when the Resurrection is simply mentioned it is commonly understood of the Resurrection to eternal Life i. e. the Resurrection of the Just And by speaking of this Resurrection at the last Day our Lord did now put them out of doubt that he meant not to pamper their Bodies and to take care for their Pleasures in this Life but that he spake to them of a better Life after this and the means of attaining it 40. For it was his Decree also that every one who seeing the Works that I do v. 36. and attentively considering the Evidence whereby it appears that I came from God does thereupon believe and follow my Doctrine that he I say should have everlasting Life and that I should for that end raise him up at the last Day Now as my Father doth not expect that I should save any but those that believe and obey the Gospel so neither doth he expect that I should bring any to Faith but those that are of teachable Dispositions But if Men obstinately set themselves to oppose all means of Conviction and Reformation it was no part of the Trust committed to me by the Father to reclaim them notwithstanding their incorrigibleness V. 40. To see Jesus signifies the same that it does v. 36. i. e. seeing his Miracles and all other Testimones of a Divine Authority that were discernable in him Only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seems to note an attentive consideration of them which is proper to ingenuous and honest Men and will certainly produce Faith Whereas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 36. may signifie that careless and superficial sight of his Works proper to those Men in whom Prejudice so prevailed that they saw and yet believed not Now that our Saviour does here and elsewhere repeat his Doctrine concerning that inward Work of God viz. an honest and godly Disposition is an Argument that he laid great stress upon it and that indeed this was the main thing they were to take pains with themselves about For the outward Evidence was given them whether they would or not but the inward Preparation without which the outward Evidence would do them no good at all must in some part be their own Work as well as God's which was plain from
they to hunger and thirst for the Meat that would preserve them for ever And therefore when he came in the same way of speaking to intimate to them those Benefits of his Passion which they would better understand afterwards than they could at present He told them My Flesh is Meat indeed and my Blood is Drink indeed as if he had told them in plainer Words than he thought fit to use at that time It is infinitely more profitable to enjoy the Fruits of my Sufferings and Death by being reconciled to God by forbearing to provoke his Justice and by following my Example than if I should take the same care of you as long as I live which I did yesterday when I fed your Bodies by a Miracle And this indeed seemed to be our Saviour's great Design in preaching the Necessity of Faith and Repentance and a Godly Life to the People under so many Figurative Expressions as we find he used viz. to lead them by Temporal Things to the Care of Things Eternal and to raise their Minds from Earth to Heaven by a most familiar and convincing way of arguing with them from Earthly Things themselves Therefore if he found them valuing themselves upon their Liberty or careful for Life or labouring for Wealth or sollicitous for Food He called himself sometimes and sometimes his Doctrine and their receiving of it Liberty Life and Treasure and Meat and Drink as occasion required and this to let them understand that there was a more real Good to be found in Faith and Piety than in these or any other kind of worldly Advantages and that whatever reason they had to be concerned for these transitory Enjoyments they had much more to be careful in receiving as they ought those Spiritual good Things which he came to confer upon them If therefore we will suffer our selves to be instructed by such Passages as these are most of us I fear may learn from our Concern about the things of this World to be ashamed of our remisness in providing for a better And all of us should learn to reflect very often upon matters of greater Concernment when we are engaged even in the honest Designs of this Life and pursuing the lawful Business thereof and so we should in some measure preach to our selves as Christ once did to his Hearers when he was upon Earth And we should not think that the Jews only had need of this kind of Instruction who I confess had been Educated under a Law that promised little else besides Temporal Advantages to those that observed it but that we our selves who know the great Blessings promised in the Gospel to be Spiritual and Eternal stand in need also of such Admonitions as these are For the Cares of this World and the Love of its Riches and Pleasures and Honours are as apt to take hold of us as they were of the Jews if we do not take pains to affect our selves deeply with that Truth concerning another Life which our Lord Jesus hath revealed and to the belief of which we have been educated in his Church And if we have less prejudice against these Doctrines than the Jews had and yet are swallowed up with this World as much as they were we are but the more inexcusable So that undoubtedly the advantage we have over them should make us the more concerned to lay these things to heart because we are so much the more to blame if knowing these things almost from our Infancy we do not practise accordingly Nay when the Profession of the True Faith does bring in Worldly Advantages there seems to be as much if not more reason to reflect in this manner upon our selves as when nothing was to be gotten by it in this World but the loss of all things We are then doubtless to remember that the Kingdom of Christ is not of this World and that the good things of this Life are not the Rewards which he hath promised but that by setting our Hearts inordinately upon that worldly Ease and Profit which we enjoy by the Profession of true Christianity we are in the way of losing that Fruit thereof which will last for ever and the hope of which was all that our Lord used to invite Men to become his Disciples If we follow Christ for the Loaves we shall forsake him when we find our selves disappointed as the Jews at Capernaum did and take Occasions and Pretences so to do as easily as they and some of his own Disciples found them For we are not to think that that Saying Except ye eat the Flesh c. was the true cause of their going off from him but only such a plausible Occasion as they had a good while waited for The reason of their Offence at the bottom was that they had long since perceived our Saviour was not likely to satisfie their worldly Expectations and they did not believe it worth their while to follow him for a Reward in another Life which Prejudice against him had destroyed all their Faith as he told them himself There are some among you that believe not Vers 64. They were those that said Vers 60. This is an hard Saying who can hear it For it is not said that All but only Many of his Disciples when they had heard this said This is an hard c. viz. Those very Men of whom he said But there are some among you that believe not Vers 64. i. e. who had followed him for worldly Advantages as the Jews did from the Wilderness to Capernaum Of whom our Lord said the same thing viz. That they believed not Vers 36. For though but the day before they had acknowledged him to be the Prophet that was to come into the World yet finding that he was likely to disappoint their worldly Hopes they presently changed their Opinion of him So that a sincere Aim at Everlasting Life is very necessary even towards a constant Belief and Profession of the Faith And much more to a Practice answerable to it which will as I said before be advanced not a little if we will use our selves to consider what care we at for these mortal Bodies and this worldly Life and what reason there is to be incomparably more concerned for a blessed Resurrection to Eternal Life which I make not the least doubt is the great Instruction we are to learn from these figurative Discourses of our blessed Saviour And if we constantly have it in our Eye it will not not only render the meaning of this Chapter very plain but the reading of it if we should read it every day we live very useful to us And indeed those parts of God's Word which are purposely designed to work in us a deep Concern for Everlasting Life ought to be very present to our Minds and to dwell richly in us that we may be always well provided to resist the Temptations of the World For which Reasons we should often think of those Lessons of our
Saviour Lay not up for your selves Treasure upon Earth where Moth and Rust doth corrupt and where Thieves break through and steal But lay up for your selves Treasure in Heaven where neither Moth c. And Be not afraid of them that kill the Body and after that have no more that they can do But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear Fear him which after he hath killed hath power to cast into Hell yea I say unto you fear him And that in this Chapter Labour not for the Meat which perisheth bat for that which endureth to everlasting Life which the Son of Man shall give unto you Which Rules seeming at first sight to discharge us of all Care for our Life and Welfare in this World St. Chrysostom thought it needful to observe upon the last of them that our Lord did not intend to countenance Laziness who himself said It is more Blessed to give than to receive And that St. Paul admonisheth a Man to work with his hands the thing that is good that he may have to give to him that needeth But since these Exhortations run as if we were to be absolutely unconcerned about this Life no question but that care of Eternal Life is prescribed in comparison to which our Cares for this World should seem nothing at all Therefore when we desire our appointed Food we should think how much more it is our Interest to hunger and thirst after Righteousness and that Meat which endureth to everlasting Life And when we most of all feel the hopes and fears of things that go no farther than this World we cannot entertain a better Thought than this that if we are so much concerned for this Life how careful ought we to be not to miss of Eternal Salvation Which kind of Reflections are the more necessary for us the more deeply we are engaged in this World For we do not only labour for the meat that perishes that is for just enough to serve the Necessities of Life but we would be at ease beside and live in reasonable Plenty and enjoy what is convenient for the Pleasure as well as the Sustenance of Life and there are very few that know when to make an end of multiplying Riches when once they are got into the way of Encrease But are we thus concerned for an end of infinitely greater Moment Or rather do not these very worldly Cares reprove our negligence about better and greater things while perhaps we do no more towards our Salvation than to avoid the grossest Sins of all but take little thought how to grow in Grace and in the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. The whole Strain of our Saviour's Discourse in this Chapter naturally leads to such Considerations as these And if we mind them in good Earnest they will by the Grace of God moderate our Affections and Cares about this World in the first place and then leave all that Concern for present and transitory good things which we cannot be without as a perpetual Admonition to be much more thoughtful for our everlasting Salvation and to make it the greatest business of our Lives by Prayers and good Works to lay up for our selves Treasure in Heaven and to lay the stress of our Comfort whilst we are here in the joyful hope of being raised up at the last day to live for ever Amen A POSTSCRIPT SInce these Papers were almost Printed off I met with Dr. Godden's Sermon upon St. Peter's Day in which he endeavours from some Passages in this Chapter to infer the substantial Change of the Bread and Wine in the Eucharist into the Body and Blood of Christ But upon the most Impartial Judgement that I can make of his Performance I do not find that he offers any colour of Argument for his Conclusion which I have not prevented And therefore instead of stopping these Papers for the sake of his Sermon I think it fair enough to say to him and to the World that I can see no reason obliging me to do it A DISCOURSE OF HUMANITY AND CHARITY GAL. VI. 10 As we have therefore opportunity let us do good unto all Men especially unto them that are of the Houshold of Faith By W. CLAGET D. D. LONDON Printed for J. Robinson at the Golden Lion and T. Newborough at the Golden Ball in St. Paul's Church-yard 1693. A DISCOURSE OF Humanity and Charity GAL. VI. 10 As we have therefore opportunity let us do good unto all Men especially unto them that are of the Houshold of Faith FROM these Words I might well take occasion to discourse upon three distinct Subjects First Of the several Acts or Expressions of Charity which are here all comprehended under doing good although by the 6th Verse it should seem that the Charity of communicating in the good things of this World was principally intended in this place Secondly Of the Objects of Charity concerning which the Text expresly affirms that they are all Men in general but especially the Houshould of Faith And Thirdly Of the Rewards of Charity which are intimated in the Text by the reference of those words As we have therefore opportunity in the foregoing Promise vers 9. In due season we shall reap if we faint not For this shews the Opportunity here mentioned to be the time that we have for sowing our good Works and that if we use it they will yield a Harvest of Rewards which we shall certainly reap in due season But in so narrow a compass of time I must not undertake to enlarge upon these three Particulars and therefore omitting the First I chuse to insist upon the Second and to conclude with some few Reflections upon the last And thus the first thing to be considered is the Exhortation to doing Good with respect to the general Object Let us do good unto all Men. Now because it is impossible that we should be actually beneficent to every Man in the World otherwise than by our Prayers for All Therefore the plain meaning of the Exhortation is this that we should exclude no Man out of our Charity who needs our Help and comes within the Compass of our Ability to do him good Which tho it be a Duty so much for the Interest of Mankind that one would think no body should be against it yet as the World goes it seems to need the Charity of us All in standing up for it against all false Principles and bad Examples that are advanced in opposition to it I must be content at this time to speak for it without reflecting upon any Opinions or Practices that are against it And therefore I proceed forthwith to represent this part of the Apostle's Exhortation To do good unto all as a Duty under Obligations common to all Men and under Obligations peculiar to Christians I. The Obligations of the first sort are Common Humanity and Natural Piety 1. Common Humanity For the sense of that Nature which is common to us All does oblige us to bear
if it had not established and improved them we had wanted one considerable Inducement to receive it For there is so much natural Evidence that Men are bound to do good to one another that I doubt no Evidence can be great enough that a Religion comes from God which lets Men loose from all the Obligations of Humanity And if there be any other Character of Doctrine which would induce a Man to receive it as coming from God more than another it is this That it doth effectually promote Benignity and Charity a kind and generous Temper and all sorts of good Works And this I am sure is the Character of true and uncorrupted Christianity For 1. As it is a Rule of Manners it is wholly framed to destroy all Dispositions to Rage Malice Cruelty and Uncharitableness and to plain Goodness Compassion and Benignity in our Minds To this end it hath provided against all the Causes of Uncharitableness that is against Covetousness Lust Ambition Impatience Revengefulness and the like And therefore the Apostle doubted not to say that the end of the Commandment is Charity And that which is most remarkable in this kind is That whereas nothing can with greater colour of Reason obstruct the Disposition of a Christian to be good to All Men than to be himself abused and wronged by others therefore our Lord to guard the Duty of Universal Beneficence has made it our Duty to forgive nay and to love our very Enemies which seems to be a Law peculiar to Christianity 2. If we consider our Lord Jesus himself the Author of our Religion he was the most glorious Pattern of Charity and doing good that ever appeared in the World For he was contented to come down into this wretched World and to lead an afflicted Life and to endure an ignominious and painful Death for the Salvation of Mankind And when he conversed publickly amongst his Country-men he went about doing good And though his Doctrine and his Works were still cavilled at and perverted to a wrong Intention by a froward and unthankful Generation of Men yet he ceased not to do good to all that came to him for Relief and to many others that never sought it from him So that we are to treat every Man as one whom Christ so loved as to die for him And if our Religion stands at all in the imitation of Christ we are to do good to the Vnthankful and Vnjust as need requires nay and to do Good against Evil and if possible to overcome Evil with Good But 3. The way which he chose for the propagation of his Religion was above all things a Demonstration that he intended his Disciples should be inoffensive and beneficent to all Men. If indeed under a pretence of saving the Souls of Men he had armed his Followers to kill his Enemies his Doctrine had not carried so much as a face of Sincerity but had rather looked like a Design of Interest and Ambition than of Charity and doing good But with what Weapons did he send abroad his Ministers to subdue Men to himself Go says he cleanse the Leper heal the Sick Matth. 10.7 8. raise the Dead c. Freely ye have received freely give If this would not make their preaching effectual the worst they were to do was Vers 14. to shake the Dust off their Feet against that place which rejected them Vers 14. If they were persecute in one City they were to flee to another If Sufferings followed them from one place to another they were to possess their Souls in patience and in all this to love and pray for their Enemies The Doctrine of our Lord JESUS and his own Example and the Means he used to spread his Faith in the World were all of a piece that Charity being eminently preached in the way of converting the World to his Religion which was so powerfully recommended by his Example and so strongly urged by his Doctrine And if it had not been so the Doctrine of Christianity had not done so much good as the way of propagating it had done Mischief The Doctrine it self of doing good to All had been but a dead Letter if it had been carried into the World with Rage and Cruelty It had served only to condemn Christians of Hypocrisie for pretending the good of Mens Souls in destroying their Lives and for pretending Charity while they carried Confusion and Desolation where-ever they went Had they behaved themselves in this manner they had given just cause of suspicion that they were gathering a Party in an hostile opposition to all the World besides and that the Brotherly-kindness of Christians consisted in excluding the rest of Mankind from common Charity and required that Unbelievers should be treated as Enemies and prosecuted with the utmost Hatred And therefore altho in this very place St. Paul's design was to move the Christians to contribute towards the common Concerns of the Church yet lest he should seem to exempt them from the obligation of doing good to All by calling for their Benificence towards one another he prevents the scandal by requiring Beneficence to All almost out of its place I say though his business was now to perswade them to do good to the Houshold of Faith Yet that this might be no pretence for Inhumanity he guards his meaning by an Exhortation in the first place to do good to all Men. And upon all these Accounts I had much rather at the last Day bear the Judgment of an Heathen that is endued with Humanity and Mercy than of a Christian that has nothing of it let him have what he will else And thus much for the general Object of Charit and the Duty of doing Good to All Men. The Second is more particular viz. The Houshold of Faith and upon this the Exhortation runs thus let us do good especially to the Houshold of Faith that is to Christians who are one Body or Society of Men united one to another under one Head our Lord Jesus Christ by one Faith to the Profession of which they are admitted by one Baptism according to that Saying of the Apostle One Lord one Faith one Baptism Eph. 4.5 which are the Bonds that make the Church one Family or Houshold Now to all that are of this Houshold we are to do good especially and more than to others though we are to do good to all Men. And under this Particular there are these two things observable 1. That the Obligation we are under to do good to all Men does not hinder preferring some before others whether in respect of the Time or the degree of doing good I observed before that we have so limited a Power that we cannot be actually beneficent to All and therefore must choose our Objects with Discretion There are several good Works which many do not need from us and we cannot perform them for All that do And therefore Charity must be guided by Judgment in determining upon whom to
shall yield an everlasting Profit and an Increase that he shall live upon it for ever But then says the Apostle Be not deceived God is not mocked for as a Man soweth he shall also reap Tho' a Cup of cold Water given to a Disciple in the name of a Disciple shall not lose its Reward i. e. when either more is not in the hand of him that gives or no farther need in him that receives yet so small a thing is Mockery where there is greater need on the one side and ability to answer it on the other This being remembred it remains true what our Saviour said He that receiveth and therefore he that relieveth a Righteous Man in the name of a Righteous Man or because he is a Righteous Man shall receive a Righteous Man's Reward For to him in some part the Righteous Man's Thankfulness to God and the support of his Faith and Dependence upon God and the making of his perseverance therein more easie and the rescuing him out of Temptation may in good measure be imputed Now Brethren we have in this Life only the opportunity of sowing to the Spirit in this manner and of making Friends to our selves of the Mammon of this World that when it fails we may be received into everlasting Habitations and of turning the things of this World which so often betray Men to Perdition into the Instruments of our Salvation Let us therefore often consider those Words and Exhortations of St. Paul and that when our Reckoning comes to be cast up at the end of our Lives there will be no longer any Profit or Comfort in what we have worn and eaten and drank but we shall find that to be true The Belly for Meats and Meats for the Belly but God will destroy both it and them But that the remembrance of the Good we have done to All Men and especially to the Houshold of Faith will be sweet and pleasant to us and that the Reward of it will endure for ever Therefore my beloved Brethren be ye stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the Work of the Lord forasmuch as ye know that your Labour is not in vain in the Lord. A LETTER CONCERNING Protestants Charity to Papists Published by W. Claget D. D. SIR I Find that the Translation of the Wholsom Advices from the Blessed Virgin c. which may have help'd to settle the Minds of others has something discompos'd yours For though you are not I dare say pleas'd with the Protestant Preface to it yet however you dissemble your pain Wise Men say that you bite that Preface for grief of the Translation I cannot but admire the Art of you Gentlemen of the Church of Rome in running down Books with bold Contempt which you know not otherwise how to deal with This Translation and Preface for some Reasons is an Eye-sore to you and chiefly for helping to spoil the new Fashion of maintaining Popery by Representing it Something therefore must be done with it and so a little part of the Preface which did not belong neither to the main Design of the Book must be singled out and be made an Example As for all the rest 't is sufficiently answer'd by saying Must I set up for Reader of Anatomy upon all the Pamphlets that come into the World I am highly obliged to you for the Kindness but I think the Scavenger has much the better Office who has nothing but Dirt and Sinks to deal with much less offensive than to be always raking into filthy Calumnies fulsom Incongruities and noysom Impertinencies Which kind of Language one would hardly use but out of a great desire to be unanswerable one way or other After this touch upon the whole you come to touch at some Particulars which seem to fall within your Province of Representing or rather to touch at something which you were the better provided to touch because you had in the very same manner toucht it before in your Fourth Vindication of the First Part. The Particular is That Papists allow no less a possibility of Salvation to Protestants than Protestants do to Papists Now although this is all that I am concerned to oppose yet I shall offer a few Words to your Preparatory Discourse in which you pretend to shew what good Reason you have to pronounce against the Possibility of Salvation amongst us or rather in the new fashion'd Phrase that we as Protestants are guilty of Sins inconsistent with Salvation inasmuch as we are separated from your Communion The short of what you say is That after most serious Considerations and the weighing of all Reasons the Papist believes the Roman Church in which he is to be that one only holy Catholick Church and therefore he does not question but what is truly affirm'd of the Church of the Apostles and succeeding Ages and those that fell from it is most true of the same Church now in being of which he is a Member and of all those who separate from it upon what Pretext soever Now it had been much more to the purpose to have produc'd those serious Considerations than to have spent so much time as you did to prove what none of us make the least Question of viz. That Christ establish'd a Catholick Church that he committed the Care of it to the Apostles that they were inspir'd with the knowledge of Truth that they left Pastors to govern and feed the Flock after their Decease and that the Promise of Salvation is made to Believers exclusively to Unbelievers This I say is all very true but not to your purpose unless you had prov'd also what you do but insinuate That we have separated our selves from the Doctrine and Government of the Church of Christ Which Words I wonder that you were not afraid to use when they lay so fair to be turn'd upon your selves For we are no less sure that many of your Doctrines are no parts of the Doctrine of that Church and that Rome's being the Mother and Mistress of all Churches was not the Government of that Church over which the Apostles were c. Overseers for their time than we are that such a Church was established in the World And therefore if they who separate themselves from the Doctrine and Government of the Church of Christ as it was first establish'd cannot hope for Salvation Pray look to your selves as to that Point instead of contending that you are the only Catholick Church out of which there is no hope of Salvation As to what you would insinuate that there must be in the Church a Succession of Pastors to the Worlds end who should no more err in teaching than the Apostles themselves did and that your Church has that Succession I must tell you as to the first that it is by no means proved from John 14. v. 16. since what is there promis'd to the Apostles is not promis'd to the Church of all Ages so as it was to the Apostles The Spirit of God abode