bringing such a want upon ourselves which is less than the permissions of fortune which the mercies of God have permitted to us, that is, "food and raiment" proper for us: under "food and raiment" all the necessaries of our life are to be understood. Whatsoever is more than this is counsel and perfection; for which a proportionable reward is deposited in the treasures of eternity. 3. Secondly: If question be made concerning the persons who are to be the object of our alms, our rule is plain and easy; for nothing is required in the person suscipient and capable of alms, but that he be in misery and want, and unable to relieve himself. This last clause I insert in pursuance of that caution given to the church of Thessalonica by St. Paul, "If any one will not work, neither let him eat;" for we must be careful that our charity, which is intended to minister to poor men's needs, do not minister to idleness and the love of beggary, and a wandering, useless, unprofitable life. But abating this, there is no other consideration' that can exempt any needy person from participation of your charity; not though he be your enemy, for that is it which our blessed Saviour means in the appendix of this precept, "Love your enemies," that is, according to the exposition of the apostle", "if thine enemy hunger, feed him, if he thirst, give him drink;" not though he be an unbeliever; not though he be a vicious person"; provided only that the vice be such to which your relief ministers no fuel, and adds no flame; and if the mere necessities of his nature be supplied, it will be a fair security against the danger; but if the vice be in the scene of the body, all freer comforts are to be denied him, because they are but incentives of sin, and angels of darkness. This I the rather insert, that the pride and supercilious austerities of some persons become not to them an instrument of excuse from ministering to needy persons, upon pretence their own sins brought them into that condition. For though the causes of our calamities are many times great secrets of Providence, yet suppose the poverty of the man was the effect of his prodigality or other baseness, it matters not as to our duty how he came into it, but where he is; lest we also be denied a visit in our sicknesses, and a comfort in our sorrow, or a counsel in our doubts, or aid in any distress, upon pretence that such sadness was procured by our sins and ten to one but it was so. "Do good to all," saith the apostle, "but especially to the family of faith," for to them our charity is most proper and proportioned; to all, viz., who are in need, and cannot relieve themselves; in which number persons that can work are not to be accounted. So that if it be necessary to observe an order in our charity, that is, when we cannot supply and suffice for all our opportunities of mercy, then "let not the brethren of our Lord go away ashamed;" and in other things observe the order and propriety of your own relations, and where there is otherwise no difference, the degree of the necessity is first to be considered P. This also; if the necessity be final and extreme, whatever the man be, he is first to be relieved, before the lesser necessities of the best persons or most holy poor. But the proper objects of our charity are old persons, sick or impotent, laborious and poor housekeepers, widows and orphans, people oppressed or persecuted for the cause of righteousness, distressed strangers, captives and abused slaves, prisoners of debt. To these we must be liberal, whether they be holy or unholy, remembering that we are sons of that Father who makes the dew of heaven to drop upon the dwellings of the righteous and the fields of sinners. 4. Thirdly: The manner of giving alms is an office of Christian prudence; for in what instances we are to exemplify our charity, we must be determined by our own powers, and others' needs. The scripture reckons entertaining strangers, visiting the sick, going to prisons, feeding and clothing the hungry and naked: to which, by the exigence of the poor, and the analogy of charity, many other are to be added. The holy Jesus, in the very precept, instanced in lending money to them that need to borrow; and He adds, "looking for nothing again," that is, if they be unable to pay it. Forgiving debts is a great instance of mercy, and a particular of excellent relief; but to imprison men for debt, when it is certain they are not able to pay it, and by that prison will be far more disabled, is an uncharitableness next to the cruelties of savages, and at infinite distance from the mercies of the holy Jesus. PART III.-OF NOT JUDGING. ANOTHER instance of charity our great Master inserted in this sermon, "not to judge our brother" and this is a charity so cheap P -nunc sportula primo Limine parva sedet turbæ rapienda togatæ. Ille tamen faciem prius inspicit, et trepidat ne Suppositus venias, et falso nomine poscas.-Juv. [i. 95.] Οἱ τὰς ὀφρῦς αἴροντες ὡς ἀβέλτεροι, Και, Σκέψομαι, λέγοντες· ἄνθρωπος γὰρ ὢν Menand. [Titth. apud Stob. Floril. xxii. 9.] Amicitiam si ad fructum nostrum referemus, non ad illius commoda quem diligimus, non erit ista amicitia, sed mercatura quædam utilitatum suarum: prata, et arva, et pecudum greges dili guntur isto modo, quod fructus ex eis capiuntur; hominum charitas et amicitia gratuita est.-Cic. de Nat. Deor. [lib. i. cap. 44. tom. ii. p. 433.] and so reasonable, that it requires nothing of us but silence in our spirits. We may perform this duty at the charge of a negative; if we meddle not with other men's affairs, we shall do them no wrong, and purchase to ourselves a peace, and be secured the rather from the unerring sentence of a severer judge. But this interdict forbids only such judging as is ungentle and uncharitable: in criminal causes let us find all the ways to alleviate the burden of the man by just excuses, by extenuating or lessening accidents, by abatement of incident circumstances, by gentle sentences, and whatsoever can do relief to the person, that his spirit be not exasperated, that the crime be not the parent of impudence, that he be not insulted on, that he be invited to repentance, and by such sweetnesses he be led to his restitution. This also in questions of doubts obliges us to determine to the more favourable sense; and we also do need the same mercies, and therefore should do well by our own rigour not to disentitle ourselves to such possibilities and reserves of charity'. But it is foul and base by detraction and iniquity to blast the reputation of an honourable action, and the fair name of virtue with a calumny. But this duty is also a part of the grace of justice and of humility, and by its relation and kindred to so many virtues is furnished with so many arguments of amability and endearment. THE PRAYER. Holy and merciful Jesus, who art the great principle and the instrument of conveying to us the charity and mercies of eternity, who didst love us when we were enemies, forgive us when we were debtors, recover us when we were dead, ransom us when we were slaves, relieve us when we were poor, and naked, and wandering, and full of sadness and necessities; give us the grace of charity, that we may be pitiful and compassionate of the needs of our necessitous. brethren, that we may be apt to relieve them, and that according to our duty and possibilities we may rescue them from their calamities. Give us courteous, affable, and liberal souls; let us, by Thy example, forgive our debtors, and love our enemies, and do to them offices of civility, and tenderness, and relief; always propounding Thee for our pattern, and Thy mercies for our precedent, and Thy precepts for our rule, and Thy Spirit for our guide: that we, shewing mercy here, may receive the mercies of eternity by Thy merits, and by Thy charities, and dispensation, O holy and merciful Jesus. Amen. Qui ne tuberibus propriis offendat amicum Postulat, ignoscat verrucis illius, æquum est Peccatis veniam poscentem, reddere rursus.-Hor. [Sat. i. 3. lin. 73.] Ne judices proximum, donec ad ejus locum pertingas.-Prov. Judæor. eheu Quam temere in nosmet legem sancimus iniquam! Qui minimis urgetur.-Hor. [Sat. i. 3. lin. 66.] DISCOURSE XII. Of the second additional precept of Christ; viz., of prayer. 1. THE Soul of a Christian is the house of God; "ye are God's building," saith St. Paul: but the house of God is the house of prayer; and therefore prayer is the work of the soul, whose organs are intended for instruments of the divine praises; and when every stop and pause of those instruments is but the conclusion of a collect, and every breathing is a prayer, then the body becomes a temple, and the soul is the sanctuary and more private recess and place of intercourse. Prayer is the great duty, and the greatest privilege of a Christian; it is his intercourse with God, his sanctuary in troubles, his remedy for sins, his cure of griefs, and, as St. Gregory calls it, "it is the principal instrument whereby we minister to God in execution of the decrees of eternal predestination;" and those things which God intends for us, we bring to ourselves by the mediation of holy prayers. Prayer is the "ascent of the mind to God, and a petitioning for such things as we need for our support and duty"." It is an abstract and summary of Christian religion. Prayer is an act of religion and divine worship, confessing His power and His mercy; it celebrates His attributes, and confesses His glories, and reveres His person, and implores His aid, and gives thanks for His blessings: it is an act of humility, condescension, and dependence, expressed in the prostration of our bodies, and humiliation of our spirits: it is an act of charity, when we pray for others; it is an act of repentance, when it confesses and begs pardon for our sins, and exercises every grace according to the design of the man, and the matter of the prayer. So that there will be less need to amass arguments to invite us to this duty; every part is an excellence, and every end of it is a blessing, and every design is a motive, and every need is an impulsive to this holy office. Let us but remember how many needs we have, at how cheap a rate we may obtain their remedies, and yet how honourable the employment is, to go to God with confidence, and to fetch our supplies with easiness and joy; and then without farther preface we may address ourselves to the understanding of that duty by which we imitate the employment of angels and beatified spirits, by which we ascend to God in spirit while we remain on earth, and God descends on earth while He yet resides in heaven, sitting there on the throne of His kingdom. s 1 Cor. iii. 9. [Dialog., lib. i. cap. 8. tom. ii. col. 182 D.] - Ανάβασις νοῦ πρὸς Θεὸν, καὶ αἴτησις τῶν προσηκόντων παρὰ Θεοῦ.-Damasc. De fid. orthod., lib. iii. [cap. 24. tom. i. p. 248.] ▾ Qui fingit sacros auro vel marmore vultus, Non facit ille deos: qui rogat, ille facit. [Mart. lib. viii. Ep. 24.] 2. Our first enquiry must be concerning the matter of our prayers; for our desires are not to be the rule of our prayers, unless reason and religion be the rule of our desires. The old heathens prayed to their gods for such things which they were ashamed to name publicly before men"; and these were their private prayers, which they durst not for their undecency or iniquity make public. And indeed sometimes the best men ask of God things not unlawful in themselves, yet very hurtful to them: and therefore as by the Spirit of God and right reason we are taught in general what is lawful to be asked; so it is still to be submitted to God, when we have asked lawful things, to grant to us in kindness, or to deny us in mercy: after all the rules that can be given us, we not being able in many instances to judge for ourselves, unless also we could certainly pronounce concerning future contingencies. But the holy Ghost being now sent upon the church, and the rule of Christ being left to His church, together with His form of prayer taught and prescribed to His disciples, we have sufficient instruction for the matter of our prayers, so far as concerns the lawfulness or unlawfulness. And the rule is easy and of no variety. For first, we are bound to pray for all things that concern our duty, all that we are bound to labour for; such as are glory and grace, necessary assistances of the Spirit, and rewards spiritual, heaven and heavenly things. Secondly, concerning those things which we may with safety hope for, but are not matter of duty to us, we may lawfully testify our hope and express our desires by petition: but if in their particulars they are under no express promise, but only conveniences of our life and person, it is only lawful to pray for them under condition that they may conform to God's will and our duty, as they are good, and placed in the best order of eternity. Therefore, first, for spiritual blessings let our prayers be particularly importunate, perpetual, and persevering; secondly, for temporal blessings let them be generally short, conditional, and modest; and Permittes ipsis expendere numinibus, quid Conveniat nobis, rebusque sit utile nostris; Nam pro jucundis aptissima quæque dabunt dii.-Juv. [x. 346.] Multa petentibus Desunt multa: bene est, cui Deus obtulit Parca, quod satis est, manu.-Hor. [Od. iii. 16. lin. 42.] |