CASES AND DIRECTIONS ABOUT WORKS OF CHARITY.
_Tit. 1. Cases of Conscience about Works of Charity._
_Quest._ I. What are the grounds, and reasons, and motives to
charitable works?
_Answ._ 1. That doing good doth make us likest to God. He is the
universal Father and Benefactor to the world. All good is in him or
from him, and he that is best and doth most good is likest him.
2. It is an honourable employment therefore: it is more honourable to
be the best man in the land, than to be the greatest: greatness is
therefore honourable, because it is an ability to do good; and wisdom
is honourable because it is the skill of doing good: so that goodness
is that end which maketh them honourable, and without respect to which
they were as nothing. A power or skill to do mischief is no
commendation.
3. Doing good maketh us pleasing and amiable to God, because it maketh
us like him, and because it is the fulfilling of his will. God can
love nothing but himself, and his own excellencies or image appearing
in his works; or his works so far as his attributes appear and are
glorified in them.
4. Good works are profitable to men, Tit. iii. 8. Our brethren are the
better for them: the bodies of the poor are relieved, and men's souls
are saved by them.
5. In doing good to others we do good to ourselves; because we are
living members of Christ's body, and by love and communion feel their
joys, as well as pains. As the hand doth maintain itself by
maintaining and comforting the stomach; so doth a loving christian by
good works.
6. There is in every good nature a singular delight in doing good: it
is the pleasantest life in all the world. A magistrate, a preacher, a
schoolmaster, a tutor, a physician, a judge, a lawyer, hath so much
true pleasure as his life and labours are successful in doing good. I
know that the conscience of honest endeavours may afford solid comfort
to a willing though unsuccessful man; and well-doing may be pleasant
though it prove not a doing good to others; but it is a double, yea, a
multiplied comfort to be successful. It is much if an honest,
unsuccessful man (a preacher, a physician, &c.) can keep up so much
peace, as to support him under the grief of his unsuccessfulness; but
to see our honest labours prosper, and many to be the better for them,
is the pleasantest life that man can here hope for.
7. Good works are a comfortable evidence that faith is sincere, and
that the heart dissembleth not with God: whenas a faith that will not
prevail for works of charity, is dead and uneffectual, and the image
or carcass of faith indeed, and such as God will not accept, James ii.
8. We have received so much ourselves from God, as doubleth our
obligation to do good to others: obedience and gratitude do both
require it.
9. We are not sufficient for ourselves, but need others as well as
they need us: and therefore as we expect to receive from others, we
must accordingly do to them. If the eye will not see for the body, nor
the hand work for the body, nor the feet go for it, the body will not
afford them nutriment, and they shall receive as they do.
10. Good works are much to the honour of religion, and consequently of
God; and much tend to men's conviction, conversion, and salvation.
Most men will judge of the doctrine by the fruits. Matt. v. 16, "Let
your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and
glorify your Father which is in heaven."
11. Consider how abundantly they are commanded and commended in the
word of God. Christ himself hath given us the pattern of his own life,
which from his first moral actions to his last, was nothing but doing
good and bearing evil. He made love the fulfilling of the law, and the
works of love the genuine fruits of christianity, and an acceptable
sacrifice to God. Gal. vi. 10, "As we have opportunity let us do good
to all men, especially to them of the household of faith." Heb. xiii. 10,
"To do good and communicate forget not; for with such sacrifices God
is well pleased." Tit. iii. 8, "This is a faithful saying, and these
things I will that thou constantly affirm, that they which have
believed in God might be careful to maintain good works: these things
are good and profitable to men." Eph. ii. 10, "For we are his
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God hath
before ordained that we should walk in them." Tit. ii. 14, "To purify
to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." Acts xx. 35,
"That so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the
words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than
to receive." Eph. iv. 28, "Let him that stole steal no more, but
rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing that is good,
that he may have to give to him that needeth." You see poor labourers
are not excepted from the command of helping others: insomuch that the
first church sold all their possessions, and had all things common;
not to teach levelling and condemn propriety, but to show all after
them that christian love should use all to relieve their brethren as
themselves.
12. Consider that God will in a special manner judge us at the last
day according to our works, and especially our works of charity: as in
Matt. xxv. Christ hath purposely and plainly showed; and so doth many
another text of Scripture. These are the motives to works of love.
_Quest._ II. What is a good work, even such as God hath promised
to reward?
_Answ._ 1. The matter must be lawful, and not a sin. 2. It must
tend to a good effect, for the benefit of man, and the honour of God.
3. It must have a good end; even the pleasing and glory of God, and
the good of ourselves and others. 4. It must come from a right
principle, even from the love of God, and of man for his sake. 5. It
must be pure and unmixed: if any sin be mixed with it, it is sinful so
as to need a pardon: and if sin be predominant in it, it is so far
sinful as to be unacceptable to God, in respect to the person, and is
turned into sin itself. 6. It must be in season; or else it may
sometimes be mixed with sin, and sometimes be evil itself and no good
work. 7. It must be comparatively good as well as simply. It must not
be a lesser good instead of a greater, or to put off a greater; as to
be praying when we should be quenching a fire, or saving a man's life.
8. It must be good in a convenient degree. Some degrees are necessary
to the moral being of a good work, and some to the well-being. God
must be loved and worshipped as God, and heaven sought as heaven, and
men's souls and lives must be highly prized and seriously preserved:
some sluggish doing of good is but undoing it. 9. It must be done in
confidence of the merits of Christ, and presented to God as by his
hands, who is our Mediator and Intercessor with the Father.
_Quest._ III. What works of charity should one choose in these
times, who would improve his Master's talents to his most comfortable
account?
_Answ._ The diversity of men's abilities and opportunities, make
that to be best for one man which is impossible to another.[173] But I
shall name some that are in themselves most beneficial to mankind,
that every man may choose the best which he can reach to.
1. The most eminent work of charity, is the promoting of the
conversion of the heathen and infidel parts of the world: to this
princes and men of power and wealth might contribute much if they were
willing; especially in those countries in which they have commerce and
send ambassadors: they might procure the choicest scholars, to go over
with their ambassadors and learn the languages, and set themselves to
this service according to opportunity; or they might erect a college
for the training up of students purposely for that work, in which they
might maintain some natives procured from the several infidel
countries, (as two or three Persians, as many Indians of Indostan, as
many Tartarians, Chinese, Siamites, &c.) which might possibly be
obtained; and these should teach students their country languages. But
till the christian world be so happy as to have such princes,
something may be done by volunteers of lower place and power; as Mr.
Wheelock did in translating the New Testament, and Mr. Pococke by the
honourable Mr. Robert Boyle's procurement and charge, in translating
"Grotius de Verit. Christ. Relig." into Arabic, and sending it to
Indostan and Persia. And what excellent labour hath good Mr. John
Elliot (with some few assistants) bestowed these twenty years and more
in New England; where now he hath translated and printed the whole
Scriptures in their American tongue, (with a Catechism and Call to the
Unconverted,) by the help of a press maintained from hence.
2. The attempt of restoring the christian churches to their primitive
purity and unity, according to men's several opportunities, is a most
excellent and desirable work; which though the ignorance and
wickedness of many, and the implacableness and bloodiness of the
carnal, proud, domineering part, and the too great alienation of some
others from them, do make it so difficult as to be next to desperate,
at the present, yet is not to be cast off as desperate indeed; for
great things have been done by wise and valiant attempts. Princes
might do very much to this, if they were both wise and willing. And
who knoweth but an age may come that may be so happy? The means and
method I would willingly describe, but that this is no fit place or
time.
3. The planting of a learned, able, holy, concordant ministry in a
particular kingdom, and settling the primitive discipline thereby, is
a work also which those princes may very much promote, whose hearts
are set upon it, and who set up no contrary interest against it; but
because these lines are never like to be known to princes, (unless by
way of accusation,) it is private men's works which we must speak to.
4. It is a very good work to procure and maintain a worthy minister in
any of the most ignorant parishes in these kingdoms, (of which, alas,
how many are there!) where the skilful preaching of the gospel is now
wanting; or to maintain an assistant in populous parishes, where one
is not able to do the work; or by other just means to promote this
service.
5. It is a very good work to set up free-schools in populous and in
ignorant places, especially in Wales; that all may be taught to read,
and some may be prepared for the universities.
6. It is an excellent work to cull out some of the choicest wits,
among the poorer sort in the country schools, who otherwise would
wither for want of culture; and to maintain them for learning in order
to the ministry, with some able, godly tutor in the university, or
some country minister who is fit and vacant enough thereunto.
7. It is an excellent work to give among poor ignorant people, Bibles
and catechisms, and some plain and godly books which are most fitted
to their use. But it were more excellent to leave a settled revenue
for this use, (naming the books, and choosing meet trustees,) that so
the rent might every year furnish a several parish, which would in a
short time be a very extensive benefit, and go through many countries.
8. It is a very good work to set poor men's children apprentices to
honest, religious masters, where they may at once get the blessing to
their souls of a godly education, and to their bodies, of an honest
way of maintenance.
9. It will not be unacceptable to God, to relieve some of the persons,
or poor children, of those very many hundred faithful ministers of
Christ, who are now silenced and destitute of maintenance, many having
nothing at all, but what charity sendeth them, to maintain themselves
and desolate families, who were wont to exercise charity to the bodies
and souls of others. Read Matt. xxv.; Gal. vi. 5-8.
10. It is a good work of them who give stocks of money, or yearly
rents, to be lent for five, or six, or seven years to young tradesmen,
at their setting up, upon good security, choosing good trustees, who
may choose the fittest persons; and if it be a rent, it will still
increase the stock, and if any should break, the loss of it may be
borne.
11. It would be a very good work for landlords to improve their
interest with their tenants, to further at once their bodily comfort
and salvation, to hire them by some abatement at their rent days, to
learn catechisms, and read the Scripture and good books in their
families, and give the pastor an account of their proficience. Whether
the law will enable them to bind them to any such thing in their
leases, I cannot tell.
12. And the present work of charity for every one, is to relieve the
most needy which are next at hand. To know what poor families are in
greatest want, and to help them as we are able; and to provoke the
rich to do that which we cannot do ourselves, and to beg for others;
and still to make use of bodily relief, to further the good of their
souls, by seconding all with spiritual advice and help.
_Quest._ IV. In what order are works of charity to be done? And
whom must we prefer when we are unable to accommodate all?
_Answ._ 1. The most public works must be preferred before
private. 2. Works for the soul, _cæteris paribus_, before works
for the body; and yet bodily benefits in order of time, must oft go
first as preparations to the other. 3. Greatest necessities,
_cæteris paribus_, must be supplied before lesser: the saving of
another's life must be preferred before your own less necessary
comforts. 4. Your own and families' wants must, _cæteris
paribus_, be supplied before strangers; even before some that you
must love better; because God hath in point of provision and
maintenance, given you a nearer charge of yourselves and families than
of others. 5. Nature also obligeth you to prefer your kindred before
strangers, if there be a parity as to other reasons. 6. And, _cæteris
paribus_, a good man must be preferred before a bad. 7. And yet
that charity which is like to tend to the good of the soul as well as
of the body is to be preferred; and in that case ofttimes a bad man is
to be preferred, when a greater good is like to be the effect.
8. A friend, _cæteris paribus_, is to be preferred before an
enemy; but not when the good is like to be greater which will follow
the relieving of an enemy. Many other rules might be given, but they
are laid down already, part i. chap. where I treat of good works;
whither I refer you.
_Quest._ V. Should I give in my lifetime, or at my death?
_Answ._ According as it is like to do most good; but none should
needlessly delay: both are best.
_Quest._ VI. Should one devote or set by a certain part of daily
incomes?
_Quest._ VII. What proportion is a man bound to give to the poor?
_Answ._ These two questions having answered in a letter to Mr.
Thomas Gouge, now printed, and the book being not in many hands, I
will here recite that letter as it is published.
Most dear, and very much honoured brother,
Even the philosopher hath taught me so to esteem you, who said, that
"He is likest to God, who needeth fewest things for himself, and doth
most good to others." And Christ telleth us, that universal charity
(extending even to them that hate and persecute us) doth make us, as
his children, like our heavenly Father, Matt. v. 44-46, 48. As hating
and hurting their neighbours is the mark of the children of the devil,
(John viii. 44,) so loving and doing good is the mark of the children
of God. And it is observable, that no one treateth so copiously and
pathetically of love (both of Christ's love to us, and ours to him) as
the blessed disciple, whom Jesus is said to have eminently loved (as
John xiii. 14-17, and 1 John, show).
It hath often pleased me to hear how dearly you were beloved, by that
exceeding great and populous parish, where lately you were preacher,
for your eminent charity to their souls and bodies; and to see that
still you take it for your work and calling, to be a provoker of
others to love and to good works, Heb. x. 24; whilst many that are
taken for good christians, do deal in such works as rarities or
recreations, only a little now and then upon the by, and whilst
Satan's ministers are provoking others to hatred and to hurtfulness.
Your labour is so amiable to me, that it would contribute to my
comforts, if I were able to contribute any thing to your assistance.
You desire me to give you my judgment of the _quota pars_; What
proportion it is meet for most men to devote to charitable uses;
whether the tenth part of their increase be not ordinarily a fit
proportion?
The reason why I use not to answer such questions without much
distinguishing (when lazy, impatient readers would have them answered
in a word) is, because the real difference of particular cases is so
great, as maketh it necessary; unless we will deceive men, or leave
the matter as dark and unresolved as we found it.
I. Before I answer your question, I shall premise, that I much approve
of the way which you insist upon, of setting so much constantly apart
as is fit for us to give, that it may be taken by us to be a devoted
or consecrated thing. And methinks that there is much of a divine
direction for the time in 1 Cor. xvi. 1, 2, together with the ancient
church, "That upon the first day of the week, every one lay by him in
store, as God had prospered him." And it will do much to cure
pharisaical sabbatizing, when the Lord's day is statedly used in this,
with holy works; and will teach hypocrites to know what this meaneth,
"I will have mercy and not sacrifice," Matt. ix. 13; xii. 7. And that
works of charity are an odour, a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable
and well pleasing to God, who of the riches of his glory in Christ,
will supply all the need of such, as bring forth such fruit to abound
unto their account, Phil. iv. 17-19. So it be done without any
insnaring vows, or rash engagements to unnecessary things; this
constant setting apart a certain proportion for pious and charitable
uses, will have these advantages:
1. Our distribution will be made deliberately and prudently, when
beforehand we study a due proportion, and determine accordingly;
whereas they that give only occasionally as some object suddenly
inviteth them, will do it at random, without due respect to their own
accounts, whether the proportion given be answerable to their own
estate and duty.
2. This stated way will make men's charity much more extensive: when
objects of charity are not in their sight, they will inquire after
them, and they will seek for the needy, if the needy seek not unto
them; because they have so much by them to dispose of, which is
devoted to God. But those who give but as occasional objects draw it
from them, will give to none but those that crave, or will pass by
many as needy, whom they see not, while they relieve only these few
that they hap to see.
3. And it will make men's charity also to be more constant, and done
obediently as a christian's daily work and duty; when occasional
charity will be more rarely and unconstantly exercised. In a word, as
the observation of the Lord's day, which is a stated proportion of
time, secureth the holy improvement of our time, much better than if
God be served but occasionally, without a stated time; and as a
constant stated course of preaching excelleth mere occasional
exhortation; even so a constant course of giving, wisely, will find
out objects, and overcome temptations, and discharge our duty with
much more integrity and success. And if we can easily perceive that
occasional praying will not so well discharge the duty of prayer, as a
constant stated course will do; why should we not think the same of
occasional giving, if men did but perceive that giving according to
our ability, is as sure and great a duty as praying? Now to your
question of the proportion of our gifts.
II. We must distinguish,
1. Between them that have no more than will supply their own and their
families' true necessities, and those that have more.
2. Between them that have a stock of money which yieldeth them no
increase, and those that have more increase by their labour, but
little stock.
3. Between them whose increase is like to be constant, and theirs that
is uncertain, sometimes more and sometimes less.
4. Between them that have many children, or near kindred, that nature
casteth upon them for relief; and those that have few or no children,
or have a competent provision for them, and have few needy kindred
that they are especially obliged to relieve.
5. Between those that live in times and places where the necessities
of the poor are very great, or some great works of piety are in hand;
and those that live where the poor are in no great necessity, and no
considerable opportunity for any great work of piety or charity doth
appear. These distinctions premised, I answer as followeth:
1. It is certain that every true sanctified christian hath devoted
himself and all that he hath to God, to be used in obedience to his
will, and for his glory, 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20; x. 31; Luke xviii. 33. The
question therefore is not, Whether the tenth part of our estate should
be devoted to and employed in the service of God, one way or other, as
he directeth us; for it is out of question that all is his, and we are
but his stewards; and must give account of our stewardship, and of all
our receivings, Matt. xxv. But the question is only what proportion is
best pleasing to God in our giving to others.
2. A christian being unfeignedly thus resolved in the general, to lay
out that he hath or shall have as God would have him, and to his glory
(as near as he can); his next inquiry must be, (for finding out the
will of God,) to know in the ordinary course of his distribution,
where God hath gone before him by any particular prescript, and tied
him to one certain way of giving; and where God hath only given him
some general direction, and left him to discern his duty in
particulars, by that general rule, and the further direction of
objects and providence. And in this inquiry he will find,
1. That God hath first prescribed to him in nature, the necessary
sustentation of his own life. And,
2. The necessary maintenance of his children and family.
3. The necessary maintenance of the preachers of the gospel, for the
worship of God, and the salvation of men, 1 Cor. ix.; Phil. iv.
10, 11, 14, 17, 18; Luke x. 7; 1 Tim. v. 17, 18.
4. The necessary maintenance of the commonwealth, and paying tribute
to the higher powers, who are the ministers of God to us for good;
attending continually upon this very thing, Rom. xiii. 4, 6.
5. The saving of the lives of those that are in apparent danger of
famine or perishing, within our sight or reach, 1 John iii. 17; Luke
x. 33. Thus far God hath prescribed to us, how he would have us use
our estates in an ordinary way. In many other things he hath left us
to more general directions.
3. To know among good works, which is to be preferred, it principally
concerneth us next to know, what works do most contribute to our
chiefest ends; which God is most honoured by; which tend to the
greatest good: and here we shall find that, _cæteris paribus_,
1. The souls of men are to be preferred before their bodies, in
estimation and intention; but in time, the body is oft to be preferred
before the soul, because if the body be suffered to perish, the
helping of the soul will be past our power.
2. And so the church is finally and estimatively to be preferred
before the commonwealth; but the commonwealth must be first served in
time, when it is necessary to the church's support and welfare; for
the church will else perish with the commonwealth.
3. The good of many is to be preferred before the good of few, and
public good to be valued above private, Rom. ix. 3.
4. A continued good is greater than a short and transitory good. And
so necessary is it to have chief respect in all our works to our
chiefest end, (the greatest good,) that even when God seemeth to have
prescribed to us the way of our expenses, yet that is but as to our
ordinary course: for if in an extraordinary case it fall out, that
another way is more to God's glory and the common good, it must be
then preferred; for all means are to be judged of by the end, and
chosen and used for it. For example, if the good of church and
commonwealth, or of the souls of many, do stand up against our
corporal provision of our children or families, it is to be preferred;
which is easily proved _a fortiore_, because it is to be
preferred before our own good, even the saving of our lives. A good
subject will lose his life to save the life of his king; and a good
soldier will die to save his general or the army; and a useless member
of the church should be content to die, if it be necessary, to save
the life of a pastor that is greatly useful. If a poor, ordinary
christian then had been so put to it, that either Paul or he must
famish, no doubt but his ultimate end would have commanded him to
prefer the apostle before himself: so that in extraordinary cases, the
end and greatest good must be our guide.
4. Though I may ordinarily prefer my own life before another's, yet I
must not prefer my mere delight or health before another's life: and
though men must provide for the lives of their children before the
lives of others, yet the life of a poor neighbour (_cæteris
paribus_) must be preferred and provided for, before the portions of
your own children, and before the supply of their tolerable wants: so
that as long as there are poor about you, that are in necessity of
food to save their lives, the portions or comeliest clothing of your
children must rather be neglected, than the poor be suffered to
perish. How else do I love my neighbour as myself, if I make so great
a difference between myself and him?
5. Even the food and raiment, and other necessaries, which a christian
useth himself, he must use for God, and not for his carnal self at
all; not taking it as his own, which he may use at and for his own
pleasure, but as part of his Master's goods, which are all to be used
only for his service. As a steward, that when he giveth every servant
his part, and taketh his own part, it is not as if it were primarily
his own, but as a servant on the same account with the rest: so when I
devote all that I have to God, I am so far from excepting my own part,
even my food and raiment, that I do more confidently intend the
serving of God with that, than with the rest, because it is more in my
power, and there is in it more of my duty. The same I may say of that
which is given to our children and other relations.
6. Therefore when more of the service and interest of God, lieth upon
your own or your children's using of his talents, than upon other
men's, you are bound (for God, and not for yourselves) to retain so
much the more to yourselves and children. It is a fond conceit that a
man is bound to give all to others, rather than to himself or
children, when it is most probable, that those others would do God
less service with it, than himself or his children would do: as
suppose such a man as Mr. Elliot in New England (that devoteth himself
to the conversion of the Indians) had riches, when some neighbour
ministers were poor, that are engaged in no such work. He that knoweth
that God hath given him a heart and an opportunity to do him more
service with it than another would do, is not bound to put it out of
his own hands into another's, that is less like to be a faithful
improver of it. If you have a son of your own that is a preacher of
the gospel, and is more able and serviceable than other ministers in
equal want, no doubt you have then a double obligation to relieve your
own son before another; as he is your son, and as he is more
serviceable to God. If other men are bound to supply your want for the
work and interest of the gospel, you are not bound to give away your
own supplies, to the disabling you from your work, unless when you see
a greater work, or the present absolute necessity of others, doth
require it.
7. It is imprudent and unsafe, and therefore unlawful, ordinarily, to
tie yourself unchangeably for continuance, to any one particular way
of using your estates for God; as to vow that you will give it to
ministers, or to the poor, or to schools, &c.; because the changes may
be such which God will make, as shall make that way to be one year
necessary, which before was not, and so change your duty. We cannot
prescribe to God what way he shall appoint us for the future, to use
his talents in. His word bids us prefer the greatest good; but which
is the greatest his providence must tell us.
8. He that hath no more than is necessary to the very preservation of
his own life and his family's, is not bound to give to others (unless
in some extraordinary case, which calleth him to prefer a greater and
more public good): and he that hath no more than is needful to the
comfortable support of himself and family, is not bound to relieve
those that have no greater wants than himself. And his own necessity
is not to be measured merely by what he hath, but by the use he hath
for it: for a magistrate, or one that is engaged in public works, may
have need of as many hundreds a year, as a private man of pounds.
9. Those that have many children to provide for, or poor kindred that
nature casteth on them, cannot give so much (proportionably) to other
poor, as those are bound to do that have few or none; for these are
bound to give all, except their personal necessaries, to public,
pious, or charitable works, because God calleth not for it any other
way.
10. To pamper the flesh, is a sin as well in the rich as in the poor:
the rich therefore are bound not only to give all that the flesh can
spare, when its own inordinate desires are satisfied, but deny
themselves, and mortify the flesh, and be good husbands for God, and
studious to retrench all unnecessary expenses, and to live laboriously
and thriftily, that they may have the more to do good with. It is a
great extenuation of the largest gifts, as to God's esteem, when they
are but the leavings of the flesh, and are given out of men's
abundance, and when we offer that to God that costeth us nothing: as
Christ doth purposely determine the case; comparing the rich man's
gifts with the widow's two mites, he said, "Of a truth I say unto you,
that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all: for all these
have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God; but she of
her penury hath cast in all the living that she had," Luke xxi. 1-4;
that is, all the stock she had beforehand, though she had need of it
herself. It is a very considerable thing in our charity, how much
mortification and self-denial is expressed in it, and how much it
costeth our own flesh to give to others. And therefore they that think
they are excused from doing good to others, as long as they have any
need of it themselves, and will give nothing but what they have no
need of, (it being not of absolute necessity to their lives,) do offer
a sacrifice of no great value in the eyes of God. What then shall we
say of them, that will not give even out of their abundance, and that
which without any suffering they may spare?
11. The first and principal thing to be done by one that would give as
God would have him, is, to get a truly charitable heart, which
containeth all these parts:
1. That we see God in his needy creatures, and in his cause or work
that needs our help.
2. That we be sensible of his abundant love in Christ to us, in giving
pardon and eternal life, and that from the sense of this our thankful
hearts are moved to do good to others.
3. That therefore we do it ultimately as to Christ himself; who taketh
that which is done for his cause and servants, as done to him, Matt.
xxv. 40.
4. That we conquer the cursed sin of selfishness, which makes men
little regard any but themselves.
5. That we love our neighbours as ourselves, and love most where there
is most of God and goodness, and not according to self-interest: and
that as members of the same body, we take our brethren's wants and
sufferings as our own; and then we should be as ready to help them as
ourselves.
6. That we know the vanity of worldly riches, and be not earthly-minded,
but regard the interest of God and our souls above all the treasures
of the world.
7. That we unfeignedly believe the promises of God, who hath engaged
himself to provide for us, and everlastingly to reward us in glory
with himself. If these seven qualifications be wrought upon the heart,
good works will plentifully follow. Make but the tree good, and the
fruit will be good. But when the heart is void of the root and life
which should produce them, the judgment will not be persuaded that so
much is necessary, and required of us; and the will itself will still
hang back, and be delaying to do good, and doing all pinchingly and
hypocritically, with unwillingness and distrust.
No wonder if good works are so rare, when it is evident that to do
them sincerely and heartily as our trade and business, it is necessary
that the whole soul be thus renewed by faith, and love, and
self-denial, and mortification, and by a heavenly hope and mind. They
are the fruits and works of the new creature (which is, alas, too rare
in the world): "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus
unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in
them," Eph. ii. 10. Therefore our first and chiefest labour should be
to be sure that we are furnished with such hearts, and then if we have
wherewith to do good, such hearts will be sure to do it: such hearts
will best discern the time and measure, as a healthful man's appetite
will in eating; for they will take it for a mercy and happiness to do
good, and know, that it is they that give that are the great
receivers. It is but a little money or alms that the poor receive of
us, but it is God's acceptance, and favour, and reward that we
receive, which is in "this life a hundred-fold, (in value,) and in the
world to come eternal life," Matt. xix. 29. But if we have little or
nothing to give, such a heart is accepted, as if we had given as much
as we desire to give; so that if you have a heart that would give
thousands if you had it, God will set down upon your account, so many
thousands given (in desire). Your two mites shall be valued above all
the superfluities of sensual worldlings: "For if there be first a
willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not
according to that he hath not," 2 Cor. viii. 12. But God taketh not
that for a willing mind, which only saith, I would give if I should
suffer nothing by it myself, or were I sure I should not want; but
that which saith, I will serve God as well as I can with my estate
while I have it, and deny my flesh, that I may have to do good with,
and trust God for my provision and reward; for if there be a readiness
to will, there will be a performance also out of that which you have,
2 Cor. viii. 11.
12. Such a holy, self-denying, charitable heart, with the help of
prudence, is the best judge of the due proportion which we should
give: for this willing readiness being supposed, prudence will discern
the fittest objects, and the fittest time, and the fittest measure,
and will suit the means unto the end: when once a man's heart is set
upon doing good, it will not be very hard to perceive how much
ourselves, our families, the poor, and religious uses should have; for
if such a person be prudent himself, he hath always with him a
constant counsellor, with a general rule, and directing providence; if
he want prudence sufficient to be his own director, he will take
direction from the prudence of others.
13. Such a truly willing mind will not be much wanting in the general
of doing good, but one way or other will serve God with his estate;
and then if in any particulars he should come short, it will
comparatively be a very small sin, when it is not for want of
willingness, but of skill. The will is the chief seat of all moral
good and evil; there is no more virtue than there is will, nor any
more sin or vice than there is will. He that knoweth not how much he
should give, because he is not willing to give it, and therefore not
willing to know it, is indeed the miser and sinfully ignorant; but if
it be not for want of a willing mind that we mistake the proportion,
it will be a very pardonable mistake.
14. Your proportion of the tenth part is too much for some, and much
too little for others, but for the most, I think it as likely a
proportion as it is fit for another to prescribe in particular, with
these following explications.
1. He that hath a full stock of money, and no increase by it, must
give proportionably out of his stock; when he that hath little or no
stock, but the fruits of his daily industry and labour, may possibly
be bound to give less than the other.
2. It is not the tenth of our increase, deducting first all our
families' provision, that you mean when you direct to give the tenth
(for it is far more, if not all, that after such provision must be
given); but it is the tenth without deduction that you mean; therefore
when family necessaries cannot spare the tenth, it may be too much
(else even the receivers must all be givers): but when family
necessities can spare much more than the tenth, then the tenth is not
enough.
3. In those places where church, and state, and poor are all to be
maintained by free gift, there the tenth of our increase is far too
little, for those that have any thing considerable to spare, to give
to all these uses.
This is apparent in that the tenths alone were not thought enough even
in the time of the law, to give towards the public worship of God: for
besides the tenths, there were the first-fruits, and oblations, and
many sorts of sacrifices; and yet at the same time, the poor were to
be maintained by liberal gifts besides the tenths: and though we read
not of much given to the maintenance of their rulers and magistrates,
before they chose to have a king, yet afterwards we read of much; and
before, the charges of wars and public works lay upon all.
In most places with us, the public ministry is maintained by glebe and
tithes, which are none of the people's gifts at all, for he that sold
or leased them their lands, did suppose that tithes were to be paid
out of it, and therefore they paid a tenth part less for it, in
purchase, fines, or rents, than otherwise they should have done; so
that I reckon, that most of them give little or nothing to the
minister at all. Therefore they may the better give so much the more
to the needy, and to other charitable uses. But where minister, and
poor, and all are maintained by the people's contribution, there the
tenths are too little for the whole work; but yet to most, or very
many, the tenths to the poor alone, besides the maintenance of the
ministry and state, may possibly be more than they are able to give.
The tenths even among the heathens, were given in many places to their
sacrifices, priests, and to religious, public, civil works, besides
all their private charity to the poor.
I find in Diog. Laertius, lib. i. (mihi) 32. that Pisistratus the
Athenian tyrant, proving to Solon (in his epistle to him) that he had
nothing against God or man to blame him for, but for taking the crown;
telling him, that he caused them to keep the same laws which Solon
gave them, and that better than the popular government could have
done, doth instance thus: _Atheniensium singuli decimas frugum
suarum separant, non in usus nostros consumendas, verum sacrificiis
publicis, commodisque communibus, et si quando bellum contra nos
ingruerit, in sumptus deputandas_: that is, Every one of the
Athenians do separate the tithes of their fruits, not to be consumed
to our uses, but to defray the charge in public sacrifices, and in the
common profits, and if war at any time invade us. And Plautus saith,
_Ut decimam solveret Herculi_. Indeed as among the heathens the
tithes were conjunctly given for religious and civil uses, so it seems
that at first the christian emperors settled them on the bishops for
the use of the poor, as well as for the ministers, and church service,
and utensils. For to all these they were to be divided, and the bishop
was as the guardian of the poor: and the glebe or farms that were
given to the church, were all employed to the same uses; and the
canons required that the tithes should be thus disposed of by the
clergy; _non tanquam propriæ, sed domino oblatæ_: and the emperor
Justinian commanded the bishops, _Ne ea quæ ecclesiis relicta sunt
sibi adscribant sed in necessarios ecclesiæ usus impendant_; lib.
xliii. cap. de Episc. et Cler. vid. Albert. Ranzt. Metrop. lib. i.
cap. 2. et sax. lib. vi. cap. 52. And Hierom (ad Damasc.) saith,
_Quoniam quicquid habent clerici pauperum est; et domus illorum
omnibus debent esse communes; susceptioni peregrinarum et hospitum
invigilare debent; maxime curandum est illis, ut de decimis et
oblationibus, cœnobiis et Xenodochiis qualem voluerint et potuerint
sustentationem impendant_.
Yet then the paying of tithes did not excuse the people from all other
charity to the poor: Austin saith, _Qui sibi aut præmium comparat,
aut peccatorum desiderat indulgentiam promereri, reddat decimam, etiam
de novem partibus studeat eleemosynam dare pauperibus_. And in our
times there is less reason that tithes should excuse the people from
their works of charity, both because the tithes are now more
appropriate to the maintenance of the clergy, and because (as is
aforesaid) the people give them not out of their own. I confess, if we
consider how decimation was used before the law by Abraham and Jacob,
and established by the law unto the Jews, and how commonly it was used
among the gentiles, and last of all by the church of Christ, it will
make a considerate man imagine, that as there is still a divine
direction for one day in seven, as a necessary proportion of time to
be ordinarily consecrated to God, besides what we can spare from our
other days; so that there is something of a divine canon, or
direction, for the tenth of our revenues or increase to be ordinarily
consecrated to God, besides what may be spared from the rest. And
whether those tithes, that are none of your own, and cost you nothing,
be now to be reckoned to private men, as any of their tenths, which
they themselves should give, I leave to your consideration. Amongst
Augustine's works we find an opinion that the devils were the tenth
part of the angels, and that man is now to be the tenth order among
the angels, the saints filling up the place that the devils fell from,
and there being nine orders of angels to be above us, and that in this
there is some ground of our paying tenths; and therefore he saith,
that _Hæc est Domini justissima consuetudo; ut si tu illi decimam
non dederis, tu ad decimam revocaberis, id est, dæmonibus, qui sunt
decima pars angelorum, associaberis_. Though I know not whence he
had this opinion, it seemeth that the devoting of a tenth part
ordinarily to God, is a matter that we have more than a human
direction for.
15. In times of extraordinary necessities of the church, or state, or
poor, there must be extraordinary bounty in our contributions: as if
an enemy be ready to invade the land, or if some extraordinary work of
God (as the conversion of some heathen nations) do require it, or some
extraordinary persecution and distress befall the pastors, or in a
year of famine, plague, or war, when the necessities of the poor are
extraordinary; the tenths in such cases will not suffice, from those
that have more to give: therefore in such a time, the primitive
christians sold their possessions, and laid down the price at the feet
of the apostles.
In one word, an honest, charitable heart being presupposed as the root
or fountain, and prudence being the discerner of our duty, the
apostle's general rule may much satisfy a christian for the
proportion, 1 Cor. xvi. 2, "Let every one of you lay by him in store,
as God hath prospered him;" and 2 Cor. viii. 12, "according to that a
man hath:" though there be many intimations, that ordinarily a tenth
part at least is requisite.
III. Having thus resolved the question of the _quota pars_ or
proportion to be given, I shall say a little to the question, Whether
a man should give most in his lifetime, or at his death?
_Answ._ 1. It is certain that the best work is that which is like
to do most good.
2. But to make it best to us, it is necessary that we do it with the
most self-denying, holy, charitable mind.
3. That, _cæteris paribus_, all things else being equal, the
present doing of a good work, is better than to defer it.
4. That to do good only when you die, because then you can keep your
wealth no longer, and because then it costeth you nothing to part with
it, and because then you hope that this shall serve instead of true
repentance and godliness; this is but to deceive yourselves, and will
do nothing to save your souls, though it do never so much good to
others.
5. That he that sinfully neglecteth in his lifetime to do good, if he
do it at his death, from true repentance and conversion, it is then
accepted of God; though the sin of his delay must be lamented.
6. That he that delayeth it till death, not out of any selfishness,
backwardness, or unwillingness, but that the work may be better, and
do more good, doth better than if he hastened a lesser good. As if a
man have a desire to set up a free-school for perpetuity, and the
money which he hath is not sufficient; if he stay till his death, that
so the improvement of the money may increase it, and make it enough
for his intended work, that is to do a greater good with greater
self-denial: for,
(1.) He receiveth none of the increase of the money for himself.
(2.) And he receiveth in his lifetime none of the praise or thanks of
the work. So also, if a man that hath no children, have so much land
only as will maintain him, and desireth to give it all to charitable
uses when he dieth, this delay is not at all to be blamed, because he
could not sooner give it; and if it be not in vain-glory, but in love
to God and to good works that he leaveth it, it is truly acceptable at
last. So that all good works that are done at death, are not therefore
to be undervalued, nor are they rejected of God; but sometimes it
falleth out that they are so much the greater and better works, though
he that can do the same in his lifetime, ought to do it.
IV. But though I have spent all these words in answering these
questions, I am fully satisfied that it is very few that are kept from
doing good by any such doubt or difficulty, in the case which stalls
their judgments; but by the power of sin and want of grace, which
leave an unwillingness and backwardness on their hearts. Could we tell
how to remove the impediments in men's wills, it would do more than
the clearest resolving all the cases of conscience, which their
judgments seem to be unsatisfied in. I will tell you what are the
impediments in your way, that are harder to be removed than all these
difficulties, and yet must be overcome before you can bring men to be
like true christians, "rich in good works."
1. Most men are so sensual and selfish, that their own flesh is an
insatiable gulf that devoureth all, and they have little or nothing to
spare from it to good uses. It is better cheaply maintaining a family
of temperate, sober persons, than one fleshly person that hath a whole
litter of vices and lusts to be maintained: so much a year seemeth
necessary to maintain their pride in needless curiosity and bravery,
and so much a year to maintain their sensual sports and pleasures; and
so much to please their throats or appetites, and to lay in provision
for fevers, and dropsies, and coughs, and consumptions, and a hundred
such diseases, which are the natural progeny of gluttony, drunkenness,
and excess; and so much a year to maintain their idleness, and so of
many other vices. But if one of these persons have the pride, and
idleness, and gluttony, and sportfulness of wife, and children, and
family also to maintain, as well as their own, many thousand pounds a
year perhaps may be too little. Many a conquering army hath been
maintained at as cheap a rate, as such an army of lusts (or garrison
at least) as keep possession of some such families, when all their
luxury goeth for the honour of their family, and they glory in wearing
the livery of the devil, the world, and the flesh (which they once
renounced, and pretended to glory in nothing but the cross of Christ);
and when they take care in the education of their children, that this
entailed honour be not cut off from their families: no wonder if God's
part be little from these men, when the flesh must have so much, and
when God must stand to the courtesy of his enemies, and have but their
leavings. I hope the nobility and gentry of England that are innocent
herein, will not be offended with me, if I tell them that are guilty,
that when I foresee their accounts, I think them to be the miserablest
persons upon earth, that rob God, and rob the king of that which
should defray the charges of government, and rob the church, and rob
the poor, and rob their souls of all the benefits of good works, and
all to please the devouring flesh. It is a dreadful thing to foresee
with what horror they will give up their reckoning, when instead of so
much in feeding and clothing the poor, and promoting the gospel, and
the saving of men's souls, there will be found upon their account, so
much in vain curiosities and pride, and so much in costly sports and
pleasures, and so much in flesh-pleasing luxury and excess. The trick
that they have got of late, to free themselves from the fears of this
account, by believing that there will be no such day, will prove a
short and lamentable remedy: and when that day shall come upon them
unawares, their unbelief and pleasures will die together, and deliver
them up to never-dying horror and despair. I have heard it often
mentioned as the dishonour of France, that the third part of the
revenues of so rich a kingdom should be devoted and paid to the
maintaining of superstition: but if there be not many (and most)
kingdoms in the world, where one half of their wealth is devoted to
the flesh, and so to the devil, I should be glad to find myself herein
mistaken: and judge you which is more disgraceful, to have half your
estates given in sensuality to the devil, or a third part too
ignorantly devoted to God! If men laid out no more than needs upon the
flesh, they might have the more for the service of God and of their
souls. You cannot live under so much a year, as would maintain twice
as many frugal, temperate, industrious persons, because your flesh
must needs be pleased, and you are strangers to christian
mortification and self-denial. Laertius tells us that Crates Thebanus
put all the money into the banker's or usurer's hands, with this
direction, That if his sons proved idiots it should all be paid to
them, but if they proved philosophers it should be given to the poor;
because philosophers can live upon a little, and therefore need
little. So if we could make men mortified christians, they would need
so little for themselves, that they would have the more to give to
others, and to do good with.
2. Men do not seriously believe God's promises; that he will
recompense them in this life (with better things) an hundred-fold, and
in the world to come with life eternal!" Matt. xix. 29. And that "by
receiving a prophet, or righteous man, they may have a prophet's or
righteous man's reward," Matt. x. 41. And that "a cup of cold water
(when you have no better) given to one of Christ's little ones in the
name of a disciple, shall not be unrewarded," Matt. x. 42. They
believe not that heaven will pay for all, and that there is a life to
come in which God will see that they be no losers. They think there is
nothing certain but what they have in hand, and therefore they lay up
a treasure upon earth, and rather trust to their estates than God;
whereas if they verily believed that there is another life, and that
judgment will pass on them on the terms described, Matt. xxv. they
would more industriously lay up a treasure in heaven, Matt. vi. 20,
and "make themselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness," and
study how to be rich in good works, and send their wealth to heaven
before them, and "lay up a good foundation against the time to come,
that they may lay hold upon eternal life," and then they would be
"ready to distribute, and willing to communicate," 1 Tim. vi. 17-19;
Luke xvi. 9. They would then know how much they are beholden to God,
that will not only honour them to be his stewards, but reward them for
distributing his maintenance to his children, as if they had given so
much of their own; they would then see that it is they that are the
receivers, and that giving is the surest way to be rich, when for
transitory things (sincerely given) they may receive the everlasting
riches. Then they would see that he that saveth his riches loseth
them, and he that loseth them for Christ doth save them, and lay them
up in heaven; and that it is more blessed to give than to receive; and
that we should ourselves be laborious that we may have wherewith to
support the weak, and to give unto the needy. Read Acts xx. 35;
Eph. iv. 28; Prov. xxxi. 20, &c. Then they would not be weary of
well-doing, if they believed that, "in due season, they shall reap if
they faint not; but as they have opportunity, would do good to all
men; but especially to them that are of the household of faith," Gal.
vi. 9, 10. They would not "forget to do good, and communicate, as
knowing that with such sacrifices God is well pleased, Heb. xiii. 16.
A true belief of the reward, would make men strive who should do most.
3. Another great hinderance is the want of love to God and our
neighbours, to Christ and his disciples. If men loved Christ, they
would not deal so niggardly with his disciples, when he has told them
that he taketh all that they do to the least of them, (whom he calleth
his brethren,) as done to himself, Matt. xxv.; x. 39, 40.
If men loved their neighbours as themselves, I leave you to judge in
what proportion and manner they would relieve them! Whether they would
find money to lay out on dice and cards, and gluttonous feastings, on
plays, and games, and pomp, and pride, while so many round about them
are in pinching want.
The destruction of charity or christian love is the cause that works
of charity are destroyed. Who can look that the seed of the serpent,
that hath an enmity against the holy seed, should liberally relieve
them? or that the fleshly mind, which is enmity against God, should
be ready to do good to the spiritual and holy servants of God? Gen.
xv.; Rom. viii. 6-8; or that a selfish man should much care for any
body but himself and his own? When love is turned into the hatred of
each other, upon the account of our partial interests and opinions;
and when we are like men in war, that think he is the bravest, most
deserving man that hath killed most; when men have bitter, hateful
thoughts of one another, and set themselves to make each other odious,
and to ruin them, that they may stand the faster, and think that
destroying them is good service to God; who can look for the fruits of
love from damnable uncharitableness and hatred; or that the devil's
tree should bring forth holy fruit to God?
4. And then (when love is well spoken of by all, even its deadly
enemies) lest men should see their wickedness and misery, (and is it
not admirable that they see it not?) the devil hath taught them to
play the hypocrite, and make themselves a religion which costs them
nothing, without true christian love and good works, that they may
have something to quiet and cheat their consciences with. One man
drops now and then an inconsiderable gift, and another oppresseth, and
hateth, and destroyeth (and slandereth and censureth, that he may not
be thought to hate and ruin without cause); and when they have done,
they wipe their mouths with a few hypocritical prayers or good words,
and think they are good christians, and God will not be avenged on
them. One thinks that God will save him because he is of this church,
and another because he is of another church. One thinks to be saved
because he is of this opinion and party in religion, and another
because he is of that. One thinks he is religious because he saith his
prayers this way, and another because he prayeth another way. And thus
dead hypocrites, whose hearts were never quickened with the powerful
love of God, to love his servants, their neighbours, and enemies, do
persuade themselves that God will save them for mocking and flattering
him with the service of their deceitful lips; while they want the love
of God, which is the root of all good, and are possessed with the love
of money, which is the root of all evil, 1 Tim. vi. 10, and are
"lovers of pleasures more than of God," 2 Tim. iii. 4.
They will join themselves forwardly to the cheap and outside actions
of religion; but when they hear much less than "One thing thou yet
wantest: sell all that thou hast and distribute to the poor, and thou
shalt have a treasure in heaven:--they are very sorrowful, because
they are very rich," Luke xviii. 22, 23. Such a fruitless love as they
had to others, James ii. such a fruitless religion they have as to
themselves. For "pure religion and undefiled before God, is to visit
the fatherless and widows in their adversity, and to keep yourselves
unspotted from the world," James i. 27. See 1 John ii. 15; iii. 17,
"Whoso hath this world's goods, and seeth his brother have need, and
shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love
of God in him?" There are three texts that describe the case of
sensual, uncharitable gentlemen.
1. Luke xvi. "A rich man clothed in purple and silk, (for so, as Dr.
Hammond noteth, it should rather be translated,) and fared sumptuously
every day," you know the end of him.
2. Ezek. xvi. 49. "Sodom's sin was pride, fulness of bread, and
abundance of idleness, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor
and needy."
3. James v. 1-7. "Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for the
miseries that shall come upon you.--Ye have lived in pleasure on
earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in (or for)
the day of slaughter.--Ye have condemned and killed the just, and he
doth not resist you--." And remember Prov. xxi. 13, "Whoso stoppeth
his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself and shall
not be heard." And James ii. 13, "He shall have judgment without mercy
that showed no mercy, and mercy rejoiceth against judgment." Yea, in
this life it is oft observable that, Prov. xi. 24, "There is that
scattereth, and yet increaseth, and there is that withholdeth more
than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty."
_Tit. 2. Directions for Works of Charity._
_Direct._ I. Love God, and be renewed to his image; and then it
will be natural to you to do good; and his love will be in you a
fountain of good works.
_Direct._ II. Love your neighbours, and it will be easy to you to
do them all the good you can; as it is to do good to yourselves, or
children, or dearest friends.
_Direct._ III. Learn self-denial, that selfishness may not cause
you to be all for yourselves, and be Satan's law of nature in you,
forbidding you to do good to others.
_Direct._ IV. Mortify the flesh, and the vices of sensuality:
pride and curiosity, gluttony and drunkenness, are insatiable gulfs,
and will devour all, and leave but little for the poor: though there
be never so many poor families which want bread and clothing, the
proud person must first have the other silk gown, or the other
ornaments which may set them out with the forwardest in the mode and
fashion; and this house must first be handsomer built, and these rooms
must first be neatlier furnished; and these children must first have
finer clothes: let Lazarus lie never so miserable at the door, the
sensualist must be clothed in purple and silk, and fare deliciously
and sumptuously daily, Luke xvi. The glutton must have the dish and
cup which pleaseth his appetite, and must keep a full table for the
entertainment of his companions that have no need. These insatiable
vices are like swine and dogs, that devour all the children's bread.
Even vain recreations and gaming shall have more bestowed on them,
than church or poor (as to any voluntary gift). Kill your greedy vices
once, and then a little will serve your turns, and you may have
wherewith to relieve the needy, and do that which will be better to
you at your reckoning day.
_Direct._ V. Let not selfishness make your children the
inordinate objects of your charity and provision, to take up that
which should be otherwise employed. Carnal and worldly persons would
perpetuate their vice, and when they can live no longer themselves,
they seem to be half alive in their posterity, and what they can no
longer keep themselves, they think is best laid up for their children
to feed them as full, and make them as sensual and unhappy as
themselves. So that just and moderate provisions will not satisfy
them; but their children's portions must be as much as they can get,
and almost all their estates are _sibi et suis_, for themselves
and theirs: and this pernicious vice is as destructive to good works,
as almost any in the world. That God who hath said that he is worse
than an infidel who provideth not for his own family, will judge many
thousands to be worse than christians, and than any that will be saved
must be, who make their families the devourers of all which should be
expended upon other works of charity.
_Direct._ VI. Take it as the chiefest extrinsical part of your
religion to do good; and make it the trade or business of your lives,
and not as a matter to be done on the by. James i. 27, "Pure religion
and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the
fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself
unspotted from the world." "If we are created for good works," Eph.
ii. 10; "and redeemed and purified to be zealous of good works," Tit.
ii. 14; and must be judged according to such works, Matt. xxv.; then
certainly it should be our chiefest daily care and diligence, to do
them with all our hearts and abilities. And as we keep a daily account
of our own and our servants' business in our particular callings, so
should we much more of our employment of our Master's talents in his
service; and if a heathen prince could say with lamentation, Alas, I
have lost a day! if a day had passed in which he had done no one good,
how much more should a christian, who is better instructed to know the
comforts and rewards of doing good!
_Direct._ VII. Give not only out of your superfluities, when the
flesh is glutted with as much as it desireth; but labour hard in your
callings, and be thrifty and saving from all unnecessary expenses, and
deny the desires of ease and fulness, and pride and curiosity, that
you may have the more to do good with. Thriftiness for works of
charity is a great and necessary duty, though covetous thriftiness for
the love of riches be a great sin. He that wasteth one half of his
master's goods through slothfulness or excesses, and then is
charitable with the other half, will make but a bad account of his
stewardship. Much more he that glutteth his own and his family's and
retainers' fleshly desires first, and then giveth to the poor only the
leavings of luxury, and so much as their fleshly lusts can spare. It
is a dearer, a laborious and a thrifty charity, that God doth expect
of faithful stewards.
_Direct._ VIII. Delay not any good work which you have present
ability and opportunity to perform. Delay signifieth unwillingness or
negligence. Love and zeal are active and expeditious; and delay doth
frequently frustrate good intentions. The persons may die that you
intend to do good to; or you may die, or your ability and
opportunities may cease; that may be done to-day which cannot be done
to-morrow. The devil is not ignorant of your good intentions, and he
will do all that possibly he can to make them of no effect; and the
more time you give him, the more you enable him to hinder you. You
little foresee what abundance of impediments he may cast before you;
and so make that impossible which once you might have done with ease.
Prov. iii. 28, "Say not to thy neighbour, Go and come again, and
to-morrow I will give, when thou hast it by thee." Prov. xxvii. 1,
"Boast not thyself of to-morrow, for thou knowest not what a day may
bring forth."
_Direct._ IX. Distrust not God's providence for thy own
provision. An unbelieving man will needs be a God to himself, and
trust himself only for his provisions, because indeed he cannot trust
God. But you will find that your labour and care are vain, or worse
than vain, without God's blessing. Say not distrustfully, What shall I
have myself when I am old? Though I am not persuading you to make no
provision, or to give away all; yet I must tell you, that it is
exceeding folly to put off any present duty, upon distrust of God, or
expectation of living to be old. He that over-night said, "I have
enough laid up for many years," did quickly hear, "Thou fool, this
night shall thy soul be required of thee; and whose then shall the
things be which thou hast provided?" Luke xii. 20. Rather obey that,
Eccles. ix. 10, "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy
might: for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in
the grave whither thou goest." Do you think there is not a hundred
thousand whose estates are now consumed in the flames of London, who
could wish that all that had been given to pious or charitable uses?
Do but believe from the bottom of your hearts, that "he that hath pity
on the poor, lendeth to the Lord, and that which he layeth out he will
pay him again," Prov. xix. 17. And that, Matt. x. 40-42, "He that
receiveth you, receiveth me, and he that receiveth me, receiveth him
that sent me: he that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet,
shall receive a prophet's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous
man, in the name of a righteous man, shall receive a righteous man's
reward: and whosoever shall give to drink to one of these little ones,
a cup of cold water only (i. e. when he hath no better) in the name of
a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his
reward." I say, believe this, and you will make haste to give while
you may, lest your opportunity should overslip you.
_Direct._ X. What you cannot do yourselves, provoke others to do
who are more able: "Provoke one another to love and to good works."
Modesty doth not so much forbid you to beg for others as for
yourselves. Some want but information to draw them to good works: and
some that are unwilling, may be urged to it, to avoid the shame of
uncharitableness: and though such giving do little good to themselves,
it may do good to others. Thus you may have the reward when the cost
is another's as long as the charity is yours.
_Direct._ XI. Hearken to no doctrine which is an enemy to charity
or good works; nor yet which teacheth you to trust in them for more
than their proper part. He that ascribeth to any of his own works,
that which is proper to Christ, doth turn them into heinous sin. And
he that ascribeth not to them all that which Christ ascribeth to them,
is a sinner also. And whatever ignorant men may prate, the time is
coming, when neither Christ without our charity, nor our charity
without Christ, (but in subordination to him,) will either comfort or
save our souls.
[173] See the Preface to my book, called, "The Crucifying of the
World."