Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

giving an alms; and when nothing can be wrung out of me but what is distrained by importunity, I give not for the poor's relief, but for my own peace and quiet. And what virtue is it for a man to give only to get rid of a dun, and ease himself of a troublesome importunity? Wherefore to render our alms virtuous and rewardable, it is necessary that they should be performed with a free and cheerful heart; that they should flow, like water from a spring, in natural and unforced streams, and not be pumped from us with shame or importunity.

4. This duty of almsgiving ought to be performed liberally and bountifully, according to the proportion of our estate and abilities. For the design of those alms which are the fruits of mercy is to redress the poor man's misery, to satisfy his hungry bowels, and rescue him from the pinching necessities under which he groans and languishes. And this being the design of mercy, it measures its alms accordingly, and proportions them to the craving necessities it supplies. And its aim being not only to rescue the miserable from extreme misery, but also, according to its power, to render them happy, it doth not think it sufficient to rescue the necessitous from extreme want and famine, but doth also covet to render their lives happy, and give them a comfortable enjoyment of themselves. For merely to keep a man from famishing, looks rather like a design to prolong his torment, and spin out the duration of his misery, than to contribute to his ease and happiness; and if we design his happiness, as we must do if we design mercifully, we shall endeavour not only to enable him to live, but to live comfortably, and accordingly proportion our alms. It is true, the

liberality of our alms is to be measured, not according to the quantity of them, but according to the proportion they bear to our power and ability; and though I should give five times less than one who hath ten times my estate, yet I should be as liberal as he, according to the proportion of my ability: and accordingly the indigent widow's two mites are pronounced by our Saviour a more liberal alms than the much more which those which were rich cast into the treasury, Mark xii. 42, 43, 44. Because they cast in of their abundance, but she of her want. And therefore though (as I shall shew by and by) it is impossible to determine the measures of alms which we are obliged to, because the particular measure of our ability is so various, yet this to be sure the law of mercy exacts, that in proportion to our estates and circumstances, they should be liberal and bountiful. For he who gives in such slender proportions as bring little or no relief to the receiver, acts as if he designed rather to mock him than to supply his necessities; or as if he intended rather to keep him alive for a prey to a long and lingering misery, than to render his life happy and comfortable.

[ocr errors]

5. This duty of almsgiving ought to be performed timely and seasonably, i. e. in the nick of opportunity, when the poor man's necessities call loudest for it, and our relief and succour may be most beneficial to him. To such poor indeed as do always want, our alms can never be unseasonable, because their necessities do always call for them: but there are some particular seasons when their wants call louder, as in times of sickness, or scarceness of work, or dearness of provisions, or in the beginning of

arrests, before the prison hath devoured them; or after a great loss, when their fortunes are sinking, and a small support may keep their heads above water; or, in a word, when they are young and capable of work, or instruction, and their parents are not able to dispose of them, when the placing them out to some honest calling may prevent their turning thieves or beggars, and render them useful to the world; or when they are setting up their trades with an insufficient stock, and a little help may encourage their diligence, and advance them to a comfortable livelihood. These and such like are the proper seasons of almsgiving; in which, by tendering our helping hand, we may rescue many a poor wretch out of a deep abyss of misery, and render their future condition happy and prosperous. Wherefore the law of mercy obliges us, not only to bestow our alms, but to bestow them at such times and seasons wherein they are most needed, and may do the greatest good; that we should not reserve them to our last will and testament, like medlars that are never good till they are rotten, but embrace all opportunities, while we are living, to give timely reliefs to the necessitous. For he who defers his alms, when such proper seasons are presented, is so far the cause of all the consequent calamities which the poor do suffer by the want of them: and since the design of men's alms is to relieve the sufferings of the poor, it is doubtless a degree of cruelty to prolong their sufferings, by needlessly delaying to relieve them. You would think her a cruel mother, that, having bread enough and to spare, should rather choose to afflict her child with a long, unsatisfied hunger, than to content its craving appetite, by giving it its food in due season:

and sure it is a great defect of compassion unnecessarily to prolong the sufferings of our indigent brother, though it be but for a day or an hour, when we have a present opportunity to relieve him: and since whatsoever relief we do design him, he must necessarily lose so much of it as the time of our delay amounts to, mercy obliges us to relieve him quickly, and not to suffer him to pine away, whilst our charity is growing.

Sixthly and lastly, This duty of almsgiving ought to be performed discreetly and prudently: for thus the Psalmist tells us, Psalm cxii. 5. A good man sheweth favour and lendeth; and will guide his affairs with discretion. And indeed unless prudence be the dispenser of our alms, mercy will miss of what it aims at and designs by them; which is to do good to the poor, to supply their craving necessities, and give them a comfortable enjoyment of themselves: instead of which, if we do not manage our charities with prudence, we shall many times create necessities by supplying them, and increase and multiply the miseries of the world by an unskilful endeavour to redress them. For it is with alms as it is with estates, where half of the riches doth consist in the discretion of the owner; and those very charities, which being distributed by a blind superstition or a foolish pity, do many times do more hurt than good, might have been improved into a plentiful provision for the necessities of the world, had they been wisely ordered and disposed. But what harvest can the world reap from this precious, seed of our alms, when they are sown with a careless or unskilful hand? when they are either thrown on a heap, to useless or superstitious purposes, or scat⇒

tered at all adventures without any distinction of the cultivated from the fallow ground; so that the birds of prey, the useless vagrants, drones and beggars, devour and eat them up, whilst the modest, impotent, and laborious poor are utterly destitute and unprovided? Since therefore the design of mercy is to do good with its alms, to comfort and relieve the poor, and supply their pinching necessities, it is doubtless very necessary, in order to this end, that it should be conducted by prudence and discretion; which ought more particularly to guide and direct our alms, first, In the method of provision of them; secondly, In the choice of the objects of them; thirdly, In the nature and quality of them; fourthly, As to the proportions of them; fifthly, In the manner of bestowing them.

1. We ought to exercise our prudence as to the method of providing our alms. For herein prudence will direct us, not only to be frugal in our expenses, to pare off our superfluities, and to be diligent and industrious in our callings, that we may have to give to them that need; but also out of our incomes and profits to consecrate a considerable proportion to pious and charitable uses. And herein the apostle gives us an excellent rule, 1 Cor. xvi. 2. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come: which though it doth not carry with it a necessary and indispensable obligation, it being impossible for many men to take a weekly account how God hath prospered them, and to lay by accordingly; yet thus far at least it is a very wise direction to us, that as oft as we cast up our accounts, whether it be weekly, monthly, or an

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »