's Debts and Charities if they see but any Encouragement from the rest of the Members III. This Building though it amounts to much more than what it was at first designed yet a great part thereof hath been freely laid down on purpose for this work and whatever is farther laid down towards it which it is hoped the whole will be raised by kind Members to answer these good ends would never have been so given but for this very purpose And that the Building and Beautifying the Hall may not be a bait to Creditors again to seize it so again to discourage the Members The Hall and the Company 's Revenue is by advice of Counsel settled by Conveyance and Decree I. Subject to secure the Money so taken up to discharge the Sequestrations c. And when those and what Monies they should be so necessitated to take up to compleat the Buildings shall be discharged II. Then to secure so far as the same will extend the yearly Charities wherewith the Company is chargeable by many Benefactors who so heretofore left Money in their Hands as a Fund to secure the same no part whereof now remains as being a trust they are liable in the first place as a Duty incumbent on them both to avoid a Curse and in order to obtain a Blessing from God upon their Endeavours and also to avoid prosecution of the Commissioners upon the Statute for Charitable Vses who have yearly put the Company to vast expences already upon that Account And these things having been made known to their Creditors who were also convinced by the ill success of others how vain and fruitless it would be to put themselves and the Company to trouble and charge whereby they might hazard the loss of their Debts but not in the least better secure them the Company have been not only free from Suits and Prosecutions which they were not at any time before since their troubles began but also the Wardens and Assistants have been in a great measure freed from those daily Clamours which disturbed them in the Company 's Service And now so fair an opportunity being offered to deliver the Company and to give Encouragement to Benefactors it is hoped there is no Member but will chearfully embrace it whereby they shall not only draw others on by their Example to preserve this Society still a Nursery of Charity and Seminary of good Citizens but also encourage Benefactors for the future some in their Lives and others at their Death liberally to extend their Kindness towards this Company and without all doubt such works as these are acceptable to God in times of greatest Trouble and Danger and such Benefactors may hope on no less Security than God's own Word for Ease and Comfort on a Sick Bed and Deliverence in time of Trouble And moreover their Creditors being now made sensible of the Truth of the Company 's Condition are inclined to comply with any reasonable Proposals shall be made by any on the Company 's behalf and as some have already done others are willing and ready to embrace such Terms as may be agreeable to the Company 's Condition in their present Circumstances for their Satisfaction I have thus abstracted the Company 's Case in these four Pages To the end all Persons concerned whether Members Creditors or Benefactors whose time will not permit them to read the following Sheets may be more readily informed upon all Occasions of the Truth of their Condition And for their ease who shall desire farther Satisfaction in any particular I have added marginal Notes in the following Pages for their Direction And now having at last by God's assistance and with unwearied industry accomplished my design and having also traced their Revenue to the Original Donors and Purchasers I did by order of the Assistants prepare and cause the several following Tables to be set up in their Hall which I have here inserted as a Monument more lasting to the end the Names of their Friends and Benefactors from whom they have received All may be kept in Memory that the Generations to come as well as the present Age may not only bless God for such a Foundation but be quicken'd from their Example to build and enlarge thereupon that their Names may in like manner survive in the blossom of a sweet smelling savour when their Bodies are turned to dust The several Tables c. THE Right Honourable Charles Earl of Dorset and Middlesex Lord Chambelain of his Maiesty's Houshold a Faithful Friend and Patron of this Society admitted into this Fraternity October the 22d 1689. Our most Gracious Sovereign Lord King William having been first chosen the same day their Sovereign Master WILLIAM the III. King of England c. by his Majesty's Royal Permission was on the 22d day of October in the First Year of their Majesty's Reign chosen c. Sovereign Master of this Company graciously accepting the Instrument of such his Majesty's Election and Freedom in a Gold Box. Soon after which the Ordinances for well-governing and regulating the Members and Mystery of the Grocery were examined and likewise approved of as the Law directs by the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners for the Custody of the Great Seal and the Lords Chief Justices of either Bench. Wardens Sir Ralph Box Kt. John Butterfield Richard Peirce Francis Chamberlaine CHARLES the II. late King of England c. and Sovereign Master of this Company was graciously pleased by Special Warrant under his Sign Manual to ascertain the several Branches of the Mystery of the Grocery declaring Druggists Confectioners Tobacconists and Tobacco-Cutters as all springing from it to be a part of the Mystery and pursuant thereto they were afterwards by Charter under the Great Seal duely Incorporated and made one Body with the Grocers never to be separated to preserve a Succession of Members in this Company THE Right Honourable John Earl of Mulgrave one of the Lords of the Bed-Chamber to King Charles the Second and after that Lord Chamberlain c. having taken his Freedom of this Company was most affectionately assisting to procure the Species of the Mystery explained and settled in order to preserve a Succession of Members in this Society THE Site of this Hall and Garden with the Ground whereon Sir Robert Clayton's Dwelling-House stands was formerly the Mansion-House and Inheritance of the Right Honourable the Lord Fitzwater of whom the Company purchased the same in the Reign of King Henry the Sixth and soon after built their Hall thereon for both which they borrowed great Summs of Money And afterwards in their languishing Condition Sir Henry Keble Kt. and Alderman some time Lord Mayor lent them Money on Security of their Hall and Revenue to clear their Debts And by his last Will and Testament dated in the sixth Year of King Henry the Eighth freely gave all back to the Company for ever to support their Charities SIR William Laxton Kt. and Alderman also some time Lord Mayor by
his last Will and Testament dated the 17th Day of July 1556. gave for ever to this Company all his Lands and Tenements in Canning-Street and the several Lanes adjacent whereon are now erected many fair Dwelling-Houses by the Lessees after the late dreadful Fire To maintain a School-Master and Vsher and seven Alms-men and a Woman to attend them at Gundle in Northamptonshire and the Surplusage to support their Charities The Bodies of these two Worthy Members and Benefactors were both laid in one Vault in St. Mary Aldermary Church with fair Monuments over them demolished by the said late Fire The said Sir Henry Keble at his own proper Charges built the said St. Mary Aldermary Church BENEFACTORS From whom the Company have received their Revenue designed for the Support and Relief of their poor Members and Discharge of other charitable Vses BENEFACTORS Who gave the Company Summs of Money to purchase Lands and Tenements which with much more they laid out in improving the Lands and Tenements so given by other Benefactors that the same might also answer the yearly Charities appointed by those Donors of such Moneys The DONORS Names and the Streets and Places where their Lands and Tenements so given are situate Sir Henry Keble Broad-Street Sir William Butler Thames-Street Mincing Lane. John Maldon Botolph-Lane Thomas Gore Grace Church-Street Lombard-Street John Billesdon Cornhil Sir William Laxton Canning-Street Bush-Lane Abchurch-Lane St. Nicholas-Lane Eastcheap Sherborn Lane. St. Swithins Lane. John Wardall Walbrook Thomas Knowles St. Antholins Emme Bachus Wood-Street Steyning-Lane Sir Thomas Middleton Baynerd's Castle William Robinson Grub-Street Elizabeth Burrel Cheap-Side Peter Bloundell Donning's Alley Sir John Hart Shore-Ditch Lady Anne Middleton Montgomery-Shire Cornwall  lb Lady Conway 1441 Gilbert Keate 600 William Robinson 400 Alderman Saunders 210 Francis Tyrrel 700 John Heydon 100 Edmond Turvill 1000 Robert Lambert 100 Nicholas Stiles 100 Sir John Peachy 500 Richard Haile 200 Mr. Wheatley 100 Humphry Walwyn 600 Mary Robinson 500 Total Summ 6551 The present Rents with some small Addition from the casual yearly Profits do discharge the whole yearly Charities of both kinds and the Arrears of each Branch are secured to be paid out of the first Fines on renewing Leases and other Improvement of the same And to preserve and augment their Revenue they have made provision to prevent adding to any Term whilst five Years remain in being and not to reserve less than 10 l. per Cent. per Annum of the full improved yearly Value on Demise of any part thereof Benefactors WHO gave Summs of Money to be lent to young Members of the Company on small or no Interest at the Discretion of the Wardens and Assistants wherewith the Company having charged themselves the same are now decreed to be raised out of the first Fines on renewing Leases or other Profits arising out of their Revenue above their yearly Charities immediately after the Arrears of their yearly Charities shall be discharged and for ever to be continued a Stock for these and to be applied to no other Vses whatsoever  l. s. d The Lady Slaney 100 0 0 Edmond Turvyll 100 0 0 Henry Anderson 100 0 0 John Newman 100 0 0 Gilbert Keate 50 0 0 Thomas Wheatley 50 0 0 Sir John Lyon 200 0 0 Edward Elmer 50 0 0 Thomas Farmer 100 0 0 Lettice Deane 200 0 0 Richard Lambert 100 0 0 Edward Jakeman 200 0 0 Katharine Hall 100 0 0 Roger Knott 100 0 0 John Heydon 100 0 0 Sir Thomas Ramsey 200 0 0 Peter Houghton 400 0 0 Thomas Ridge 100 0 0 John Grove 100 0 0 Gilbert Keate 50 0 0 Thomas Dawkins 20 0 0 Robert Brooke 100 0 0 Mary Robinson 200 0 0 George Holman 100 0 0 Richard-Hall 100 0 0 Thomas Westraw 100 0 0 Robert Bowyer 50 0 0 John Hudson 100 0 0 Sir Robert Nappier 100 0 0 William Pennyfather 100 0 0 Thomas Moulston 200 0 0 Stephen Abberley 250 0 0 John Mevil 100 0 0 Thomas Gamull 200 0 0 Constance Wrightman 100 0 0 Sir Edmond Wright 50 0 0 Thomas Freeman 100 0 0 William Pennyfather 233 6 8 This was not only a great Encouragement for young Men so to behave themselves during their Apprenticeship as by a good Report to recommend themselves capable of such a Favour from the Company but is a great Obligation on such of them as by God's Blessing on their Endeavours shall from small Beginnings gain ample Estates to become themselves also liberal Benefactors IN the Reign of King Henry the IV. Henry Chicheley the Eldest Brother being then Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury his two younger Brethren were both Aldermen and Members of this Company viz. Sir William the Second and Sir Robert the Third both in their turn Sheriffs and Sir Robert afterwards twice Lord Mayor who purchased the Ground whereon St. Stephen's Church in Walbrook now stands which he built at his own charge the Advowson whereof remains in the Company of Grocers to this Day which Church being consumed by the Fire Anno 1666. The Right Honourabie Sir Thomas Chicheley also a Member of this Company who descended in a right Line from the said Sir Robert late Master of the Ordnance afterwards Chancellor of the Dutchy of Lancaster and to King Charles the Second and some time to King James the Second of Their Majesties most Honourable Privy Council laid the first Stone and was a liberal Benefactor towards rebuilding thereof And being their Master Annis 1686 / 7. at his own charge built the Company a new Barge and purchased them the Tennant Right of a Barge-House in grateful remembrance whereof they have caused his Picture and this Inscription to be here set up If I were to give a Title to this following Table I humbly conceive it might be not improperly called The Insurance Office. That the Heir may not sooner prodigally waste than his Ancestor frugally got the Estate ΑΠΟΚΑΛΥΨΙΣ ιδ. ιγ. * Rev. 14.13 They rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ALthough Good Works or well-husbanding our Talent lent for Improvement be not Meritorious yet in the Dialect of the Apostle they are esteemed the best Evidence of Faith and Obedience and remain a surviving Testimony of a Faithful Steward when silent in his Grave And it is observable that in all Ages Honour and Estate have been most lasting in their Families who have most abounded in Works of this Nature So that if it were modest to assign the Cause why so many great Estates have been sooner wasted by a Prodigal Heir than gotten by his Frugal Parent we may with humble submission conclude it is from a defect in this great and necessary Duty so generally Crown'd with a Blessing on Posterity SIR JOHN CUTLER Knight and Baronet a Worthy Member of this Company having Fined for Sheriff and Alderman nigh forty years since was chosen and held Master-Warden Annis 1652 / 3. and did immediately after the dreadful Fire
King Henry the Fourth there were at one time no less then 12 of their Members Aldermen Twelve Aldermen at once Members of which Number were two Brothers William Chicheley afterwards Sheriff Sir Robert Chicheley afterwards also Sheriff Sir Robert Chicheley twice Lord Mayor and Founder of Wal-Brook Church Still in their Donation and twice Lord Mayor who also was Founder of the Parish Church of St. Stephen Walbrook upon a Plot of ground by him for that Sacred Use purchased of the Grocers the Donation of which Church is at this day in the Company of Grocers Which Society of the Pepperers increasing and spreading so Universal in Merchandizing that it appears afterwards they were distinguished by the Name of Grocers as being a more comprehensive Name than Pepperers Afterwards called Grocers insomuch that before they were incorporated by the Name of Grocers to wit in the Third year of King Edward the Third Anno 1329. John Grantham was chosen and held Mayor by the Title of Grocer And the first Charter I find of the Corporation of the Grocers was granted by King Edward the Third in the twentieth year of his Reign Anno Dom. 1345. which appears to be long before the Mercers were incorporated First Charter of the Grocers and before the Mercers though they are now the only Company have Precedency of the Grocers yet for the Reasons above-mentioned it may be very well presumed that as the Grocers were long before them the most Eminent Society so in after-times renewing their Charter by a more Comprehensive Term Afterwards Postponed to them they might Post pone themselves But though they thus March as a forlorn Regiment in the Front might the Hopes and Endeavours of many good Members prevail to have the Spirit of our Ancestors revived in the present Generation this could no way eclipse the Grocers But not to Dimination of their Dignity who have all the Noble Army of the rest of the Corporations following them than the Morning Star ushering in Day before it can eclipse the Glory of the Rising Sun. Afterwards the Charter of this Company was several times renewed as also it was in the Seventh year of King Henry the Sixth and they then made a Body Politick Grocers Incorporate by the Name of Custodes Communitas Mysterii Groceriae Londini And in the beginning of that King's Reign Purchase of the Hall of the Lord Fitz-water men late his Mansion-House they purchased the ground where the Grocers Hall now stands with the ground belonging to it of Walter Lord Fitz-water a Noble Peer of this Realm bounding the same between the Old-Jewry and Walbrook And so considerable in the City were the Grocers long before that time that they may be well presumed time out of Mind to have had the management of the King's-Beam as an Office peculiar to them not only as principally using the same but as being originally vested therein The Office of the King's Beam. they having had all along beyond the Memory of Man the naming of the Weigh-Master and the naming placing removing and governing of the four Porters attending that Office all to be elected out of their own Company and to be Sworn at their own Hall a Privilege allowed them as their undoubted and inseparate Right as ancient as that Office it self used in the City Their ancient Privileges of Inspection and Correction of Abuses in their Mystery Also amongst other Privileges and ancient Usages of this Company I find recorded even as high as Edward the Fourth's days this Company had Power of Inspection and Correction of Abuses and Irregularities of all Persons though free of this or any other Company in the City or Suburbs any way using or exercising any kind of Grocery and also to assay the Weights they bought or sold by and to take notice of all their Defaults and return them to be Fined at the Discretion of this Fellowship and to take 4 d. of every Person for their Labour therein as well of such as were offending as such as were not which Usage was always continued And in the Charter renewed to this Company in the fifteenth year of the late King Charles the First this Privilege is Gonfirmed Confirmed and Expressed to extend 3 Miles from the Liberties and expressed to extend three Miles from the City as well within Liberties as without and hath only been omitted for some years past when the Company began to be first interrupted in their Affairs The same King Henry the Sixth by Charter under the Great Seal granted to this Company the Office of Garbling in all places throughout the Kingdom of England Garbling-Office the City of London only excepted which Privilege though discontinued during the late unnatural War and almost forgotten is now ratified by their late Charter and Confirmation and may be of considerable Advantage to this Company In the time of the Reign of King Henry the Seventh the Company was greatly indebted Sir Henry Keble Sir William Laxton Worthy Members and Benefactors both buried in a Vault in Aldermary Church See Stow's Survey and Sir Henry Keble a Worthy Member sometime Lord Mayor of this City lent them Money on their Hall and their Revenue nigh the full value to clear their Debts and afterwards in the beginning of the Reign of King Henry the Eighth by his last Will and Testament freely gave back all to the Company remitting his whole Debt and Interest This Sir Henry Keble at his own Charge built Aldermary Church Afterwards about the eighteenth year of the same King Henry the Eighth Sir William Laxton also a Worthy Member and sometime Lord Mayor by Deed executed in his Life time gave the Company all their Lands and Houses in Canning-Street and the Lanes thereunto adjoining I shall here add but one more who may well deserve to be recorded among their chief Benefactors Mr. John Bilsdon John Bilsdon a Worthy benefactor of Houses in Cornhill a worthy Member by his Will dated about the fourteenth of King Henry the Eighth gave this Company all his Messuages in the several Parishes of St. Michael's and St. Peter's in Cornhill which being consumed with the rest of their Revenue in London by the late dreadful Fire many very fair Houses have been since built on the same ground by the Companies Leassees on long Leases under small Rents but of great improvement when expired Upon part of which ground stood the late Weigh house Weigh-House where the Office of the King's Beam was kept until the time of the same Fire And in order to prevent any difference which might otherwise hereafter happen between the City and Company touching the interest of the City in Weigh-house-yard I humbly conceive it to be my duty herein to insert in the best manner I can the Truth of the Case especially since upon search I could find no certain footsteps of it in their own Books at Guild-Hall which
compleated And it is a clear augmentation and the best branch of the Revenue and was the only means to remove the reproach incourage Freemen and Apprentices and Benefactors is in it self of far greater value than all the other part of the Company 's Revenue over and above the Charities issuing thereout and that those several Summs so subscribed were thus freely given by several Worthy Members on purpose for this great Work that it might incourage the whole Members freely and liberally to contribute towards the residue of this Work and the Debts To which end I have to the best of my Capacity That it might Move every good member to contribute towards their Debts and Charities this Book is composed for their Information and Incouragement composed these Sheets for their Information and Encouragement to follow so good Examples that so great and good a Work wherein so many Thousands are and may be concerned may be chearfully carried on and they may all as Fellow-helpers have the honour to be recorded amongst the Generations to come The happy Repairers and Restorers of the Company of Grocers THis is a Work wherein those that are most Zealous shall be most Illustrious The worst as well as best if Men esteemed it their chief Honour to derive their Pedigree from such a Benefactor and is that alone which will abide the Scrutiny of the most Malicious and Censorious in all Changes and is a root from which the most Avaricious and Luxurious as well as the Ambitious after many Generations will esteem it the Chief Honour of their Family to derive their Pedigree 'T is founded in Obedience to a Divine Command and anchor'd on such infallible Promises as will render the sincere Donors impregnable against all the Malice and Designs of our Common Enemies who with equal Subtilty and Malice to divide and destroy have of late years Characterized the two extremes in each Corporation by the distinction of Whig and Tory and though with no less Malice they endeavoured to blemish Moderation with the squint-eyed Invective of Trimming yet they could never grass their Poison on the Sacred Stock of Pious and well-intended Charity and Good Works May the Author of Peace and Lover of Concord awaken every Member of this and all other Societies to reflect on what is past and to consider seriously the sad Effects of our late Heats and Animosities and the sufferings of many innocent Objects of Charity occasioned thereby so as to lay aside all prejudice towards one another for the future and after the Example and in obedience to the Command of our Blessed Redeemer to forgive and forget in the exercise of Charity and Tenderness as Members of one Christian Body and Brethren of one Society striving to excell each other in doing good and promoting the Honour and Happiness of their Fellowship And that the Members of this Company may with Harmony of Hearts and Voice at their Anniversary Feasts sitting at Meat in our Great Hall with a calm temper of Mind and chearful Countenance read what I have placed in their view as a motive thereto in a little Table over the Musick-Room at the lower end of the Hall thus Written Psal 134. Blest Day Might I but live to see The Tribes like Brethren all agree Like Brethren striving Who shall the Best Members be POSTSCRIPT THE Company of Grocers at the time when the Quo Warranto was brought against them Anno 1684. were of all Companies in London under the most irregular Government as to By-Laws and Ordinances The Company when the Quo Warranto was brought was very defective as to By-Laws and Ordinances having none made that are extant since King Henry the Eighth's time and those though fitted to the Distempers of that time were most obsolete and out of use now which might have proved fatal had not the Company had a Quietus by their late Charter wherein by aid of our late Master the Earl of Mulgrave are several Privileges granted this Company First a Confirmation of a Charter granted to this Company by King Henry the Sixth of the Office of Garbling in all places in England London only excepted Secondly The Mystery of Grocers is explained and all Druggists Confectioners Tobacconists and Tobacco-Cutters in London and three Miles compass are Incorporated herein and never to be separated from this Company to warrant their Actions and Proceeding not having any extant that I could find made and legally confirmed since the time of King Henry the Eighth in whose Reign by search I found on Record in the Town-Clerk's Office many suited to the Distempers and Nature of the Mystery of the Grocery in those days but having taken Copies of them nigh an hundred Sheets on perusal I found them most Obsolete and out of Use and very defective to cure or antidote the Diseases or Corruptions of the present Constitution of the Company So that the Renewing and Confirmation of our Charter proved an happy opportunity to this Company not only to have a Relaxation and Quietus of all Offences and Misprisions that might have proved fatal through defect of such Sanctions of Government which are essentially necessary to every Corporation but by the aid and favour of the Right Honourable the Earl of Mulgrave then our Master interceding with his late Majesty King Charles the Second of Blessed Memory who graciously condescended to own himself our Master our Charter was enlarged with these following advantages viz. a Confirmation of a Charter made by King Henry the Sixth granting the Office of Garbling to this Company in all places in this Kingdom the City of London only excepted which Privilege by non-usage for some years was grown almost out of knowledge to the Members until by search for other Charters I found it on Record in the Tower. By declaring the Species of the Mystery which before in the former Charters was expressed generally under the Denomination of Grocery but thereby declared to include all Druggists Confectioners Tobacconists and Tobacco-Cutters as having been branched out of and bred by Grocers there being then no Company of them or any of them Afterwards that Charter so granted upon and after this Quo Warranto with those Additional Clauses and Privileges being vacated a new Charter by advice of Sir Henry Pollixfen and other Learned Counsel was obtained independent of any surrender whereby all Persons using these Species as well as Grocers in London or within three Miles of the Liberties of the same are incorporated into this Company and never to be separated from them or otherwise incorporated with liberty given to all Persons using any part of the Mystery whether Free of any other Company or no to incorporate themselves therein not judging it reasonable to compel them as Men that have born Office in one Parish And positively enjoyning all Persons using this Mystery as Grocers Confectioners Druggists Tobacconists or Tobacco-Cutters for ever after to bind their Apprentices to Members of this
Mystery and for encouragement of all who observe their Duty And also for punishment of all Transgressors and so to encourage our Benefactors that this Company be restored as it was 100 years since a Nursery of Charities and Seminary of good Citizens Our By-Laws by most learned Counsel are settled and again perused examined and approved of as the Law directs in the First Year of the Reign of our now Sovereign Lord and Lady King William and Queen Mary by the Right Honourable the Lords Commssioners for Custody of the Great Seal and the two Lord Chief Justices Sir John Holt and Sir Henry Pollixfen pursuant to our late Charter so enlarged whereby our ancient Usages and Privileges for well Governing and Ordering our Members and Mystery are in every kind regulated augmented and supplyed with addition of new suited to all our defects which will without doubt encourage our Benefactors liberally to contribute towards discharge of the Remainder of our Company 's Debts so that there cannot be a better foundation laid to raise and restore our Company as it was 100 years since a Seminary of good Citizens and Nursery of the best Charities in London and so consequently no Apprentice can well or probably may hope to be planted in a better Corporation in order to his future advantage And that this Company may no longer suffer either by not observing or transgressing them the Heads of such as concern all using the Mystery in London and the Precincts aforesaid will be Printed and Published that all may have notice to Conform thereunto And to the end that all Persons concerned using this Mystery either as Grocer Druggist Confectioner Tobacconist or Tobacco-Cutter in London and within three Miles of the Liberties thereof may have notice thereof and give due Obedience and Conformity to what hath been so designed by the said Charter By-Laws and ancient Usages and this Company suffer no longer by their Defaults either in not observing or transgressing the same the Heads thereof will in short time be Printed and Published and left at their several Dwellings and places of abode for their Caution and better Information And certainly all this considered it cannot be doubted but every Member of this Company will call to mind the great obligation he lies under if he will mind his Oath either as a good Christian or an honest Man in and by all things according to his Power on all opportunities not only to publish and make known unto all Persons concerned what is so required of them but will also move and excite them by the best Arguments and Ways they can speedily to comply with their duty herein and so avoid the Penalties and Charges they will otherwise expose themselves to in a chargeable way and be compelled at last to yield Obedience and Conformity thereunto THE CONCLUSION In a few Motives to Good Works as the very Life and Soul of Religion and the best Evidence of a sincere Christian The Conclusion by Address HAving thus stated the condition of the Company as it long flourished in Splendor and gradually through various Providences and the sad Effects of War and Fire how it groaned of late under so great pressure in its sadder Circumstances And having set before you the happy encouragement already now given and the Methods propounded again to raise and restore this Company to its former splendor Most humbly moving to the great Work of Charity I now tu n to the Honourable and Worthy Members of whom it consists And you my noble and good Masters under whom I hold my Station in this place I most humbly pray you of your wonted Benignity to bear with my Zeal and Freedom and the boldness I assume most humbly to move you to set to your helping hands in this Work so excellent and acceptable to God and every good Man. And pressed with a five-fâ—ld Argument drawn from the nature of this great Duty From example of their Pious Ancestors 1. By remembring you of those eminent good Charities for which those Worthy Members who went before you in former times and are to this day celebrated and have left us such grounds as being now built gives us the prospect of a great Revenue when the Leases are out which though far distant are and will be every year like useful Timber a more growing hope to Posterity Whose Foundation they have to build in 2. That you would not only think it enough to praise them but be provoked by a generous Emulation to follow their Example liberally and bountifully to afford your Assistence not only to secure but also to increase this growing hope that our Burthen and Reproach being removed our Benefactors may be encouraged and this Society still preserved a Seminary of good Merchants and as a Treasury of Charity that so the succeeding Generations may Bless and Honour you as much as you do those Worthy Members in former times when your Names shall be recorded as Raisers and Restorers of the Company of Grocers 3. That what you doe you would doe speedily whereby you will draw on others that need quickening and encouragement by your Example and in so doing you will not only have the Comfort of what you doe your selves but be the happy Promoters in others of what the Company will have cause to bless God and give you thanks for 4. That you will consider how great a deliverance you had to escape the late dreadful Fire with your lives and how Gracious God hath been to you still to entrust you with his Talents for improvement as Stewards in his Work And that this Company which suffered so much in that Calamity hath no other Hands but yours to repair her breaches 5. That you can have no such true comfort in the World on a Sick Bed or in any other Calamity as to be conscious of doing good Works of this Nature when as faithful Stewards of that which is not consigned to you into Property but into Trust you have as Good and Faithful Servants but well disposed of a Parcel of your great Lord's Estate according to his own Will. And for your encouragement this is a Work most acceptable to God and inviting to every good Man the Redemption Relief and Support of the most Ancient and Illustrious Corporation in this Metropolis with all her numerous Offspring the Aged the Widow and the Fatherless the Blind the Lame and the Impotent all that God who is Wisdom and Goodness himself commends after his own example to your Charity and as capable of Alms with most extensive Blessings Encouraging it Promises of Rewards and to be neglected under the most severe Threatnings and Punishments And farther this your kindness will not perish as a Meals-Meat As an Object most acceptable to God and inviting to every Good Man. or a draught of cold Water though that has encouragement a Man would think that will give credit to our Saviour himself but this your Charity will be as a lasting Seed laid on the purest Foundation of those Holy and Good Men who were our Pious Founders and whose Names after so many hundred years smell sweet and blossom in the dust and are now Blessed with God receiving the Recompense of their Reward whilst their Works follow them and praise them in the Gates so that what you shall here bestow will be to open and feed those Fountains as their lasting and refreshing Comforts and Relief For though Good Works in themselves as flowing back to the Fountain from whence they spring can be no way meritorious yet they have been always so acceptable to God And not only as the best means to secure what they shall leave to their Children and Posterity which without this usually is sooner by them spent than got by their Parents but will for ever remain that we find in every Age Estates and Honour continue longest in the Name and Family of such as have been most diffusive in Works of this Nature that if it were modest to render a reason why so many great Estates are sooner wasted by a loose Heir than gotten by his frugal Parent it may be well presumed it is because so little of it was bestowed to such uses when Men return so little to God to whom they owe all they have and most assuredly no Article in your Account at the great Audit will be sooner allowed to * This to be understood in the Apostle's sence not otherwise cover many other Errors than what is thus disposed And now as Spice is a great Ingredient in this Mystery and is a part of your Arms so I pray consider how Alms in Scripture are called an Odor of a sweet-smelling Savour A sweet Perfume in the Nostrils of Men. And an Odor of a sweet-smelling Savour to God. and it is these Perfumes that will prove acceptable to God and have a good Savour amongst Men. So I conclude with my Prayers to Almighty God to incline all your Hearts according to your several Degrees and Qualities in this great Work to acquit your selves as good Men and as good Citizens and Grocers and that I may be happy in discharge of my Duty which alone moved me to make this my humble Address to you all and shall be my endeavours to perform FINIS