Cicero brings in Cato reproving the Levity of the Greeks for calling their Festival meetings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from their drinking then together and rather commends the Gravity of the Romans who nam'd such meetings Convivia from their Living and Conversing then together But we Christians have another manner of example to follow from our first Predecessors 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of which the very word may teach us our duty in them For these took their Name not from the Mirth not from the Conversation but only from the Charity of the Guests That indeed is the only thing that can season all our Mirth that can sanctify all our freedom on such times That indeed is the only true Christian life I come in the Third place to examine what ought to be the proper object of a Christians doing good It must be done to all but especially to the Houshold of Faith which is the last particular in my Text. 'T is manifest throughout the Bible that besides the whole compass of Heaven and Earth in which God is pleas'd to reside therefore calling the one his Throne the other his Foot-stool though both are far from containing his Immensity but besides that more ample Habitation of his Power he has always condescended to take to himself amongst the Sons of men a peculiar Houshold of his Love which in all times he has cherish'd as a Father by his special Providence and Affection and govern'd as a Master by a private Oeconomy of his own This is the proper Houshold of Faith And in the first Ages of the World 't was sometimes literally no more than a single Houshold or some few Families Before the Fall of our first Parents it could be no otherwise and after it too 't was so for several Generations whilest the Mysteries and Worship of the true Religion were almost confined to the Succession of one beloved Race and the rest of Mankind left to be what they had made themselves Aliens and Strangers Nor ought any to repine on this account at the unsearchable Judgements of God that so many were at once excluded out of his Family Ought not all rather we especially to admire and adore his apparent Mercy that any were still permitted to have a right in it since none could merit all had forfeited that right But in process of time when this chosen Family was multiplyed into a Nation that Nation too became the Houshold of Faith a greater but still a Houshold Limited in its Members almost to one People in its public Worship almost to one House But still a Houshold of Faith a Faith that was true though obscure a Faith that had then the hope of things not seen though it was not as afterwards under the Gospel the Evidence of such things Under the Gospel indeed the next and the greatest increase of this Houshold of Faith has been made when by the Universal administration of Grace begun by our blessed Saviour enlarged by his Apostles carried on by their immediate Successors and to be compleated by the rest to the Worlds end all Types that darken'd this Faith are enlighten'd all Veils that hid it are rent and taken away all Walls of partition broken down all confinement to Families or People all narrowness of Opinions removed all Nations under Heaven invited some of all received into this Houshold which therefore has taken to it self as it deserves the most August Name of Catholic that without it no other House nor Religion nor Empire could ever justly claim nor within it can any one Church above others rightly pretend to it but only all together united in the same Faith the same Hope the same Charity Such have been the different extents of this Houshold of Faith through all its successions And what all along were the different ranks what the distinct Offices what degrees of Privilege and Command maintain'd amongst all its members None at all Yes certainly very much of all In so divine a Houshold so united in one Faith were there no other Means of Order or Methods of Union no Superiority of some no submission of others no reverence towards any How could it then be a Houshold A Herd of wild Beasts on the Mountains a salvage Drove of men in Caves might be so order'd or rather so disorder'd But never a Family a City a People a peculiar People all which the Houshold of Faith is often called for to all these Obedience and Subordination Government and Subjection are most necessary for their well-being for their being in a Civil State certainly therefore as necessary to a Spiritual Family and City and People Can there be any reason imaginable why the Houshold of God alone should throw off all that Rule and Discipline that orderly Dependence and Duty and Service by which all other Houses in the world are best govern'd Nay by which they can only be well govern'd No. So far is an indistinction of all persons or equality of all Orders and by consequence an Anarchy of all things so far from being agreeable to the Will of God declared in the Beautiful and Harmonious frame of his great Houshold the World and especially in all the Ministeries of proper Houshold the Church that there was never yet any time since the Church was a considerable Number I believe since it was a Number when some of its Members were not more Sacred than others when some were not appointed Spiritual Rulers some Temporal Governours some both over others The Patriarchs were indubitably invested with both these Authorities In Moses and Aaron they were divided in persons but still united as in Brethren In the Iewish State of which every part was of Gods own prescribing 't is needless to tell how great was the Preeminence of the Priestly Office how Sacred their Degrees how Separate how Plentiful their Maintenance Or if that Example be not Spiritual be not Christian enough What can be more Christian more Spiritual than our blessed Saviours making the like distinctions between his own Evangelical Ministers His sending not all his Disciples equally but first his Apostles and them chiefly and his impowering them to send others with the like differences as is plain from their practice And of those very Apostles for I see not why as we pass we may not plead our own cause too of those Apostles some even the greatest Married men of their successors many Married Men all endued with indelible power from above to Feed to Govern this Houshold to Create to continue a Succession in it to Consecrate to ordain Pastors and Stewards of it to the worlds end all worthy of Livelyhood some of Honour and if we will believe S t Paul even in the times of greatest purity and simplicity some worthy of double honour We have now discover'd what is the true Houshold of Faith In general the whole Company of the Faithful divided in times and places joyn'd in one
spreading Favor Authority Credit Custome and at last Number too will be on the side of Grace and Goodness And if you remember how your City first rose out of its Ashes after the dreadful fire which no doubt you can never forget as that was rebuilt not presently by raising continued Streets in any one part but at first here a House and there a House to which others by degrees were joyn'd till at last single Houses were united into whole Streets whole Streets into one beautiful City So every one of your Houses being first rais'd and appearing eminent above others in Piety others will soon take Patern and Incouragement from your building and so House by House Street by Street there will at last be finish'd not only as before a great and a magnificent City but what is far better a City that is at unity in it self a Modest a Grave a Religious City And London will in short time as much excel it self in all manner of Virtue as even now I dare affirm it excels any other City in the whole World that comes any thing near it either in largeness or number of inhabitants But lastly since we are all of one Spiritual Houshold and that not only in a Spiritual but a Temporal Sense what remains to be said but that there ought to be maintain'd between all the members of this our Houshold a free and uninterrupted Communication of our Spiritual and our Temporal good things to each other From the wealthy and able part their Temporal good things of Bounty and Munificence to the Poor and unable amongst us from the poor and unable the return of their Spiritual good things their Blessings and Thanks and Prayers which cannot be a less good than they receive nay they will be a far greater benefit to the wealthy and able than these can bestow on them I bless God many of you here present are of the wealthy part I see most of you are of the able none I hope of the unable part And it was my intention to have tryed by an ample exhortation to excite your greatest ardour and most fervent Zeal in this work But I find I have employed so much time by the way in other matters that I cannot presume on your Patience much longer Yet my comfort is that such an Exhortation which the hour already spent would now make tedious the free and tender Nature of my Hearers has made unnecessary A much longer Discourse my Argument requires your merciful dispositions a much shorter Wherefore seeing it will be far better for you your selves to reason with your selves on this subject than for me or any man else to load you with persuasions I shall forbear enlarging and only offer to your thoughts some few heads of consideration You are now Fathers and Brethren Sons of the Prophets and of the Covenant God made with your Fathers you are now with happy and auspicious beginnings forming a Model of Charity of a most Christian truly-Protestant Charity than which nothing can more fix the Root nothing more spread the Branches more cherish the tenderest and weakest branches of the Reformation nothing more stop the mouths of those who by forbidding Marriage to the Clergy would introduce into the Catholic Church what St. Paul calls the Doctrine of Devils To confute these men there were Arguments enough before drawn from Religion Scripture and Antiquity One Political Argument they seem'd to have and boasted of it as unconfutable That from such Marriages would inevitably ensue Poverty in many of the Children and thence a Disgrace and Burden to the whole Church But by this design you have opposed their false Policy with true and great Wisdom what they boaded would be a mischief to us you are providing shall be one of our principal strengths you have consulted not only the strength but the fame of the best Reformed Church and are freeing it not only from the scandal of its Enemies but even from its own greatest defect and inconvenience The opportunity that is now put into your hands for this purpose is peculiar and extraordinary not only of this one day or of other such days which I trust will always succeed this once a year but the sure and solid Foundation of a perpetual Corporation by which under a Reign of the greatest Mercy and Clemency that ever the Sun beheld you are Authorized to make this good work of Mercy a great one call'd upon many of you by name to do it by Royal Authority to which a constant obedience and most dutiful observance has been ever the proper unsullied Honour of your Church and of your Extraction The Persons to be reliev'd by you so nearly approach you all in the strictest degrees though not often perhaps of Kindred nor always of private Friendship yet always of Birth and interest that their support may not only be call'd bounty in you but the most Fatherly or Brotherly tenderness and even some kind of self-love From you their sad estate may well expect effectual comfort since there are none though never so much strangers to them from whom it may not deserve commiseration They were left destitute some of Education all of a subsistance suitable to their former life without any the least fault of their own without any possibility of their preventing it either by the narrow Provision their Husbands or Parents enjoy'd in their best condition or by the unavoidable fate of their untimely deaths or no doubt some of them by their frank hearts and their open hands and their Charity towards others whilst they lived or which ought to be mention'd for their greater honour by their Fidelity to the Crown and sufferings for the Church On these accounts all innocent some praise-worthy some honourable they were expos'd to hardship and penury to which they had never been used and which without you they could never have escaped Nor was their Poverty all That their Religion would have taught them to endure But what was far more grievous and deplorable their Poverty had expos'd them to be a cause of scorn and derision an objection against Religion it self An objection which now we shall happily see removed For you who have undertaken their relief some of you by Gods blessing on your labours some on your Studies some by Gods and the Churches blessing on your Estates all of you by some blessing or other are abundantly furnish'd with power and I know with affections to contribute your share to this work So that though it should be true as I fear it is that never any time since the Reformation can shew so many poor amongst the Widows and Orphans of Church-men as this particular time yet I believe it to be as true and we all ought to rejoice at it that God in his Mercy has now more than ever provided and pointed out a proportionable supply for them within our selves As more Clergy-men were impoverish'd by the calamities of the late War and
is represented to our imperfect indeed but yet to our sincere imitation in the glorious primitive Patern of most perfect most adorable goodness in the Divine Nature it self by which the whole Frame of the Creation the whole stock of Mankind the sound the unsound part the good the bad were all made and have been always sustained and encompassed with such inexpressible Grace such unbounded Mercy as is always ready for those that desire it always finds out those that seek for it often stands in the way of those that would avoid it and overtakes them that flye from it From that most blessed Original of doing good that is essential to the infinite Being of our Creator we have an excellent Copy transcribed for all our use in the Gospel here made necessary to us by innumerable Precepts here illustrated to us by a most gracious Example here made easie for us by Promises of Divine Assistance here rendred pleasant and profitable to us by assurances of unspeakable Rewards This Doctrine of Gods good-will towards men this command of mens proportionable good-will to one another is not this the very Body and Substance this the very Spirit and Life of our Saviours whole Institution It is intermingled with all the Truths He teaches It overspreads and gives one colour to all his Precepts 't is the very distinguishing Character of the Christian Law by which that has exceeded and advanced all the true Dictates of Natural Reason by which it has excell'd and put to shame all the best Pretences of false Worships nay by which God himself seems to have made the last Addition to his own Discoveries and Instructions to Mankind For as in many other things the Gospel appears in respect of the Law to be a clearer Revelation of the mystical part so in this it is apparently a far more benign more generous Dispensation of the practical part of the True Religion In this matter what need we Christians be our own Witnesses or our own Judges We might refer the examination of it to any sober judicious Heathen or unprejudic'd Jew if any such could be found 'T is true they might at first sight observe the common practice of too many that call themselves Christians to be very different from the Doctrine they seem to own They might justly wonder that men so taught so obliged to be kind to all gentle to Strangers merciful to the Afflicted loving even to Enemies should behave themselves in every point so contrary to such heavenly Instructions such indissoluble Obligations that so many that any fierce stubborn revengeful avaritious uncharitable Passions could possibly spring up under the shadow of such a Religion nay that some men should make such a Religion and their Zeal for it to be the pretence and excuse even to justifie even to sanctifie such passions All this the Adversaries of the Faith have too much reason to object against too many of its Professors but against the Faith it self nothing at all In that all things of this nature must excite their admiration or overwhelm them with confusion Should the wisest Heathen search into all the highest flights of their best Moralists should the most devout Iew recollect the most virtuous Counsels and Traditions of their Patriarchs and Prophets and then should both these compare what they can find in either of them with the free-spirited the large-hearted the universally-charitable design of the whole tenour of our Blessed Saviours Teaching and Life and that unanimously expounded by all the inspired Writers after him and they must both at last agree that here are introduc'd far more Heroic Principles of Meekness Forgiveness Bounty and Magnanimity than ever all the Learning of the Heathens could invent or all the Antiquity of the Iews could boast of What could the light of Nature what could the Mosaical shadows which yet were clearer than that what could either of these produce that is comparable to the true Evangelical Spirit By our Law of doing Good no good is to be left undone towards all not the good of the Tongue the Hand the Heart none is to be done unwillingly to any none only for our own sakes none only in one season but always Here are confirm'd all our other Natural Civil Political tyes of Mutual good Offices nay here when they are not or cannot be Mutual Here many new Titles of kindness many new Relations of endearment are superadded to them Here the foundations the desires the occasions of Envy Malice Coveteousness Revenge are abolish'd Here a new race of Virtues and Graces more Divine more Moral more Humane are planted in their stead If I will believe and obey the Gospel no difference of outward condition no Calamity no Misery can make any man not to be equal to me or to deserve my neglect no distance of Place no strangeness of Country no contrariety of Temper or Interest can make any Man a stranger to me or to deserve my indifference no ill Will no ill Speech no ill Deed of another against me can make any Man an Enemy to me or to deserve my hatred With Men indeed these considerations are usually naturally the causes of Despite Disdain or Aversion from others But with God they seem to pass for so many new reasons of our greater tenderness towards others even as so many new degrees of our Consanguinity with them Should we not do good to Strangers The Gospel allows no such term as a Stranger makes every man my Neighbour Should we not forgive our Enemies those that Curse Persecute and would Destroy us The Gospel knows no such thing as an Enemy We are to bless to pray for to love our Enemies and if not for that very reason yet notwithstanding it Ought we not to pity and supply the Poor and Afflicted though they have no Relation to us No Relation That cannot be The Gospel styles them all our Brethren nay they have a nearer Relation to us our fellow Members and both these from their Relation to our Saviour himself who calls them his Brethren his Members and makes them his proper Charge his peculiar Care Titles of Honour and Priviledges which the Rich and the Great as such can never deserve and will never have unless they employ their Riches and Greatness for the help and protection of these the true Wards and Children and Friends of God Wherefore since we are to do good to the Poor to Strangers to Enemies those whom Nature is too apt to make us Despise Disregard or Hate then undoubtedly we are to do good to all Men To all Men as we have an opportunity which is my second particular I cannot but take notice of the fulness of the Original Phrase in this place For though it is evident that the Holy Ghost is scarce ever so Various and Copious and Efficacious on any one Divine Argument as when it recommends to us the great duty of Charity yet there are few expressions on this very subject so expressive