do both themselves and others, if they have a Heart to do it? What an honour God hath done them, in making them Stewards of fo great a Portion of his Goods? And will they, who feem to be proud of an Estate, or of a Title of Honour, debafe themselves; and rather chufe to be defpicable Swine herds, than God's Stewards? Will they delight in feeding Swine, more than in miniftering to the Family of the great King of all the World? Is it a greater honour to feed their brutish Lufts, which war against their Souls, than to relieve the poor, who daily pray for God's Blefling on them and theirs? If God would not endure a hard-hearted and unmerciful Jew, but fent him to Hell; What Plagues hath he in ftore for a churlish and inhumane Chriftian? Mofes charged the Jews liberally to relieve their Brethren, and our bleffed Saviour by St. Paul hath commanded Chriftians, If their Enemy hunger to feed him; if he thirst to give him drink, Rom. 12. 10. He hath taught us by fhewing mercy unto all Men, to fhew our felves truly honourable, the Children of our Father which is in Heaven ; who maketh his Sun to rife on the evil, and on the good; and fendeth Rain on the just, and on the unjust, Mat. 5. 45. St. Paul commanded Bifhop Timothy, that he fhould charge rich Men, that they do good, that they be rich in good Works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate: And to let them know that in fo doing, they were not wafting, but encreafing their riches, he bids him tell them, that they were thus, Laying up in store for themfeves a good Foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal Life, 1 Tim. 6. 18, 19. This is the way, a fure way for a rich Man to improve his Estate. Thus he may be fure

to

to board up for himself an everlafting Treafure. Thus hath our Saviour himself taught us to be provident Husbands for the future. I fay unto you, make to your felves Friends of the Mammon of Unrighteousness; that when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting Habitations, Luke 16. 9. Sell all ye have, and give Alms; provide your felves Bags which wax not old, a treasure in the Heavens that faileth not, Luke 12. 33. Indeed it concerns us to take this courfe, not only for the improvement of our Happiness; but for the preventing of eternal, Mifery. Our bleffed Saviour, who will one Day come to judge the quick and the dead, hath given us a fair warning to do good with our riches, telling us how he will then reckon with us for them. Mat. 25.35,&c. To the charitable, he will then fay, Come ye bleffed Children of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Foundation of the World: For I was an bungred, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; Iwas a stranger, and ye took me in; naked,and ye cloathed me; I was fick,and ye vifited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto

me.

For inafmuch as ye have done it to one of the leaft of thefe my Brethren, ye have done it unto me. But, v. 45. to the unmerciful he will fay, Inafmuch as ye have not done it, unto one of the leaft of thefe, ye have not done it unto me. Therefore, depart from me ye curfed, into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels.

Let the huffing Gentleman fwagger it out as he will now, he will be strangely daunted, and his proud Spirit will droop, when he fhall hear this. The Man of honour, that will needs have his bafeft Sins to be bonourable too, because they are his, and cannot think himself great enough, if he trample not his Tenants under his Feet, and make them both drudge

drudge and fast at once to feed his Lufts, will then be glad to change Places with the meaneft of them all. Do they, who defpife andoppress the poor, ever think how they fhall then be defpif d of God? Do they ever confider, that it is Chrift, their Saviour, (that would be) and heir Judge, (that shall be) towards whom they are now thus barbarous and inhuman?

Alas, fuch Perfons as thefe, how ill foever they take it not to be accounted Chriftians, fhew by their behaviour to all the World, that they have no fear of God before their Eyes, no love of Christ ruling in their Heart, no Senseeither of Religion or true Honour. They as little believe Christ and his Apostles, as the rich Man did Mofes and the Prophets. They are refolved, whatever comes on't hereafter, to eat, drink, and be merry now. And if they afford fuccour and relief to any others, or do any good Offices for them, it fhall not be to any of thofe whom the bleffed JESUS calls his Brethren; but for their own Brethren in iniquity, of which they never want great Store. They love not to disturb their Confciences, nor interrupt their Pleasures with any Thoughts of an after reckoning, when Chrift fhall judge the World in Righteousness. Their bufinefs is to fare fumptuously every Day, whatever others may want or pay for it now; or whosoever must pay for all in the end.

Pafs we now from the rich Man to the Beggar, and let us confider what it was that commended him to God. We have already faid, that it was not his Poverty that made him good, and therefore it was not that which made him happy in the end. Some rich Men may poffibly imagine, that they are good, and that God hath a

fpecial

fpecial Kindness to them, because he profpereth them in their Eftates, and they thrive, and grow richer daily. This is a very dangerous Error, and poffibly fome few may be guilty of it. But I think that most rich Men are not fo, most of them feeming never at all to concern themfelves, whether they are good or bad, whether they be in God's Favour or no. All they think of is, how to be rich, and to enjoy as much pleasure as they can in the World; goodness with them is but an empty Notion, an unprofitable Word, that fignifyeth nothing; nor can they believe there is any Sins in those words of St. Paul. Sense 1 Tim. 6. 6. Godliness with contentment is great gain. Call but the rich Man Lord and Mafter, and let him be to you what you call him; and he'll be conftant to call you good Man, because he takes you for a Fool for being fo. But now on the other fide poor Men, being in a Condition that admits of no other Commendation, but that which goodness caufeth, are apt to have a higher efteem for goodness; and though they bave it not, yet would fain have it thought they have, even for this reafon, because they are poor, and have nothing elfe. God hath proclaimed himself to be the poor Man's Patron and Protector. He hath left a very ftrict charge and command, that the poor be taken care of, and well provided for. He hath promised to take the Caufe of the poor and needy in his own Hand, and to revenge them, on them that oppress them. And hence they are too hafty to conclude, that if they be poor, they are good too and God's Favourites. Indeed if poor Men be good, they are no worfe for their Poverty; that there

is many a poor Rogue in the World is too well known.

Let no Man therefore think the better of himfelf, because he is poor; nor the worse of another, because he is rich. But let him that is poor fee to it, that he behave himself piously, patiently, contentedly, humbly, Soberly and righteously, and fo he will prove himself to be a good Man. Such an one we must fuppofe Lazarus to be, and this it was, and not his poverty, that commended him to God.

Nay, because poverty is often caused by Sin, and is both the natural Effect, and just Punishment of it; it fo ill becomes a poor Man to vajue himself upon the account of his poverty; that it behoves him to be very diligent in enquiring into himself, to fee if it be not his own Sin and Folly which have brought him into that Condition. The pious poor have many promises from God, and may comfort themselves therein; but they, who by their Sins and Vanities bring themselves into poverty, make too bold with God in laying claim to his Favour, before they have truly repented them of their Sins.

Let them therefore, who are poor confider, if they be not,or have not been as idle as they arepoor, and if their idleness either hath not made,or doth not keep them pocr.It was the Apostle's command to the Theffalonians, That if any would not work,neither fhould be eat, 2 Theff. 3. 10. That with quietness they work, and eat their own Bread, V. 12. It is every one's Duty to be induftrious in an honest Calling, to do fome good in the World as long as he is able, and not as the barren Fig-tree to ferve for no good Ufe, but to cumber the Ground he ftands on, Such an one deferves not to be

nourished;