I come to the second part of Christ's advice, ' Go sell all ; ' but he doth not stay there, ' and give to the poor/ To throw away riches as Crates did, who threw his goods and money into the sea, is no virtue, but a vain amljition ; better to distribute to others what is superfluous to ourselves. Our Lord, in this injunction to the young man, doth not only require selling, but distribution, or liberality to the poor. The note is —
Doct. One special end and use unto which rich men should employ their wealth should be the help and relief of the poor.
VeR. 21.] SERMONS UPON MARK X. 17-27. 477
1. In general, it is not, Give to the rich, but to the poor. Christ speaks of feasting and entertaining one another, which ma}- have its place and time : ' When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thj rich neighbours, lest they also bid thee again, and a recompense be m:ide thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind : and thou shalt be blessed ; for they cannot recompense thee, but thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just,' Luke xiv. 12-14. And therefore one great thing in our feastiug should be to consider the poor. The sweetest influences should fall upon the lower ground. There are many that even truck with their kindnesses, but it is not charity so much as merchandise when men show respect to those that can respect them again. Oh ! but do it to the poor that can make you no recompense.
2. Of the poor there are three sorts. There are i^auperes diahoU, the devil's poor, such as have riotously spent their patrimony, and have reduced themselves to rags and beggary by their own misgovernment. These are not wholly to be excluded from our charity, when their necessity is extreme ; we ought to give something to the man, though not to the sin. It may work upon them, especially when we join spiritual alms with temporal, and mind them of their sin, by which they have reduced themselves to such necessity. Again, there are pauper es mundi, such as come of poor parents, and live in poor estate in the world ; these are to be relieved, whether they be gracious or ungracious, good or bad ; for we must have ' brotherly kindness,' that is, to our fellow-saints, and ' charity ; ' 2 Peter i. 7, ' Add to brotherly kindness, charity.' There is' a common bond of nature between them and us, they are our own flesh : Isa. Iviii. 7, ' That thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh.' Then there ixxepauperes Christi, such as have sufiered loss of goods for Christ's sake, or, being otherwise poor, do profess the gospel : Eom. xii. 13, ' Distributing to the necessity of saints ; ' and Gal. vi. 10, ' As we have therefore opportunity let us do good to all, but espe- cially to the household of faith.' There is an order which God hath in- stituted ; first we are to take care of our own family, children, parents, or kindred : 1 Tim. v. 8, ' If any provide not for bis own, and especially for them of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.' Then God hath made us stewards for strangers and foreigners. Now among strangers, those that profess the same faith with us are first to be regarded, and there especially those that best evidence the reality of their faith by a holy life ; then after these we are to extend our charity to all men as occasion is offered.
Eeasons of this —
[1.] Christ hath commended them to us as his proxies and deputies. He himself can receive nothing from us, being exalted into the heavens ; but now, that we may not deceive ourselves with a cheap love to Christ, he hath devolved his right upon the poor as his deputies : Mat. xxvi. 11, ' Ye have the poor always with you, but me ye have not always.' He hath left them always with us that we may exercise our bounty towards them. We pretend very much love to Christ ; if Christ were sick in bed, you would visit him ; if in prison or in want, you would relieve him : what is done to one of these is done to hira : Mat. xxv.
478 SERMONS UPON MARK X. 17-27. [SeR. VL
40, ' Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these ray brethren, ye have done it unto me.'
[2.] It is a great honour put upon us to be instruments of divine providence and preservation to others. God hath substituted the poor to receive, and you to give, so that you are in the place of God to relieve and comfort them. The Lord could supply them without you, but he would put the honour of the work upon you, it is the greatest resemblance of God. Our Lord hath told us, ' It is more blessed to give than to receive,' Acts xx. 35, More blessed, that is, more like the blessed God. Oh ! it is a very great mercy to be able and to be willing to give. Niliil licibet fortuna magna majus quam utj^ossit, et nafura hona melius quam ut velit. It is the greatest thing in a great estate, that you are able to distribute to the necessities of others ; and it is the best thing in a good-natured man, that he is willing to give. As the true advantage of wealth is in relieving others, so nothing showeth our conformity to God more : Luke vi. 36, ' Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.' It is Chrysostom's observa- tion, Christ doth not say, If you fast, or if you pray, or if you prophesy, or if you be learned, you shall be like your heavenly Father ; but if you be loving, if you be merciful, and distribute to the necessities of others, then you are like him, you hold the place of God, and are as it were a God to him.