Page images
PDF
EPUB

SERMON

Preached before the

RIGHT HONOURABLE the

LORD MAYOR, &c.

AT

St. BRIDGET's Church,

On Lafter-Tuesday, April 26, 1709.

To the RIGHT HONOURABLE

Sir CHARLES DUNCOMBE,

I

Lord Mayor of LONDON.

MY LORD,

Send this Sermon, now printed, to your LordShip, at whofe earnest and repeated defire I preached it, for whom I profess myself, on many accounts, to have a particular regard; and whom Ifball at all times be ready, in all Christians services, to obey.

Ilinefs and other reafons, with which it is unne ceffary to trouble the world or your Lordship have Jo long retarded the publication of this difcourfe, that it may leem less proper, and seasonable, in one or two paffages of it: Those I mean, where a near prospect of peace is mentioned. For it hath pleafed God, fince it was preached, to remove that great blefing further from us, and place it more out of fight: Not, I hope, without a merciful intention of giving us, in his good time, what we have not now asked in fuch a flemn manner as become us; and of enhancing the value of the gift, by the delay of it. I am jure, how long fever we may wait for it, it will be bestowed much sooner than we fball deferve it.

My

MY LORD,

THE fubject of this discourse is charity; and the defign of it is to ftir up the minds of thof, whom God's good providence hath blessed with great abun dance; and, by that means, with a power of blesfing many others. On this account (without other confiderations) I could not have pitched on a name to which I might have infcribed it more property than that of your Lordship. 1ffer it to you, my Lord, with all the respect that becomes me; and with hearty wishes, that the earthly felicities you poffefs, may, by your wife and good use of them, lead to the enjoyment of thofe which are eternak I am

Your LORDSHIP'S

Moft obedient humble Servant,

June 11, 1709.

FR. ATTERBURY.

LUKE

LUKE x. 32.

He came, and looked on him, and passed by on the other fide.

THE

HESE Words are part of our Saviour's parable, concerning the traveller, that' "fell among thieves; who ftripped, and wounded him, and left him half dead." It happened that fome paffengers foon afterwards came that' way, and, among the reft, a Levite, who hearing the groans of the wounded perfon, or, perhaps, having an obfcure view of him at a diftance, came nearer to inform himself more particularly of the matter: And, when he had done fo, ftayed not to affift or comfort that miferable man; but retired immediately, and pursued his journey. "He came, and looked on him and paffed by

on the other fide." It seems to be intimated in these words, that this paffenger felt fome degree of concern, at the fight of fo moving an object, and therefore withdrew himself in hafte, as not being willing to indulge it. Doubtlefs, he was not void of all compaffion, nor wholly ignorant of his duty in fuch a cafe; but he made a fhift to excufe himfelf from the neceffity of performing it. "His journey might require the ut "moft hafte, and why fhould he interrupt it to "no purpofe? For he could be of no use to the "wounded perfon, nor had any manner of skill "in furgery: It was poffible, that the fame band "of robbers might light upon him alfo, if he "stayed longer in that place; or, perhaps, there

"might be a feint, a contrivance in the matter, 86 to draw him into fome fecret ambush." By fuch pretences as these he seems to have fatisfied himfelf, and ftifled the fentiments, which natural pity and religion could not but fuggeft to him: "He came, and looked on the ftripped and "wounded traveller, and paffed by on the other "fide." A lively image, this, of the indifference and neglect, with which too many of us too often look on real objects of charity; and of the excufes, by which we endeavour to justify fuch neglects, and to deceive ourselves into an opinion, that they are not culpable. It shall be my business, in what follows, to confider the pleas, that are commonly made ufe of to this purpose, and to thew the Infufficiency and Weaknefs of them. For indeed, Thefe are the most ordinary and most effectual impediments to the exercife of charity. Tis not, because we are ignorant of the important nature of this duty, and of the great stress that is laid upon it in Scripture; of the motives which invite, and of the obligations which bind us to the performance of it: I fay, it is not on any of thefe accounts, that we neglect the practice of charity; but because we look upon ourfelves as exempted from the general rule, by virtue of fome falfe Pleas and Pretences, which we fet up; and which I fhall now, therefore, particularly enumerate and examine: not without an eye, all along, on those excellent inftitutions of charity, which it is the peculiar defign of this annual folemnity to promote and encourage.

I. And the firft and chief plea, under which

men

« PreviousContinue »