The Ready Way to Good Works, Title page – Table of contents
THE READY WAY TO GOOD WORKS, OR, A Treatiſe of CHARITIE, wherein, beſides many other things, is ſhewed how wee may bee alwayes readie and prepared both in affection and action to give cheerefully to the poor and to pious uſes never heretofore publiſhed.
BY RICHARD BERNARD, Rector of the Pariſh of Barcombe in Sommerſet-ſhire.
PROV. 28. 27. Hee that giveth to the Poore ſhall not lacke, but hee that hideth his eyes, ſhall have many a curſe.
Si non vacat omnes paginas ſcripturarum evolvere, tene Charitatem & in ea invenies omnem ſcientiam Aug. de Temp. Serm. 39.
LONDON, Printed by Felyx Kyngston, and are to be ſold by Edward Blackmore, at the ſigne of the Angell in Pauls Church-yard. 1635.
TO THE WORTHILY HONOURED SIR JOHN WRAY, Knight Baronet, and to his vertuous LADY, all true happineſſe here and in Heaven.
Noble Sir,
LEt none marvell, or thinke it ſtrange, that I have made my worthie choiſe of you to Patrenize this Tractate of Charitie. For who ever taſted more deepely, than my ſelfe; of the Charitable liberality, and ſingular bountie of that right Honourable Ladie, the Ladie Francis, Counteſſe of Warwicke Dowager lately deceafed, who firſt ſent me unto, and planted mee in the Univerſitie. How bountifull likewiſe was the hand of that Noble Lady Iſabell, the Lady Darcy, to many, and to me in particular, while my abode was in thoſe parts, with my loving Pariſhioners at Workeſop. I cannot but commemorate ſo tranſcendent goodneſſe of theſe your Right honourable Ants to you, ſo Noblie minded friends towards mee, imitating therein your worthy Father, and your bleſſed Mother, Siſter to that my honourable good Lord, The right Reverend Father in God, Iames the Lord Biſhop of Wincheſter, who when hee was Lord Biſhop of Bath and Wells, ſent for mee into theſe parts, where now I dwell, not by ſollicitation of friends, but onelyonly out of his former rememberance of me in Cambridge, where hee was then to me a liberall and memorable Benefactor. Give mee leave thus to make mention of theſe honourable Perſonages, and to prefixe theirs and your names, and the memorie of you all before this (it may bee) my laſt worke, that ſo I may leave behinde mee, when I am gone to my long home, a deſerved and true testimonie of my unfaigned thankefulneſſe, and my very high esteeme (which was and is due from mee) of and unto thoſe Noble Families of the Mountagues, and Wrayes, of both which you are ſo happily deſcended. I ſhall not neede to commend the Subiect matter of this Treatiſe to you: The very name of Charitie is Load-ſtone like, the grace lovely, and the fruite moſt delectable: its honourable among men, and the reward of it in Heaven among the Saints unſpeakeable.
Accept it (Sir) as now its preſented unto you, I beſeech you, and let your charitable practice both grace it, and therein comfort mee, as it will your ſelfe abundantly, ſo ſhall I hold my labour fully recompenced, and will ever acknowledge my ſelfe yours (worthie Sir) in the Bond of all ſerviceabe dueties to bee commanded
RICH. BERNARD. Barcombe, Oct. 18. 1634. in Sommerſetſhire,
TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFULL, GEORGE STROUD Eſquire, and WILLIAM his brother, the reward of well doing.
Worthie brethren,
GIve mee leave to ſpeake unto you in this title and appellation. All that know you, know that I ſpeake the Truth, and that the hand of Gods Divine Providence hath beene very open unto you, and crowned you with the aboundance of his bleſſings. In ſteed of an Epiſtle to the Reader: I am bold to intreate you in ſpeciall to be the Readers. I did perceive by that late conference that I had with you, that you love not to have your mercies magnified and proclaimed before others, much leſſe before your owne ſelves: you would not have the left hand know, what the right hand doth, nor any Trumpet to bee blowne at the diſtribution of your Almes. You doe well to follow the good advice and Precept of the Sonne of God. But your worke of Pietie, in providing for mens ſoules; and that other of Charitie, in relieving the bodies of the truely indigent and penurious together with the education and inſtruction of poore mens Children, (all which you have done in the place of your Nativitie, knowing right well that Charitie ought to beginne at home.) I ſay, theſe reall practiſes, and viſible expreſſions of your Chriſtianitie, are ſo obvious to the eye and view of this your Native Countrey, that they can no more bee hid, than the Sunne at Noone-day. I hope this my labour and diſcourſe of Almeſ-giving will not any way coole the fervour of your Charitable affections; but rather animate and enflame you to the practiſe of more good deedes, and good duties, and to a further proficiencie in the Schoole of grace. There are many ſtrong and demonſtrative arguments, treaſured up in this Treatiſe, which if ſoberly, and ſeriouſly conſidered, may ſerve as ſo many keene ſpurres, and ſharpened prickes to quicken and provoke you, to love, and to good workes: I have found it with many happily ſucceſſefull, eſpecially in that my Counſell of laying aſide weakely every Lords Day: for the performance of which dutie, I did principally ſet my hand to this worke. It is the readieſt way that I finde preſcribed by the Wiſedome of the Holy Ghoſt to bee largely liberall, and chearefully Charitable: my old eyes have beene well holpen by the Tranſcriber, one now reſiding with me, unto whoſe hopefulneſſe, I wiſh anſwerable happineſſe. I well know, that truth hath native beautie and brightneſſe of her ſelfe, and needeth not any adventitious and borrowed adornations to tender her worth to ſuch as love her, but becauſe comely attire will not be unbeſeeming a bodie of it ſelfe beautifull: therefore though it fit not to let this admired Grace of Charitie to come forth unclothed, bare and naked But with ſome decent and comely ornament befitting her Glorie. If you now (Gentlemen) will be pleaſed kindely to accept it, I ſhall hold my ſelfe beholden to you therein; but you, in performance of the dutie, much more unto God, the fountaine of all our good; To whoſe bleſſing I commend you, and all yours, and this my worke to your charitable reading, and charitable practiſe.
Barcomb. Oct. 20. Your worſhips to be commanded, RICH. BERNARD
A TABLE OF THE principall heads, and contents of this enſuing Treatiſe.
CHAP. 1. THe introduction to the enſuing diſcourſe, and of the duty of miniſters in this work of charity. pag. 1.
CHAP. 2. Who they be that are to ſhew mercy: and here firſt of the rich men pag. 14.
CHAP. 3. Thoſe that live in a meane eſtate are to give to the poore. pag. 31.
CHAP. 4. Such as labour for their living, and maintaine themſelves and their families by the ſweat of their browes, are not exempted from Almeſ-giving. pag. 40.
CHAP. 5. Widdowes are to do good works. pag. 51.
CHAP. 6. Wives, if rightly qualified are bound to be charitable. pag. 60.
CHAP. 7. The more religious are to be more charitable. pag. 86.
CHAP. 8. What is to be learned of them, who will enter into the trade of Almeſ-giving, and how they are to be qualified. 93.
CHAP. 9. Quickning motives to ſtirre up the hard-hearted, and ſlack-handed Chriſtians to charitable practiſes. pag. 118.
CHAP. 10. How to be prepared in affection to doe good workes. pag, 190.
CHAP. 11. How to be alwayes ready and prepared in action to do workes of mercy. pag. 204.
ibid. When to lay aſide. pag. 221.
ibid. How to lay aſide. 226.
ibid. Certaine objections cleared and reſolved. pag. 227. 228. 229. 230.
CHAP. 12. The matter of our bountie, of what we muſt give. pag. 231.
CHAP. 13. The true manner of almeſ-giving, with its neceſſary adjuncts, and requiſite conditions. pag. 239
CHAP. 14. The ſeaſon and time of almeſgiving, when wee are to give. pag. 256.
CHAP. 15. The quantity of our almes. pag. 266.
CHAP. 16. The right ends of giving, and how true-hearted Nathanaels differ in their charity from rotten-hearted worldlings. p. 274.
CHAP. 17. Men muſt not onelyonly learne to doe good works, but to mainetaine good works for neceſſary uſes. pag. 286.
CHAP. 18. The various kindes of good workes, and wherein particularly they conſiſt, and here a word or two touching workes of morality, and of workes of piety, or ſpirituall almeſgiving at large. pag. 300.
CHAP. 19. Of corporall almeſ-giving, and workes of mercy which tend to the reliefe of the body, and outward eſtate. pag. 349.
CHAP. 20. The right object of charity, and to whom mercy is to be ſhewed. pag. 388.
CHAP. 21. What order is to be obſerved in our almeſ-giving. pag. 396.
CHAP. 22. To whom we ought not to give. pag. 411.
CHAP. 23 Of the unmerciful who they be, and of the miſeries of the mercileſſe. pag. 422.
CHAP. 24. All ſuch objections as have beene, or may be made by mercileſſe and uncharitable wretches, are fully cleared and reſolved. pag. 434.