A Gospel Glass, Treatise · Chapter 24
CHAP. XXIV. Their Unmercifulneſs.
THE Fourth Sin of Sodom was this, Profeſsors unmercifulneſs. Ezek. 16.49.Neither did ſhe strengthen the hand of the poor and needy: That is, they were unmerciful and inhumane. And are not ſome Profeſſours even in England very hard-hearted and cruel? I have oft thought and ſaid, That Our late Civil Wars have had too great influence upon us, to make us cruel. If there be among you a poor man, of one of thy Brethren, within any of thy Gates, Deut. 15.7, 8.in thy Land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou ſhalt not harden thy heart, nor ſhut thine hand from thy poor Brother; but thou ſhalt open thine hand wide unto him, and ſhalt ſurely lend him ſufficient for his need, Luke 14.13.in that which he wanteth. O! The poor we have alwayes with us! But, When we make a Feaſt, do we call the poor? Who invites the Gueſts that Chriſt hath bid for our Tables? When I conſider how rare, Bowells of mercy and kindneſs are, Col. 3.11.it makes me fear (and I have Scripturegrounds for my fear) that few are the Elect of God. O hard-hearted Profeſſours! Hear ye the Word of the Lord: Jam. 2.13.He ſhall have judgement without mercy, that hath ſhewed no mercy. He ſhall have all judgement, pure judgement, without any mixtures of mercy, unmixed wrath ſhall be his portion: Chriſt is ſo reſolved to puniſh the Unmerciful, that he will over-look any ſinner, rather than him; yea, for the greater honour of the Juſtice of God, Mat. 25.41, 42, &c. Mat. 9.36.The Lord ſeems to begin and end the great Aſſizes with the Arraignment and Sentencing of the Unmerciful man. How few compaſsionate Profeſſours are there? The proper, vital act of Mercy, is Compaſſion. How few reſent the miſeries of others, as if they were their own? Luke 10.33.How few ſet themſelves to do good, to thoſe who are miſerable? Such, what-ever they pretend, are indeed unmerciful; for Mercy is an active, and a communicative thing. How few are merciful to others Souls? How few pity, and ſet themſelves to help ſinning Souls? (but more of this under another Head.) How few are merciful to the Bodies of others? How many are there, that will not ſpare of their ſuperfluities, to cloth Chriſts naked ſhoulders, or to fill his hungry belly? Men lay out more to adorn a Cup-board, or the walls of their houſes, than ever they gave to Jeſus Chriſt, and his Servants, all their dayes: Men can feed their Birds, their Catts, their Doggs, their Swine; but the Sucklings and Lambs of Jeſus Chriſt periſh for want: Chriſt tells you, what kindneſs you ſhew to his Spouſe, Matth. 25.40.his Friends, his Children, he counts as done unto himſelf: and believe it, all the ſcornes, and neglects you have caſt on, either, his Ambaſſadors, or poor Saints, he will remember, another day. Go to thy Cloſet, and carry this with thee, who ſo ſtoppeth his ear at the cry of the poor, he alſo ſhall cry himſelf, Prov. 21.13.but ſhall not be heard. If you give, to whom is it? Is it not only to the poor of your own party? But hath not the Lord charged you, to give to every man that asketh? Luke 6.30. Gal. 6.10.Hath he excepted any, but idlers? Are not you to doe good to all, though eſpecially to the Houſhold of faith? And among them, ſhould not your greateſt charity have been ſet forth on them, who are become poor, not by vile courſes, but by Gods Providence, and for Conſcience ſake? But alas! how few can appeal to the heart-ſearching God concerning their mercifulneſs? How few (if deſtruction from God be any terrour to them) dare imprecate upon themſelves, what Job did in caſe of unmercifulneſs? How few dare ſay to God, If I have withheld the poor from their deſire, Job 31.16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23.or have cauſed the eyes of the Widow to fail, or have eaten my morſel my ſelf alone, and the Fatherleſs hath not eaten thereof, &c. If I have ſeen any periſh for want of clothing, or any poor without covering, &c. then let mine arm fall from my ſhoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.