386 APPENDIX. 



that in some cases doth not supply him. And 

 though it is well (a good decree) if we can say 

 with St. Paul, *I have wronged no man; yet he 

 only is perfectly blameless in this kind, Qui ne in 

 eo quideni uUi noceat, quod prodesse desistat,'\ as St. 

 Jerome excellently; who doth not this evil to 

 his neighbour, that he omits to do him all the 

 good he can. Thou didst not burn thy neigh- 

 bours house (a strange piece of uncouth righte- 

 ousness!) but dost thou receive him into thy own, 

 now he is harbourless? Thou hast not oppressed 

 or impoverished thy brother ; it is well : but is thy 

 abundance the supply of his want in this present 

 exigence? thy superfluity the ransom and redemp- 

 tion of his extreme necessities ? If not, remember 

 that J Dives is in torments, not for robbing Laza- 

 rus, but for not relieving him : and the dreadful 

 decretory sentence proceeds, at the last day, not 

 for oppressing the poor, but for not feeding, not 

 clothing, not visiting them : a reflection very 

 common, indeed, yet never more proper or sea- 

 sonable than at this time when God presents us 

 an object of charity, the greatest, I think, and the 

 most considerable that was ever offered to this 

 nation, and when Heaven and earth expect, that 

 something extraordinary should be done. 



I have now opened the book, and laid it before 

 you, and given you a short draught of this very 

 important lesson: a lesson so considerable, that 



* 2 Cor. vii. 2. f Lib. 1. Epist. 14. ad Celantiam. 



f Matth. XXXV. 



