246 CHARITY INCULCATED. [1697. 



Why hast not thou made all these things ? It was because 

 it was altogether out of thy Power. Thy long Hands have 

 prov'd too short for that Work. Thou seizest bravely all 

 that is within thy reach, and generously leav'st that which 

 is too high for thee to arrive at. . . . Knt-Han is both hungry 

 and cold ; he has neither Money, Employment, nor Health : 

 All reject him, all abandon him. Tell me, thou that art at 

 the Helm of the Government, Thou whose Duty it is to 

 take care of the People, and that art paid for it to boot, why 

 dost not thou, I say, make hast to relieve him ? . . . . Prisons 

 abound with such wretches as he ; both they and their 

 Patliers have been render'd poor and miserable, either by 

 publick or private Tyranny. They suffer, they languish, 

 they faint ; their Wives and their Children are in Despair ; 

 why delay st thou, then. Governor of thy People, to deliver 



tliese afflicted Creatures ? Keu-Ean, thus reduc'd to 



Extremity, yiekled to a natural Temptation, rather than die 

 with Hunger ; To free himself from it, he took a Loaf of a 

 llaker, and you have thus rigorously punish'd him for it.^ 

 But you have committed a Double Sin, you who bear the 

 fine Title of Father of your Country. You have not relieved 

 the wretched ready to drop into the Ground, but have us'd 

 him without all Manner of Mercy. . . . 



'• Make so good Laws, that nobody may be in danger of 

 perishing with Hunger, and then fteely execute severely the 



other Laws against all Usurpers But what is this 



Hunger and Want ? You know nothing of it, you that roul 

 in Delight and Abundance, and you believe, doubtless, that 

 he alone is miserable who appears to you to be famish'd and 

 starv'd with Cold. You may nevertheless believe likewise 

 that a poor Nourishment not extraordinary good, and the 

 want of Ptelief in great Necessity, weaken the Poor ]\Ian, 

 sadden Ins Soul, make him cruelly languish, and lead him 



1 " If a man steals some trinket, he suffers death for the crime ; but 

 if he steals a kingdom, he becomes a feudal prince." (Balfour, op. cit., 



p. llo.) 



