A Christian Directory, Part 4: Christian Politics

II. We must distinguish,

1. Between them that have no more than will supply their own and their families' true necessities, and those that have more.

2. Between them that have a stock of money which yieldeth them no increase, and those that have more increase by their labour, but little stock.

3. Between them whose increase is like to be constant, and theirs that is uncertain, sometimes more and sometimes less.

4. Between them that have many children, or near kindred, that nature casteth upon them for relief; and those that have few or no children, or have a competent provision for them, and have few needy kindred that they are especially obliged to relieve.

5. Between those that live in times and places where the necessities of the poor are very great, or some great works of piety are in hand; and those that live where the poor are in no great necessity, and no considerable opportunity for any great work of piety or charity doth appear. These distinctions premised, I answer as followeth:

1. It is certain that every true sanctified christian hath devoted himself and all that he hath to God, to be used in obedience to his will, and for his glory, 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20; x. 31; Luke xviii. 33. The question therefore is not, Whether the tenth part of our estate should be devoted to and employed in the service of God, one way or other, as he directeth us; for it is out of question that all is his, and we are but his stewards; and must give account of our stewardship, and of all our receivings, Matt. xxv. But the question is only what proportion is best pleasing to God in our giving to others.

2. A christian being unfeignedly thus resolved in the general, to lay out that he hath or shall have as God would have him, and to his glory (as near as he can); his next inquiry must be, (for finding out the will of God,) to know in the ordinary course of his distribution, where God hath gone before him by any particular prescript, and tied him to one certain way of giving; and where God hath only given him some general direction, and left him to discern his duty in particulars, by that general rule, and the further direction of objects and providence. And in this inquiry he will find,

1. That God hath first prescribed to him in nature, the necessary sustentation of his own life. And,

2. The necessary maintenance of his children and family.

3. The necessary maintenance of the preachers of the gospel, for the worship of God, and the salvation of men, 1 Cor. ix.; Phil. iv. 10, 11, 14, 17, 18; Luke x. 7; 1 Tim. v. 17, 18.

4. The necessary maintenance of the commonwealth, and paying tribute to the higher powers, who are the ministers of God to us for good; attending continually upon this very thing, Rom. xiii. 4, 6.

5. The saving of the lives of those that are in apparent danger of famine or perishing, within our sight or reach, 1 John iii. 17; Luke x. 33. Thus far God hath prescribed to us, how he would have us use our estates in an ordinary way. In many other things he hath left us to more general directions.

3. To know among good works, which is to be preferred, it principally concerneth us next to know, what works do most contribute to our chiefest ends; which God is most honoured by; which tend to the greatest good: and here we shall find that, cæteris paribus,

1. The souls of men are to be preferred before their bodies, in estimation and intention; but in time, the body is oft to be preferred before the soul, because if the body be suffered to perish, the helping of the soul will be past our power.

2. And so the church is finally and estimatively to be preferred before the commonwealth; but the commonwealth must be first served in time, when it is necessary to the church's support and welfare; for the church will else perish with the commonwealth.

3. The good of many is to be preferred before the good of few, and public good to be valued above private, Rom. ix. 3.

4. A continued good is greater than a short and transitory good. And so necessary is it to have chief respect in all our works to our chiefest end, (the greatest good,) that even when God seemeth to have prescribed to us the way of our expenses, yet that is but as to our ordinary course: for if in an extraordinary case it fall out, that another way is more to God's glory and the common good, it must be then preferred; for all means are to be judged of by the end, and chosen and used for it. For example, if the good of church and commonwealth, or of the souls of many, do stand up against our corporal provision of our children or families, it is to be preferred; which is easily proved a fortiore, because it is to be preferred before our own good, even the saving of our lives. A good subject will lose his life to save the life of his king; and a good soldier will die to save his general or the army; and a useless member of the church should be content to die, if it be necessary, to save the life of a pastor that is greatly useful. If a poor, ordinary christian then had been so put to it, that either Paul or he must famish, no doubt but his ultimate end would have commanded him to prefer the apostle before himself: so that in extraordinary cases, the end and greatest good must be our guide.

4. Though I may ordinarily prefer my own life before another's, yet I must not prefer my mere delight or health before another's life: and though men must provide for the lives of their children before the lives of others, yet the life of a poor neighbour (cæteris paribus) must be preferred and provided for, before the portions of your own children, and before the supply of their tolerable wants: so that as long as there are poor about you, that are in necessity of food to save their lives, the portions or comeliest clothing of your children must rather be neglected, than the poor be suffered to perish. How else do I love my neighbour as myself, if I make so great a difference between myself and him?

5. Even the food and raiment, and other necessaries, which a christian useth himself, he must use for God, and not for his carnal self at all; not taking it as his own, which he may use at and for his own pleasure, but as part of his Master's goods, which are all to be used only for his service. As a steward, that when he giveth every servant his part, and taketh his own part, it is not as if it were primarily his own, but as a servant on the same account with the rest: so when I devote all that I have to God, I am so far from excepting my own part, even my food and raiment, that I do more confidently intend the serving of God with that, than with the rest, because it is more in my power, and there is in it more of my duty. The same I may say of that which is given to our children and other relations.

6. Therefore when more of the service and interest of God, lieth upon your own or your children's using of his talents, than upon other men's, you are bound (for God, and not for yourselves) to retain so much the more to yourselves and children. It is a fond conceit that a man is bound to give all to others, rather than to himself or children, when it is most probable, that those others would do God less service with it, than himself or his children would do: as suppose such a man as Mr. Elliot in New England (that devoteth himself to the conversion of the Indians) had riches, when some neighbour ministers were poor, that are engaged in no such work. He that knoweth that God hath given him a heart and an opportunity to do him more service with it than another would do, is not bound to put it out of his own hands into another's, that is less like to be a faithful improver of it. If you have a son of your own that is a preacher of the gospel, and is more able and serviceable than other ministers in equal want, no doubt you have then a double obligation to relieve your own son before another; as he is your son, and as he is more serviceable to God. If other men are bound to supply your want for the work and interest of the gospel, you are not bound to give away your own supplies, to the disabling you from your work, unless when you see a greater work, or the present absolute necessity of others, doth require it.

7. It is imprudent and unsafe, and therefore unlawful, ordinarily, to tie yourself unchangeably for continuance, to any one particular way of using your estates for God; as to vow that you will give it to ministers, or to the poor, or to schools, &c.; because the changes may be such which God will make, as shall make that way to be one year necessary, which before was not, and so change your duty. We cannot prescribe to God what way he shall appoint us for the future, to use his talents in. His word bids us prefer the greatest good; but which is the greatest his providence must tell us.

8. He that hath no more than is necessary to the very preservation of his own life and his family's, is not bound to give to others (unless in some extraordinary case, which calleth him to prefer a greater and more public good): and he that hath no more than is needful to the comfortable support of himself and family, is not bound to relieve those that have no greater wants than himself. And his own necessity is not to be measured merely by what he hath, but by the use he hath for it: for a magistrate, or one that is engaged in public works, may have need of as many hundreds a year, as a private man of pounds.

9. Those that have many children to provide for, or poor kindred that nature casteth on them, cannot give so much (proportionably) to other poor, as those are bound to do that have few or none; for these are bound to give all, except their personal necessaries, to public, pious, or charitable works, because God calleth not for it any other way.

10. To pamper the flesh, is a sin as well in the rich as in the poor: the rich therefore are bound not only to give all that the flesh can spare, when its own inordinate desires are satisfied, but deny themselves, and mortify the flesh, and be good husbands for God, and studious to retrench all unnecessary expenses, and to live laboriously and thriftily, that they may have the more to do good with. It is a great extenuation of the largest gifts, as to God's esteem, when they are but the leavings of the flesh, and are given out of men's abundance, and when we offer that to God that costeth us nothing: as Christ doth purposely determine the case; comparing the rich man's gifts with the widow's two mites, he said, "Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all: for all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God; but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had," Luke xxi. 1-4; that is, all the stock she had beforehand, though she had need of it herself. It is a very considerable thing in our charity, how much mortification and self-denial is expressed in it, and how much it costeth our own flesh to give to others. And therefore they that think they are excused from doing good to others, as long as they have any need of it themselves, and will give nothing but what they have no need of, (it being not of absolute necessity to their lives,) do offer a sacrifice of no great value in the eyes of God. What then shall we say of them, that will not give even out of their abundance, and that which without any suffering they may spare?

11. The first and principal thing to be done by one that would give as God would have him, is, to get a truly charitable heart, which containeth all these parts:

1. That we see God in his needy creatures, and in his cause or work that needs our help.

2. That we be sensible of his abundant love in Christ to us, in giving pardon and eternal life, and that from the sense of this our thankful hearts are moved to do good to others.

3. That therefore we do it ultimately as to Christ himself; who taketh that which is done for his cause and servants, as done to him, Matt. xxv. 40.

4. That we conquer the cursed sin of selfishness, which makes men little regard any but themselves.

5. That we love our neighbours as ourselves, and love most where there is most of God and goodness, and not according to self-interest: and that as members of the same body, we take our brethren's wants and sufferings as our own; and then we should be as ready to help them as ourselves.

6. That we know the vanity of worldly riches, and be not earthly-minded, but regard the interest of God and our souls above all the treasures of the world.

7. That we unfeignedly believe the promises of God, who hath engaged himself to provide for us, and everlastingly to reward us in glory with himself. If these seven qualifications be wrought upon the heart, good works will plentifully follow. Make but the tree good, and the fruit will be good. But when the heart is void of the root and life which should produce them, the judgment will not be persuaded that so much is necessary, and required of us; and the will itself will still hang back, and be delaying to do good, and doing all pinchingly and hypocritically, with unwillingness and distrust.

No wonder if good works are so rare, when it is evident that to do them sincerely and heartily as our trade and business, it is necessary that the whole soul be thus renewed by faith, and love, and self-denial, and mortification, and by a heavenly hope and mind. They are the fruits and works of the new creature (which is, alas, too rare in the world): "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them," Eph. ii. 10. Therefore our first and chiefest labour should be to be sure that we are furnished with such hearts, and then if we have wherewith to do good, such hearts will be sure to do it: such hearts will best discern the time and measure, as a healthful man's appetite will in eating; for they will take it for a mercy and happiness to do good, and know, that it is they that give that are the great receivers. It is but a little money or alms that the poor receive of us, but it is God's acceptance, and favour, and reward that we receive, which is in "this life a hundred-fold, (in value,) and in the world to come eternal life," Matt. xix. 29. But if we have little or nothing to give, such a heart is accepted, as if we had given as much as we desire to give; so that if you have a heart that would give thousands if you had it, God will set down upon your account, so many thousands given (in desire). Your two mites shall be valued above all the superfluities of sensual worldlings: "For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not," 2 Cor. viii. 12. But God taketh not that for a willing mind, which only saith, I would give if I should suffer nothing by it myself, or were I sure I should not want; but that which saith, I will serve God as well as I can with my estate while I have it, and deny my flesh, that I may have to do good with, and trust God for my provision and reward; for if there be a readiness to will, there will be a performance also out of that which you have, 2 Cor. viii. 11.

12. Such a holy, self-denying, charitable heart, with the help of prudence, is the best judge of the due proportion which we should give: for this willing readiness being supposed, prudence will discern the fittest objects, and the fittest time, and the fittest measure, and will suit the means unto the end: when once a man's heart is set upon doing good, it will not be very hard to perceive how much ourselves, our families, the poor, and religious uses should have; for if such a person be prudent himself, he hath always with him a constant counsellor, with a general rule, and directing providence; if he want prudence sufficient to be his own director, he will take direction from the prudence of others.

13. Such a truly willing mind will not be much wanting in the general of doing good, but one way or other will serve God with his estate; and then if in any particulars he should come short, it will comparatively be a very small sin, when it is not for want of willingness, but of skill. The will is the chief seat of all moral good and evil; there is no more virtue than there is will, nor any more sin or vice than there is will. He that knoweth not how much he should give, because he is not willing to give it, and therefore not willing to know it, is indeed the miser and sinfully ignorant; but if it be not for want of a willing mind that we mistake the proportion, it will be a very pardonable mistake.

14. Your proportion of the tenth part is too much for some, and much too little for others, but for the most, I think it as likely a proportion as it is fit for another to prescribe in particular, with these following explications.

1. He that hath a full stock of money, and no increase by it, must give proportionably out of his stock; when he that hath little or no stock, but the fruits of his daily industry and labour, may possibly be bound to give less than the other.

2. It is not the tenth of our increase, deducting first all our families' provision, that you mean when you direct to give the tenth (for it is far more, if not all, that after such provision must be given); but it is the tenth without deduction that you mean; therefore when family necessaries cannot spare the tenth, it may be too much (else even the receivers must all be givers): but when family necessities can spare much more than the tenth, then the tenth is not enough.

3. In those places where church, and state, and poor are all to be maintained by free gift, there the tenth of our increase is far too little, for those that have any thing considerable to spare, to give to all these uses.

This is apparent in that the tenths alone were not thought enough even in the time of the law, to give towards the public worship of God: for besides the tenths, there were the first-fruits, and oblations, and many sorts of sacrifices; and yet at the same time, the poor were to be maintained by liberal gifts besides the tenths: and though we read not of much given to the maintenance of their rulers and magistrates, before they chose to have a king, yet afterwards we read of much; and before, the charges of wars and public works lay upon all.

In most places with us, the public ministry is maintained by glebe and tithes, which are none of the people's gifts at all, for he that sold or leased them their lands, did suppose that tithes were to be paid out of it, and therefore they paid a tenth part less for it, in purchase, fines, or rents, than otherwise they should have done; so that I reckon, that most of them give little or nothing to the minister at all. Therefore they may the better give so much the more to the needy, and to other charitable uses. But where minister, and poor, and all are maintained by the people's contribution, there the tenths are too little for the whole work; but yet to most, or very many, the tenths to the poor alone, besides the maintenance of the ministry and state, may possibly be more than they are able to give. The tenths even among the heathens, were given in many places to their sacrifices, priests, and to religious, public, civil works, besides all their private charity to the poor.

I find in Diog. Laertius, lib. i. (mihi) 32. that Pisistratus the Athenian tyrant, proving to Solon (in his epistle to him) that he had nothing against God or man to blame him for, but for taking the crown; telling him, that he caused them to keep the same laws which Solon gave them, and that better than the popular government could have done, doth instance thus: Atheniensium singuli decimas frugum suarum separant, non in usus nostros consumendas, verum sacrificiis publicis, commodisque communibus, et si quando bellum contra nos ingruerit, in sumptus deputandas: that is, Every one of the Athenians do separate the tithes of their fruits, not to be consumed to our uses, but to defray the charge in public sacrifices, and in the common profits, and if war at any time invade us. And Plautus saith, Ut decimam solveret Herculi. Indeed as among the heathens the tithes were conjunctly given for religious and civil uses, so it seems that at first the christian emperors settled them on the bishops for the use of the poor, as well as for the ministers, and church service, and utensils. For to all these they were to be divided, and the bishop was as the guardian of the poor: and the glebe or farms that were given to the church, were all employed to the same uses; and the canons required that the tithes should be thus disposed of by the clergy; non tanquam propriæ, sed domino oblatæ: and the emperor Justinian commanded the bishops, Ne ea quæ ecclesiis relicta sunt sibi adscribant sed in necessarios ecclesiæ usus impendant; lib. xliii. cap. de Episc. et Cler. vid. Albert. Ranzt. Metrop. lib. i. cap. 2. et sax. lib. vi. cap. 52. And Hierom (ad Damasc.) saith, Quoniam quicquid habent clerici pauperum est; et domus illorum omnibus debent esse communes; susceptioni peregrinarum et hospitum invigilare debent; maxime curandum est illis, ut de decimis et oblationibus, cœnobiis et Xenodochiis qualem voluerint et potuerint sustentationem impendant.

Yet then the paying of tithes did not excuse the people from all other charity to the poor: Austin saith, Qui sibi aut præmium comparat, aut peccatorum desiderat indulgentiam promereri, reddat decimam, etiam de novem partibus studeat eleemosynam dare pauperibus. And in our times there is less reason that tithes should excuse the people from their works of charity, both because the tithes are now more appropriate to the maintenance of the clergy, and because (as is aforesaid) the people give them not out of their own. I confess, if we consider how decimation was used before the law by Abraham and Jacob, and established by the law unto the Jews, and how commonly it was used among the gentiles, and last of all by the church of Christ, it will make a considerate man imagine, that as there is still a divine direction for one day in seven, as a necessary proportion of time to be ordinarily consecrated to God, besides what we can spare from our other days; so that there is something of a divine canon, or direction, for the tenth of our revenues or increase to be ordinarily consecrated to God, besides what may be spared from the rest. And whether those tithes, that are none of your own, and cost you nothing, be now to be reckoned to private men, as any of their tenths, which they themselves should give, I leave to your consideration. Amongst Augustine's works we find an opinion that the devils were the tenth part of the angels, and that man is now to be the tenth order among the angels, the saints filling up the place that the devils fell from, and there being nine orders of angels to be above us, and that in this there is some ground of our paying tenths; and therefore he saith, that Hæc est Domini justissima consuetudo; ut si tu illi decimam non dederis, tu ad decimam revocaberis, id est, dæmonibus, qui sunt decima pars angelorum, associaberis. Though I know not whence he had this opinion, it seemeth that the devoting of a tenth part ordinarily to God, is a matter that we have more than a human direction for.

15. In times of extraordinary necessities of the church, or state, or poor, there must be extraordinary bounty in our contributions: as if an enemy be ready to invade the land, or if some extraordinary work of God (as the conversion of some heathen nations) do require it, or some extraordinary persecution and distress befall the pastors, or in a year of famine, plague, or war, when the necessities of the poor are extraordinary; the tenths in such cases will not suffice, from those that have more to give: therefore in such a time, the primitive christians sold their possessions, and laid down the price at the feet of the apostles.

In one word, an honest, charitable heart being presupposed as the root or fountain, and prudence being the discerner of our duty, the apostle's general rule may much satisfy a christian for the proportion, 1 Cor. xvi. 2, "Let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him;" and 2 Cor. viii. 12, "according to that a man hath: " though there be many intimations, that ordinarily a tenth part at least is requisite.

III. Having thus resolved the question of the quota pars or proportion to be given, I shall say a little to the question, Whether a man should give most in his lifetime, or at his death?

Answ. 1. It is certain that the best work is that which is like to do most good.