notion, a Maker, his Maker, and his own Maker. If his fault be but neglecting or oppressing a poor man, why should it deserve all this? In all these respects. First, the poor are immediately in God's protection. Rich and poor are in God's administration, in his government, in his providence; but the poor are immediately in his protection, Tibi derelictus est pauper, says David 28, The poor commits himself unto thee. They are orphans, wards, delivered over to his tuition, to his protection. Princes have a care of all their allies, but a more especial care of those that are in their protection, And the poor are such; and therefore God more sensible in their behalf. And so, he that oppresses the poor, reproaches God, God in his orphans. Again, rich and poor are images, pictures of God; but, (as Clement of Alexandria says wittily and strongly) the poor is nuda imago, a naked picture of God, a picture without any drapery, any clothes about it. And it is a much harder thing, and there is much more art showed in making a naked picture, than in all the rich attire that can be put upon it. And howsoever the rich man, that is invested in power, and greatness, may be a better picture of God, of God considered in himself, who is all greatness, all power, yet, of God considered in Christ, (which is the contemplation that concerns us most) the poor man is the better picture, and most resembles Christ who lived in continual poverty. And so, he that oppresses the poor, reproaches God, God in his orphans, God in his picture. St. Augustine carries this consideration farther, than that the poor is more immediately God's orphan, and more perfectly his picture, that he is more properly a member of himself, of his body. For, contemplating that head, which was not so much crowned as hedged with thorns, that head, of which, he whose it was, says, The Son of man hath not where to lay his head, St. Augustine says, Ecce caput pauperum, Behold that head, to which, the poor make up the body, Ob eam tantum causam venerabiles, says that father, Therefore venerable, therefore honourable, because they are members suitable to that head. And so, all that place, where the apostle says, That upon those members of 28 Psalm x. 14. 29 Matt. viii. 19. the body, which we think to be less honourable, we bestow most honour, that father applies to the poor, that therefore most respect and honour should be given to them, because the poor are more suitable members to their head Christ Jesus, than the rich are. And so also, he that oppresses the poor, reproaches God, God in his orphans, God in his image, God in the members of his own body. St. Chrysostom carries this consideration farther than this of St. Augustine. That whereas every creature hath filiationem restigii, that because God hath imparted a being, an essence, from himself, who is the root, and the fountain of all essence, and all being, therefore every creature hath a filiation from God, and is the Son of God so, as we read in Job, God is the father of the rain; and whereas every man hath filiationem imaginis, as well Pagan as Christian, hath the image of God imprinted in his soul, and so hath a filiation from God, and is the son of God, as he is made in his likeness; and whereas every Christian hath filiationem pacti, by being taken into the covenant made by God, with the elect, and with their seed, he hath a filiation from God, and is the son of God, as he is incorporated into his Son Christ Jesus, by the seals of the Christian church; besides these filiations, of being in all creatures, of the image in all men, of the covenant in all Christians, The poor, says that father, are not only filii but hæredes, and primogeniti, sons and eldest sons, sons, and sons and heirs. And to that purpose he makes use of those words in St. James', Hearken, my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of that kingdom? Heirs, for, Ipsorum est, says Christ himself, Theirs is the kingdom of heaven; and upon those words of Christ, St. Chrysostom comments thus, Divites ejus regnitantum habent, quantum à pauperibus, eleemosynis coemerunt, The rich have no more of that kingdom of heaven, than they have purchased of the poor, by their alms, and other erogations to pious uses. And so he that oppresses the poor reproaches God, God in his orphans, God in his image, God in the members of his own body, God in his sons, and heirs of his kingdom. 30 1 Cor. xii. 23. 31 James ii. 5. 33 Matt. v. 3. But then Christ himself carries this consideration, beyond all these resemblances, and conformities, not to a proximity only, but to an identity, The poor are He. In as much as you did it unto these, you did it unto me; and, in as much as you did it not unto these, you did it not unto me33. And after his ascension, and establishing in glory, still he avowed them, not only to be his, but to be He, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? The poor are He, he is the poor. And so, he that oppresseth the poor, reproaches God, God in his orphans, God in his image, God in the members of his own body, God in the heirs of his kingdom, God in himself, in his own person. And so we have done with all those pieces, which constitute our first part, the heinousness of the fault, in the elegancy of the words chosen by the Holy Ghost, in which you have seen, the fault itself, oppression, and the qualification thereof, by the marks, violence, deceit, and scorn. And then the specification of the persons, The poor, as he is the Ebionite, the very vocal beggar, and as the word is dalal, a decayed, an aged, a sickly man; and in that branch, you have also had that problem, Whether emulation of higher, or oppression of lower, be the greater sin and then, the aggravation of this sin, in those weights, that it is a reproach, a reproach of God, of God s the Maker, as his Maker whom he oppresses, and as his own Maker; and lastly, in what respects especially this increpation is laid upon him. And farther we have no occasion to carry that first part, the fault. : In passing from that first part, the fault, to the duty, and the celebration thereof, in those words of choice elegancy, He that hath mercy on the poor, honours God, though we be to look upon the persons, the poor, and the act, showing mercy to the poor, and the benefit, honouring of God, yet, of the persons, (who are still the same poor, poor, made poor by God, rather than by themselves) more needs not be said, than hath been said already. And of the act, showing of mercy to the poor, only thus much more needs be said, that the word, in which, the Holy Ghost expresses this act here, is the very same word, in which, he expresses the free mercy of God himself, Miserebor cujus miserebor, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show mercy to 33 Matt. xxv. 40. whom I will show mercy. So that God hath made the charitable man partaker with himself, in his own greatest attribute, his power of showing mercy. And then, lest any man should think, that he had no interest in this great dignity, that God had given him no means to partake of this attribute of God, this power of showing mercy to the poor, because he had left him poor too, and given him nothing to give, the same word, which the Holy Ghost uses in this text, and in Exodus, for mercy, which is canan, he uses in other places, particularly in the dedication of the temple, for prayers. So that he, who being destitute of other means to relieve the poor, prays for the poor, is thereby made partaker of this great attribute of God's, this power of showing mercy. He hath showed mercy to the poor, if, having nothing to give, he have given mild and comfortable words, and have prayed to his abundant, and inexhaustible God, to relieve that poor man, whom he hath not made him able to relieve. So then, no more being needful to be said, of the persons, the poor, nor of the act, showing of mercy to the poor, there remains no more in this last part, but according to our way, all the way, to consider the origination and latitude of this last word, cabad, this honouring of God. The word does properly signify, augere, ampliare, to enlarge God, to amplify, to dilate God; to make infinite God, Shall I dare to say, more God? Certainly, God to more, than he was before. O who can express this abundant, this superabundant largeness of God's goodness to man, that there is a power put into man's hands, to enlarge God, to dilate, to propagate, to amplify God himself! I will multiply this people, says God, and they shall not be few, I will glorify them, and they shall not be small; there is the word of our text. God enables me to gloirfy him, to amplify him, to increase him, by my mercy, my alms. For this is not only that increase, that St. Hierome intends, that he that hath pity on the poor, Foneratur Domino, He lends upon use to the Lord, for, this, though it be an increase, is but an increase to himself; but he that shows mercy to the poor, increases God, says our text, dilates, enlarges God. How? Corpus aptasti mihi; When Christ comes into the world, (says 35 1 Kings viii. 37 Prov. xix. 17. 34 Exod. xxxiii. 19. 39 St. Paul) he says to his Father, Thou hast prepared and fitted a body for me. That was his natural body, that body which he assumed in the bowels of the blessed Virgin. They that pretend to enlarge this body by multiplication, by making millions of these bodies in the sacraments, by the way of transubstantiation, they do not honour this body, whose honour is to sit in the same dimensions, and circumscriptions, at the right hand of God. But then, as at his coming into this world, God had fitted him a body, so in the world, he had fitted himself another body, a mystical body, a church purchased with his blood. Now this body, this mystical body I feed, I enlarge, I dilate, and amplify, by my mercy, and my charity. For, as God says to Jerusalem 3, Thou wast in thy blood, thou wast not salted, nor swaddled, no eye pitied thee, but thou wast cast out into the open field, and I loved thee, I washed thee, I apparalled and adorned thee, et prosperata es in regnum, I never gave thee over, till I saw thee an established kingdom: so may all those saints of God say to God himself, to the Son of God invested in this body, this mystical body, the church, thou wast cast out into the open field, all the world persecuted thee, and then we gave thee suck with our blood, we clothed thee with our bodies, we built thee houses and adorned and endowed those houses to thine honour, et prosperatus es in regnum, we never gavé over spending, and doing, and suffering for thy glory, till thou hadst an established kingdom, over all the earth. And so thou, thy body, thy mystical body, the church, is honoured, that is, amplified, dilated, enlarged, by our mercy. Magnificat anima mea Dominum, was the exultation of the blessed Virgin; My soul doth magnify the Lord. When the meditations of my heart, digested into writing, or preaching, or any other declaration of God's glory, carry, or advance the knowledge of God, in other men, then my soul doth magnify the Lord, enlarge, dilate, amplify God. But when I relieve any poor wretch, of the household of the faithful, with mine alms, then my mercy magnifies the Lord, occasions him that receives, to magnify the Lord by this thanksgiving, and them that see it to magnify the Lord by their imitation, in the like works of mercy. And so far, do these two elegant words chosen here by the Holy Ghost, carry our meditation: in 89 Ezek. xvi. 1. 39 Heb. x. 5. |