XXIII. A Remedy Propofed, How the And to the great Benefit of the Wherein, of Maintaining the Poor. And taking off the Charge of the Poor-Rates throughout England. Six other Great Advantages to the Na- tion Propos'd by this Method. 227. The Objection Anfwer'd, That this wou'd make the Clergy too Rich. 230. A Form of Prayer and Thansgiving, upon the Offering of our Tythe to the Prieft. With a Bleffing to be Pronounced by the Pricft upon us, or AN I A N ESSAY Concerning the Divine Right OF TYTHES. INTRODUCTION. S T. Clemens Romanus writing to the Corinthians about the Schifm which had Unhappily broken out in their Church, spent most of his Epistle to them in Guarding them against the Sins of Pride and Contention, as the Apostle Paul had done in both his Epiftles to them; knowing that thefe were the Roots B whence whence their Schifm grew, and All Schifms do Grow. And that if they cou'd once Return from their Pride, into the Frame of a Meek and truly Humble Spirit, their Schifm wou'd foon Wither and Decay. This is the most Effectual Method, to ftrike at the Root of a Difeafe; without this ther can be no thorow Cure. This is the Method I have Chofe, in the Subject I have Undertaken : To make my Entrance with fome Confiderations concerning that Trust and Dependence which we ought to have in God: The Want of which is the Root of all Covetoufnefs, which is therefore call'd Idolatry, because it transfers our Truft from God to Mammon. And Covetousness is fo the Root of Sacrilege, that, as no Man wou'd Rob God for Nought; fo can none Return from his Sacrilege, till he is Cur'd of that Covetousness which caufed it: And Covetousness cannot be Cur'd, while we are Poffefs'd with that Dif-truft of God, which naturally leads to Covetousness, and is the Cause of it. And while we remain in that Frame, no Arguments can Pre vail, or Charms have Power over fuch an Adder as is Deaf to every thing but Gain. Therefore I have begun at the Root. And let no Reader think this Subject of Trust in God (because it is fo Common) unworthy of his Confideration; for None upon Earth have it, as they ought to have: And we are to Encreafe in it; and that must be by often Meditation upon it, which, by the Grace of God, (without which we can do nothing) is the moft Effectual Means to Strengthen our felves in it. However, it is Neceffary to the Bufinefs I am now upon. And to offend thofe, as little as may be, who may think it a Needlefs Preparative, I have been very Short upon it; and afforded them rather Hints and Heads of. Meditation, than a Difcourfe fuited to the Import of the Subject. |