Lord, I will now relieve the poor as much as ever I oppressed them; for I will give them half my goods, and whatsoever I have wronged any man of, I will not only restore it to him again, but I will give him four times the value of it. Our Lord having heard this ingenuous confession and holy vow made by the publican, presently cries out, "This day is Luke 19.9. Salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is the son of Abraham." As if He had said, I see that this man is now truly penitent for his sins, and so is this day come into a state of Salvation; that Salvation which I am come to procure for mankind, it is this day come home to him, and by his means to his whole house, forasmuch as he also is of the seed of Abraham, to whom the promises of My Gospel do peculiarly belong. And although he hath hitherto been a sinner, yet that shall not hinder his obtaining Salvation by Me; for I, "the Son of Man am come to seek and to save ver. 10. that which was lost;" that is, I am come into the world on purpose to seek such sinners as he hath been, and to save them from their sins; for, "I am not come to call the right- Matt.9.13. eous, but sinners to repentance." He hath been a sinner, I have called him to repentance: he hath accordingly repented, and therefore he shall be saved. How did Zaccheus rejoice to hear these gracious words from Christ's own mouth! How happy should we think ourselves, or rather, how happy should we be, if the Saviour of the world should say the same of us, and of every one of our houses, that this day is Salvation come home to us! And yet it is no more than what we may be all as certain of as Zaccheus was, if we do as he did. He had been a great sinner, and so have we; but he repented truly of all his sins; and if we do so too, we shall be saved as he was: and if we do it this day, this day will Salvation come to us, as it did to him, the same day that he repented. Well then, that we may be thus happy this day, let us seriously consider how Zaccheus testified his repentance, so as to find grace and favour in the sight of Christ, that we may go and do likewise; that from this day forward we may be reckoned among true penitents, such as he was; that we may obtain the same Salvation as he did. Zaccheus therefore being come to himself, as soon as . LXIV. SERM. Christ was come into his house, and being touched with a sincere repentance for all the errors of his life past, expressed it in the same way as Daniel advised Nebuchadnezzar to do it, Dan. 4. 27. when he said, "Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor." Thus did Zaccheus; "he brake off his sins by righteousness," in making just and full restitution of what he had wronged others of; and he "brake off his iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor," in that he gave them half of all his goods. 30. He begins with his charity and mercy to the poor first, as the way whereby to find mercy at the hands of God, in the Ecclus. 3. pardon of his sins; and therefore we read, that "Alms maketh atonement for sins," that is, they put a man into the way of having the propitiation or atonement which Christ hath made for the sins of mankind, applied particularly to him. As we see in the famous instance of Cornelius the centurion, whose "alms," together" with his prayers," being Acts. 10.4. gone" up for a memorial before God," God sent an Angel from Heaven, on purpose to direct him how to come to the knowledge of Christ, and so to pardon and Salvation by him. But as Zaccheus's sins had been great, his alms must be so too. And therefore not contenting himself with giving a little, but to make his future charity bear some proportion to his former sins, he resolves to make the poor equal sharers with him in his whole estate, "half of my goods," says he, "I give to the poor." Half of my goods, that is, of such as shall remain to me after I have made complete restitution of what I have taken wrongfully from others, for he could reckon up no more as his own; but whatsoever he could truly call his own, that he would divide into two equal parts, and keep one for himself and his own necessary occasions, and give the other to the poor, for the relief of their necessities. But then, you will say, are we bound to do so too? to give half of our estates to poor people, as he did? No surely; it is not necessary for all to follow his steps in this particular, but only for such as are in the same circumstances with him. Some may be bound to give more, others may not be bound to give so much as he did. Our Lord enjoined the young Matt.19.21, rich man in the Gospel," to sell" not only "half," but " all that he had, and give to the poor; and commended the poor widow for "casting into the treasury all that she had, Mark 12.44. even all her living." But others, on the contrary, may be so far from being bound to give either all or half, that they may be bound not to give a fifth part, because their circumstances may be such that they cannot do it without transgressing such commands of God, whereby they are preobliged to provide necessaries for themselves and families. Indeed, as to the quota, how much every one ought to give to pious and charitable uses, it is nowhere determined in Scripture; for God would have it to be a free-will offering: and therefore, although He hath commanded us in general to offer, He hath left it to our own freewills how much to offer, that so there may be something in it of our own choice, as well as of His command. Only knowing the corruption of our wills, and how prone we are to abuse that freedom that He hath given us in this particular, He hath set us some general rules whereby to regulate ourselves in it; and these we are all bound to observe, as exactly as Zaccheus himself did; who hath set us such an example in it, that could we follow it as we ought, our charity would be as acceptable to Christ as his was. For first, Zaccheus being sensible of his former sins, not only in griping, but likewise in not relieving the poor as he ought to have done, he now resolves to be free and liberal to them for the future; not only to give them a little something now and then, but to give so much, as to demonstrate himself to be now as liberal, as he was before covetous: as the Prophet saith, "The liberal deviseth liberal things." So Isa. 32. 8. Zaccheus did; he devised how to distribute his charity so, as that he might become a truly liberal man; and for that purpose did not trouble himself about the minimum quod sit, just how much he was bound to give, but resolved to give much, so much, that he might be sure to give rather more than the Law strictly required of him, than less. The same we read of Cornelius too, that "he gave much alms to the Acts 10. 2. people." And the same measures certainly we ought to take in the distribution of our alms; for as Saint Paul saith, "He which soweth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly: and 2 Cor. 9. 6. he which soweth bountifully, shall reap also bountifully:" LXIV. Prov.11.25. SERM. which is the same in effect with that of the Wise Man, "The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth, shall be watered also himself." From whence we may observe, that the more we give to the poor, the more we shall receive from God; the more bountiful we are to them, the more bountiful He will be to us; which plainly shews, that although He hath nowhere appointed us how much to give, yet He is pleased with them that give much, more than with those who give but little and by consequence, that as we expect and desire much mercy from Him, we must express as much charity to others as we can. As much, I say, as we can; for herein also Zaccheus hath set us an example, who did not only resolve to give liberally in general, but to give as liberally as his estate would bear: and for that purpose, considering with himself how much he had that he might properly call his own, and that one half of it would be sufficient for himself and his family, he resolved to give the other half to the poor. And though all are not bound to give the same proportion as he did, yet all should give in some proportion to what they have, be it more or less. This rule the Apostle himself prescribed to the Corinthians by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, who hath also kept it upon 1 Cor. 16. 2. record, that all Christians might observe it: "Upon the first day of the week," saith he, "let every one of you lay by him in store (for the poor Saints) as God hath prospered him." Which doth not only shew, that all Christians, even in the Apostles' time, made their offerings as we now do, by the order of our Church, every Lord's-day; but likewise, that every one was bound to give according to his ability, or, as the Apostle words it, " as God hath prospered him." The same in effect, was commanded long before by Moses, Deut. 16.10. saying, "And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the Lord thy God, with a tribute of a free-will offering, which thou shalt give according as the Lord thy God hath blessed thee." And a greater than either St. Paul or Moses, even Luke 11.41. Christ Himself, requires as much, where he saith, "But rather, give alms as ye are able; and behold all things are clean to you," as it is rightly translated in the margin of your Bibles : for so the Greek words πλὴν τὰ ἐνόντα δότε So nuocún, properly signify, as might easily be shewn. that our Lord Himself here affirms, that if we give as much alms as we are able, all things are clean to us, otherwise not: And therefore, in order to our having all things to be clean to us, He requires us to give as much as we can to pious and charitable uses; and if we do that, how much or how little soever it be, it will still be acceptable to God: according to that remarkable passage in the Book of Tobit, inserted among the sentences we read at the offertory, "Be merciful after thy power, if thou hast much, give plen- Tobit 4. 8, teously if thou hast little, do thy diligence gladly to give of that little for so gatherest thou thyself a good reward in the day of necessity." And therefore, as I hope ye all make conscience of giving something to the poor, out of that which God hath given to you for that purpose; so I desire that you would always observe this rule in the doing of it, even to proportion your charity to your estates, lest otherwise God justly proportion your estates to your charity: and if ye do not give as much as ye are able, make you able to give no more than ye do. 9. Moreover, although Zaccheus gave so great a proportion of his estate to the poor, he did it freely and of his own accord. Nobody, as we read of, bade him, or so much as advised him to it. It was purely his own choice, as appears both from his promptness and readiness to do it, and likewise from that cheerfulness and alacrity he expressed in doing it. So soon as ever he duly considered it was his duty, his mind was wholly bent upon it, and therefore without being spoke to, he stands up, and freely offers half of his estate to God for the use of the poor; and in this also we ought to follow him. Whatsoever we give, we must give it with our hearts as well as with our hands, otherwise howsoever acceptable it may be to the poor, it will not be so to God; who, as He hath commanded us to give, so He hath commanded us likewise to do it heartily. "Thou shalt Deut.15.10. surely give," saith He, "unto thy poor brother, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him." You must not be grieved that God requires this of you, but be as glad to give, as the poor are to receive: "He that giveth," Rom. 12. 8. saith the Apostle, "let him do it with simplicity: he that |