($ ebap.22: An Expoftion upon the Book of J o B. Verf,y the former are ofthe fame fence,yet from that word with- holden, which implyeth a wrong doneto the poore, note firft ; That the poor havea right in what richmen have. And ifthey withhold all from them, they (ball be condem. ned, not only as uncharitable and illiberal!, but as oppreffors and unjuft ; not only as not having given them reliefe, but as not having done them right. (Prow. 3. 27. ) withhold not, oAd. from them to whim it adue, when it is in the power ofthy hand to doe it. A thirg is due upon a double account ; fir ft, by the Law ofJuíiice, fecondly, by the Iaw of Love : I conceive here that the Prover be is to be underftood here ofa dueneffe, not by the Lawes of Common Juftice (as ifa man have his brothers E- ftare,in his hand, hecannot with.hofd it from himwithout tranf. grcffing the Law ofJuftice)but ofa duenefs by the Lawof Love, ormore ftridly by the Law of Charity : thus "tis a duty to doe good to thole that are in want it is_ not onely a favour that we thew to them when we relieve them, but there is a duty in it which we are to God, who hath commanded that their poverty fhould ho fupplyed by the plenty and abundancewhich he bath given to others. Iftherefore it be demanded, whoare they to whom this doing c f good is due ? I anfwer, not only they to whom thou art endebted in Juflice, witnes thy hand and fede; but, even they two whom thou art endebted in charity, };-itrtffe their want and need. The poore have a right to what we are able to give, and can conveniently (pare; yea fometimes their right may ly fomewhat beyond the line ofour.conveniency. So then there is a poynt of juftice in it,, as well as of charity in relieving the poore ; and if ( as the next words in Solomon imply) it be finfull to delay them till to morrow, it multi needs be a wickednes todeny them, for ever. Therefore the fame Solomon (`Prov. 22.2. ) fpeakingof the poore and the nth puts them together ; The rich and poore meet together, the .Lord is the maker of them all; Now the Lord is the maker ofthe poore and ofthe rich, not only in their natural! conftitution, as they are men confifting of body and foule, (fo indeed he hathmade the poore as well as the rich, and they are both alike the_wórke 0fhis hands) but the Lord is the maker of them in that,
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