DISSERTATION I.

LUKE xiv. 12, 13, 14.

Then faid he alfo to him that bad him, When thou makeft a Dinner or a Supper, call not thy Friends, nor thy Brethren, neither thy Kinfmen, nor thy rich Neighbours; left they alfo bid thee again, and a Recompence be made thee. But when thou makeft a Feaft, call the Poor, the Maimed, the Lame, the Blind: And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: For thou shalt be recompenfed at the Refurrection of the Just.

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OW against this Precept or Injunction of our Lord Mr. Chubb has been pleafed to raise various Cavils and Objections; which I will endeavour to sum and methodize, fo as to prefent them to the Reader in their full Strength. For I do not think it is confiftent with Honesty to conceal or difguife the Force of any Part of an Objection, to which we pretend to give a full Anfwer.

1. Mr. Chubb fets forth, that this Injunction is one of those which is peculiar to the Chriftian Religion. He goes on arguing to this Effect: That if the Rich had only been commanded to relieve the Poor and Neceffitous in a Way fuitable to their Stations and Conditions, the Precept would have had nothing in it different from the Morals of other Inftitutions. But what particularly diftinguished it, and made it a Chriftian Precept, was, the being obliged to call in the Poor, the Maimed, the Lame, the Blind to our Tables, to the Exclufion of our own Relations our Friends, and Equals.

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2. That this Injunction ought to be taken in the literal Senfe; because it is a plain Direction about making a Feast, where Rules are laid down, and Reasons given, who fhall be invited to the Feast, and who shall not. Therefore the Paffage before us can admit of no Loftiness of Language, but must be understood, according to the natural and obvious Meaning of the Words, without Figures or Hyperboles.

3. As the Injunction is a peculiar and difinguishing Injunction, whereby the Chriftian Religion is made to differ from all others; for that very Reafon it should be obeyed literally by all thofe, who acknowledge Christ as their Mafter and Lawgiver. For though, fays he, a proper Obedience paid to other Laws, grounded on other Principles, may

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conftitute a geod Man; yet it is a strict Adherence to thofe Laws, that are peculiarly Christian, which conftitute a good or true Chriftian, when a good Chriftian is contradistinguished from a good Man. Yet,

4. The Abfurdity of this Precept, in the literal Sense of it, is fo palpable and glaring, that no Manner of Regard is paid to it, not only by the thoughtless Multitude, but also by the Learned, the Sober, and the Sagacicus, and even by those who pretend to have obtained Patents from Heaven for being Mafters and Ubers in Chrift's School. A Compliance with fuch a Precept would be very improper and irrational; because it would promote the Happiness of neither Rick, nor Poor; not of the Rich, as it would debar them of one of the greatest Enjoyments in Life, the Company and Converfation of their Relations, Friends, and Equals; not of the Poor, as it would be much more agreeable to them to dine among themfelves, according to their own Way, without Referve, than to partake of the Tables of the Great, to whofe Modes and Manners they are not accustomed. Therefore the Precept meets with an univerfal Difregard and Noncompliance. Even a Right Reverend, or a Moft Reverend Father in God, and in Chrift Jefus our Lord, feruples not every Day to act quite contrary to this Injunction: He invites his Friends and rich Neighbours to partake of his Entertain

ments, and excludes the Poor,the Maimed, the Lame, and the Blind, from being present with him at the Table on those Occafions.

This is the Sum of what Mr. Chubb has advanced, and, I flatter myself, the Reader will eafily believe, that I have done him Juftice. His Objections have loft nothing of their Force and Strength in paffing through my Hands. And yet I hope to prove, to the Reader's full Satisfaction, that ALL Chriftians at this Day are so far from living in a continued Difobedience to this Injunction of their Lord and Mafter, that they render a better and more perfect Obedience to it, according to the true Spirit and Meaning thereof, than perhaps to many other of his Commands.

Words and Phrafes relative to Modes, Customs, and Opinions wholly different from our own, are not to be explained or commented upon, without a previous Enquiry into fuch Modes, Cuftoms, or Opinions. This ought to have been Mr. Chubb's Rule; And I take it, his Capital Error arose from not obferving it. He reafoned upon the Paffage according to his modern Ideas of the Nature of Feafting and Entertainments; and fo impofed both upon himself, and others. I will endeavour to fupply his Omiffion, by prefenting the Reader with fuch a previous State of the Cafe, as, I hope, will enable him to judge, not according to the Turn of his modern Ideas, but according to the truc State

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of Things, as it then was, when the Words were spoken.

Let us therefore confider the Difpofition of Mind thofe Perfons were in, to whom these Words were originally addreffed. In fo doing we diveft ourselves of the Prepoffeffions arifing from the Modes and Customs of our own Times, and place ourselves in that right Position, which is necessary to see the Subject in its true Light. Now the Perfon who invited our Lord was a Pharifee; and probably all the rest of the Company were Pharifees likewife; as it is well known, that they chofe always to affociate together, and had a fovereign Contempt for others. What therefore we have to do, is to confider the Sentiments of the Pharifees, and, through them, of the much greater Part of the Jewish Nation, as far as it may throw a Light on the present Subject.

In the first Place, the Pharifees had a general Expectation of a temporal, victorious Meffiah. Indeed the whole Nation had their Heads turned with the Notions of the fecular Power, and earthly Pleasures, which they were to enjoy under this Reign. And the Words of John the Baptift, which he put into the Mouths of his Difciples, when he fent them to Jefus (undoubtedly not for his own Conviction but for theirs) are very expreffive of the State and Temper of Mind the Jews were in at that Season; viz. Art B 3

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