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SER M. for they cannot recompenfe thee: for thou shalt be recompenfed at the Refurrection of the Juft, Luke xiv. 12, 13, 14. I do not mention this to intimate that the Inviting of our Equals or Superiors to our Feafts is unlawful: Far from it; it is moft certainly a very commendable Testimony of our Amity and Friendship: But what I mean is, that the confining our Hofpitality to thofe only who are able to return it, contradicts the Defign of our Festivals; one End of which is undoubtedly that they who live in Plenty at all Times of the Year, fhould, at the more folemn Seasons of it, fpread their Tables, or at leaft diftribute fome Provifions to those who have scarce a Sufficiency at other Times. This is a Duty that even Humanity requires of us; and it was the Neglect of this which brought the Rich Man to his Place of Torment: He fared fumptuously every Day, whilft the Beggar lay at his Gate defiring to be fed with the Crumbs which fell from his Table; Luke xvi. 19, &c. The Poor therefore and the Needy are at fuch Times either to be invited to, and fed from, the Tables of the Rich; or else are to have their own Tables fupplied more comfortably than ufual, by their Largefs and Gifts. For Chriftians furely ought not to come behind the Jews in Acts of Mer

cy

I.

cy and Compaffion, who always made their SER M. Days of Feafting Times of fending Gifts to the Poor, and Portions to them for whom nothing was prepared, Nehem. viii. 10. Efther ix. 22. And certainly we give the greatest Testimony of our Love to our Lord for the Bleffings we commemorate, when we endeavour at fuch Times to relieve the Neceffities of his diftreffed Brethren, and fo give them also an Opportunity of Rejoicing, fince they are equally with ourfelves concerned in the Occafions of our Joy.

[The Exclusion therefore of the Poor from partaking of our Feasts is certainly an Abuse, fince it contradicts the Design of them: And yet it is very obfervable that at these Times we are often moved more by Vanity than Hofpitality; the Promotion of Charity and good Neighbourhood being the least Thing we aim at. How frequently do we invite one another, not fo much out of Love and Friendship, as a Defire of emulating and outrivalling one another in our Entertainments? Let our Circumstances be never fo difficult, yet the Entertainment at our Neighbour's Table must be equalled at leaft, if not exceeded, at our own; left the World should think us more fparing or less genteel than our Neighbours, a Thing now-a-days we cannot bear the Thoughts of. C 3

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SERM. But this is not to feaft for Love and Unity, but for Strife and Contention, and confequent ly is what renders our Feafts very unacceptable both to GoD and Man. For it is very appa rent that nothing is more contrary to the true End of Hofpitality than this Sort of Extravagance, whereby instead of benefiting our Neighbours we injure ourselves, overcharging our Estates, and wasting our Substance, only to gratify a foolish, ambitious Defire of feeming Great and Splendid, An Affectation of which Vanity has occafioned the Ruin of many Families, who, through thefe Méans, and thefe Means only, have reduced themselves and their Dependants to Want and Beggary; whereas if they had contained themselves within the Bounds of Moderation, they might have fupported as many as they have entirely ruined, But I must not run out too far upon one Particular; and fhall therefore now proceed to confider]

A Fourth and more univerfal and common Abufe of Feafting, and that is the Intempe-. rance and Impiety which are generally the Attendants of it. And indeed it is not to be wondered at, that Excefs and Profaneness fhould be fuch conftant Attendants upon our Feasting and Mirth, when the Dangers of

them

I.

them are so great, and yet Men come fo lit- SER M. tle prepared against them. To defire God's Bleffing upon his Creatures which we are going to partake of, or to dart up an Ejaculation, that he would vouchsafe to preserve us in a moderate Ufe of them, is now looked upon, in too many Families, as precise and formal: How then can it be otherwife expected, but that they who truft in their own Strength, and think it beneath them to ask for the Divine Affiftance, fhould fink into the Follies of degenerate Nature? But Men look upon a Festival now-a-days as a Licence for their Extravagance; and to say it is a Holy-day, is thought a fufficient Excufe for Surfeiting and Drunkenness. But this is quite the Reverse of true Feafting, and what quite overthrows the End and Design of it. For this is not to keep a Day holy, but to take the Opportunity of the Leifure of it to wafte and confume it in Intemperance and Debauchery: This is not to commemorate a Mercy or Bleffing, but to neglect and defpife it: not the way to apply the Benefits of it to ourselves, but to make ourselves incapable of being the better for it: and consequently, without Repentance, we bring ourselves under a more miferable Condition, than if the Mercy

CA

SER M. Mercy had never been offered to us. In a I. word, This is fuch a profane and

open Contempt of GOD's Mercies, that he fingled it out himself by the Prophet to denounce his Judgments against it. Woe, faith he, unto them that rise up early in the Morning that they may follow ftrong Drink, and continue unto Night until Wine inflame them. And the Harp and the Viol, the Tabret and the Pipe, and Wine are in their Feafts, but they regard not the Work of the LORD, neither confider the Operation of his Hands, Ifa. v.

II, 12.

And I can't forbear obferving further, that idle and loofe Difcourfe will be the natural Result of debauched and wicked Tempers: Oaths and Blafphemy, Ribaldry and Profanenefs, Slandering and Backbiting, is the only Conversation such Company can relish. But certainly a Festival is the most improper time, if there be any one more fo than another, for Difcourfes of this Nature. The Design, of our meeting at fuch Times should be to congratulate one another upon the Mercy we commemorate, and to warm and enflame each other's Affections and Devotions with fuitable Difcourfes: And therefore to fingle out thefe Times for wanton and irreligious Conver