Man, by a univerfal Degeneracy, both in Grace and Humanity, to deny Food to the Hungry, Drink to the Thirty, Clothes to the Naked, a Vifit to the Sick and the Imprisoned, and Comfort to the Comfortless of Heart; efpecially fince thefe are the corporal Works of Mercy, by the Measure of which Mankind is to be finally judged, to be faved or to be condemned for an Eternity.

TO a Man living in all temporal Bleflings, indulg ing himself in the affluence and pomp of Wealth, and triumphing, as I may fay, over Fortune with infolent Gladness, fober and ferious Reflexions of this nature, may perhaps feem a little prepofterous; but I must beg leave to tell him this unwelcome Truth, that such an unchriftian and even unhuman Confideration of the Infelicities of his Fellow-Creatures, which he only owes to Pro-vidence that he never felt, proceeds from a giddiness of Theught, caufed by undigefted Meals, the fumes of Wine and fhameful Luxury.

SUCH a Man must be made to know, that many of thofe Wretches, who are now in Prison, were not always fo; that many, who now would be thankful for a Cup of cold Water, have been able to drink Wine as well as he; that many, who now rejoice and leap at the the Scraps of a common Basket, could once afford to keep as plentiful a Table as he; that many, who are now glad of a patch'd and parti-colour'd Garment to cover their Nakedness, and to guard them from the Cold, have formerly made great Appearances, and shin'd in Embroideries and Brocades; that many, who now lie upon Straw, or perhaps ftretch'd upon the cold Ground, have enjoy'd as many Golden Slumbers, and funk as deep ly and indolently in a downy Bed as he; that many, who are now kept within the compafs of four bare Walls, have rattled up and down the Streets in a Coach and Six as magnificent as himself.

HE is, in the next Place, to be inform'd, that they had then as good Security to remain in that Splendor, as he has now; that the fault of their Breaking (for I now speak to each wealthy Merchant and Citizen of London) was in Neceffity and not in their Will; that one out of a Thousand unprovided Mifchances, out of a Million unforeseen Accidents, may, one fatal Day or

I 4

other,

other, betray him to the like variety of Wretchedness. And therefore, all that I befeech and implore of any fuch Man, is, to fpare from his Pleasures one virtuous look into his own Bofom, to make the Cafe his own, and then, after asking himself the Queftion, What a tenderness of Pehaviour he would imagine due from his Fellow-Creatures? To do no more, than follow a Maxim of Morality, always profefs'd and often practifed, even among the Heathens, that is to fay, To do as he would be done by.

HOW different from this honeft Spirit, is the Spirit of a cruel Creditor? How is he by himself deprived even of the Nature of Man, when he fpeaks real Vengeance, for Crimes purely imaginary, and framed by his own wild and outrageous Fancy, upon the Head of an innocent well-meaning Debtor, whom unavoidable Ca fualty hath made Infolvent, and render'd the causeless Object of his Wrath?

IN order to have a clear Idea of this Matter, let us imagine we now fee, what alas, in fuch a Trading and Populous City, we may every Moment of the Day behold, if we will be but at very little pains and trouble for the Obfervation; let us, I fay, place, as it were, before our Eyes, fome honeft, generous and wealthy Merchant, with a large, good and happy Family round about him, high in the Efteem of all his Neighbours, and of all thofe that he deals with; to whom the News is fresh arriv'd of all his Ships being loft, one furpriz'd in a fudden Tempest, and snatch'd away from him in a Whirlwind; a fecond dafh'd to pieces against a Rock; a third ftav'd and funk by the Water-Spouts bursting from a Cloud; and the last drown'd and swallow'd up within fight of his own Shore, by bulging fatally on a Land. Let us behold the good honeft Man, fupporting himself under his Load of Calamity, by the Props of a heavenly Refignation, stopping the Heartbreaks that gape to let out Life, and would make a Shipwreck of his Perfon too, when the Tears of a dearly beloved Wife, and the Groans of the Pledges of their Loves, who by being their Children, are grown the Orphans of good Fortune, fwell up the Ocean of his Mifery, and distract the Tide of Hope. Let us behold him stemming a Sea of Troubles, Atruggling

Aruggling and grapling in a Hurricane of Fate, sweating and toiling beneath a weary Life, and just finking. under the Burden of feveral heavy Debts, which'dis out. of his Poffibility at present to discharge, any otherwise, than by a pious Refolution to do it as foon as he is able, and to make himself able as far as the strongest Endeavours will let him. Let us behold him weathering thro' the Storm for a while, with the Chearfulness of a good Confcience, and never fighing at his own Misfortunes, but when he fighs, that they were the cruel Caufes of those Difappointments, with which he is not willing, but is forced, to difoblige his Creditors. And fhall we not, after placing all this Scene of unavoidable Woe before: our Eyes, be melted into Compaffion for fuch a Man? Shall we not have particular Feelings within our Bowels for fuch an illuftrious, worthy and glorious Wretch ?' And fhall we not, with uncommon Wrath and Indignation, rife up against any barbarous Purie-proud Creditor, that breaks in roughly upon his Prayers and Tears, to infult his Wants, and mock and aggravate his Sorrows, that interrupts his honeft Labours and Intentions to pay his Debts, on purpose to make him an everlasting; Debtor; that unjustly ties up his Hands, that are ftruggling to do him Juftice, before they'll begin to repair the Gaps and Breaches of his own ruin'd Fortunes? It's be caufe (what is hardest of all) these Creditors have the World on their fides, and the fpecious Colour of the Law to justify their Caufe. If they give to thofe innocent Sufferers thofe Names, which more proper ly belong to themselves, and call them, as they do too often withour Caufe, Rogues and Villains, fhall not all honest Men think, that, not without Caufe, they may anfwer 'em, that the Injustice and Villany lie at their Doors? Shall we not take the Liberty to tell them. that the Extremity of Rigour in the Law is oftentimes the Extremity of Injustice? And fhall we not give 'em to understand freely, and without referve, that oftentimes,. what is nationally Legal, is not only not religioutly Lawful, but on the contrary, confcientiously examined,. very Criminal ?

IN this View, and it too often happens to be a true one, the Debtor is an innocent Sufferer, but loaded

with

with Reproach, that claims all the Aid and Affiftance we can bring him, and all our Votes and Suffrages for his Redress and Deliverance; and the Creditor is by fo much the more barbarous a Villain, because vested with the Authority of the Law, he makes his Power his Will, without any Confideration or Mercy for his FellowCreature, and out of a Luft of Rage, profecutes, with prepense Malice, a Man for being innocently and unfortunatly Guilty, net of a voluntary but a neceffary Crime against him.

IN this Cafe, not the Debtor, but the Creditor is the unjust Man; and if ever it lies honeftly in their way. to do it, all Men are oblig'd to moderate the Severity of the Law, when it is fo flagrantly inconfiftent with a Tenderness of Confcience. I must own, for my part, I would ftep in between fuch a ruin'd Debtor, and fuch an enraged Creditor, as foon, as if I beheld a Man tumbling from a Window, and breaking his own Limbs, and only jostling another in his Fall; I would defend him, as he lay on the Ground, from the Rafhness of a Perfon who would be only like the Creditor, if he went to ftab him as he lay fprawling on the Earth, for giving kim an Affront which was only caused by the fame Accident that made the poor Creature break his Limbs, and put him in Danger of his Life, without the additional Calamity of being inhumanely butcher'd.

THE Parallel is very juft, and the Cafe I have stated is the Cafe of moft of those Debtors, who are really infolvent, that a Petition of Relief is ordered to all the Reprefentatives of their Nation, under whofe Confideration it falls, to lop away, prune and correct any Branch of a Law, which, they think, bears too hard upon any of their Fellow-Subjects that are forced to live beneath it.

I must now turn to thofe who may be properly called the Children of Calamity, and tell them, for their great Comforts that the Sun of Hope could never fhine out with more kindly Influence upon their afflicted Minds, than this happy NOW; NOW, when all those, whom they have petition'd for a Redress for their Grievances, breathe a Spirit of Freedom and Liberty; NOW, in fine, when many eminent Merchants fit.

in

In their Houses, who must know and pity the Perils of Traders, and who must have a juft Senfe and Tendernefs of their Misfortunes, are the Perfons able to put it in the way of being affented to by the King, who has hitherto demonitrated, and may he on all Occafions fhew, in imitation of Heaven, his darling and favorite Virtues, to be Lenity, Forgiveness and Mercy.

N° 677.

Monday, May 30.

Feliciter & amplius,

Quos irrupta tenet copula; nec malis

Divulfus Querimoniis,

Suprema citiùs folvet amor die.

Hor

ETHINKING my felf the other Day, how

worthy to make Addreffes to my Pearls, I ima、 gin'd I had undertaken a difficult Task to difpofe well of fo numerous a Family; but am now pleased to find,, by the following Letter, my Care will be leffen'd.

Venerable SIR,

A Mighty wild, but pretty Youth, and who would,.

I believe, become of as eafy and tractable Nature, by a little good Management, makes his Courtship to me, with a deal of Vehemence of Temper, and with the Words of Sincerity proceeding fo immediately and difcernibly from his Heart, that they make their way in to the bottom of mine, as foon as thofe Words have left his Mouth. He makes me his Priestess, and confeffes to me, o'er and o'er, all the irregularities of his paft Life ; he promises fo ftrongly an Amendment, that no Woman,, of the leaft Good-nature, could doubt but he would perform what he had fo fanguinely resolved. "Twould do1

any