CHEAP REPOSITORY. Sunday Reading for Augujl, 1795. HINTS to all .Ranks of People On the OccafionoJ the prefent Scarcity. " tiather up the Fragment tilat lemaufy that nothing be kta* / Sokl by j. MARSHAL!, ( Pp. i a T 1 r to the Cheap ^ pum t r y for Moral and Religious frads) No. 17, Que:*n -Street, Ch^api-de, and No. 4, Aldermary Church- Ya;d, and R. WHITE, r> ic<:adiiiy, Lo<«.on, By S. HAZARD, ai Bach: and b. all CookfcUers, Newfmen, . and Hawkess, in Town and Co> m sy. - Cieat Allowance will be mado to Shopkeepers -and Hawkers. P<"icc Tluee Halfpence each, or 6* gd. per 1co.~-.3s. 9d, for 5** as, gd. for -5. [ Entered at Stationers HalL ] ( 3 ) HINTS TO ALL RANKS OF PEOPLE, ON THE OCCASION of the PRESENT SCARCITY; Being taken from the Story of our Saviour's miraculoufly feeding Five Tkoufand Perfons with Five Barley Loavts and Two jfmail Fi flies. IT cannot be unfcafonable to devote the prefent Sunday Reading (for Auguft, i ^95) to the confideration of the flory of our Savi- our's miraculoufly feeding five thoufand per- 1 fons with five barley loaves, and two final! fillies, as it is related in the fixth chapter of St. John. A -t ■ Jcfus ( 4 ) jcfus having been engaged (as we read m the former chapter) both in healing the Tick, and in teaching the people, after tlufe "things went over the. Jea of Galilee. And a grea t mul- titude followed him^ bee a ufe they jaw the ?ni- raeles which lie did on them thatzvere-dijeaJecL The multitude in thofe days were much like the multitude now; they did not follow on account of the good inftruftion they got irom him, or the excellence they law in his characler, but becaufe. they jaw the, ■miraeles which he did on them that were dj- eafed. Their alloniihment wag excited, and iheir natural feelings alio were called forth by thefe acts of mercy ; and it was the manner of our Saviour, when he had thus gainedYheir ^ attention, to turn his beneficence to their bo- dies to the benefit of their fouls, by preaching to the crowds whom his miracles had collected. Let it therefore he here remarked by the way, that the beff mode of Ihewing charity to the poor is that of which our Saviour has jfet the example ; I mean the uniting chari - table help and religious imlrucrion both to- gether, for many a one may take irom the fame hand which has given him bread, a bible, or fome religious book, which may prove a far greater benefit than all the money which he may have received : — Hofpitals to whifch : hap els are annexed, are to be p railed on (5 ) on account of their uniting thefe two prin- ciples : the fick man goes timber indeed feeking only to be cured of his bodily dif~ order, juft like the fick people who applied to Chrifl; yet by attending the chapel he may alio obtain, like fome of thern, an cver- lafting benefit to his foul. Such hofpkals ought to be very liberally fubfcribed to by christians, for it is plain that they are found- ed in the true fpirit of chriftianity. But to proceed with our prefent ft ory : When Jefus then lifted, up his eyes, and faw a (Treat company come unto him, he faith unto P'- iftp, zvhence Jtiall we buy bread that thefe ■may eat? And this he faid to prove him, for he hurflf knew .what he ivould do. Philip had feen Chrifl heal the fick, and' do numberlefs miracles ; this queftion is therefore put to him with the view of prov- ing whether he had thereby learnt to believe fully in Chrift, and whether he thought that the 'fame Jefus, who' had reftorcd the fick could feed the hungry alfo. It often pTeafes God to prove us, in order in like manner to exercife our faith. Our national trials., ought to be confidered as fent to us principally for this end. We have not indeed, like Philip, beheld any actual mi- racles in thefe days, and yet methmks we A $ &av®~ (6] have already witneffed many wo noei in! interferences of Providence in behalf of oui nation. In the year 1780, when London feemed likely to be deftroved through the riots which prevailed, it p leafed God to flop that tremendous evil, and to lengthen out the profperity of this nation. Not long fince our king was relfored to ns, alinoit by a miracle." ' Many dangers of invafion or infurrecnon which lately were f^ppofqd to threaten us, have alfo been checked or tnrn- unpopular and difagrecable by your fingtfv larky and ftrictnefs ?---or why will you rifk the difpleafure of fome worldly friend or pro- tector, who might be of life to you or your family it you would follow him inftead of following Chrift and your religion. You will ruin yourfelf at this rate; you will not have bread to eat ; you will certainly be ftarved." But the religious man may anfwer as this multitude might have anfwered, " I am determined to leave all for Chrift, and I know that he is both able and willing to pro* vide for me : I will follow wherever religion leads, though it mould chance to lead me ever fo far from my pall connections, or habits, and manner of life, for I will truft in God who will not {offer me to fink while I am en- gaged in his fervi&e.^ In truth the loflesand inconveniences which threaten a man on his becoming religious, are in general apparent only and not real : they are often a mere phantom which vanifhes when he makes the experiment of being really religious ? or ra- ther they are a temptation by which it p kales God to try his fincerity, for it is a maxim in. the fchoof of Chrift that 44 he that laveth his life (hall lofe it, and he that lolcthhis life (that is he who is willing to give up all that is dear to him) /hall fave it, 75 t4 lie {hall have fspiifcld more in the prefent world, and in the world to come life everlafting ff helhall be as fecure, in fhort, while he is xoL B lowing ( H ) lowing Chrilt as this multitude was, however their unbelieving friends might tremble for theme You then, who in this time of fcarcity are poor and diftre fifed, and are trembling for your daily bread, learn, if you are the faithful fol- lowers of Jefns, to put. your whole, trull and confidence in him. Cannot he who chofe to work a miracle for this multitude, rather than let the feebleff of them faint in their bodies, on account or their having left home tor his fake, provide bread tor his followers in this age alio? This is one of the great lefTons taught us by this liory. We all profefs to truft ChiiA with our fouls. This ftory is to teach us to trufi him with our bodies alfo^ and to put away that anxious care which poof people cfpecially are apt to feel concerning the morrow. If thou art ferving God in the way of a diligent and honeit calling, and hail an ' everlaffincr hope in Chri.fl, fear not as to thy worldly matters. A truly religious- man indeed, who has his heart in heaven, will not be anxious, as the men of this world are, to have any great portion in this life : like the apoflle Paul, " having food and raiment therewith he will be content. 5 ' People fuf- fer in general from their vanity or faife fhame, or at the worft from their dread of future want, much more than from their ac- tual want ; he -whofe thoughts are raifed above earthly f «5 ) earthly tilings, and who puts his cheerful truft in God has therefore a wonderful advan- tage over irreligious men when there comes a feafon of diftrefs. It times are hard he ftrives it is true to he more diligent in his calling, hut having thus done his duty, he trails to him who provideth the young ravens with food, and clothes the lilies of the held, and whofe providence orders all things tor him, and in this fenfe therefore " he takes no thought for the morrow, leaving the mor- row to take thought for the things of Hfelf, for Efficient unto the day is the evil there- of.' 5 But having fpoken thus flrongly of the duty of trufling God in our temporal matters, which cannot he carried too iar while wm ncglcEi no part of that diligence which be- longs to us, let me now remark a further cir- cumllanee which is mentioned towards the end of this ftory. 'v'c read that when the multitude were filkd y Chrififaid to his difaples, Gather up the fragments that remain thai ?i§- ihvr.g beloj!" What a ft ri king leffoh of eeconomy does ©ur Saviour give us by this precept. 64 Ga- ther up, faid he, the fragments that remain," that is, the crumbs and broken pieces whiah the multitude have left. ,Now Now if Chrifh had faid this to fome of ti cameVs hatr^ and who had a leathern girdle about his loins ^- and vohoje meat was Jocujh and wild honey-, for repentance was the fafhion a£ that feafon, jufl as falling- is all the rage at prefent. But when 'John Jaw the Pbarifees and Sadducees coming to be baptized of k?m y he ©nly rebuked them fo much the more fharply. Jufl fo, methinks, would he rebuke fome of thefeiriconfiftentperfons of the prefent day (tor fome fuch I fear there may be) who, while in afifecled tendernefs to the poor, they are faving a few bits of bread with the one hand, are throwing away hundreds of pounds with the other, on their vices, diffipation,- and luxury. Who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come t What pretence can you make either to felf-denial, or benevolence, or religion ? Bring Urtv, theref-rre, fruits meet for repentance. Act then in all refpe£ls confidently with this felf- denying character y©u have afTumed. Renounce your pride, give 119, hood to your varsity, and difmifs your luxuries altogether. Provide yourfelves with a regular fund for your future charity, by the reduction in- your whole elrabliih- ment, which you may now make. Contefa alfo your fins. Let prayer be added t& to your failing. Repent, in fhort, of the whole of your pafl life, and betake your- felves to the mercies of your Saviour. But ( 2* ) But let us direcl our rebuke in the next place to fome individuals in a lower clafs of fociety. Many there are of the middling rank of people, who, having fet out in life too expenfively, are now fo burthened, through the late increafe in the charges of living, fhat there are almoft as great objecxs- ©f pity among this clafs as among the loweft. Thefe men have laid i he foundation of their prefent difficulties and temptations (for dif- ficulties like theirs are fure to be attended with temptations) by fetting out on a falfe principle, I mean particularly the principle *>f rivalling and imitating others. To do as ©thers do, and to fpend what others fpend is the wretched rule by which they have pro- ceeded,, a rule which it is one of the fir ft principles of a chriftian to renounce. Be not conformed to this ru or Id. — Love not the world, nor the things of the world. — If any man zvili £ome after me, let him deny him/elf, and take up his ciojs and follow me. — Thefe are pre- cepts which fuch perfons, perhaps, may now fee to be not only harfh, as they may once have thought, but friendly even to their worldly interefts, and altogether kind and charitable. Ah ! let them now quit that ex- ample of the men of the world, which has entangled them, and let them learn both worldly and heavenly wifdom, by copying after the pattern of Chrift. Then alfo they may hope, through the new fund which their moderation / ( 23 ) vnoderation will fupply, to imitate the bene- ficence of their Saviour, by becoming his in- ftruments in multiplying bread to the hun- gry, inftead of mrinknig, as all fuch perfons are now feen to do, at the very name of a fubfeription for the poor. But there are others of nearly the fame rank, who, though rather more fuccefsiul in the world, are almoft as little difpofed to any acls «f charity, for as yet they wait 'till they have got together for themfelves in the fir ft plaee , an ample and iolici fund. By-and-by they hope to be rich, and then their charity will began. To fuch I wiih to remark, that if you fay you muft be rich before you begin to be charitable, you never will begin. Let ■fuch be reminded of the ftory we have been relating, and take a lefTon from it. What if the twelve difciples had faid, that before they could part with any portion of the five -barley loaves which Chrift put into their hands, they mult claim a right to feed them- felves up to the full ? Would they not have ihewn a fad want of faith in Chrift ? Would they no h ve been very unfaithful fte wards -of the bread mtrufted to them ? And thou art an unfaithful lie ward of God's manifold gifts, if thou dealeft not thy bread to the hungry, and it, fpecially in a time of need like this, thou delayell, under -any pretext, ig fhew mercy to the poor. Thou art as much (• M 3 «nuch a ft e ward as ever thefe apoftles were, We are all ft e wards : all we have of every' kind, is committed to us as fuch : theapoftles, no doubt, took to themfelves a part of the food committed to them ; but what was not needful to them they readily difperfed ; and ' the bread increafed in their hands, through the Divine Bleffing upon it. God, in like manner, permits thee to apply to thine own urn fuch part of the good things which Pro- vidence has fent, as may be truly needful for thee, and in difpenfing a part to others, he fhall continually increafe thy ftore. It is true miracles have ceafed, but it may be here remarked, that the very mariner in which our Saviour's miracles were wrought, was often fuch as ferves to in ft ru ft us, in refpeft to God's more ordinary difpenfatioiis in the world; thus to inftance in the pre fent cafe, our Saviour made ufe of the apoHJ.es as his inftruments in feeding the multitude; and it was in palling through their hands that the bread incre«Xed in a manner unperceived. Juft thus God ufes man. in thefe days, as his iriftrument in fupplving the wants of his fel~ Jow-creatures, and juft thus alfo it often pleafes him to enlarge more and more the liberal man's income, as it is palling in ads of charity out of his hands : for how ealy is it for the Almighty to do this without any appearance of miracle, merely by the ordi- nary courfe ©f his providence, and to dis- appoint, appoint, in like manner, the covetous perfo* of his gain, as a juft judgement upon him. God can fend loffes in trade, a heavy debt, or a fecret and unaccountable blallon a man's character, or he can vif'it the covetous, yet luc'celsTlfl ihopkeeper, with fome lingering (icknefs, which he mall caufe to run through the family, and devour more than all the pro- fits ot the mop. Let the trader who believes in Providence, take advantage therefore of thefe hints, and let him recollect alfo that there is a faying; of the wife man, which is ftill on record for our admonition, u There is that fcatwreth, and yet increafeth, and there is that with-holdeth more than is meet, and yet it tendeth to poverty/.- But now, lafidy, I addrefs mvfelf to the poor, and to von what can I fay more en- couraging or comforting than that our Lord himfelf was poor, and that though poor he was patient and content. The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nefts, but the Son of Man had not where to lay his head. We call to you, therefore, as well as to the rich, to come and contemplate this llory. Behold your Savior with uplifted hands, and with thankful and peaceful looks, giving praife to God for this meal of water and barley bread, and when it is over, com- manding his dilciples to gather up the frag- ttieii£s that remain that nothing be loil. Can C you ( 26 ) you fit down to a piece of baidey bread witk equal cheeriulnvfs, and you with equal gra- titude give thatlfc's ? You think, perhaps, that your lot is hard, and that you are worthy o£ a better fare ; but was not your Saviour alfo worthy ? Surely he, of whom John the Bap- ■till {aid, " the latchct of his ihoes I am not Worthy to unloofe," had a better title than any which you can plead to a good fhare in the things of this life. But you are hurt pofliblv through vour having heard or feen much of the luxury of the rich around you, and you have thus learnt to condemn them altogether as a bodv of moil imchiiftiun and wic'ked people. Now it is remarkable that when our Saviour was on earth, he many times entered into the houfes of the rich, where he muft have witneffed their fuperior enjoyments. Yet we find no inflance of his carping at what he faw, or of his fingfong them out as the only wicked rank and order of people, I fear there are fome poor men who think that reproofs to the rich are very much wanted, and who uer- haps in reading the prefent tracl, may have received peculiar pfeafure. from |h#fe pafi fages which bear the hardeii on fome of their fupcriors, and who neverthelefs, though they affect, to like plain dealing, will perhaps be • nor:- offended than even the rich themielves, if any 'remarks however juft and true fhoulcl C wvf ( *7 ; now 'be made to their prejudice. But as we have not fcrupled to fpeak freely to the riclr, to neither fhall we fear to deal plainly with you. You then are a poor mail as I will fup- pofe, that is fretful and di '"contented with your lot, you are always talking agakift the rich and great, your whole thought is engag- ed not about your own faults but about their J pomp, and luxury, and fm. But let rne aik then, are there no hnners among It the poor? When God fends his vifitations on the land, do you think* it is for the fins of our governors and our rich men only, or for the common iniquities of us all p As this is an important, and in fome degree a difputed queition, let ine carry the reader to the book of unerring truth tor a little found knowledge on this general fubjeci. We find in the facred Scriptures that in the time of Chriit, there were men of all ranks and conditions Irving in the world much as wiere are now ; mention is occafionally made or k ngS\ and governors , and chief pi lefts, of P°Jf t '[jors oj lands and houfes, of fellers of fiver and of purple, of chief captains alfo and centurions, as well as of foldiers, and jailors, and fjfliemien, and multitudes pi common people. Now k may a U tr ie help our judgment in the prelcnt quef- tion, to enquire who were the wicked people oi syofe days. Does our Bible tell us that 'he poorer clafs was pure and yirtuous, and aU ways in the right, and only a few rich men wicked wicked and in the wrong ? We read indeed of a Herod arrayed in royal robes, who on ac- count of his pride was eaten of xvorms and * g&v.e up the gwoft> but w r e are informed alfo that a great body of the people were fharers in his fin, having even excited him to it ; for Herod's chief guilt confifled in not rejecting the glory given him by the multitude, when thev imp ion fly cried out that his voice was the voice of a God, and not the voice of a num. Again we read of Demetrius a great fiver- fmith, who becaufc he m-i&cjfirines f or Diana , moll wickedly ftopt the mouth of Paul be- caufe he preached the true God ; but it hap- pened in this, cafe alfo, that all the common workmen who got their bread by the fame craft, partook largely in the guilt, and many people who gathered round them alfo, for (behold here an inflance ol the violence and tolly of a mob) *f that all with one voice, about the [pace of two hours cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephejians " We will men- tion only one other proof, how dreadfully both rich and poor have {hewn themfelves liable to commit the fame crimes ; I allude here to no Leis a crime than the crucifixion of our Saviour. The Pharifees I grant were fome or the ioremoil in oppohng Chrilt ; the chief priells were they who took couufel hozo they mifht put him to death; a falfe apollle betrayed him ; Pontius Pilate, a time fervmg judge, delivered him up: but let it be remem- C 2 be red U ^9 be red *at the fame time that it was the ' mulli* tmde that cried Crucify htm, Crucify him, Thefe obfer vat ions are by no means made with the view of loading the inferior ranks oi people with peculiar blame, or of favour- ing the general character of the higher, hut merely for the fake of contradicting that falfe tentiment, which ignorant or dehgning men who ehoofe 'to flatter the poor have often put abroad, n;mudy, that the poor are always the Virtuous, and the rich the wicked part of a com it amity ; a font i merit which all hiftory, facrccl as well as prophane, flatly contradicts, and which our own observation of the pre- fent times, if we are not flrangely blinded by prejudice, mull contradict alfo : the truth is (and it is the love of truth which makes us ipeak it) we are all naturally very corrupt and prone to yield to our leveral temptations : the rich are more particularly in danger of being proud and luxurious, and regardlefs of the happinefs of their inferiors, while the poor are in equal danger of not properly re- ipetting tho'fe .whom God has placed above them and of becoming tumultuous and un~ .reafonable, as well as irreligious and immoral, and rath, impatient, and complaining. In the fidtat of our common father we are all of O us methmks like fo many criminals, who diner more in the kind than w r e do in the de- gree of our guilt, and inftead therefore of quarrelling f i 3° J quarrelling with each other about the proper divifion or the fiu that is clue to t he fevera! claffes of iocietv, it would he better for us ail to humble ourfelvcs in this -'lav di oar vi fita tion, and to conic is with one voice that we are unworthy even or the moll eomm< a fa- vours of God's providence, and as holy Jacob obferved that are lefs than the leafl ef all his -mercies. But as I am {peaking now to the poor-let me mor. particularly onk.-rve, that if eyery poor man inftead oi vdptttrifi beyond his depth, (tor I with to mealuic my words) into the vaft hiftory of kingdoms and empires, and tjf the great affairs of ftatfej would retire home and look a lit --'e. into the more pi am and hmple liiirory oi hi' own pah; life, and if he would try to trace the evils which have! befallen him up to their proper fource, with as mucn care as fume men be- itow on tracing the evils which have come upon the kingdom, he would perhiaps hnd that more of the hardlhiDshe now fuffcrs nx owing to his own tank than he would ima- gine without fuch examination; Either want #f indullrv w hen he; .was .vouirm or want of . ceconomy when he was a little ofder, "and might eafily have lard up. money;- — want of temperance, ckalhty, i\nd iobricty, or want of tharafter for itnet truth and exact integrity ; want of prudence in fotne of the important ileps of Iris life, and above all want of reli- gion, which is the root incke-d of the other t 3' ) fms I have named, whereby alfo the blefiing; of God has been withdrawn from him thefe are the caufes which bring a poor man into flraits, and which lead to rags and all manner of wretchednefs, which riia-ke it dif- ficult alfo to recover : fo that it fceras both eafier and pleafanter to plunder a mill or even to pull down a kingdom, than, to rife by the flow means of patient- induflry, mill- ing in God, and exercifmg the grace ot re- pentance. Here therefore let me warn the more induftrious poor , to beware of join- ing themlelves with, fuch characters, . beware even of the fir fb tendency of fuch a fpirit, beware of lending the fmal left countenance to their proceedings* Paul, who became af- terwards a fierce profecutor of the chriftjans, began by merely keeping the raiment of thofe who cull the {tones at Stephen. — You who aid and comfort men of riotous dilpofitions, or who do but feem to comfort them by ftahd- ing. among them,, may by mixing in fuch company both promote their ends and learn their fpirit, and though your crime be not eaual to that of Paul, yet remember that-- the power o'i, government is a power ordained* .of God, and that .he that refifleth the power-re- jijleth the ordinance of GW, and they that rc- fijl JJiali receive to themj elves condemnation. But now finally, let me advife you as the belt way of foftening the evils of poverty, nq£ "no I t. o he too- aux ious abo m an y of In e tin* i g s ©I this life. — What trembling and complain- ing have we -lately feen, what railing of veftries, and ada/ertifing, and buftling and' ■ 'fubfrribing,; becaufe one of the articles of Our food has become dearer for a few months than it is in common, and how many a poor man is there who has gone into a veifry per- haps to receive his loaf of bread at a reduced pnee, whom: nothing could induce to enter into the church for many' a month together,. We read towards The end of this chapter, from which our ikuy has been taken, that - fefus feeftte many of the fame uerfons to whom he had diifributed the bread, affafn crowding after him, 1 He una unto them, Verily, verily I fay hifiio you, Yejcek me, not becaufe ye fazv the miracles, but becaufe ye did eat of 'the loaves and