It is said, that wherever the King is, there is the court. But with much more reason may it be said, that wherever our Saviour came, there was the temple or the church. He came to _feasts_ and _entertainments_ with the same spirit, for the same end, and in the same divine power, as he went to raise a _dead corpse_, namely to shew forth the glory of God. Wherever he came, it was in the _spirit_ and _power_ of the Redeemer of mankind; every thing he did was only to destroy the works of the devil, to deliver man from his power, raise the dead, and give sight to the blind, and ears to the deaf. It made no difference to him, whether he did this in the temple, or in the streets, at a feast, or at a funeral. As he was every where God, so every place became holy to him. Lastly, if our Saviour, was present, at chearful entertainments, to shew his _approbation_ of such indulgences, how came _John the Baptist_, that severe master of mortification to be a fit preparer of the way to the kingdom of heaven? Surely his voice must cry wrong, if such mortification was not right. And if our Saviour disapproved of the severity of his life and manners, how came he to point him out as a burning and shining light? Thus much may serve to vindicate our Saviour’s example from the shocking misapplication the Doctor has made of it. 35. Let us now see how he treats, and instructs the charitable Christian in these words. “What, says the _half-thinker_, is not charity to the poor, a most excellent thing? And can I be too charitable? Can I therefore bestow too much upon the poor? I answer, tho’ you cannot be too charitable, yet you may bestow too much upon the poor, to the ruin of your wife and children, which is not charity, but madness, and a great and _most grievous sin_. Did you never hear that _charity begins at home_? Did you never read that of St. _Paul_? _If any provide not for his own, and especially those of his own house: he hath deny’d the faith, and is worse than an infidel?_”