AN ORATION Spoken in the GRAMMAR-SCHOOL OF CHRIST'S-HOSPITAL: BEFORE The Right Honourable the LORD-MAYOR, the Right Worshipful the PRECEDENTS, the TREASURERS, and the rest of the Worshipful GOVERNORS of the Hospitals of the Renowned City of LONDON, Sept. 21. 1675.  
London, Printed by William Godbid, 1675.   

AN ORATION Spoken in the GRAMMAR-SCHOOL OF CHRISTS-HOSPITAL.  
Right Honourable, Right worshipful, And our most worthy Patrons,  
IT was the custom among the Romans upon their solemn Festivals to compliment the Assembly with a florid Oration, and recite the worthy Acts, both of their warlike Heroes and Noble Senators, the better to stir up others to emulate their Virtues, and by their acquired Glory, to persuade them not to degenerate from so worthy Ancestors.  
A'nd truly this Septembers Festival deserves such a commemoration, wherein we have the happiness to behold the pleasant Faces of You our Honoured Patrons, whose Worth and Merits call upon us for our best Eulogiums and thankful Retributions. We are the Sons of Charity, whose fruitful Womb, we hope, will produce a constant succession of such, that shall testify their gratitude, and pay their due Observance on their bended knees, to all that are the Authors of their present being.  
We come this day before You as your Debtors, not to discharge the Principal, but to beg your acceptance of our poor Mite of Thankfulness, as your due Interest. It is fit, that Orphans should, on such a day as this is, freely vent their thanks to God, and this Renowned City, wherein most of us have drawn our first breath, and found mercy in the day of our distress and sorrow.  
But who is able to undertake so lofty a Subject, which requires a sublimer wit and strain, than such a poor Orator as I am can attain to? Yet rather than London's Praise, and our Patron's Merits shall be concealed, I myself will venture to blaze them forth, that the whole Kingdom may see them in their native lustre.  
My Work (Right Honourable) is cut out before me parted into two Rivulets, viz. to make this renowned and famous City the Subject of our praise, and boldly to assert, That She surpasseth all others in her Acts of well-disposed Charity.  
All places almost abroad sound forth her worth and honour, and admire the Splendour of her Magistrates, the Dignity of her Senators, the wealthy Coffers of her Citizens; whilst at home we please our Eyes with the beholding her goodly Symmetry of her Piles of Building, her Manor-houses, spacious Halls, her Royal Byrse, her Courts of Judicature and goodly Temples, all raised, as we see, out of heaps of Ashes, to the admiration of all Spectators.  
You are (most pious Senators) Citizens of no mean City, one that is the Metropolis of the Kingdom, and the best Emporeum in the World for Trade and Commerce. A City that may above all others display her Banners, and set up to public view the Trophies of her memorable Acts and glorious Achievements.  
A goodly sight indeed! to see her like Jerusalem compact, and watered with dew from above; while Love and Concord embrace each other, free by Divine Goodness from the Injuries of Fate, and guarded by her wooden Castles, floating upon the Ocean, at whose Ports both the Indies take it as a kindness, that they may unlade their wealthy Traffic, and be admitted to a free Commerce.  
But it is not my design to launch forth too far in the praise of London's Glory and deserved Grandeur, I leave that to the skill of those, that can by a skilful Pencil portray its beauty and just splendour.  
Give me leave, I beseech You, (Right Honourable) to applaud the Excellency of her Acts of Charity, which indeed heightens her honour, and sets forth her truest lustre.  
London is no Monopolist of her Wealth and Treasure, but like a free Empress hath provided her pious Almoners, that scatter abroad her Largiaries with a free hand to the poor and needy. It is a Noble Pattern that she strives to imitate; and what our Royal Edward of blessed memory first designed, that doth London's Heroes endeavour to complete, by consulting the Interest of the poor by impotency, the poor by casualty, and the thriftless poor.  
And in this London outvies all other Cities, in her equal distribution of her liberal bounty.  
No more need the Lazar lament his pain and smart in London's streets, seeing God hath provided Balm in this our Gilead, to heal his wounds and alleviate his pain and anguish. St. Bartholomew and St. Thomas freely set open their Gates, to admit all Cripples and diseased persons: And these good Samaritans are ready at all times to pour in Oil into their wounds, and bind them up with pity.  
London hath provided a salve for every sore, and a plainster large enough for the greatest maladies. She hath prepared a Bethesda; Charity is the Angel that moves the waters, and makes them sanative to all that step in for cure.  
Nor shall the Lunatic or raving Madman any longer affright us in the streets, by their ghastly looks and discomposed language, and direful execrations. For charitable London hath provided a Bedlam to restore them to their senses. This word Bedlam, me thinks, strikes terror to my senses, and the dismal tone and accent of it fills me with horror. What heart indeed is so flinty, that is not dissolved into tears, at the view of such spectacles of misery? It is your Honour (Right Worshipful) that you condole their misfortune, and have consulted of late a more convenient place for Air and room for their reception: Not a Bedlam, but rather a Palace, for its beauty and splendour.  
Vagrants, begun! and no more infest the Air of London with your noisome breath. It is pity, that such a verminous brood should swarm and poison our streets. If you appear any more, there is the Mittimus of the Justice, and the compulsion of a Beadle, that shall conduct you to a Bridewell, where you shall meet with the lash, and be taught the Lesson of Industry.  
It troubles me (Worthy Sirs) that your Charity, which knows no other Aspect, than of pleasing smiles, should be thus constrained to wrinkled frowns, by making those idle packs to taste of the bitter potion of correction, that they may prevent worse evils that attend them.  
It is the praise of those that are under your Oeconomy, that they apply themselves to Industry, and pursue those Arts, that will in time gratify their labour. That Morality and Sobriety which they have learned under your discipline, will make them wise and prudent, while others, that are headstrong and rebellious, justly reap the fruits of their folly, by smart and shame.  
But I will leave these Patients to concoct their physic: Time perhaps, and due inspection over their carriage, may at length perfect their cure.  
Bravely have You done, (Most Noble Senators) that You have so freely espoused the Cause of the poor, and pitied their misery. To your honour be it spoken, that your zeal to God's Glory, and your love you bear to this famous City, prompts you to be emulous, and to outvie each other in promoting Charity.  
And now let the bold Atheist retract his error, and begin to admire a Deity, whose power no one can confront with safety, nor equal His goodness. Let him but observe the Series of Providence, and gracious supply, that is made for us little Frey, who are present here this day, as lively monuments of His mercy, and then he will be convinced, that there is a God that governs the world, and sustains it by His power.  
You are (Right Honourable and our Most Worthy Patrons) God's Delegates and faithful trusties for poor Orphans, whose native bounty and goodness excites you to Acts of mercy towards the Fatherless and distressed Widow, whose naked backs are clothed, hungry bellies replenished, and supplied with all necessaries, both for soul and body.  
An Orphanotrophium indeed! wherein charitable London hath showed her bounty to the full, in furnishing us with those advantages, that may make us useful to succeeding Ages.  
Farewell our doubtful cares and pressing sorrows, which once overwhelmed us like a mighty torrent. Our fears of want are prevented, and we seated in quiet habitation, where your bounteous liberality bids us hope to better our fortunes. Ah, that we were wise in improving our opportunities, that are handed to us! We will through God's help set spurs to our diligence, that we may by our good proficiency commend the care and faithfulness of our Worthy Tutors. From our Souls we thank You (Most Worthy Patrons) that you have taken such care for our education, that whatsoever Employment God shall dispose us unto, we may so apply ourselves, that we may excel in them.  
As for us, we are Muses Soldiers, and Minerva's Attendants: Our Studies are our Warfare, and in time we hope to prove good Combatants; seeing Your Worships furnish us with all Accomplishments for use and benefit.  
Yonder is our Armoury (Thanks to that Noble Hand that lately founded and completed it:) There have we Arms, offensive and defensive, to assail our Opponents: I mean a Library, furnished in some measure with Books to accommodate us in our Studies, where some of us are admiring Cicero's Eloquence, and fitting ourselves for Academical Studies; others conversing with the Mathematics, that they may the better understand the Speculation of the Heavenly Bodies, and survey the Globes of the World so accurately, that they may traverse the Ocean, discourse of Countries and their several Climates.  
But I fear (Right Honourable, Right Worshipful, and our Most Worthy Patrons) lest while we are boasting of our warlike provision, we may meet with a sudden Engagement, and thereby hinder the End of your Solemn Meeting. Let me, I beseech you, sound a Parley, and I have done.  
May all the Affluence of the milder Heavens be accumulated upon famous and renowned London.  
May Her Noble Senators, our Pious Patrons, and Worthy Citizens, be blest with Plenty, Peace, Health, and Safety.  
Long live our Gracious Sovereign and Noble Queen, with all the Branches of the Royal Stem.  
Long may this Kingdom flourish, and be preserved from Civil Jars and Foreign Invasions.  
Benjamin Long, Orphan.  
FINIS.