Selected quad for the lemma: evil_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
evil_n	evil_a	heart_n	thought_n	2,080	5	8.0009	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A27259	Psychomachia, or, The soules conflict with the sins of vain glory, coldnesse in professing Christ, envie, photinianism (of the last resurrection), ingratitude, unpreparednes to meet the Lord, revenge, forgetfulness of God : pourtrayed in eight severall sermons, six whereof were delivered at St. Maries, and Christ-Church in Oxford, and two at Sherburn in Glocestershire / Henry Beesley ...	Beesley, Henry, 1605-1675.	1656 (1656)	Wing B1691; ESTC R13325	163,090	260

them from the Society of his glory Neither is there any infection in man that seems so properly to be the infusion of that venemous Serpent for whereas all the other passions were in the soul in the state of innocence Inter caeteros pestilentiae morbos quos antiquissimus ille ac foetidissimus serpens gravissima laetiferae aemulationis invidia teterrimo illo virosi oris spiritu inhalat Calv. ad Ecc. Cath lib. 1. although in a pure and perfect condition there was only no occasion for envy but this like a cursed weed sprouted immediately from the soil of corrupted nature Neither is there any vice arising in us from the bitter root of original sin Jam. 4 5. that more enforceth us to acknowledge our derived corruption that the Scripture saith not in vain The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy Est totum venenum antiqui serpentis Paris de mor. 4. The place of the Scripture that saith this St. Iames that voucheth it hath not told us Gen. 6.5 it is by most conceived to be Gen. 6.5 where it is said that God saw that every imagination of the thoughts of mans heart was onely evil continually And then this parallel will confirm the sense of my Text that envy and evil are Synonyma two words implying the self-same thing and we thereby to be admonished that there is something more of evil in this passion then the rest or else this expression might have been spared The evil whereof we come in the next place more distinctly to consider First in respect of the universality and then of the malignity of it First for the universality it is of such a diffusive nature that like a generall inundation it spreadeth almost over * Vidi ego expertus sum zelantem puerum nondum loquebatur intuebatur pallidus amaro aspectu collactaneum suum Aug. Confess l. 1. c. 7. all mankind so as very few like Noah and his family are exempted from it though happily they may be free from other infirmities as Nazianzen instanceth in Eusebius a man otherwise victorious over his passions and endued with singular piety as the troubles of these times abundantly manifested 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 onely toward Basil he expressed somewhat of humane weaknesse in the maligning of his eminent endowments you may see the tincture of this malignity in secular profession as namely in the compilers of history Major historiae pars in rebus deterioribus moratur c. Tyr. Max. Serm. 12. whose Collection as Tyrius observes are most employed in matter of a more dismal nature as tyranny oppression rebellion murthers and the like sad accidents as if these things onely could raise the authours observation that carrry in them the reproach of humane misery So for Advocates Oratours and Poets it is the note of Charron Qui sont lasches à reciter le bien eloquens au mal c. Charron de la foy lib. 1. cap. 39. that being cold in the praise of goodnesse they are eloquent in mischief the words invention figures to defame and flout are more rich more emphaticall and significant then to commend or speak well And so generally for the rest all are infected with the plague of envy more or lesse as it may appear 1 By the credulity of men unto evil reports either * Eccle. 10.1 out of their own guiltiness Isid Pelus Ep. 162. l. 3. esteeming others by themselves or else supposing their own faults lessened by the aspersion of others when like dead flies in precious ointment one senseless rumour shall cause the best name to send forth a stinking savour and disrelish all the sweetnesse of the most approved vertue Or 2. By the acutenesse of men in discerning the imperfections of others though it be but a mote in their brothers eye Mat. 7.3 Isid Pelus Ep. 237. l. 3 and taking no notice of their vertues like the Ravens of which Pelusiet speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who passing by gardens and flowery fields direct their flight onely to carcases and as the nose can smell no water saith Hippocrates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unlesse it be corrupted so neither can they perceive any action that is not leavened with some depravity This for the universality We are apt to look upon the malignity Nullum malum impugnat sed solum omne bonum Paris de mor. 4. which is more peculiar unto envy than to any other vice for whereas any other vice is contrary but to some single vertue as pride to humility anger to patience and the like This of envy is contrary to all hating every thing for which any one is commended and as it is contrary to all vertue so especially unto charity 1 Cor. 13.13 the chief and greatest of Christian vertues being grieved at that good for which charity rejoyceth and rejoycing at that evill for which charity lamenteth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Saint Chrysostome Then onely the envious man becomes a friend when he sees one weeping and bewailing his misfortunes and he more willingly condoles his misery then he could congratulate his prosperity Besides Charity as it extends unto all men in a courteous respect so in a nearer affection to those that are allyed by some natural relation or resemble them in some like quality or action but envy chiefly maligneth those that are nearest Arist Rhetor l. 2. c. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. either by countrey or kindred or age and which are most like them in riches or fame or art or the desire of the same things then further 1 Joh. 4.8 16. as it is contrary to charity or love so likewise is it to the God of love for whereas God freely communicates his goodnes to his world of creatures and delighteth in the good which he imparteth unto others the envious man would rather be deprived of goodnesse himself than that another should enjoy it and is more vexed at the welfare of his neighbour than he would be at his own calamity And if you will descend in your thoughts by the severall steps of nature you shall find it as far from the creatures as they come nearer to their Maker in perfection The blessed angels are so far from envy that as the Schoolmen do affirm they rejoyce more in the happiness of their blessed associates Francisc Victoria alii ab eo citati than these their selves do in their own happiness The higher in glory are more delighted in the felicity of those below them than those below them are delighted in their own felicity because as they argue the accidentary perfections which followed happiness being communicated according to the copacity of the receivers it must needs follow that the superiour having a larger capacity must conceive more happiness in apprehending the joy of their inferiours than the inferiour conceive in apprehending their own joy Psal 8.5 Step we next unto

most certain information and therefore being infected with envy it woundeth the soul with deeper impression of the object it maligneth Livor tabificum malis venenum Virg and maketh the poison much more strong in operation 3 As the eye is said to be animi index the minds interpreter so here it is most truly verified no tongue can so expresse the thoughts as the eye discovers the disposition of an envious soul Ovid. Metam Nusquam recta acies the look is never but awry as was that of Saul toward David In his notes on the place limis intuebatur saith Junius he looked askeue on him as if dazled with the splendor of his vertue he were not able to behold him aright Nay 4. Some are bold to affirm that it can send forth the power of its malignity by hurting that object it beholds with envy as if it were not enough for the eye to be like those heavenly planets in figure and brightnese but it must resemble them in their worst quality by casting a maligne aspect and though Valesius under the title of his sacred Philosophy Valesius de sacra Philosoph c. 68 fusè do deny this blasting property yet Aquinas and Azorius as rationally maintain the likelihood and that without the danger of admitting any Platonicall emission of Eye-beams for when every passion of the soul hath such dominion over the spirits that it can force them into any part of the body agreeable to its severall propertie and doth manifest the same by some outward alteration in the part so visited why should we not allow the like effect unto envy whereby the spirits boyling up from the heart into the brain and thence driven into the eyes may well flow out at those porie passages in poisonous rayes which issuing into the eyes of those whom they eagerly behold by mediation of the infected aire do thence stream into the heart as seeking a place of like affection unto that from which they sprang and tainting that with the noisomnesse of their strange quality at last declare the contagion thereof in the languishing of the outward parts Basil hom de invidia Or if with St. Basil we reject this opinion as rather believed by the vulgar than allowed by the learned yet thus much he gives us leave to resolve that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the devils enemies to all that good is if they find any person inclined to maliciousnesse as they have power to abuse their bodies so likewise their eyes to the executing of their wickednesse so that still it is the guilt of the eye that becommeth thus a weapon of unrighteousnesse to the Prince of darknesse And as if Nature would be revenged for so foul a violation you shall find no part infested with more diseases nor sooner decaying as if she would make us to bewail the errours of our sight in the want of it and you may observe that the end suffers most in the agony of death by the cracking of its strings and dissolution of spirits nay and after death too bears the tokens of that deadly conquest being flung wide open in gastly wise as if justly then to ly open to injurie that was before so injuriously open to all iniquity But then you may withall observe the carefulnesse of nature too that in the same part whereby we offend Ecclus 31.3 hath provided an expiation that seeing as Syracides speaks nothing is more wicked than the Eye therefore it weepeth on every occasion And beloved let this pronenesse to weeping be a motive unto us of godly sorrow Lam. 3.48 v. 49. 2 Cor 12.21 and let us teach our eyes with Jeremie if not to run down with rivers of water yet to trickle down at least with some few drops of penitent tears to bewail the sinnes that we have committed Zelare quod bonum videas invidere melioribus leve modicum apud quisdam crimen videtur dumque existimatur leve esse non timeretur c. Cyp. de livore and have not repented of nay scarce acknowledge them to be sins as many alas too many do untill with the rich man in the Gospel they lift up their eyes being in torments one precious drop of this water now now may quench the glowing sparks of envie which by our neglect might kindle into everlasting fire O let us be here then all Baptists to our selves Mark 1.4 and preach unto our eyes the Baptisme of repentance for the remission of their sinnes Here let us arise and bath them in the laver of their own compunction and with the tears of our eyes wash away the evil of them which in the sense of my Text is the nature and quality of envy and comes next to be discovered Part 2 The nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is Plato's apoththegme words are the image of things and represent them as they be in nature unto our understanding but behold here a vice beyond the propriety of Expression It is not enough for the envious eye to be called by the name of Envious but it must be paraphrased by the term of Evil as if it could not be otherwise sufficiently made known unto us and if you will bestow your attention on so vile a subject you shall hear it abundantly make good the stile of evil both in regard of the evil of sinne and the evil of punishment First for the evil of sinne we consider it in the generall by the Parents from which it descends which are no lesse than two capital sinnes pride and covetousnesse when making our own persons the God of our desires and seeking infinite contentment in the compasse of our selves we maligne the prosperity of others as seeming to diminish our own felicity which (a) Ser. 2. de zelo livore Saint Cyprian and (b) Post peccatum superbiae consecutum est in angelo peccante malum invidiae secundum quod de bono hominis doluit Aquin. 1. 9. 63. a. 2. Aquinas conceive to be the cause of Satans banishment from heaven as grieving at the dignity of man whom he beheld made after Gods own image insomuch that he would relinquish his own glory to devest so noble a creature of perfection and rather be in hell himself than see Adam placed in Paradise Wisd 2.24 But certainly after his fall it was the first practice of his wickednesse on earth to envy mans innocence and to implunge him with himself in the 〈◊〉 of sinne and misery and it was envy too be made choise of to be his engin of perdition Hinc Diabolus inter initia statim munda periit primus perdidit Cypr. aliad Lactans lib. 2.9 Deum zelotypia inductum exprobrat consulto mandasse de arbore ut in gradu inferiori hominem teneret Calv. in Gen. possessing Eve with an envious thought of God as if he forbad them the tree of knowledge for no other end but to debar

majesty to come furnished with charity meeknesse humility c. as the trimmings of our faith the wedding garment Secundum quod unumquemque ornatum bonis moribus viderit ita illi gratiam suae misericordiae dispensabit Aug. ibid. As he seeth us thus prepared he will come the more furnished with gracious largesses of his mercy will not be behind earthly Princes in munificence on his Birth-day Thus as the Prophet Hosea speaks after two dayes he will revive us Hos 6.2 so many as shall be partakers of his feast at the holy table Ioh. 6.51 and in the third day we shall live in his sight by eating of the living bread that came down from heaven and shall thereby receive all the benefits of his merits Remission of our sins for one with the assurance of inward peace the peace of conscience And who can tell but that this may be the pledge and earnest of outward peace even that with our enemies It was so unto Jerusalem The Prophet next before my Text bids cry unto her Isai 40.2 that her warfare is accomplished that her sin is pardoned The forgiving of the one is the finishing of the other It would the sooner be so with us if following the Prophets and John Baptists counsel we did make straight the way of the Lord that nothing might hinder him from coming to help us Then would he make a straight way for us unto that peace so much desired both filling valleys and flatting mountains removing all obstacles that lye in our way which that he would do we make our addresse to his throne of grace in part of the Collect of this day Lord raise up thy power and come among us and with great might succour us that whereas through our sins and wickednesse we be sore let and hindred thy bountifull mercy may speedily deliver us through the satisfaction of thy Son our Lord to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be Honour and Glory world without end AMEN SERM. VI. ROM 12.21 Be not overcome of evill but overcome evill with good Militia est vita hominis super terram Iob. 7.1 Secund. vet THe life of man is a warfare upon earth his enemies are those of own house his fleshly affections a kind of viperous generation that destroy the womb that breeds them we are the field in which they spring and we are the field in which they fight and we are the enemies too against whom they fight they fight in us against us 'T is Saint Peters metaphor 1 Pet. 2.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they war against the soul and with too good successe do oft gain the victory over her Sometimes pride and ambition swayes the Scepter within us then lust and covetousnesse get the dominion untill Anger and Revenge snatching the Empire from each of them usurp the sole tyranny over us Affections more violent and outragious then any of the other affections Caetera vitia impellunt animos ira praecipitat S n. de ira l. 3. Other affections do win the soul by assault but these at once over-run her and like a mighty tempest bear all down before them minding nothing but the dispatch of their fury though with ruine and destruction So that great need we have to beware of this evill and with our utmost strength to conquer it which is that our Apostle adviseth every one in this precept Deut. 30.15 Be not overcome of evill but c. Here is good and evill set before you this day and it is at your liberty whether you will choose either to overcome with the one or be overcome with the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Damasc l. 2. 24. Homines igitur qui iracundia se permittunt divino illo libertatis dono se spoliant cum non agant sed agantur non inter homines sed inter pecudes sunt numerandi Donzellinus de ferendis injuriis Remed No fatall decree or necessity compells you to either If any such thing there were then were our preaching vain and your labour also were vain vain striving to reverse what heaven hath determined It is we see the Apostles counsell unto the Romans whom he would not certainly have deluded with a task impossible nor have made them doubly miserable by seeking to avoid a misery unavoidable It was their practice not their destiny to be revengefull who being descended from warlike ancestours thought it base and degenerous to suffer the least injury to passe unrevenged And hence likely it is that St. Paul disswadeth them more expressely from this sin then any of those other Nations unto whom he sent his Epistles that he chargeth this doctrine upon them with such variety of perswasion as knowing how hard it is to reclaime men from a vice of tradition That summing up the whole charge in this verse of my Text he arrayeth it in the language of war as best agreeable to their military condition as if thus he had said in plain terms That shame it was for them who had overcome Nations to be themselves overcome of evill the vile passion of revenge That after all these great victories obtained on others there was one yet far * Nulla est tanta vis quae non ferro ac viribus debilitari frangique potest at animam vincere iracundiam cohibere fortissimi est Lactant. Instit l. 1. greater remaining over themselves by patience and meekness which is to overcome evil with good Division So the matter of his advice consists of two parts a dehortation and an encouragement And the same shall be mine in the prosecution The Dehortation in the former Be not overcome of evill The Encouragement in the latter But overcome evill with good In the treaty whereof while I am as the trumpet Rom. 10 1. to excite you to the Battail my hearts desire and prayer is that it prove not only a sound but that it may more affect the hearts then the eares of those that hear me I begin with the Negative part or dehoration Ne vincitor à malo Be not overcome of evill First Part. IT is a misery to be overcome whereby we become subject to the scorn and insolence of the Conquerour yet if our Adversary be noble our sorrow is the lesse that he onely overcame us whose vertue as it were deserved a victory But where the unworthinesse of the Conquerour meets together with the overthrow that makes the misery extreme indeed Now both these mischiefes befall every one in the act of revenge He is overcome and that by the worst of enemies evill it self nor this by a single onely but a manifold evill three in one 1. By his own anger and impatience that stirres him to revenge 2. By the injury of his enemy which he covets to revenge 3. By the malice of Satan who forwards the revenge By all those he is overcome as may appear in each particular have you but the patience to hear

what mercy can they look for there of him that were here so implacable toward their fellow-servants Hitherto we have heard of the severall overthrowes that accompany revenge with the miserable consequences arising from the same which may serve as an incentive to rouze up our courage and to enflame us with a desire of conquering that evill To the conquest whereof we are incited by our second Generall which is the encouragement or active part vince bono malum But overcome evill with good It is not fuge flye from evil Second Generall Quaeris quare te fuga ista non adjuvet tecum fugis Sen. Ep. 28. no flying from Anger unlesse we could leave our selves behind us Nobiscum fugimus we carry the enemy along with us nor it is not resiste neither resist evill onely which is enough to foyle the devill Jam. 4.7 as St. James informes us resist the devill and he will flye from you But it is vince overcome to assure us that in this combat against anger it is as well the Christians case as the Roman souldiers aut vincere aut emori either to overcome or be slain no other way besides that to save us Overcome then we must but what are the means whereby we may obtain the victory why easie enough and as certain too for as there is no poison in nature but hath its antidote no disease in the body but hath its remedy so likewise in the spiritual state each mischief is answered with a redresse The evils as we heard were three and right so many are the goods to amend them And as in physick Ad morbos extremos extrema exquisitè remedia praestant Hip. Aph. lib. 1.6 each disease is best cured by his contrary so here in like sort against each evill we have its contrary good for remedy 1. The good of patience against the evill of injury 3. The supreme Good God Almighty against the devill the Arch-evill by every of these we may get a victory and first vince patientiâ overcome by patience In Olympicis lex esi malefaciendo vincere In stadio Christi non eum qui percutit sed qui percutitur coronari decretum est Chrysost A new kind of victory to overcome by enduring and far different from the custom of the world where he hath the prize that by might and force subdues his adversary But it is otherwise in the lists of Christ here he that receives the hurt is crowned as Conquerour and winnes the Field without giving a blow And therefore in the Armory of the Church described by Solomon Cant. 4. Cant. 4.4 We hear of a thousand bucklers all shields of mighty men of bucklers I say weapons of defence and safeguard but no mention of a sword or spear to invade or offend an enemy And hereupon it is observable 2 Cor. 12.12 that St. Paul makes patience to he the first signe of an Apostle 2 Cor. 12. The signes of an Apostle were wrought among you in all patience and peradventure on this ground 2 Tim. 2. he exhorteth Timothy to manifest his spiritual warfare not so much by fighting as by suffe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 endure hardnesse as a good souldier of Iesus Christ Heb. 2.10 Luke 24.26 which hardnesse every one must endure that will be like unto him our Captain who by suffering entred into glory And by this way those Armies of Martyrs fought the battels of the Lord being armed with no other weapons but patience and meeknesse whereby they triumphed over the malice and torments of their adversaries But you may see the evidence of this victory in every true patient man Eodem exitu dispungetur quo telum aliquod in Petra constantiss duritiae libratum obtusum c. Tertull. upon whom if an injury light it is but as the blow of a sledge up a steel Anvile that makes no dint or impression at all but recoyles on the hand that smote it Ille velut rupes pelagi c He stands firm Virgil. Aeneid and unmoved like a rock in the Sea which though never so much beaten on by the waters yet it is no wayes shaken thereby but breakes the waves that assault it So he as it were Proprium est magnitudinis verae non se sentire percussum Sen. de ira divinely insensibly either seems to perceive not or neglects the injury conceives the doer not worthy of his anger but rather of his pity as some frantick person that should assaile him you will easily yield this to be a victory if you look on his enemy how he frets and vexes to see his malice thus defeated N. iccirco quis te laedit ut debeas quod cum fructum ejus evertoris non dolendo ipse debeat necesse est Tertull. de pat and disappointed and even acknowledgeth the overthrow by his sorrow and discontentment neither need we for proof hereof go beyond his own confession but come from that unto the next way of victory vince benesiciis overcomes with kindnesse or good turnes A victory somewhat stranger yet to overcome malice with doing good but certainly more effectuall then that by patience Thy patience perchance may make thine enemy to consider 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Termena apud Sophoclem but thy goodnesse will make him relent for in so doing saith our Apostle in the verse next before thou shalt heap coales of fire on his head An expression borrowed from Refiners of mettalls that are wont to heap coales on the head of the Crucille or melting pot for the more thorow-effecting of the work and signifying here Ardorem charitatis as Haymo expounds it the fire of charity Luke 12.49 which Christ came to send on the earth the coales whereof thou heapest on thine enemies head when thou relievest his necessities Non in maledictum c. Non in maledictum aut condemnationem ut plerique existimant sed in correctionem ut superatus beneficiis odii frigore excocto igne charitatis nam hoc ordine legenda sint verba Inimicus esse desinat Hieron lib. 1. cont Pelagian saith Saint Jerome not for his judgement or condemnation as some erroneously imagine but for his correction and reformation that being overcome with courtesies he may cease to be thine enemy having his enmity purged away by the fire of charity This will do it if any thing will let him be of never so sullen mettall the coales of love and friendly offices will melt and soften him and transform his stubborn hatred into compliances of affection We have an experiment hereof in Saul a person of an obdurate nature that hardly we shall find a worse and yet David mollified him with good turnes insomuch that 1. He drew teares from his eyes 1 Sam. 24. Verse 17. Verse 19. Saul lift up his voyce and wept 2. A confession from his mouth Thou hast rewarded me good whereas I have rewarded thee evill nay 3.

victory of his adversaries to subdue incontinence is the prize of hostility to overcome anger and revenge is the triumph of patience By these and the like 2 Tim. 2.5 1 Cor. 9.25 2 Pet. 5.4 we may strive for masteries and obtain a Crown incorruptible a Crown of glory that fadeth not away Applica ∣ tion YOu have heard in brief the Apostles advice to his Roman Proselytes whereby he intended not to disswade them from repelling violence by lawfull def●nce or to disarme the Christian Magistrate for the punishing of injustice Ver. 1.3.4 The Chapter following will clear this mist commanding subjection to the higher powers and propounding Rulers as a terrour from evill works as bearing the sword for that very end and being Gods Ministers to execute wrath upon him that doth evill His meaning is onely here to represse the immoderate passions of anger and revenge in private concernments that we be so far from returning evill for evill as rather to forbear and forgive one another Colos 3.13 Eph. 4.32 1 Cor. 11.23 M●t 7.28 29. if any man have a quarrell against any even as God for Christs sake hath forgiven us Nor is this any other but what he received of the Lord who among those astonishing doctrines which he taught as one having authority inculcated this beyond the rest with more variety of expression Love your ensmies blesse them that curse you Chap. 5.44 do good to them that hate you and pray for them that despightfully use you and persecute you This is the grand result of the Gospel the great duty that Christ came to preach and to exemplify by his life and death and yet b Multum à vero aberrant inepti quidam homines qui hoc tantum Christianismi esse aniunt ut hostes diligantur negant in Veteri Testamento ad id Hebraeos fuisse adstrictos non enim variata est lex Dei post Christi adventum c. P. Mart. in 2 Reg. 6.22 not so new as some would fancie it but that the Old Testament had much to this purpose both for precept and practice 1. For Precept Thou shalt not revenge nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people Levit. 19.18 nay more then so Thou shalt not abhorre an Edomite Inter omnes Gentes quas Judei poterant immicas reputare erant Aegyptii à quibus omne injuriae genus crudelitatis monstra passi sunt B. Nuza de inimicorum dilectione no not an Egyptian Deut. 32.7 Those that the Jewes might have reason to hate beyond any other nation from whom they had suffered all the miseri●s of a most tedious and cruel bondage The same was intended by that injunction of reducing and relieving an enemies beast Exod. 23.4 * Isid Pelus Epist lib. 3. Ex. 389. thereby to mediate a reconcilement when the party thus pleasured could not choose but be wrought on by that courtesie But expressely and clearly Prov. 25.21 If thine enemy be hungry give him bread to eat if he be thirsty give him water to drink for thou shalt heap coales of fire upon his head which very place our Apostle here citeth for the pressing of Christian charity Cum grandi diligentia observandum est ne dum hunc locum non bene intelligimus de medicamentis nobis vulnera faciamus solent enim nonnulli hoc praeceptum quasi ad satiandum furorem suum assumere Ser. de tem 168. and that is enough to make it appear that Solomon meant it in a Gospel-sense not so as some in Saint Austins time abused this precept for the satisfying of their revenge feeding their enemy for no other end but that he might burn in eternall torments Avertat Deus Ad sanandum ergo talem phreneticum homines sanctos charitatis igne succensos hortatur sp sanct dicens Carbones c. saith the Father God withhold this sense from our minds that any should do good turns with this mind to implunge the Receivers into endlesse punishment It is none of the Holy Ghosts meaning this who intendeth hereby not the bane but the cure of him that is sick of the frenzie of malice Cum enim inimico tuo pio animo frequentiùs benefeceris quam libet sit impiùs crudelis tandem erubescet debet poenitere incipit quod admisit c. and that is by plying him with frequent benefits as it were to surround him with the fire of thy charity which will move him at length be he never so barbarous to blush and grieve and repent of his rancour against thee and to requite thee in stead of hatred with hearty affection This for precept Then for practice it is no lesse evident by sundry particulars By the kindnesse of Joseph towards his Brethren Gen. 50.15.21 Exod. 32.32 chap. 17.4 2 King 6.22.23 that deserved so ill at his hands By the charity of Moses interceding so passionately for the Jewes that were ready to stone him By the courtesie of Elisha in entertaining the Assyrian armies that were sent to destroy him by the Evangelicall spirit of David Psal 7.4 who was so far from rewarding evill that to use his own words he delivered him that without a cause was his enemy But yet however that which was barely propounded there and rarely performed by one among a thousand is powerfully pressed in the Gospell Mat. 5.44 with an Ego dico vobis an express Commandement to love our enemies and to express it with all the tokens of hearty affection as blessing relieving praying for them And for examples to enforce it there be such as none can be greater of God the Father giving his Son for us when we were enemies Rom. 6.8.10 Mat 5.45 Heb. 12.3 Acts 10.38 and making his Son to shine on the wicked and the unthankfull Of God the Son that notwithstanding the contradiction of sinners went about doing good all his life-time here on earth and dying prayed for those that crucified him Of Christs disciples that followed their Master both in teaching and in practising as Stephen the first Martyr Acts 7.60 that spent his last breath in crying for mercy on those that stoned him and Paul the Apostle with his fellow-labourers whose profession it was 1 Cor. 4.12 being reviled we blesse persecuted we suffer being defamed we entreat and how the next Christians in the Primitive times were affected this way when the Spirit that descended in the likenesse of fire Acts 2.3 enflamed their hearts the ancient Writers have sufficiently witnessed when the heathen could say of them between envie and wonder a Tertull. Apologet. Vide ut se invicem diligunt see how these Christians love one another And no lesse for their carriage toward those without how they powred forth b Idem ibidem prayers for tyrants and persecutors c Euseb Eccl. hist 5. cap. 5. refreshed their armies in the time of drowth

and doing more execution this way killing more thousands in a moment In moment● occidet 10000. hominum hoc sola voluntate c. G. Parisiens de morib cap. 8. v. 5. v. 11. then Armies of souldiers can do in the field That if God should offer us our choice as to Solomon to aske what he shall give us 1 King 3. it may be justly feared * Drexel sign 9. Praedestinat Sect. 4. the life of our enemies would be our request the main thing we should ask at his hands But what we can do fos the promoting of our own interest that be sure shall not be omitted though never so much to the prejudice of others well said the heathen man Sen. de ira l. 2 c. 31. Vt licentiam sibi dari velit in se nolit Regis quisque intra se animum habet every man hath in him the mind of a King taking liberty to himself over others but allowing none over himself will not do so unto men as he would they should do unto him although against the rule of Christ the Law Mat. 7.17 and the Prophets In a word so farre we are from advancing the profit of others with our own discommodity Tantum abest ut aliorum commodis aliquid cum propriâ incommoditate praestemus ut omnes vel maximè nostris commodis cum aliorum incommodo consulamus Salv. de Gub. Assiduitate molestiarum sensum omnem humanitatis ex animis amittimus Cic. pro Vosc Orat. 2. that we rather pursue our own profit with anothers discommodity so far from overcoming evill with good that we return evil for good come short herein of the very Publicans This we have gained by the length of our civill broils even to loose all sense of humanity and civil respect I will not be * Non sum ambitiosus in malis c. Quintil. lib. 6. pr. ambitious in recounting evills nor labour to aggravate matters of complaint But rather endeavor if I could do any thing to propound some expedients to amend them wherein I shall onely touch on such motives as will best suit with the scope of my Text lest otherwise I might let in such a Sea of matter that we should remediis laborare Special motives for loving enemies to account the remedy in part of the disease Our first consideration 1. The remembrance of our Christian profession then shall be the remembrance of our Christian profession which engageth us not onely to patience in the suffering of injuries but to goodnesse also by overcoming them with love and kindnesse It is that which Saint Peter intendeth by charging us not to render evill for evill 1 Pet. 3.9 or railing for railing but contrariwise blessing knowing that we are thereunto called Our calling calleth for this duty at our hands that we be not herein out-gone by the heathen that a Pericles Socrates Aristides a Vid. Val. Max lib. 4. cap. 2. de reconciliatione lib. 5. cap. 1. c. rise not up in judgement against us and condemn us that cannot do by the doctrine of Christ and the strength of grace what they they did by the rules of Philosophy and the light of nature But we have other gates Examples then these to be our leaders in this kind one for all b 2. The example of our Lord Master our blessed Saviour the Authour and Founder of our profession who suffered for us saith Saint Peter leaving us an example 1 Pet. 2.23 that we should follow his steps who when he was reviled reviled not again Vnum nobis instar omnium coeli ac terrae fabricator ac Dominus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when he suffered he threatned not but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously Let us be assaulted with the reproaches affronts indignities that malice cruelty can charge upon us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orat. 25. to speak with Nazianzen how small a part are these of the spitting buffeting scornes and blasphemies that Christ endured Cum ab ●improbo quodam caesus esset ac discissâ terrâ ad tartara virum illum detradere facillime posset c. Basil Orat. cont irac And though he could with lesse then a breath have dispatched the Offenders quick into hell he never so much as opened his mouth save onely to pray that they might be forgiven was so far from the least revenge that being risen from the dead he gave special charge unto his Apostles Luk. 24.47 that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his Name among all Nations beginning at Jerusalem where all the despite was done unto him And expressely by the mouth of Peter * Acts ● 38 3.19 made tenders of mercy unto his murtherers whom he received upon their submission Interfectores suos non s lum ad indulgentiam ●rimmis sed ad praemium regni caelestis admittit Cypr. de pat not onely to the pardon of their offence but to the inheritance of his heavenly kingdom I know not how this Act of grace affecteth us but it put Saint Chrysostome into an ecstasie of admiration Ad Antioch hom 52. ex Matth●eo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what more wonderfull then this even they that murthered the Sonne of God are after this fact admitted to be the sons of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the zealous Father at the hea●ing of this we may hide our faces that are herein so far from him whom we are injoyned to imitate so far as even to make war with those for whom Christ laid down his life and not to be in peace with them whose peace he made by the blood of his Crosse If all this will not move us yet 3. The danger of ●n●●●ing this duty At least and lastly let the danger be considered Do we ever hope to see heaven on these terms or to be our selves forgiven for this latter we have our Saviours warning-piece Math. 6.15 If ye forgive not men their tresrasses nei her will your Father forgive your trespasses Ad tàm magnum tonitruum qui non experg●scitur non dormit sed mortuus est August●i● at the voice of which thunder he that is not awakened is not asleep but dead in sin And for the former his oath to confirm it Verily I say unto you whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little childe he shall not enter thereinto As a childe † See Mr. Herons Sermon The minority of the Saints 2. Doctrine not only in respect of humility but in freedome from malitiousnesse As our Apostle expounds it * Cor. 14.20 elsewhere And no question to be made of it The unmortified passions of flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God no more then corruption incorruption 1 Cor. 15 5● Revel 21 27. There shall in no w●se enter into it any thing that defileth of which sort are the