of that Provident and Supreme Governour of all Things who causeth his Sun to shine upon the evil and upon the good and sendeth Rain on the just and the unjust Mat. 5. 45. This great Goodness of God towards us all our Saviour himself makes use of as a powerful Argument and Motive for our Charity and Tenderness towards one another And truly if we consider the infinite Perfections of God by reason whereof he standeth not in the least need of any nor of all his Creatures the infinite Greatness of his Majesty above us and its Distance from us By reason whereof he might look down upon us with Scorn and Contempt His infinite Power over us by reason whereof he might easily cast us down into the bottomless Lake upon any Provocation His infinite Holiness and Excellency by reason whereof every Provocation comes to be of infinite Demerit and together with all this if we consider the infinite disproportion that is between the Sins acted against him and the Faults we commit against one another who stand all of us upon the same Level and need all of us each others Assistance nor have we any Power over one another but what is given and precarious Nor provoke one another but with Offences that are Reciprocal And after all our mutual Follies are beholding to one another too as well for asking as for accepting each others Pardon If I say we consider all this we must needs discover a great deal of Force in this Argumentation that since God so loveth us so pitieth us so forbeareth us so expresseth his Mercy and Compassion to us certainly we ought also and the rather by much to Love and Pity and forbear and shew Compassion and Kindness unto one another Love and bless and do good even to them that hate you that you may be the Children of your Father which is in Heaven saith the great Exemplar of Charity Matth. 5. 45. By the Children of God are meant according to the usual Scripture Sense of the Phrase such People as partake of the Divine Nature such as resemble God and are like-minded such as express a Similitude of those imitable Perfections which are most eminently in Him For as our Dispositions and Tempers are so is our Alliance Thus our Saviour told those wicked Jews in John 8. 44. Ye are of your Father the Devil And the Reason was because they did the Deeds and the Lusts of the Devil were of Devilish Spirits and Inclinations resembled the Devil himself by their Wickedness Some Sins as I told you before are ascribed unto the Devil after a more peculiar manner as Pride the Sin that cast him out of Heaven And Lying for which reason he is called a Lyer and the Father of it Joh. 8. 44. And so Slandering for which reason he is called the Accuser of the Brethren Rev. 12. 10. So also are Envy and Malice the Devil's Sins for which reason he is called a Murderer from the beginning John 8. 44. And is compared to a Lion that walketh up and down seeking whom he may devour 1 Pet. 5. 8. Now though People that are of such wicked Spirits may flatter themselves with a Perswasion that they belong to God yet in God's own account you see they are of the Devil's Family the Devil's Children and consequently Heirs of the Devil's Damnation because their Minds are of the same Venomous Temper and of the same ugly Hue and Complexion as if they had been Cast in the same Mould For the same Reason they whose Souls are pure and upright full of Grace and Goodness are called the Sons of God because they communicate of his Divine and Perfect Nature and resemble him in the Qualities and Dispositions of their Minds as Children are wont to resemble their Parents in the Features and Lineaments of their Bodies Nor can any Man resemble him better than by a kind and benevolent Disposition Because the Scripture doth up and down represent this as one of God's chief and most glorious Perfections a Perfection wherein he himself seems most of all delighted And therefore our Saviour discoursing of Mercy Charity and an Universal Love Matth. 5. singles out this as the strongest Argument to inforce the Practice of it that we may be the Children of our Father in Heaven and that we may be perfect even as our Father which is in Heaven is perfect 'T is not any formal Professions that bring us near unto God 't is not any dry Superstitions or empty Performances much less is it a furious Zeal for Notions and Opinions alas all this may be consistent with a Devilish Temper and Mind No it is a God-like Temper a Divine frame of Heart and chiefly a kind charitable and beneficent Disposition It is this this that ties us into a strict Relation to God into such a close Fellowship and Communion with him as maketh us his indeed As that Disciple observes whom the Lord Jesus particularly loved and who breathed nothing but Love himself 1 Joh. 4. 7. Love is of God and every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God And again V. 12. If we love one another God dwelleth in us and his Love is perfected in us And again V. 13. Hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit meaning that Temper and Affection which is so eminent in him And again V. 16. God is Love and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him Here then Men should lay their Hands upon their Hearts and examine how they beat what they are full of and how they are affected If Wrath and Bitterness Malice and Rancour Spightfulness and Uncharitableness dwelin them If self-Self-love Unmercifulness and Cruelty hardens them if the Wants and Miseries of others make no or very little Impressions upon them these are very bad Symptoms plain Signs that there is very little if any thing at all of God in such Hearts nothing but what savours of a narrow Spirit of a mean sordid and bruitish Nature Humane Rational Souls should have more exalted Faculties Souls that are of a Noble and Heavenly Extraction Souls that are so many Rays of the Divinity What can so become such Beings as Thoughts that are beneficial like the Sun-beams Affections that are as large as the Universe Motions and Operations like his who was the Redeemer of Souls whose whole Life was to go about doing Good His Miracles as well as his Sermons and Laws were Charity And by those Charitable Works he shewed himself to be the Son of God Nor may we think we can give the World or our own selves any satisfactory Evidence of our Relation to his Father or him but by Works of Charity as his were by doing Good to every Man as it lies in our power without Discrimination by Intreating them gently by bearing Wrongs and Indignities with meekness of Spirit by putting our Cause into God's hands without Self-revenge by blessing
Construction In a word it is a Generosity of Temper that is apt to suit it self to the condition of others according to the moving Nature of their present Circumstances The Rule of Righteousness is To render every Man his own But this may be without Charity and therefore this alone is beneath the Generous and Noble Disposition of a Christian it doth not come up to the perfect Law of Christ Charity though it hath a mixture of Justice in it yet it is a great deal more and that it may be compleat as it should be these two Qualifications are very necessary First That it be of the same Nature with that Affection which we have for our selves Secondly That it resemble that great Love which the Lord Jesus express'd for us all First Our Charity to others must be of the same Nature with the Affection we have for our selves This is the true Rule of Charity especially as it is heightned and improved by the Christian Religion Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self that is with the same good natur'd and kind Affection though it may be not in the same Measure and Degree There is indeed a sort of Self-love that is sinful an Affection that begins and ends at home too when a Man is for pleasing himself only when he seeks his own only when he makes himself the sole end of all his Actions and would fain engross to himself all that is good and desirable in this World begrudging his Neighbour any considerable Share or Proportion of it Now this is so far from being a Rule of Charity that there is nothing of Charity in it nothing more opposite to the true Spirit of Charity than such a selfish Temper But there is too an innocent kind of Self-love which necessarily riseth out of a Natural Principle of Self-preservation when a Man notwithstanding the greatness and largeness of his Mind doth consult the Good of others so as not to neglect his own but takes a due Care of himself in the first place This Natural Affection every one hath for himself and it is attended inseparably with these two Properties First Every one loves himself Vnfeignedly and Sincerely To be sure there is no Flattery no Pretence no Compliment in this case Our Affections may be believ'd and trusted when they speak favourably on our own side for no Man ever yet hated his own flesh We cannot but wish our selves well and those Wishes always come from our very Hearts And according to this Rule the Christian Law obligeth us to measure out our Charity to others It must be Love without dissimulation Rom. 12. 9. Love unfeigned 2 Cor. 6. 6. Love not in word or in tongue only but in deed and in truth Jam. 3. 18. Under colour of Affection to contrive or help one anothers Misfortunes is like the Charity of him who betrayed the Lord Jesus with a Kiss People are not wont to be Traytors to themselves after such a manner Though in the Consequence and Event they many times prove their own Enemies and the worst Enemies they have yet no Man betrays himself with Judas his Purpose the Intention on which we all act is still levelled at that which we believe or suppose to be good for us And this is properly to love our Neighbour as ones self to be as really solicitous for his Welfare in all respects as for ones own to have the same reality and sincerity of Purpose to be influenced and animated with the same quality and truth of Affection though the Case may admit of a difference as to proportion Secondly Another Property that attends all innocent Love of our self is that it is firm and constant Because it flows from an innate Principle of Self-preservation it must of necessity hold and continue as long as Nature it self lasteth nor can any Circumstances Events or Disappointments alter any Man's Temper so as to render him fickle and unsteady to himself much less dissolve the strict Band which ties his own Heart to him faster than that which was between the Souls of Jonathan and David Why thus too must Brotherly Love continue Hebr. 13. 1. because the Reasons of Charity are ever the same viz. The Obedience we owe to the Law of God and the common Wants among Mankind which always call for our mutual Pity and Assistance there is a constant necessity for our Minds to be always benevolently and tenderly disposed And though Resentments may and oftentimes do unavoidably happen by reason of the Ignorances of some the Passions of others and the Hereditary Infirmities of us all yet no Provocations or Injuries must affect Men so as to harden their Spirits or fill their Bowels with Gall and Wormwood Since the fix'd Rule is that we must Love our Neighbours as our selves we are no more permitted to be weary of our Charity to other Men than we permit our selves to be weary of doing good to our own Souls But there is a higher and nobler Rule of Charity yet and that is to Love one another as the Lord Jesus himself hath loved us Because the Love even of ones self may be defective imperfect and mixed with some Alloy therefore the great Lover of all our Souls hath made his own Charity to be the Standard and Measure of ours Upon which account he calls it A new Commandment A New Commandment give I unto you that ye love one another as I have loved you that ye love one another John 13. 34. In respect of the Matter of it the Law of Mutual Charity is an old one for it hath been written in the Hearts of Men from the beginning and it was expresly given to the Jews Lev. 19. 18. It is a New Commandment in respect of that High and Eminent Degree to which our Blessed Saviour hath raised it Men's Charity now must bear a Resemblance of his Love one another as I have loved you This is the thing which makes it a New Commandment indeed The Scripture speaks of three Things especially which were peculiarly remarkable in the Love of Christ 1. That he extended his Love to open and declared Enemies The Old Commandment which required the Jews to Love their Neighbour as themselves permitted them to Hate an Enemy nay in some cases bound them to express all manner of Hostility against such as were Aliens to the Faith and to the Commonwealth of Israel But saith the Apostle God commended his Love towards us in that while we were yet Sinners Christ died for us and when we were Enemies we were reconciled to God by the Death of his Son Rom. 5. 8 10. And again when we were alienated and Enemies in our Minds by wicked Works Col. 1. 21. That is this was a stupendous a most amazing Expression of Christ's Love that he undertook the great Work of Redeeming a profligate World wretched Creatures that had bid God defiance that were Haters of all that is Good and Holy and thereby had brought themselves into a
A Practical Discourse UPON CHARITY In its several Branches And of the Reasonableness and Vseful Nature of this Great CHRISTIAN VIRTUE By EDWARD PELLING D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to Their Majesties and Rector of Petworth in Sussex LONDON Printed by E. I. for W. Crooke at the Green-Dragon without Temple-Bar 1693. THE CONTENTS THE Introduction Page 1. The Nature of Christian Charity what it is and how it differs from Justice 6 The Benefit that comes to ones Mind by a Charitable Temper 25 The Resemblance it bears to the Nature of God 34 How it serves to answer the Great Ends of the New Covenant 47 How it fits and prepares us for an Happy State hereafter 61 How we are to express our Charity 75 Several ways of expressing it according to the Characters given of Charity by St. Paul 76 Charity must be express'd by not being Angry on a sudden 79 Charity must be express'd by moderating Anger 82 Directions for the Government of this Passion 92 We must express our Charity by all manner of Kindness p. 104. To another's Soul p. 111. To his outward Wants p. 112. And to his Credit also p. 116 Charity forbids us to be Envious and why 119 Charity forbids us to be Precipitant and Rash 128 Directions to keep us from being Rash 131 We must express our Charity by our Humility and why Page 134 'T is inconsistent with Charity to do any Thing that is Foul or Indecent 145 We must express our Charity by seeking the Publick Good p. 157. Especially Peace p. 162 Charity forbids us to be Suspicious and Jealous-headed 178 Charity forbids us to Rejoyce at other Men's Sins p. 188. And at other Men's Calamities p. 194. Directions as to this p. 195 We must express our Charity by our Zeal for the Prosperity of true Religion p. 200. Directions as to this p. 203 We must expsess our Charity by concealing other People's Faults p. 209. And why p. 212. Directions p. 219 We must express our Charity by Believing the best of others in all Doubtful Cases p. 224. Directions as to this p. 228 Charity requires us to Hope well of others especially as to their future State 234 Christian Charity must be express'd by Patience in all Cases p. 247. By Patience in a Suffering Condition p. 250. And in case of Difference in Matters of Opinion p. 261 The Conclusion 275 A Practical Discourse UPON CHARITY THAT infinitely Wise and Beneficent Being that made the World to communicate himself to his Creatures and to make them Partakers of his Goodness hath given such Laws of Virtue to Mankind as serve not only to prepare us for the endless Felicities of another Life but also to make us in a great measure happy in this For those Virtues are Copies of God himself Transcripts of his own most Blessed Nature and therefore they must necessarily tend to make us happy because God himself is happy in them God's Happiness consisteth in the admirable Perfections of his Nature and the higher we rise in these Perfections the greater degrees of Happiness we must needs attain to because we approach the nearer unto God in the resemblance of whom the true and solid Happiness of Mankind doth consist though the corrupt part of the World doth evermore place it in other Things Those Virtues I now speak of are the Divine Perfections which are the Rule of God's Actions towards Mankind As the Purity and Holiness of his Nature by means whereof he hateth all manner of Iniquity his Essential Veracity by reason whereof he cannot lye his Faithfulness in the performance of all his Promises upon which account he is emphatically called The faithful God Deut. 7. 9. His Patience and Long-suffering towards the greatest Criminals not willing that any should perish the exact Rectitude of his Will by means whereof he offers not the least Injury to any part of the Creation but is Righteous and Just in all his Proceedings But above all his infinite Compassion a God full of Compassion he is called Psal 86. 15. by virtue whereof he is Gracious Merciful slow to Anger and plenteous in Goodness These Perfections the ever-blessed God communicates to Mankind according to their Capacities and in the exercise of these Virtues doth our true Happiness consist It is not Riches or Greatness or any Worldly Enjoyments that make our Minds or our Lives happy Then are we happy indeed when we are holy as God is Holy when we are Sincere and Upright Constant Patient and Just as God is and above all when our Mercy rejoyceth over Justice as God's doth when we put on Bowels of Mercy when we are Kind and Good and Tender-hearted towards one another when we forbear one another and forgive one another in short when we love one another as God himself loves us all This is our greatest Perfection a Perfection recommended to us in the Scripture under singular Characters above Faith or Hope or any other Grace And in the practice of this Virtue our truest Happiness must needs consist because it carrieth the greatest Resemblance of the Divine Nature God is Love saith the Apostle 1 John 4. 8. that is the Perfection of Love Goodness and Charity is in him In discoursing upon this Subject Charity as it relates to Mankind it will be necessary 1. First To explain the true Nature of it 2. To consider the Motives which serve to make it Practical 3. To shew the Way and Manner after which it is to be express'd I. 1. As to the Nature of Charity It is such a Principle of Kindness and Benevolence as doth dispose us to do others all the good we can over and above that which is their due by the Laws of Common Justice This is to be noted carefully that we may understand the difference between Justice properly so called and true Christian Charity The Office of Justice is to do those Things which a Man hath a Civil Right unto Things which he can claim and challenge Things which cannot be denied him without manifest Wrong and Injury Now this even Irreligious and Hard-hearted People are capable of doing nor is this always a Virtue because it proceedeth many times not from Choice but Necessity Charity is a Tenderness and Goodness of Mind which constrains us to do more than what Humane Laws oblige us to 'T is a Virtue that stirs the Bowels that moves and works upon the Affections that extends our Compassion and enlarges our Hearts beyond the common Limits A Virtue that inclines us to be Benevolent unto all Men to wish them all the Good their condition calls for to be Supplicants for it on their behalf at the Throne of Grace to aid and assist them towards the obtaining of it and for the Love of God and for Religion-sake to help them not only to those Things which are really due from Vs but to those Things also which are necessary fitting and proper for Them tho' they be not Debts in a strict Sense and
use Reprehensions Reasonings Counsels Warnings Prayers every Thing that the miserable Creature needs and sometimes the greatest Pains are little enough I am loth to say too little But all is thought superfluous and to no purpose in a Case that is judged desperate All Endeavours as well as Hopes are given over because none will undertake a Task which he verily believes impossible It would be all one as if he should Preach or Pray over a Rock with a vain Design to remove it out of its Place with his Breath It is a great Discouragement even to a Charitable Man to have to do with those whose Spirits and Courses are wicked though they make great Professions of Religion And their Case is the more deplorable if they trust in themselves that they are Righteous while their Hearts and Souls are out of frame Yet an Hypocrite may be Reclaimed though with much difficulty The Shame of the World or the Gnawings of Conscience or the Melancholy Circumstances of a Sick Bed or the Frightful Prospect of Hell or some outward extraordinary Judgment may in time bring him to a sense of his sad Condition Captivity and Chains humbled Manasseh himself and one day God will be too hard for the sturdiest Sons of Belial Now as long as there are some though but faint and glimmering Hopes there are some Encouragements such as they be But for Labour which Men think will be certainly and utterly lost they can find no Reason and this is one great Mischief which comes by Uncharitableness of this kind that it damps the Minds and Endeavours of Men and violently hinders the carrying on of the Cause of the Son of God 2. But Secondly more than this such desperate Perswasions touching the forlorn State of others are a most powerful Temptation to those Uncharitable Wretches to Treat them with the extreamest Outrage who have the ill Luck to fall under their deadly Sentence Witness those Cruelties which have been acted by some Romanists as they have had the Power in their Hands over such as they are pleased to call Hereticks How false soever the Premisses be the Consequence is Natural For how can any gentle Dealings be expected by those who are presumed by these Zealots to be in a Damned State If God hath Cursed them why may not they If God hath consigned them to Eternal Flames why may not such as think so cast them into the Fire here This they believe is but the beginning of God's Work and where is the Fault if they do like God It is thus in all Cases where Men have the confidence to Usurp Christ's Authority and to Judge before the time whom they will they Save and whom they can they Punish with this Difference That in the midst of Wrath they think not as God doth upon Mercy Alas what becomes all this while of the great Christian Rule Charity hopeth all Things And the best it can of all Men Charity requires us to do others all the Good Offices which lie in our Power and when all is done the same Charity doth bind us also to leave every one to stand or fall to his own Master Lord that any Men should proceed to that sinful degree of Immoderation and Insolence as to confine all true Religion within a Party and to make another's Dissent the Infallible Mark of an Apostate and Reprobate 'T is well for us all that a Good God governs the World that he hath the Custody of our Souls and that he is to be the Judge who was the Redeemer of them For were we to determine one another's final Lot who is there almost that could be saved Suppose there were Five hundred Parties in the World after this rate it would be Five hundred to Nothing but every Man would be Damned because each Party would Damn all but it self and if that were Damned too by Four hundred ninety and nine it would be very great Fortune for it to escape Now what is all this but to thrust the Lord Jesus out of his Throne and for us to leap upon the Bench who must our selves be Arraigned at his Tribunal In the Name of God let us all walk by the same Rule and hope the best of all Men. Perhaps we may be sometimes mistaken in our Hopes but an Error of that kind hath an easie Pardon if it stands in any need of it I am sure we can be no Losers by our Charity Our Case may be desperate for want of it especially if our Uncharitableness drive us on to kindle Eternal Fires for our Brethren There the Loss is likely to be Infinite without any escaping We shall perish our selves by the Flames which we have raised as the King of Babylon's Servants did Dan. 3. 22. when they threw Shadrach Meshach and Abednego into the burning fiery Furnace Judge not saith our Blessed Saviour that ye be not judged For with what Judgment ye judge ye shall be judged and with what Measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again Mat. 7. 1 2. St. Paul himself though he had such abundance of Revelations yet he durst not take upon him to pass Sentence no not upon profess'd Infidels What have I to do to judge them that are without 1. Cor. 5. 12. They and all Mankind must be left to God's Tribunal who is the only Searcher of Hearts the only Judge that knoweth Infallibly who is or shall be his His Mercies are infinite his Paths are as yet past finding out His Ways are not as our Ways nor are his Thoughts as our Thoughts For as the Heavens are higher than the Earth so are his Ways higher than our Ways and his Thoughts than our Thoughts Isa 55. 8 9. He hath indeed affix'd a dreadful Penalty to his Laws especially under the Gospel But whether he hath not reserved to himself a Power of Remitting the Penalty in some special and extraordinary Cases is to us a Secret There is indeed but one ordinary and strait Path to Heaven by Faith and true Repentance yet who can tell but that the Wisdom and Providence of God may bring it so about that some little By-Paths wherein People of good and honest Minds though of different Perswasions do go now may in the end fall into the ready Road There is indeed this Doom annexed to the Promulgation of the Gospel He that believeth not shall be damned and yet Charity will not suffer us to pass the Sentence of Eternal Ruine either upon those Children which die Unbaptized or upon that vast Number of poor well-meaning Heathens who never heard of Christ and therefore lived and died in Infidelity For ought we know God may have some secret Ways of applying the Merits of Jesus Christ to the Souls of some People whom Censorious and Uncharitable Wretches look upon now as utterly lost and gone In all Cases we should judge Charitably of others as hoping for a favourable Judgment our selves And if in our Charity we chance to err 't is an
fortified with Patience would turn it off with an easie and safe Hand as a Bolt shot from a weak Man's Mouth and then there would be no harm there neither These Things are Obvious and were it only for want of Philosophy that People know not how to avoid Nettles there would be some Excuse for those who have not been blest with a Liberal Education But the common Reason of all Mankind can tell us that when we are Affected by a Foolish Expression the Sting comes rather from our own Fancy than from a few Syllables and that the Hurt we feel is in the Imagination that Works powerfully but too rashly upon the Brutish Appetite to seek Revenge and Satisfaction for Trifles In Patience possess ye your Souls saith our Saviour Luke 21. 19. It is a certain way to be Easie in the World and to the World which I am sure is no little piece of Charity Considering the vast Disadvantages which come to Mankind by our Boisterous Passions and the Common Hurt which one single Person may do to a great many by them hardly can any particular Man endure too much Even a Real Injury to himself is to be born with Patience till great Charity requires him to seek for some Redress and that too must be done with a Charitable Mind and after as just and as kind a manner as may be And after all it should be considered that the Reparation gotten may not answer the Damage wherein a Man involves himself and others for want of Patience at first 3. There is yet a third Reason why Charity should teach us to endure all Things and it is taken from the Kindness we owe even those our Enemies that bring us into Affliction and perhaps designedly As Unjust as they be Christian Charity obligeth us to do our best to bring them to a Sense of their Wickedness that so they may be led to Repentance Now Patience is a very probable means of bringing this about because it is a most amiable Virtue and the Sight of it is very moving very apt to work upon the Affections It is enough to make a deep Impression upon any Hearts that do not consist of Iron or Flint to see Men take it patiently when they do well and yet suffer for it Compassion is many times a much stronger Thing than Argument and it hath often made the Spirits of Cruel Men relent when hardly any Thing else could It is indeed a common Saying That by bearing one Injury you do invite and encourage wicked People to load you with more But such Instances are very rare where there is a true Sense of Religion or Humanity and those Natures must needs be very foul and dreggy which take Delight and Pleasure in heaping up Injuries upon Injuries Yet even in that case Time and Patience do Miracles because Conscience if it stirs once is a very troublesome Thing to a Wicked Man and that which makes the pursuing of Mischief a very troublesome Work so that many times base Intentions tire of themselves when the Patience of an Innocent Oppressed Person holds out and they tire the sooner by it Witness the great Changes which were made in the Minds of Persecutors chiefly if not merely by the wonderful Patience of Christians in the Primitive Ages Tiberian the President of Palestine sent the Emperor Trajan word That he was weary of his Proceedings Usher Append Ignat. p. 9. against the Galileans as Christians were then commonly called Their Invincible Courage and Constancy and Calmness of Minds notwithstanding all their sharpest Sufferings made multitudes of the Heathens not only weary of Persecuting them but weary too of their own Principles for they concluded that Religion was from God indeed for which such vast Numbers of Men and Women did suffer the most exquisite Torments with unshaken Minds and evenness of Temper without any Transport unless it were of Joy for their Tribulations Justin Martyr confesseth that it was the Thing that Converted him to Christianity Apol. 1 p. 50. For saith he when I saw the Christians go to their Torments and Deaths so Vndauntedly I thought it impossible that such People should live in Wickedness and the Love of Pleasures because it concerns all Vicious and Voluptuous Persons to avoid Death Their Unconquerable Patience was an Argument that Truth was on their side and this made Proselites even of their Enemies so that in times of Persecution their Numbers increased For which reason that Politick Emperor Julian that hated Christianity so many times hindred its Professors from being put to Death because their Patience wrought such wonderful Effects upon the Hearts of the very Pagans Where Patience is there is God the Power and Spirit of God And who knoweth how soon and how powerfully that Holy Spirit may work upon the Hearts even of the Children of Disobedience I told you before That the Law of Charity ties us to endure all Things with Patience however Troubles come upon us whether by the Injustice and Enmity of some or by means of the different Perswasions of others concerning Matters of Religion And before I shut up this Discourse it will be necessary for me to say something upon that Point of Charity Any one may see how vastly Prejudicial it is to the Peace and Interest not only of particular Persons but of the Publick State that even those whom we may reasonably presume to be Pious and Sincere Christians cannot differ in their Judgments as to some Opinions that are in Vogue but on each side they are very hardly thought and very hardly spoke of Nay as if the Persecutions of the Tongue were not keen enough the Uncharitableness of Heady People hath proceeded to Confiscations and Flames also Before I go on upon this Theme I must lay down these two Cautions 1. That I do not take upon me to Prescribe to the Civil Magistrate whose Office it is to look after the Good of the whole Community what is most Necessary or Prudent for him whether to permit or to prohibit Differences of Opinion I do not presume to Define here Nor 2. Is it my Meaning That all Opinions should pass abroad without Lett or Contradiction though they directly tend some of them to Subvert the Foundation of the common Christian Faith or to corrupt Good Manners or to destroy or injure Humane Societies But when Men are not Legislators for others but Judges for themselves only when Points are knotty and Disputable and hard to be clearly determined and when Opinions are harmless enough especially while they lodge in the Minds of peaceable and modest Men we should express our Charity to each other by allowing every one the Liberty of his own private Judgment without denying those of a different Perswasion from us either our Communion or our Affections 'T is unreasonable to make Opinions Arguments to set up strait a separate Party and to use them as the Men of Gilead did the word Shibboleth Judg. 12. 6. for a