consider what it means which is the reason why they are frighted with it less than with a Fire in a Chimney but that must be ascribed altogether to the want of thinking which we see makes Men even so brutish here that they venture upon Actions which lead them to the Gallows If Hell be really such a Fire as the Gospel describes it as undoubtedly it is a thinking or considerate Man will dread it infinitely more than cutting off a Limb or pulling out an of Eye the loss of these is Sport to that Fire When Nahash the Ammonite 1 Sam. xi 2 proposed to the Men of Jabesh Gilead that he would take them under his Protection if he might thrust out their right Eyes and lay the Punishment as a Reproach upon Israel the distressed Men if no help had come from above were content to suffer that Pain and Misery to avoid his greater Barbarities and therefore that Man must have no Sense no Reason I am sure no Faith that being in danger of being cast into Hell for want of this Watchfulness should not chuse a lesser Evil before a greater and prefer a momentary Pain before one Endless and Eternal But blessed be God this Watchfulness against Sin is attainable without plucking out the right Eye and cutting off the right Hand in a literal Sense even by great Industry and Courage and striving and taking pains with our selves And yet even this will not take with some of you If this Watchfulness against Sin might be had without Labour without Trouble without searching and trying your ways without Examination without Circumspection without fervent Prayer without meditating on the Love of God and the Charity of our Lord Jesus Christ it s like many of you would be contented to embrace it but these are perfect Impossibilities and Contradictions and when you can hope for a good Crop of Corn from a Field which you never Sowed and look for Fire out of a Flint when you never strike it and expect a rich Return from the Indies when you never ventured any thing In a Word when you can hope for Grapes of Thorns and Figs of Thistles then you may also hope to arrive to this holy Watchfulness without Industry All this I mention to let you see what a Value you are to set upon this Watchfulness against Sin if you do not you will never go about it like Persons concerned for what we do not value we mind not What 's the Reason that so many Thousands rush into Sin as the Horse rushes into the Battle They watch not they have not that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greek Fathers call it that advertency of Mind which is requisite and they have it not because they do not value it Did you value it you would leave no Stone unturn'd to be Masters of it and that which ought to make you value it is this that God in the Text saith it is of that Consequence that its worth plucking out your right Eye and cutting off your right Hand rather than to continue destitute of it But I hasten to consider the II. Proposition viz. That to attain to a truly Spiritual Life or to root up Habits of Sin if gentler Means will not do a Christian must apply himself to a more painful Discipline This is also very plainly intimated in the Text which though it requires not a real plucking out of the Eyes and cutting off the right Hand yet the Expressions here used do import some painful Labour which is to be done in order to arrive to those excellent Vertues and Qualifications which Christ requires in the preceding Verses This was very wholsome Doctrin in the Primitive Ages when Men entertain'd very high Thoughts of a Spiritual Life and the strange Self-Denials they practised the Mortifications they used and their acting contrary to the Humours Customs and Fashions of the World shews their Belief that such a Life was not to be had without such a Discipline In the Age we live in Men have found another way of Mortifying themselves an easier and softer Way and they hope to mortify their Luxury in the midst of all the variety of Dishes which can tempt a lawless Appetite and they hope to mortify their Pride by allowing themselves in all the vain Dresses the World doth invent and to mortify their Anger by resenting the least Affront or Injury that 's offer'd them and to mortify their Wantonness by pampering their Bodies and giving themselves all manner of Liberty in Talking Jesting Fooling and to mortify their Covetousness by grasping as much as they can and their Love to the World by making the vainest Persons their Patterns and they hope after all to arrive to purity of Heart by sitting in Ale-houses and Taverns an admirable way to a truly Spiritual Life St. Paul took a quite different Method for he arrived to it by Weariness by Painfulness by Watchings often by Fasting often by Hunger and Thirst by Cold and Nakedness 2 Cor. xi 27 By keeping under his Body and bringing it into subjection 1 Cor. ix 27 By much Patience in Afflictions in Distresses in Tumults in Imprisonments by Knowledge by Long-suffering by Kindness by the Holy Ghost by going through good Report and evil Report by Honour and Dishonour c. 2 Cor. vi 4 5 6 7. And though all this seems a painful Way yet Love made it easy Love to the Lord Jesus a mighty Love a fervent Love a Love which made him count all things Dross and Dung for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. To root up a Habit of Sin whether of Anger or Pride or Covetousness or Love of the World or Intemperance c. is not to be done by cold Wishes or a spiritless customary Devotion and to get the Soul refined into the Life of God a Life of Meekness and Patience and Zeal and Courage and rellishing things Spiritual and delighting in them there is required great curbing of Affections and Self-Denials in things which Custom Fashion and a sickly Age counts Harmless and Innocent In Persons who are come up to a Habit of a Spiritual Life the gentler Means such as Prayer Resolution a conscientious use of the means of Grace Meditation Consideration c. may serve to maintain and preserve what with some Labour they have attained to And some excellent Tempers there are which by a secret influence of Gods Spirit are naturally inclin'd to Goodness and in such the gentler Means may do much But such happy Tempers are not very common Some there are so fickle so inconstant and so unsteddy that whatever good Desires they may have the next Temptation carries them off again makes them relapse and their Goodness proves a Morning Dew And such certainly stand in need of stronger Corroboratives And Experience teaches us how Habits of Sin the Effects of Custom and the Practice of many years mock all tender touches and therefore certainly here some more painful Discipline must be used
Office of a Magistrate is not superseded by this Command Nor 3. Doth this Law of loving our Enemies forbid us reproving an Enemy for the Sins he involves himself in by hating us much less doth it import that we are to love his Sins and Follies or flatter him in his Undecencies and Insolencies There is no doubt we may lawfully tell him of his Faults in a meek and rational way and seek to reduce him to a better Temper and in doing so we do nothing against that Love we owe him so far from it that it is an Argument of Hatred not to Rebuke him Lev. xix 17 Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thy Heart thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy Neighbour and not suffer Sin upon him Nor 5. Doth this Command import that we are to make an Enemy our Bosom Friend to whom we are to unburden our selves and make him acquainted with the Secrets of our Souls Friendship in this strict sence is Master of Discretion more than Duty nor is our Love to our Enemies prejudic'd by not making them Friends in this sence Indeed if by the Coals of Fire we heap upon their Heads if by the warmer kindnesses we shew them we melt them into a tractable and docible Temper and then prove occasions of their becoming new Men we may if we see it convenient raise our Love Unto a higher degree even to that of Friendship and make him that was an Enemy as our own Soul but while he is an Enemy he is not a Subject capable of entring into the Bond of Friendship with him except by Friendship we mean the acts of Love hereafter mention'd 6. As an Enemy is a Person who cherisheth a secret Spleen and Malice against us in his Heart and as occasion serves vents and expresses it either in his Words or Actions either by Reviling or Abusing us or doing Unkindnesses or attempting to Betray or Bespatter or to Ruine and Undoe us in which sence even a Husband a Wife and the nearest Relatives may be Enemies so this Love we owe them imports an inward Affection to them even Bowels of Mercy and Compassion and a certain tenderness within The acts whereby our Love to them is to be expressed must have some Root and that Root must be the Heart the true seat of Love and let no Man plead here that Love arising from the agreeableness of the Object it 's impossible there should be any real Love in the Heart toward an Enemy because of the disagreeableness of the Object to our Temper and Contrariety to our Humour and Interest for though there may be no agreeableness with respect to the Wrong he doth or hath done us yet there are other Respects and those more weighty and of greater Concernment in which a likeness and similitude appear and consequently a suitable Foundation for this Love For 1. He is God's Creature and so are we 2. He is a Man and so are we 3. He is a Neighbour still nor doth the Wrong he doth us deprive him of that Relation 4. May be he is a Christian too and professes the same Faith the same God the same Jesus and the same Religion all which Respects make even an Enemy an agreeable Object of our Love Nay his very Enmity doth formally dispose and qualifie him for our Love for the nature of Love is That it is not easily provoked 1 Cor. xiii 5 And I need not tell you that Men are not provoked by Kindnesses but by Injurious Acts and these being the acts of an Enemy Love not being easily provoked by such acts the Enemy must be a very proper object of our Love But let 's go on and consider II. The particular acts of this Love or whereby this Love is to be expressed And the first is 1. Bless them that curse you This is to give good Language for bad kind Answers for Revilings praising the good that is in the Enemy for his denying that there is any in our selves and gracious Wishes for his base and horrid Imprecations The Apostles did so for being reviled we bless being defamed we entreat saith St. Paul 1 Cor. iv 13 This look'd great What a lovely excellent sight was this How pleasing to God how pleasing to Angels how pleasing to all rational and understanding Men Do but take a serious view of it you your selves cannot but like it approve of it and commend it What harmony what beauty what sweetness what evenness what perfection must there be in such a Soul What a command over his Passions must we suppose in such a Person and can any thing look more stately and magnificent And if there be such beauty in it why are not we enamour'd with it Why should we think much of it to cry God bless you when the Enemy cries God damn you Is not the one as easily said as the other and is there not far greater satisfaction in the one than in the other What if the brutish Man do curse us what hurt can his Cursing do us while we do not answer him according to his Folly The Curse may fall on his own Head but cannot singe a Hair of ours His ill Language doth it not look very odious in him and doth it change its Face or Nature if we use it by way of Retaliation Can that be lovely in us which all Men take to be deformity in him Doth not the Enemy sin grievously against God when he doth Revile or Curse us And shall not we be concern'd at his Sin How are we concern'd if we do not mourn for it How do we mourn for it if we do not pity him How do we pity him if we do not endeavour to reform him How shall we reform him except we shew him a good Example How can we shew him a good Example if we do not let him see that there is a better Spirit in us And how shall he be convinc'd of that if we do not return soft Answers for his rough and insolent ones even Blessings for Curses Such Christian returns God blesses sometimes with Conversion of the Enemy and thinks himself concern'd to reward the Self-denial with an extraordinary Providence To this purpose Moschus tells us That three Religious Men Travelling and losing their way and thereupon belated were forc'd to lie down on the Ground the Night coming on and the Sky growing very dark But so it happen'd that ignorantly they laid themselves down at the edge or corner of a Corn-field whereby they pressed a portion of Corn on the Ground Early in the Morning the Owner of the Field coming by and seeing what was done began to be in a Passion and cursed them bitterly saying You Religious Men if you had had the fear of God before you you would not have done so The innocent Men let him run on and then with all gentleness imaginable told him Truly you say right if we had had the fear of God before us we should never have done so
is not that a motive to go on from Vertue to Vertue In Temporals a little Gain tempts you to aim at a greater He that is easie desires to be easier He that is rich desires to be richer not that I approve of this desire but this is the Temper of Mankind Nay in some cases it may be lawful but here I am sure it 's necessary True Goodness is comfortable even in the lowest degree of it Comfort is the natural result of it and therefore I say having already felt and received something of Satisfaction from those small beginnings of Goodness which you allow are in you is not this an Encouragement to go on to a higher pitch Are you afraid of too much Comfort Or is that you have felt so contemptible that you despise all that you can promise your selves for the future If it were little or no bigger than Elijah's Cloud no bigger than a Mans hand that 's a very pregnant Reason why you should endeavour to enlarge and make it greater There is scarce a vicious Man but hath something of Goodness that lies mingled with all his filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness and behold even that grain of Gold as little as it is supports the Wretch against all the Terrors of his Conscience and keeps him from sinking under the load and burthen of his Sin I do not tell you how justly but of the matter of fact and the use I make of it is this If so small a quantity of Goodness is so great a Cordial what must a greater Portion and proportion be This is an Eternal Rule True Vertue causes Sweetness for all her Paths are Peace and that sweetness we taste is a just incentive to long for a greater degree as a Person that tasting of a Dish agreeable to his Pallate desires a fuller Enjoyment of it and thus we give People opportunity to see what we do which brings in the second Proposition II. Our good Works cannot be said to shine except Men see them Let your Light shine that Men may see your good Works When Men see that you are Compassionate and tender-hearted officious and kind and faithful and willing to help and that you love your Neighbours as your selves When they see That you are just in all your Dealings just to your Word just to your Promises just in your Traffick and Commerce and faithful in all you undertake when they see that evil Company cannot draw you to unlawful Games or to Intemperance in Eating and Drinking or to mispending your Time and that you are resolute to obey God more than Man when they see you make Conscience of what Christ Commands and that you express your love to God in such Acts as Flesh and Blood are against and your carnal Interest would hinder you from when they see that pleasing God is the work of your Life and that you can comfort your selves in your Tribulations with the things that are not seen and that you are not fond of the great things of this World but modest and temperate and sober and thankful for the Mercies you enjoy In this case your good Works do shine indeed and Men see them and is not this a more glorious sight than to see Croesus in his Throne or Cleopatra in her Vessel richly guilt and her Sails of Silk or Solomon in all his Glory For what was all that Glory but Paint and shew which perished But good Works are lasting Beauties they tarnish not they fade not they follow the Votary after Death go along with him to Heaven for their good Works follow them Rev. xiv 13 And there is reserv'd for them an Inheritance undefiled and incorruptible You are to convince the World that you are fully resolved to enjoy the Pleasures at the right hand of God but how will you convince them except they see you fight the good sight and resist Temptations and do as the Primitive Saints did Is that convincing them when they see you do things and venture on Actions which God protests shall exclude you from the Kingdom of Heaven Your good Works must be seen else you have reason to suspect them of Sophistication It is impossible to be truly Religious and to hide it from Men if we live among Men We may as well keep Fire from casting a heat as Goodness from being seen if it be genuine An invisible Religion is no Religion for Religion is nothing but Love even a fervent Love which will discover its Motions and its Flames and all Waters cannot quench them and Men cannot but perceive it If there appears nothing without nothing that looks like Love or Religion if nothing is to be seen all is but a Pretence and the Treasures we boast of imaginary and no better than the Riches Men think they are possessed of in a Dream when Fancy is playing in a slumber There is no doubt on 't if good Works are to be seen Men will behold them and take notice of them which calls us to consider the third Proposition III. If our good Works be any way considerable Men will take notice of them This is also limited here That others may see your good Works for this is grounded upon a Supposition for they will certainly observe and take notice No doubt they will not only those who have been enlightned and have tasted of the good Gift of God but even those who are Strangers to the Life of God Even a Herod will take notice of St. John's Austerity and Integrity and a Festus an Agrippa of St. Paul's Zeal and a Heathen Centurion of the admirable Behaviour of Jesus of Nazareth for Men have Reason and are inquisitive and will compare Actions with the Rules they have heard of most Men know more than they do and most Men give a shrew'd guess at the right way to Salvation and can tell whether such and such Endeavours are agreeable to the Path of Life and will take notice whether they be or not But except these good Works be considerable few Men will think them worth their Cognisance and that which will make them so are these six Ingredients 1. Great Patience under Injuries This looks very magnificent in the Eyes of Men of Judgment David's being unconcerned at Shimei's reviling the Apostles entreating when they were defamed St. Stephen's Praying for his Enemies when they stoned him this makes Men stare when Injuries cannot discompose us and Affronts cannot make us step out of the Road of Patience and we can bare up under Contempt and Dishonour without Grief or Passion or Revenge and look to the Example of Jesus and like him return Blessings for Cursings this even astonishes carnal Men and to be sure must look lovely in the Eyes of good Men. 2. Great Acts of Charity such Acts especially as those of Christ to Malchus who came to apprehend him and whose Ear he cured and such as we read of in Ecclesiastical History of the Christians of old who did good to those
the progress of Goodness and of the Kingdom of God prompted his Instruments and Agents to blacken the Noble attempt with hard and dreadful Names the most likely way to fright people from submitting to it It was so in the beginning of our Reformation when our Governours and Spiritual Pastors began to look more narrowly into the Errors and Corruptions of the Church of Rome and resolv'd to rectifie what was amiss and contrary to the Word of God All the dreadful Imputations the Church of Rome could invent were made use of to hinder the glorious Work The Reformers were traduced as dealing with the Devil their Doctrine was called New and Strange and Antichristian never heard of in the World before nay styled Blasphemy and Arianism and Manicheism and Mohometanism and what not It is so still even in private Reformations Let a person break loose from the Devil and his evil Companions and by a secret impulse of God's Spirit betake himself to a life Spiritual and conformable to the Rules of the Gospel presently Mens Tongues are let loose against him especially if accidentally he be guilty of some little Imprudencies These are straitway aggravated and his whole design charged with Baseness and Hypocrisy and he is either become a Fanatick or mad or proud or ill-natured or bad Company or something that may render him odious But this must be no discouragement to a person that knows that this hath been an old stratagem of the Devil as old as the Fall of Adam when he put false Interpretations upon God's Prohibitions and accused even God himself of Envy and Ill-nature What! Could God say indeed ye shall not eat of this Tree He knows that that very moment ye eat of it ye will be wise and knowing and omniscient like himself and therefore forbids you this delicate Food He that will be saved must break through all these Cobwebs and esteem the reproach of Christ greater Riches than all the Treasures of the World II. Though the end of the Law and the Gospel are one and the same yet still there are remarkable differences which discover the excellency of the one above the other 1. The Author of the Law is God speaking by Moses the Author of the Gospel is the same God but speaking by his Son 2. The Law of Moses revealed much the Gospel much more especially with respect to the Incarnation and Life and Death and Resurrection of Christ Jesus 3. The Law was the shadow of good things to come the Gospel the truth and substance of them 4. The Law caused Fear the Gospel produces Love and hence arise two different Spirits the Spirit of Fear and that of Adoption 5. The Law promis'd Temporal Blessings the Gospel Eternal and though something of Eternal Life was revealed to those under the Law yet it was truly manifest to those under the Gospel 6. The Law was a Heavy burthen the Gospel an easy Yoke 7. The Law was our Schoolmaster to lead us to Christ The Gospel is the Mark the Law did aim and point at 8. The Law reacht the Jews only the Gospel all Mankind 9. The Law as to the ritual part was Temporary the Gospel Eternal 10. The Law had great Imperfections the Gospel was a most perfect Discipline 11. The Law discover'd the Will of God and help'd to make People sensible of their Sins and Transgressions of Gods Commands the Gospel Administers Grace to perform and do them 12. The Law converted but few the Gospel made innumerable Proselytes Yet after all as I said the Law and the Gospel are the same in Substance both contain the Will of God they have the same Author press the same Duties both Centre in Christ both are intended to make Men Holy and Spiritual and ready unto good Works only the Gospel sets things in a greater Light and ministers stronger Motives and nobler Encouragements so that the Law is not contrary to the Gospel nor doth the Gospel abolish but Establish it The Law especially the Moral contains the same Duties in substance the Gospel doth and therefore is still as obligatory as the Gospel Want of Faith made People careless of the Observance of it and want of Faith hath the same unhappy Effects under the Gospel And therefore the Apostles Exhortation was very seasonable and ought to be taken notice of by every one of us Heb. iv 1 2. Let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us of entring into his Rest any of you should seem to come short of it for unto us was the Gospel preached as well as unto them but the word preached did not profit them not being mixt with Faith in them that heard it III. Christ came to fulfil the Law and the Prophets so must we fulfil the Law of the Gospel for what he did here was for our Example as St. Chrysostom notes As he fulfilled the Law and the Prophets so our business is to fulfil that Gospel which the Law and the Prophets pointed at In a word this is the Law we are to live by He that looks upon the Lives of Men that profess the Gospel would be apt to think that this Law was given only for Formalities sake so little of the Power of it is to be seen in their Conversation If the Behaviour of Men who call themselves Christians were the measure of our Judgment we might conclude the Gospel stands for a Cypher which signifies very little or if it signifies any thing declares rather Gods wishes that things were at a better pass and that we were such Persons as that Law describes than Arguments of Gods peremptory Will that we must and shall be obedient or else be miserable and buried in the Ruins of Eternity Thus things stand and one would think you believe that your Resoluteness not to mind the Injunctions of the Gospel is your Security against the Terrors of its Threatnings But could this lessen the Authority of the Law or make an Alteration in the Obligation or could it prevail with the Law-giver to give over pressing Obedience as a thing that is not to be effected and in vain to urge something might be said for their refusal But these are Dreams and feverish Fancies and you 'll find the woful and wilful mistake when it is too late This Law you are bound to lay before you as much as the Law of the Land nay more than that as it is of greater Concernment In this you are to study Day and Night and by this Law your Thoughts Desires Speeches Actions and your outward and inward Man are to be governed let Men say of you what they will let them commend or discommend you slander or praise you still you are to remember you have to deal with a Law-giver who is able to save and to destroy The Gospel gives ease it's true and frees you from Burthens but it is from the load of the Ceremonial Law not from the Obligations of the Natural Moral and Eternal Law of
the first Insinuations of it and the dangerous Spark as soon as thrown in must be shaken out of their Bosom Lust in some Persons is naturally stronger than it is in others and its Motions more violent in one Man than in another where it is so greater care must be used but still the chief Remedy is to beat off the first Images and Representations of it My Text gives me occasion to speak here of the proper Remedies whereby this Sin may be cured but because the two next Verses treat of these Receipts I shall reserve the Discourse of such Medicines till that Occasion 2. If impure Thoughts are so dangerous what then must be obscene Expressions and filthy Jesting and amorous Songs and talking of things which a modest Person must blush at And yet how fashionable are such Discourses grown And stiled Wit and Salt and ingenious Repartees A true Christian is a very chast Creature and he counts it but a pitiful Piece of Self-Denial to forbear the outward Acts of Adultery or Fornication or Sins of that Nature His Chastity appears in his Words and Expressions too Nay he goes farther than that and will not suffer a Lustful Thought to lodge in his Breast and then how should he allow himself Liberty in Discourses and Speeches which intrench upon the Rules of Gravity and Modesty He that is a stranger to this Watchfulness over his Words may call himself a Christian so we call a Picture a Man but he had need go to School again and learn which be the first Principles of the Oracles of God and among these he 'll find these two necessary Rules Ephes. iv 29 Let no corrupt Communication proceed out of your Mouths but that which is good to the use of Edifying that it may minister Grace unto the hearers and Ephes. v. 3 But Fornication and all Vncleanness and Covetousness let it not be once named among you as becomes Saints neither Filthiness nor foolish Talking nor Jesting which are not convenient but rather giving of Thanks 3. Give me leave to Suggest to you that there is a Spiritual Adultery which many of us who perhaps detest Carnal Adultery as they do Toads and Serpents may be very guilty of And this as well as the Sin of the Flesh excludes from the Kingdom of Heaven and it is no other than inordinate Love of the World or such a Love of the World which makes us neglect our Duty to God and to our own Souls To this purpose St. James Jam. iv 4 Ye Adulterers and Adultresses know ye not that the Friendship of the World is emnity with God and whosoever will be a Friend of the World is an Enemy of God We are Married to Christ Jesus He is our Bridegroom and our Husband who bought us with his Blood and made us his own by the dearest thing imaginable by laying down his Life for us And there is none that knows how Love Affection and Fidelity and seeking one anothers Happiness are the indispensable Duties of married Persons but must grant that these Qualifications must necessarily be required of us with respect to our Lord and Master and Husband Christ who hath not failed to do his Part but hath loved us discovered his Faithfulness to us and sought our Happiness even to Astonishment If we make not the same returns or pay that Love and Fidelity to the World to the Riches and Pleasures of this Life which are due to him as our Husband we become Adulterers and Adulteresses and the love of the Father is not in us 1 Joh. xi 16 Carnal Adultery is a crying Sin one of the blacker sort A Sin so heinous that the Primitive Church especially the African would give no Pardon for it no though the Offendour were never so Penitent nor admit him to their Publick Prayers and Communion Such dreadful Apprehensions had they of this Sin if a Person fell into it after Baptism Indeed it is a Violation of the most sacred Institution of God and making a Separation there where God hath commanded the greatest Union It is a manifest Violation of that Faith which was given to each other before God and the elect Angels and the whole Congregation It is an Injustice attended with Profanation of God in whose Name the Parties were joined together there is Theft there is Robbery in it for one of the Parties is not only Robbed of his or her right but of the greatest Jewel which is Peace and content of Mind It is a Profanation of the greatest Mystery of our Religion even the Union of Christ and his Church which is represented by Marriage And if the Conscience in the guilty Person awakes on this side the Grave it will fill the Soul with very great Horrour kindle Hell fire in her Bosom as a presage of the Flames that will shortly if God's Mercy doth not interpose be her Portion in the other World So heinous a Sin is Carnal Adultery And shall we make nothing of Spiritual Adultery Which must necessarily be as dreadful as the Person whom we are tied to is more excellent the Wrong that 's done to him greater and his Arm more powerful to revenge our Treachery In the two standing Sacraments of the Church we own this Marriage and profess we are united to God in a Matrimonial Bond that we are joined to Christ Jesus and that we will be Faithful to him beyond all Persons whatsoever Love nothing like him Honour and Reverence him as our Head and suffer our selves to be guided by him If we neglect all this care not for so great a Person are taken with Trifles more than with his Love and espouse those Sins which his Soul doth hate if we leave him in Adversity forsake him in the time of Danger comply with the World and had rather part with a good Conscience than with our Ease and Profit and Advantages in the World Is this Matrimonial Love Is this being faithful to the Husband of our Souls Is not this breaking the Bond and dissolving the Tie and divorcing our selves from him who loved us and wash'd us with his own Blood And will not this Perfidiousness make him break out in the Language of a disconsolate Husband I am broken with their whorish Heart which hath departed from me Ezech. vi 9 Well a Christian that 's sensible of the Unreasonableness of such Perfidiousness I am sure will take another Course and submit himself heartily and willingly to the Saviour of the Body Christ Jesus and like a loving dutiful Wife be subject to him in the fear of God and that 's the way to share in all his Benefits even in the Benefits mention'd Ephes. v. 25 Husbands love your Wives even as Christ also loved the Church SERMON XXVI St. Matth. Ch. v. Ver. 29 30. And if thy right Eye offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee for it is profitable for thee that one of thy Members should perish and not that thy whole Body should
wonder ought we to look on that embroider'd and bespangl'd Sky that lower Heaven where so many Lamps and Lights and Stars do shine Good Lord what Art what Curiosity what Order what Harmony what methodical Motions do we see there enough to justifie David's saying The Heavens declare the glory of God and the Firmament his handy work If the outside be so gay what must be the inside How justly may we admire God's Goodness Wisdom and Power and cry out with the Psalmist How wonderful are thy Works in Wisdom hast thou made them all But with what Astonishment and Joy together ought we to look upon the third and the highest Heaven where the true Pleasures are Spiritual Great Infinite and Everlasting where God in a most eminent manner displays his Glory to Angels and to glorify'd Saints a place which we have hopes to come to If there were no other Promise made us but that of bare seeing it it were enough to oblige Curiosity to do all that 's possible to come to the sight of it How much more then are we obliged to do our utmost when we are promised not only to see but to enjoy it too even the Riches the Splendor and the Lustre of it and how this is to be compassed I need not tell you David having done it to my hand for having ask'd the Question Lord who shall ascend the Hill of the Lord or Who shall dwell in his Holy Place he answers He that walks uprightly and works Righteousness and speaks the Truth in his Heart He that back-bites not with his Tongue nor takes up a reproach against his Neighbour in whose Eyes a vile Person is contemned but he honoureth them that fear the Lord c. IV. We see here what a mean Opinion we are to have of this Earth wherein we dwell since it is God's Foot-stool It is God's Foot-stool and it ought to be ours too i. e. As God hath put it under his Feet so should we put it under ours i. e. undervalue and despise it not as it is God's Creature but as it tempts to seduce our Hearts from him who most justly claims them Poor Mortals How do we dote upon this Globe Creatures made for Heaven and designed to be Companions of Angels How highly do we prize these Inferiour Comforts How fond are we of this Dust How enamour'd with the Minerals of Gold and Silver which God hath hid in the Bowels of the Earth to keep them from being admir'd With what eagerness do we bring them forth and then fall down and worship them Where these grow they say nothing else will grow It is so with an Earthly Mind where that Rules no Grace no Vertue no Devotion thrives yet this is a Lesson which we will not understand nor consider how inconsistent the fondness of this Earth is with our love to Heaven We would enjoy both and lose neither would take our fill of the good things of this Life and of the Comforts hereafter though Abraham in the Mansions of Glory and he should know God's Mind was of another Opinion when discoursing to Dives rolling in Flames Son remember that thou in thy Life-time receivedst thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented Luk. xvi 25 It 's true we must live and Converse and endeavour after a livelihood here but is it therefore necessary to cling with our warmest Affections to it Is it therefore necessary to rejoyce in it as in our greatest Felicity Is it necessary to grieve for the loss of these outward Blessings as if all our Happiness were gone Is it necessary to make them an impediment to our Duty an obstacle to Vertue or a stumbling-block in our way to the Mansions of Glory The Apostles were aware of these Excesses and therefore they lay down Rules for our deportment as to the comforts of this Life St. Paul especially 1 Cor. vii 29 The time is short it remains therefore that those who have Wives be as though they had none and those that weep as though they wept not and those that rejoyce as though they rejoyc'd not and those that buy as though they possess'd not and those that use this World as not abusing it V. God is call'd a Great King here He is so greater than Herod whose Grandure the Jews at that time admir'd greater than the Roman Emperors whose Magnificence was cryed up in those Days by all the World greater than Sennacharib than Ahasuerus than Nebuchadnezzar than Darius and all the mighty Names which have filled the World with their Splendor But why do I mention these Bubbles All Nations before him are but as the Dust of the Balance and as a drop in the Bucket and if so what a small pittance of that little drop must the greatest Monarch be Is God so great a King and is it not reasonable we should come before him when we come to pray to him or to praise him with the deepest Humility and as St. Bernard speaks Conceive our selves to be entring into the Court where the King of Kings sits on a bright and shining Throne surrounded with an Host of glorious Angels and crowned Saints as poor Worms crawling out of our Holes vile Frogs creeping out of our Mud and approaching the Divine Majesty With such Thoughts let 's appear before him and whatever Greatness or Magnificence we see and observe in Princes and great Men here on Earth let 's conceive something infinitely greater in God which cannot be expressed And if his Greatness were duly represented to our Minds and preserved in our Hearts how devoutly should we pray how humbly should we beg how reverently should we adore him how readily should we stand in awe of him How circumspectly should we walk How diligently should we obey him How afraid should we be of offering him sleepy careless dull and drouzy Devotions the blind and the lame Services I mean the unwilling sick and hypocritical and such as our Governors would scorn and therefore God cannot but despise For Cursed be the deceiver which hath in his Flock a Male and Vows and Sacrifices unto the Lord a corrupt thing for I am a great King saith the Lord of Hosts and my name is dreadful among the Heathen Mal. i. 14 VI. See here what poor weak and infirm Creatures we are since we are not able to make one Hair of our Heads white or black One would think so small and inconsiderable a thing shou'd be within the reach of our Power but it seems it is not and if we are not able of our selves to do the least how shall we be able to do the greatest thing i. e. become wise to Salvation So true is that Saying of the Apostle We are not sufficient of our selves to think any thing that 's good as of our selves but our sufficiency is of God 2 Cor. iii. 5 In natural common temporal and ordinary Concerns his help is absolutely necessary for
whether he will take any Interest at all This must necessarily be so for notwithstanding this Law Patience under Injuries was a Vertue still even among the Jews to whom it was permitted by their Law to demand an Eye for an Eye and a Tooth for a Tooth or a Punishment in the same kind Thus stood the Case among the Jews And here lay their Crime The permission God gave them to demand Retaliation of the Magistrate to prevent a greater Evil by the Instigation and Instruction of the Pharisees they applied to the lawfulness of private Revenge and returning Evil for Evil and made that a Duty which at the best was but a permission vouchsafed to Carnal Men more than to Spiritual and would not understand that the Eternal Law of Goodness requir'd nobler Actions Christ who came to perfect Humane Nature and to reduce things to the best and primitive State makes that Patience under Injuries which was at least lawful among the Jews a Duty and what they might have done he commands to be done which is the second thing to be consider'd II. What Christ says to us who pretend to be his Followers But I say unto you that you resist not Evil i. e. the Evil Man that doth you an Injury But whosoever shall smite thee on the right Cheek turn to him the other also In which Precept 1. Christ intimates that the Law of Retaliation An Eye for an Eye c. was suited to the Jewish Oeconomy when the Church was in her Infancy but that was no just Obstacle to God's endeavours to lead Men to higher Perfection and consequently no contradiction to the Law he was going to deliver And since not resisting the Evil or Injurious Man was better than Resisting because it shew'd greater Courage it was convenient that what is better should be chosen by his Disciples who had better Promises Even in the Old Testament Non-resistance was better than Resistance and since it was necessary that his Followers should apply themselves to what was best he injoins this Non-resistance 2. By saying so he doth not forbid defending our selves in case we receive an Injury and shewing Reasons why we are unjustly dealt withal for he himself did so when he stood before the High-Priest and one of the Officers struck him with the Palm of his Hand John xviii 23 If I have spoken Evil bear witness of the Evil but if Well why smitest thou me Nor 3. Doth Christ forbid speaking to others to clear our Innocence to the Unjust or Injurious Man for St. Paul being wrongfully accused of the Jews and upon the point of being killed having been struck but just before called a Centurion to him and desired him to bring his Sisters Son to the chief Captain to vindicate his Innocence and to Rectifie his Mistakes concerning the Aspersions the Jews had cast upon him Act. xxiii 17 Nor 4. Doth Christ forbid here out of love to Justice and out of Respect to the Publick Good to Address our selves to the Magistrate in greater Injuries where Life and Fortune are concerned to complain to him and entreat him to bind the Offender to his good Behaviour and Restrain him from doing greater Mischief for St. Paul himself did so by appealing unto Caesar Act. xxv 11 But 5. That which is directly forbidden here is not only private Revenge and returning Evil for Evil but even going to the Magistrates in case of lesser Injuries such as Smiting on the Cheek to have the wrong Revenged and Punish'd And 6. That which is directly commanded here is this rather than return Evil for Evil to endure a greater Evil. Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right Cheek turn to him the other also i. e. rather than strike him again that strikes thee offer to him the other Cheek also So that upon a Review of the whole we find these three Duties enjoyned us as we are Christians I. We are not to return Evil for Evil. II. In lesser Injuries we are not presently to run to the Magistrate to have the Offender punished III. Rather than return Evil for Evil we are to endure a greater Evil. I. We are not to return Evil for Evil. This is not only the Language of the Gospel but the Language of the Law too for Solomon Prov. xxiv 29 gave Counsel to this purpose say not I will do so to him i. e. my Neighbour as he hath done to me I will render to the Man according to his Work which shews that even in the old Testament as I said before it was counted a nobler thing not to return Evil for Evil than to return it and that the Retaliation Moses speaks of was only permitted for the hardness of their Hearts The New Testament is so full of Commands of this Nature and I may add Examples too that it is almost needless to mention any however the principal you will find Rom. xii 17 20. Recompence to no Man Evil for Evil Dearly Beloved Avenge not your selves and 1 Pet. iii. 8 9. Be Pitifull be Courteous not rendring Evil for Evil nor Railing for Railing And that which makes this Precept very Reasonable is this 1. To render Evil for Evil is to Sin for Companies sake or to Sin because another Sins we should count that Man a very strange Creature that should make himself sick because another Man is so or run Distracted because another is Mad or Drown himself because another is weary of his Life The Man that doth us an Injury Strikes Wounds Abuses Reviles us or tells Lyes of us unjustly no doubt is sick his Soul is Distemper'd he acts below his Reason and runs the hazard of Drowning in the Gulf of Perdition and shall we do so He makes God angry with him and wrongs not only us but his own Soul too and are these things so Beautiful so amiable so Attracting that we need be fond of them It 's true we are apt to flatter our selves that what we do by way of Return is no Injury but a just Retribution but these are childish Evasions The Actions are the same the Wrath the Anger the Malice the Spight is the same our departure from the Rule of Vertue is the same and therefore the Sin must be the same So that in this case the blind leads the blind and we know what the consequence will be for both will fall into the Ditch 2. This rendring Evil for Evil is condemned by the very law of Nature which we learn best from Heathen Philosophers who had no Revelation to direct them Aristotle and Cicero indeed make it just and lawful to Revenge an Injury or to return Evil for Evil but the Platonists generally who had a greater Insight into the Nature of Morality and brought better minds to the study of it do look upon 't as a thing unworthy of a good Man and they call it falling into the same Distemper and Disorder that he is sick of who doth the Injury The Pythagoreans were of the same
Injury no doubt will be able to endure a less This is that policy a Christian is to make use of to Dissipate the Stratagems of the Devil and he that applies himself to this Method of resisting Revengeful Desires hath something to bear witness that he is become wise unto Salvation 2. This is an excellent sign that we have a huge command of our Passions and Affections Were I to shew a Christian in his Beauty I would shew him in this dress for he that is slow to Anger is better than the Mighty and he that rules his Spirit than he that takes a City Prov. xvi 32 The mighty Men whose Names sound big who have filled the World with Slaughters and made themselves masters of Kingdoms Cities Towns Countries have still been Strangers to this command of their Passions This command makes a Man a Christian for they that are Christ's have crucified the Flesh with it's Affections and Lusts and no doubt he shews that he hath Crucified all these that rather than return Evil for Evil endures a greater Evil. 3. This is the most likely Method to make People admire and fall in love with Religion which gives Men such power and enables them to do what Nature Art and Philosophy are not able to effect We have a great instance of this in a case not very unlike that I speak of in a pious Man in India who Preaching the Gospel to those Barbarians as he stood in the Street discoursing of Christ Crucified an Indian full of Spight and Spleen having gathered what filth and nastiness he could came up to him and spit full in his Face The good Man not at all concerned at the Affront gently wiped away the Spittle and went on in his Discourse not moved in the least with the injury an Act so Astonishing to that barbarous People that abundance came in and professed themselves Proselytes of Christianity There are so few Men in this Age that practice these stricter Precepts of our Religion that that 's one Reason why so few are Converted or become Obedient to the Faith Such extraordinary acts of Patience under Injuries would make Sensual Men stand amaz'd at the mighty Power of God in our Souls and oblige them to yield their Members Servants of Righteousness unto Holiness 4. From hence flows the sweetest Peace and Satisfaction even from hence when rather than return Evil for Evil we are ready to suffer a greater Evil. Self-denial is the Key that unlocks the hidden Treasures of Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost Hence came that mighty Peace we find in the Holy Apostles and their Followers St. Paul tells us a very strange thing of himself 2 Cor. vii 4 I am exceeding joyful in all our Tribulation This looks like the greatest Paradox What rejoyce in Chains in Hunger in Thirst and Nakedness What rejoyce in Dungeons in Prisons in Distresses by Land and by Water Is it possible to rejoyce in Persecutions in being made the filth and off-scouring of the World It had been something if he had said with Solomon Eccles. ii 4 I am exceeding joyful because I have made me great Works built me Houses planted Vineyards made me Gardens and Orchards planted me Trees of all kind of Fruits made me Pools of Water to water therewith the Wood that brings forth Fruit and gotten me Servants and Maidens and had Servants born in my House and because I have great Possessions of great and small Cattle and have gather'd Silver and Gold and the peculiar Treasure of Kings and have gotten me Singers and Women-Singers c. These are the gaudy things that make the Children of Men merry and joyful but to talk of being exceeding joyful under a very sorrowful scene of Misery this sounds as if the Apostle were besides himself But no the good Man was in his Wits his Reason strong and lively within him and he felt what he said and what could be the Reason of this Joy Why It was Self-denial and the greater the Self-denial is the greater is the Joy and what greater Self-denial could there be than what he mentions 1 Cor. iv 12.13 Being reviled we bless being persecuted we suffer it being defamed we entreat as if he had said Rather than return Evil for Evil we are ready to suffer a greater Evil Men in whom sense and love of the World reigns must needs be unacquainted with this Joy But thus it is not with Persons who live by Faith in the Son of God These both taste it and feel it and the reason is because they tread in the Steps of Christ Jesus who when he was reviled reviled not again and when he suffered he threatned not but committed himself to him that judges righteously 1 Pet. ii 23 Inferences 1. From these words it doth not follow that therefore the Office of the Magistrate is needless or that a Christian cannot lawfully and conscientiously be a Magistrate These words of our Saviour are indeed alledged to prove it and the Objection runs thus If we Christians are to endure Injuries patiently are not to demand Retaliation from the Magistrate and rather than Revenge our selves are to suffer a greater Injury the Office of a Magistrate which consists chiefly in revenging Wrongs and Injuries and in returning Evil for Evil is needless nay dangerous nor can a Christian conscientiously engage in an Office which obliges him to act contrary to the rule of Christ for what doth the Magistrate but resist the Evil Man and if he be not to be resisted how can a Christian safely execute or discharge that Office I answer That this Precept of our Saviour is given to private Christians or to Christians in a private Capacity and not to Magistrates will appear from the following Particulars 1. As Christ hath no occasion here to talk of Magistrates Christian Magistrates I mean so it cannot be rationally suppos'd that he prescribes any Law to them The Persons he speaks to were Disciples invested with no secular Authority and though he speaks to all his Disciples both those that were then and who were to succeed them yet he considers them still in the capacity of Christians not as they are or may be entrusted with Power and Authority for the Publick Good which respects must necessarily require other Measures 2. Christ did not come to destroy the Law but to fulfil it but if he had abolished the Office of Magistrates or made it unlawful he had destroy'd a considerable part of the Law of Moses which doth not only relate to Magristrates but makes the Office indispensibly necessary 3. Christ came to explain and revive the Law of Nature which Law requires Peace and Order in a Common-wealth and this not being to be had without Magistrates which may encourage those that do well and punish the Evil-Doers it must follow that Magistrates as Magistrates are not concern'd in this Precept 4. How can this Text be levell'd against the Power of Magistrates when Magistrates are the
unlawful if desires of Revenge lie at the bottom of the Suit To revenge our selves is absolutely unlawful and let the Concern be never so great if it be upon the account of Revenge that Revenge impoisons the Cause though good in it self and in a conscientious Man stops and must put a stop to his Proceedings I grant that Revenge in such Law-Suits is seldom the only Cause there being other Reasons and those perhaps lawful intermixt with the revengeful desire so in the crowd of Reasons Revenge is not taken notice of which makes Men flatter themselves that it is not Revenge that puts them upon the Process Yet where Revenge is the principal Motive whatever lesser Motive may mix with the Design the Law-Suit becomes unlawful not before Men but before God for the Command is express and peremptory Avenge not your selves Rom. 12.19 And yet after all as strict as this Precept is it doth not forbid going to Law in all cases whatsoever which brings in the III. Query If it be lawful in some Cases what those cases are and what Rules are to be observ'd in the management of it 1. That there are Cases in which it may be lawful to go to Law is evident from hence because the Precept speaks only of lesser Injuries and therefore it naturally follows that in greater Concerns it may be lawful 2. The Cases in which it may be lawful are such upon which either our own or another Persons livelihood depends particularly where Orphans and Widows are wrong'd and abus'd or the poor robb'd and depriv'd of their due or where the neglect may inevitably involve the ruine of our Families and Relations or hinder us from doing that good in the World we might and would do These are Cases of great Weight and Concernment For though the Apostle saith 1 Cor. vi 7 Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you because ye go to Law one with another why do ye not rather take wrong Why do you not rather suffer your selves to be defrauded Yet this must necessarily be understood either of smaller Matters about which they went to Law or of their going to Law before Heathens and Unbelievers or of Personal Wrongs when none was Hurt but the Person himself by the Injury In all which Cases much is to be said for Abstinence from Law-Suits Yet 3. When the Cause is great and weighty and will warrant our going to Law a Christian is bound in Conscience to try whether the Controversy may not be decided by Reference by referring it to wise and impartial Men who may judge between Brother and Brother as St. Paul expresly enjoins 1 Cor. vi 5 Going to Law must be look'd upon as some high Chymical Medicines never to be used but in very desperate Cases when all other Remedies fail And even then a Christian is to walk very circumspectly that his Footsteps do not slide For 4. Love of Justice must be the principal Motive a Desire and Care that neither we nor our Fellow Christians may be wrong'd that each may be deliver'd from Mistakes and from harbouring hard Thoughts one of another Here neither Revenge nor Vain-glory nor Humour must be an Ingredient but pure Affection to Righteousness and an honest Mind and sincere endeavour to do others as we would have others do unto us Mat. vii 12 5. In the prosecution of such a Law-suit the Offices of Christian Love and Charity must be inviolably maintain'd If that Bond of Peace be dissolv'd by the Suit the Law-suit becomes unlawful If Tricks and little Arts and underhand Doings and dealing Treacherously or Fraud or Deceit or Lying or suborning of Witnesses or any such unhandsom Practices intervene and mix with the Process on either side the Process becomes sinful and unchristian and God is offended and this is drawing Iniquity with Cords of Vanity Isai. v. 18 So that in such Law-suits even then when the weight and importance of the Matter makes them lawful the exhortation of the Apostle must take place Let brotherly love continue Heb. xiii 1 6. After all this the Party that loses the Suit must watch against Discontent Vexation Animosity and Fretting and worldly Sorrow for that worketh Death 2 Cor. vii 10 much less must the loser commence the Law-suit afresh except the Case be very extraordinary for this discovers a quarrelsome worldly carnal Temper of Mind and opens a gap to fresh Quarrels and Divisions and Disagreements which a Christian that is Conscientious cannot but think himself oblig'd to avoid if he remembers how the Apostle adjures him by the Mercies of God above all things to put on Charity which is the Bond of Perfectness Col. iii. 14 With these Limitations and Circumscriptions this dangerous Meat may be made not only palatable but wholsome But if any think that the strict observance of these Rules is a thing impossible in that case the best Advice that can be given is Not to go to Law at all which is the surest side of the Hedge For as going to Law hath abundance of Difficulties and Dangers in it so to be sure he Sins not that wholly abstains from Law suits This the Primitive Christians consider'd and therefore Athenagorus tells us their Custom was not to go to Law with any that had taken any thing from them and the very Heathens have commended it And now I proceed to the Second Precept Whosoever shall compel thee to go a Mile go with him twain Having said so much to the first Case I shall need to say but very little to this I shall only hint to you the reasonableness of this Precept also 1. This is an excellent way of making a Friend of an Enemy such Officiousness is very charming and if there be the least spark of good nature left in him this extraordinary Civility will blow the Coals and turn it into the Fire of Amity and Kindness Whether it hath this effect upon a turbulent Temper or no its tendency is to make a better Man of him And what should not a good Christian do to convert a Sinner from the Error of his Ways This is a very likely means and consequently ought to be used and being a Means of God's prescribing we have the greater reason to hope for good Success 2. Walking with such a Person another Mile may administer occasion for good and pious Discourses which may have a very good effect upon a rough and stubborn Temper especially if the excellent temper of Christianity be represented to him How kind how civil how obliging it makes a Man how it takes away from him all sowreness of Spirit and teaches him to do Good for Evil and to win Men by kindnesses We know Pious Discourses have wrought sometimes upon Men strangely untractable and who knows but upon such a Man that shall compel us to go with him a Mile such Discourses may make a very great alteration to the saving of his Soul All that I shall say by way of Application shall
great Men by the Examples of good Men by the Examples of my ordinary Neighbours and shall the greatest Example the Example of God the Example of Christ Jesus make no impression upon me How easie a matter were it to draw such Inferences from what we believe and what a damp would this be to our Hatred And yet to see how careless how regardless we are of it and in despight of this great Example which we commend and magnifie justifie our Animosities against those whom we look upon to be our Enemies would make a Rational Man conclude and very justly too that whatever we pretend or talk of we do not believe that Christ died for us when we were God's Enemies What believe it and have no sence of it or if we have a sence of it not to gather our Duty from it Would any Man think that we are of the number of those Believers we read of Heb. xi Their Belief affected and wrought upon their Hearts and put them upon Heroick Actions and as God had done by them so they did by others This puts me in mind of the Justice of that Expostulation and the Proceedings we read of Matth. xviii 32 33 34. Then his Lord after he had called him said unto him O thou wicked Servant I forgave thee all that Debt because thou desiredst me Shouldst not thou also have had Compassion on thy Fellow-Servant even as I had pity on thee And his Lord was wroth and deliver'd him to the Tormentors till he should pay all that was due unto him Do you make the Application II. Though the Law of Moses enjoyn'd this Precept To love our Neighbour as our selves yet the Gospel presses it much more and in greater Instances too As by our Neighbours in the Gospel are meant not only our nearest Friends and Relatives not only those who dwell near us and about us not only those of the same Church and Religion with us but all our Fellow Christians and all Persons who were redeemed with the Blood of Jesus so our Love is to extend to all these and especially to them of the Houshold of Faith To this purpose St. Peter Honour all Men Love the Brotherhood Indeed this Love to our Fellow Christians the Apostles press with more than ordinary Fervour They lay the stress of Religion upon it and when they would describe Christians who thrive under the Showers and Irrigations of the Gospel they say That their Faith grows exceedingly and the Charity of every one toward each other abounds 2 Thess. i. 3 This was the distinguishing Character of the Primitive Believers and their Love one to another their dear their tender their affectionate Love one to another was taken notice of beyond any other Vertue whatsoever They called themselves Brethren and Sisters and by the Brotherhood or Fraternity they meant the Christian Church as appears from Clemens Romanus Their Hospitality their Candour their Veracity their Beneficence were the wonder of all Spectators Their tenderness to the Afflicted to Prisoners to Captives to the Sick and the Lame to the Ignorant and to their very Enemies was unspeakable insomuch that Julian the Apostate saw there was no way to propagate Heathenism like that of imitating Christians in their Works and Labours of Love and Charity Hereby shall all Men know that ye are my Disciples if ye love one another and so it was in those purer Ages and they were known more by their mutual Love than by their talking of Christ Jesus How is this Character inverted at this Day and one may say Hereby do all Men know who are Christians even by their hating one another I know not which is the harder Task whether Love to God or to our Neighbour Sure I am that many who pretend great love to God are strangely defective in their love to their Neighbours What a stir do many Men make about Religion and yet make nothing of Slandering Abusing Deriding Undervaluing their Neighbours My Brethren Doth a Fountain at the same place send forth bitter Water and sweet Indeed none is so fit to love God dearly as he that doth exercise himself very much in Love to his Neighbour It 's true one must help the other and Love to God must Influence that to our Neighbours but still great acts of Love to our Neighbours are the best Preparatives for high degrees of Love to God The Branches of this Love to our Neighbours are many and various and he who abounds in these acts of Love gets a Holy assurance that he is neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Lord How do we confine our Love to little Sects and Parties and from hence comes that bitterness of Spirit of one Party against another and how hard is it to find a Christian of a truly Catholick Love and Charity When shall we be wiser When shall that pristine Unity and Purity return When shall that admirable Spirit which shined so bright in the primitive Believers revive again Lord When shall thy Kingdom come that the whole Multitude which Believe shall be of one Heart and of one Soul The Spirit and the Bride say Come and let him that hears say Come Come thou God of Love thou Prince of Peace thou lover of Concord and Unity Come Amen even so come Lord Jesu SERMON XXXV St. Matth. Ch. V. Ver. 44. But I say unto you Love your Enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you MArcellinus writing to St. Austin tells him That the great Stumbling-Blocks which lay in the way of the Heathens of his Time especially of the wittier sort and hindred them from embracing Christianity were chiefly these three the Incarnation of our Lord the meanness of his Miracles which they thought those of Apollonius Tyanaeus did equal and the Prescriptions of the Text Love your Enemies bless them that curse you c. Not to meddle with their first and second Head this last particularly they could not digest they look'd upon 't as obliging Men to work Miracles and thought it in a manner as easie to snatch a Man from the Embraces of the Grave as to receive an Enemy into their own What! Love an Enemy He might as well have bid us swallow Poyson and take Toads and Vipers into our Bosoms What! Love a Man that hath sought my Life Caress a Wretch that hath attempted to ravish the pledges of my Love Take him into my Arms that hath endeavour'd to snatch from me the dearest Blessings I enjoy He might as well have bid us pull up Mountains by the Roots transplant Islands touch the Sun with our Fingers and empty the Waters of the Ocean Indeed this seems to be the highest step of Christianity and he that is arrived to an habitual observance of this Rule may not unfitly be said to be come to the top of the Mount of God But still whatever noise be
proceed to Hatred that Hatred to Revenge that Revenge to Destruction In a word this would breed the greatest Confusion in Families Cities and Provinces and nothing would be more miserable than the Children of Men. In the worst of Times when Vice and Impiety abounds and triumphs and Religion is scorned and lies neglected This Principle of loving those who love us doth yet uphold Humane Societies but were this Cement abolish'd or abandon'd the whole Frame must fall into Disorder and break into a shapeless Chaos 2. To love those who love us is a dictate not only of Reason but of instinct too and therefore Instances of it are to be found even in Beasts and Brutes and irrational Creatures I am not very apt to believe all Passages in History concerning Beasts and their wonderful Kindnesses to those who have been kind to them yet some are so well attested that I cannot forbear giving credit to them Andronicus his Lyon is Famous and what Wolves and Tygers and Serpents have done to the Holy Hermites of old are things not to be slighted However let 's cast our Eyes upon what our own Experience doth furnish us with we all know how wonderfully kind Dogs are to those who feed them and make much of them and there are such Examples of Fidelity and Love to their Masters in these Animals that many a Man may blush to see himself outdone by those despicable Creatures Nay Wild-Beasts are serviceable and obliging to those of their own kind that are so to them so that not to love those who love us is to be worse than Beasts and Brutes whom instinct and the weight of sence forces into this Duty Nay 3. The Devils themselves are kind to those who are so to them And therefore one of them sent word to Croesus who complain'd of his Unkindness after he had fill'd his Altar with frequent Incence that he had no reason to find fault with him for being unkind for when he i. e. Croesus was to be burnt by the order of Cyrus he i. e. the Devil raised a Storm of Wind and Rain and put out the Fire and it 's probable he did so if God gave him leave being the Prince of the Air and therefore in a Capacity of making Alterations and Changes in Wind and Weather However his Kindness is very evident to those who do ordinarily serve him by their Vices for to require their faithful Service he frights them not molests them not perhaps not all the Days of their Lives but feeds them with pleasant Fancies gives them opportunity to fulfil their wicked Desires and to accomplish their Lusts and sometimes as we read of Pope Silvester II. helps them to considerable Preferment It 's true these are dangerous Kindnesses yet they are taken for such by vitious Men and it serves to prove that the Principle of the Text is observ'd by the Devils themselves and then what a strange Creature must he be who is defective in this Practice seeing he is worse than Beasts and Devils And the thing being so very bad one would think none should be found at least among Christians who can be charged with this Guilt but whether there be such Persons will appear from the second Particular II. What Persons they are who act against this natural Principle And here 1. What do ye think of refractary unnatural and untowardly Children who reward the tender Care of their Parents their Love and Tenderness and Indulgence with contempt of their Advice and Admonitions and running into Rioting and Drunkenness into Chambering and Wantonness into Strife and Envy and taking Courses which tend to the undoing of their Souls and Bodies Are there no such Children If there are none what 's the reason of the many daily Complaints of this Nature Whether there be any such among us at this present I know not but if there were I would shew them their Faces in this Glass and let them see how ugly and deform'd they look I would call to them in the Language of St. John the Baptist O Generation of Vipers why will not ye be warned to flee from the Wrath to come A Generation of Vipers indeed that tear out the Bowels of those who gave you Life Do not your Parents love you Do not they Maintain and Feed and Educate you in the fear of God Do not they entreat you to mind your everlasting Interest Do not they encourage you to Goodness dissuade you from Vice invite you to the House of God to Prayer and to other Exercises which will give you Peace in the End Do not they plead and reason and argue with you and warn you not to undo your selves And is not this Love and Tenderness and Affection But if you reject their Holy Counsels despise their Exhortations and scorn their warmest Expostulations will run into Company which is your bane rush into destruction and venture into the Chambers of Death is not this requiring their Love with Hatred their Kindness with Baseness and their Charity with the greatest Ingratitude And is not this sinking below Publicans and Heathens for they love those that love them Tell me not that you love their Persons though you hate their Instructions for what doth Love to their Persons signifie while you hate that wherein they do most of all express their Love and declare their Tenderness and Affection 2. The same may be said of Hearers with respect to their faithful Pastors and Teachers we admonish we entreat we reprove we tell our People of their Vices and spare them not we represent to them their Errors in their Native Colours and all that they may amend their Ways and become Favourites of Heaven And is not this Tenderness and Love and Affection What else can be the reason of it It is true our Calling and Profession obliges us to say something but this we might do in general Terms without rubbing their Sores or Lancing their Wounds or breaking their Imposthumes It 's Kindness therefore that makes us tell them the Truth and lay open their Defects and assure them of the Terrors of the Lord and all that their Souls may live and be blessed and glorious and enjoy the future Glory But yet we find that some there are who hate us for our Pains call us Rash and Inconsiderate and worse Names and bear a secret Spleen to us because we are so plain and downright and so free in our Censures and is not this hating those who love you St. Chrysostom had large Experience of these unkind Returns and therefore in several of his Homilies he warns his Auditors and exhorts them not to suffer their faithful Teachers to be slander'd or abus'd Some of the Corinthians 1 Cor. ix 11 thought much of contributing to the maintenance of their Pastors the Apostle is surpriz'd at it What saith he if we have sown unto you Spiritual things is it a great Matter if we reap your Carnal Things And he had reason to find fault with