Authority of Jesus Christ and assents to his Doctrines Now this Assent of the Mind is required in order to the Practice of Christ's Religion because it is not imaginable how People can be brought to obey his Laws sincerely and universally unless they be first perswaded in their Hearts that he was the Son of God the very Christ sent by his Father from Heaven to help Mankind thither This puts a Divine Stamp upon the whole Christian Religion it gives it an unquestionable Credit and renders every the most difficult Article of it worthy of all Acceptation because it came from God and was revealed by the Son of God and therefore must needs be infallibly true Upon this account the belief of Christ's Authority and of the Truth and certainty of his Religion is the first thing necessary And for this Reason it was that his first Disciples took such pains every where to prove him to be the very Christ and inculcated the necessity of Faith in him For this was the ready way to bring the World in Obedience to him and nothing but this could prevail with Men to observe Christ's Institution with such strictness as the Primitive Christian did and for the sake of it to venture and undergo upon all Occasions the utter loss of all Faith then being required to produce Obedience as the proper Means in order to this noble End cannot possibly stand us in stead if it be only a Notion in our Heads if it be a liveless and unfruitful Perswasion if it be naked and alone if it hath not that effect and power upon our Souls as to bring on the Love and Practice of those other Virtues and Graces for the Production whereof it hath been all along intended Now of those Virtues and Graces Charity is the very chiefest this must accompany our Faith to make it as it should be such a Faith as we may safely rely on and therefore St. Paul describing that Assent of the Mind which availeth indeed calls it Faith which worketh by love Gal. 5. 6. Or as some Learned Criticks would rather render it Faith which is consummate and perfected by Charity The truth is all our Notions are very imperfect Things without this and though these Notions be never so right and Orthodox yet are they vastly short of our true Duty till they reach our Hearts and make us to open our Bowels towards other Men and to exercise our Hands in Offices of Love And therefore since without a Spirit of Charity nothing will avail us nor answer the great Ends of Christ's Religion no not our very Faith according to that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 13. Though I have all Knowledge and all Faith and give away Goods Body Life and all and have not Charity it profiteth me nothing Since I say it is thus it is of infinite Concernment to us all so to subdue our Minds and Passions as to approve our selves in this respect the hearty Disciples of a meek and charitable Jesus Many Voluminous Disputations have been written which might have been better spared about Faith and Works and Justification whether we are justified by the one or the other or by both and great Endeavours have been used to Reconcile St. Paul and St. James upon this Point Rather I might say to set them at Variance for their Sense is the same touching the necessity of Works Evangelical as Piety Humility Meekness Patience and the like and very plainly and particulary upon the Point of Charity Here the most vulgar Eye may see their clear Agreement In Jesus Christ neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Vncircumcision but Faith which worketh by Love saith St. Paul Gal. 5. 6. And He shall have Judgment without Mercy that hath shewed no Mercy saith St. James Jam. 2. 13. Therefore in a Case that is so positively and fully decided we should leave Controversie and fall to Practice and study how to be fruitful in good Works rather than how to make our Brains Prolifick This is the right way of performing the Conditions of the Evangelical Covenant and of bringing Peace and Comfort to our own Minds I am sure when we come to die it will turn to far better account for our poor Souls than all the Disputes which we shall leave behind us and which we shall leave too with this great Question which perhaps will never be determin'd Whether Men have managed them with as much Truth as Uncharitableness 4. Fourthly A Charitable Temper serves to prepare and fit us for the Everlasting Happiness of another Life Many Virtues are required to dispose us for the Enjoyment of that Happiness to make us capable of it to render us meet to be partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light Col. 1. 12. Neither will the Decrees nor the Power nor the Mercy of God bring us to that Fruition without due Qualifications on our part because there can be no true Happiness but where there is a Correspondence and Suitableness between the Mind and the Thing if a Man be not pleased with what he Enjoys nor finds any delightful Relish in it it is impossible for him to be happy by enjoying it nor can Heaven it self be a place of Pleasure to those whose Minds have as little Taste of those Divine Satisfactions as a vitiated Palate hath of the most pleasant Meats and Drinks To prepare our selves for those Delights it is necessary to transform our Souls into the love of them now and to accustom our selves now to the familiar and delightful Practice of those Virtues wherein the Felicity of another Life doth really consist Of which Virtues a charitable Disposition is one and a very great one because we shall be sure to carry that Disposition with us out of this World to continue with us everlastingly and to make us happy indeed in the enjoyment of a suitable Society of Blessed Spirits which are all made up of Love Charity never faileth saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 13. 8. Whether there be Prophecies they shall fail whether there be Tongues they shall cease whether there be Knowledge it shall vanish away But Charity endureth for ever it is an inseparable Glory of the Souls of just Men made perfect And this is another Reason why Charity is set above Faith and Hope because it is of infinite Duration As it is the most beneficial so it is the most lasting Virtue Faith is the Evidence or firm Perswasion of Things not yet seen Heb. 11. 1. And when we come to behold God Face to Face it will be no longer Faith but Vision And so Hope is the expectation of Things that are future and when we come to the actual Possession of them it will be no longer Hope but Fruition or Enjoyment But Love is of an unchangeable Nature nor will it ever cease because it is a Ray of the Immutable and Everlasting God This is the Happiness of Heaven that though there be different Ranks and Orders of Angels different States of
Disease will seize them at the last and allow them some Time to prepare for another Life But what if they have not an Heart to Prepare themselves duly then though they may have Time 'T is possible for Men to Sin away the Grace of God and the Day of Salvation 'T is possible to harden the Heart so as to render it Uncapable of Good Impressions 'T is possible also to provoke the Holy and Just God to such an high degree as that he will refuse to Soften and Intender it and to listen to their Cries that would not call upon him while he was near They are dreadful Threatnings Prov. 1. from Vers 24. to Vers 30. Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my Hand and no Man regarded it But ye have set at nought all my Counsel and would none of my Reproof I also will laugh at your Calamity and will mock when your Fear cometh When your Fear cometh as Desolation and your Destruction cometh as a Whirlwind when Distress and Anguish cometh upon you Then shall they call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me For that they hated Knowledge and did not choose the Fear of the Lord. This I fear is the usual Result of Habitual Wickedness and especially of Men's living in a course and habit of Uncharitableness because it is a Sin or rather a Complication of Sins so Diametrically opposite to the Laws of Jesus Christ and to the Spirit of his Religion that of all others now it seemeth to come the nearest to the very Sin against the Holy Ghost But suppose such People should at last express some Grief and Sorrow for their Wicked Temper and for those manifold Injuries and Mischiefs which are the usual Effects of Uncharitableness yet who can tell whether this Sorrow proceedeth from the Love of God and from a true Sense and Hatred of the Sin or whether it doth not come merely from an Apprehension of those Torments whereof their Consciences are now afraid If it be only the Fear of Punishment which extorteth those Expressions this is very consistent with an Evil Mind that would act over the same Sins again could they but renew their Lives And therefore this Sorrow is no better than Nothing in God's Account because it is not such a Godly Sorrow as worketh Repentance unto Salvation not to be repented of 2 Cor. 7. 10. Let it be granted Lastly That the Sorrow is Genuine and Sincere yet little Comfort can come by it to the Dying Person because he hath no Time now to try whether his Mind be changed indeed and whether he be become a New Man and a New Creature So that at the best his Case is very bad because though he be a True Penitent yet it is more than he knows and consequently neither can his Comfort be solid nor can his Hopes of Pardon be built upon a sure Foundation In such a Labyrinth of Misery doth an Uncharitable Temper plunge every inconsiderate Wretch that the Pleasure he takes and the Profit he gets by Acts of Malice and Revenge doth not countervail the Thousandth Part of those Calamities and Dangers he exposeth himself to unavoidably Therefore it deeply concerns us all to be Wise in time to mend in time to Subdue and Rectifie our Dispositions in time and to new-mould our Hearts into a Resemblance of that Holy and Excellent Being who is a God of Compassion the Father of Mercies the Author of Peace and the Lover of Concord Men may fancy what they please but I take it for a certain Truth that according as our Tempers are either Good or Evil so God loves or hates us and so our Portion will be at the last If any Man have not the Spirit of Christ that is the Disposition and Temper of Christ he is none of his faith St. Paul Rom. 8. 9. And what was Christ's Spirit but a Spirit of Love His Doctrines tended to Peace and Charity His Miracles were Charitable he shewed his Power as God doth in doing Works of Pity and Compassion He went about doing Good And when his Hands and Feet were now Nailed to the Cross and hindred from doing any more he employed his Tongue and Heart in a Work of the greatest Charity of all in sending up a Charitable Prayer for the Pardon of his Enemies Here then is the Pattern that we must follow if we expect any Benefit by his Crucifixion As often as we look on him whom they pierced we must have an Eye upon his Temper as well as upon his Blood and we must make the one our Example as well as lay hold on the other for our Peace In stead of seeking the Hurt or intending the Hurt or wishing the Hurt of any we must apply and set our Hearts as the Lord Jesus did to do every one all the Good we can and then are we his indeed To sum up all then in the Words of St. Paul Let all Bitterness and Wrath and Anger and Clamour and Evil-speaking be put away from you with all Malice Be ye Kind one to another and Tender-hearted Put on as the Elect of God Holy and Beloved Bowels of Mercy Goodness Humbleness of Mind Meekness Long-suffering forbearing one another and forgiveing one another If any Man have a Quarrel against any even as Christ forgave you so also do ye And above all these Things put on Charity which is the Bond of Perfectness And let the Peace of God Rule in your Hearts to the which also ye are called in one Body Amen O Lord who hast taught us That all our Doings without Charity are nothing worth send thy Holy Ghost and pour into our Hearts that most excellent Gift of Charity the very Bond of Peace and of all Virtues without which whosoever Liveth is counted Dead before thee Grant this for thine only Son Jesus Christ's sake Amen ALmighty and Everlasting God give unto us the Increase of Faith Hope and Charity and that we may obtain that which thou dost Promise make us to Love that which thou dost Command through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen ALmighty Father who hast Given thine only Son to Die for our Sins and to Rise again for our Justification Grant us so to put away the Leaven of Malice and Wickedness that we may alway serve Thee in Pureness of Living and Truth through the Merits of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen O Almighty God who hast knit together thine Elect in one Communion and Fellowship in the Mystical Body of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord Grant us Grace so to follow thy Blessed Saints in all Virtuous and Godly Living that we may come to those Vnspeakable Joys which thou hast Prepared for them that Vnfeignedly love Thee through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen FINIS
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-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-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
lost and damnable condition And yet this he did voluntarily and of his own accord when there was nothing in the World to move him to it but his own infinite Compassion and Tenderness only 2. The second thing that was Peculiar and New in the Love of Christ was that he was before-hand with his Enemies in these Expressions of his Goodness to them Ye have not chosen me but I have chosen you John 15. 16. And Herein is Love not that we loved God but that he loved us 1 John 4. 10. Meaning that this is a clear and astonishing demonstration of his Goodness that in transacting the mysterious business of Reconciliation he was pleased to have the first hand that he prevented us with his own early Offers and surprised us with Terms of Peace and Happiness when no such thing was either desired or expected or so much as thought of by the World But Thirdly That which was most peculiar of all most eminent and wonderful in the Love of Christ was his Dying for his Enemies There is not in the Old Commandment a Syllable of any Obligations to such an high degree of Charity as this is of laying down their Lives no not for their Brethren And one Reason of it is because length of Days and Temporal Felicity was the great Reward that was plainly and expresly promised under the Law to such as kept it And therefore they were not bound by any Principle of pure Charity to part for any Man's sake with that which was the greatest Blessing the Law could give them So that Christ's dying as he did the Just for the Vnjust was the sublimest act of Love that could be for greater Love than this hath no Man that a Man lay down his Life for his Friends John 15. 13. Only our Saviour's own Charity was far greater in laying down his most precious Life even for his Enemies His Commandment therefore that we should love one another as he himself hath loved us is altogether a new one such Charity was never before required of the World such Charity was never heard of before Charity of such a vast height and measure was quite a new thing Scarcely for a Righteous Man will any one die saith the Apostle Though peradventure for a good Man some would even dare to die Yet God commended his Love towards us it was infinitely beyond all the Charity that ever had been among Men in that while we were yet Sinners Christ died for us Rom. 5. 7 8. By what hath been thus briefly spoken we may now easily discern the true and genuine Nature of that Charity which is properly called Christian It is such a benevolent and tender disposition of Soul as inclines us to do not those Things only which the Laws of Common Justice require us to do but moreover all such kind and obliging Offices as becomes Creatures of the most compassionate Hearts and God-like Tempers To be affected with the sense of other Men's Wants as well as our own to pity them as our selves to wish and promote their Good with such unfeigned Desires and unwearied Endeavours as if our own Welfare were concern'd And because the Lord Jesus vouchsafed to express a common Love to us all we are to follow his most blessed Steps in expressing our Charity to Mankind as long as we live in the World to Bless and Pray for and to do good to our very Enemies to offer them Terms of Accommodation to give them Testimonies of a Reconcileable Temper to encourage and provoke them to be Reconciled by our own Example by shewing them our own Bowels and by letting them see how kind humble meek long-suffering and patient we our selves are and how ready to forgive them Briefly to have such ardent Affections unto all Men and especially to those who are of the Houshold of Faith as to serve them willingly not only with our Wishes and Labours and Substance but when need requires with our very Lives also Tho' Life be so dear a matter that Skin after Skin and all that a Man hath he will give for it yet upon great Occasions and in pressing Circumstances and for weighty and noble Ends to be ready as the Lord Jesus was to die for others after all other Services done for them this is to have that fervent and perfect and true Charity which the Christian Religion recommendeth to us above all Things II. 2. The Quality and Extent of Christian Charity being thus summarily Explain'd I proceed now in the second place to consider those Motives and Reasons which serve to make it Practical Now to digest this Matter into as clear a Method and under as few Heads as may be I shall propose these four Things in general to be considered 1. What great Good a Charitable Temper doth to a Man 's own Mind 2. How effectually it helps us to answer the Ends of the New Covenant 3. How near it brings us unto God even in this World 4. How it prepares and fits us for the Everlasting Happiness of another 1. What great Good a Charitable Temper doth to a Man 's own Mind Though a Crown of Righteousness a Glorious and Perfect Reward be laid up and reserved for us against the Day of Judgment yet all Virtue brings us something of a present Reward As it cleanseth the Spirit from the Corruptions of the World and from the Filthiness of the Flesh so it replenisheth the Soul with the greatest Satisfaction and Pleasure and by these means as well the Holiness as the Joy of a future State beginneth here Now of those Graces which at once purifie and delight the Mind a Spirit of Charity is One and perhaps the Greatest It rids the Soul of several Vices which affect the Conscience with the greatest Guilt and therefore must of consequence bring the greatest Plague Vices which Crucifie the very Soul and make every one his worst Tormentor as Pride Envy Malice and such like These are peculiarly called the Sins of the very Devil and therefore it is fit they should carry a Hell with them It is impossible for such scurvy Qualities to reign in a Breast where a Charitable Heart lies Kind Spirits are not wont to be Haughty Imperious and Tyranical especially towards those they really love Much less are they wont to be griev'd and afflicted at their Prosperity or to seek their Hurt Such Vices are altogether inconsistent with Charity and they always grow out of ill-nature like Nettles out of a Dunghil and methinks Men should shun them the rather because they always sting the very Mind that is their Nursery Hearts that are the proper and kindly Soyl of Virtue are never sensible of this Smart because they are free from the Causes of it and were the insides of Men to be throughly discovered I am confident it would be found that none are so easie and quiet within so satisfied in their Minds as those that have generous Affections for all Mankind If in such Breasts there
be any Dissatisfactions it is because their kind Endeavours are not successful or else because they are not able to do all the Good they would Uncharitable Wretches know not the Pleasure of doing Good nor what Peace and Complacency returns into ones Bosom by every Charitable Action nay sometimes by a bare Charitable Purpose and Design when some cross Accident hinders the Execution of it Indeed these inward Comforts cannot be sensibly known but by Experience and therefore Arguments of this kind may seem very feeble and impertinent to those who love themselves only and delight themselves in ways of Frowardness Yet the most unexperienc'd People may observe very much to this purpose from two palpable Instances we find in the Holy Scripture the one in Haman the other in St. Paul Setting aside the Story of Joseph's Advancement we meet not with such an Account as that of Haman of his Riches of his Honour and of his great Power as well over Ahasuerus himself as over all his Subjects And yet his Pride Envy and Malice the Vices I mention'd before over-top't and bore down all this Greatness One Thing he wanted still and that was the Compliment of Mordecai's Knee and for want of that nothing would satisfie him but the Destruction of poor Mordecai himself and all the Jews Rancour and Revenge in the highest degree and that which argued Pains Griefs Agonies and Tortures in his Mind of the highest degree too So that though the miserable Wretch boasted of his Wealth Glory and Authority over all the King's Princes yet said he all this availeth me nothing so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the King's gate Esth 5. 13. Strange Torment surely that Nothing could allay that all his Splendor was nothing in comparison of that neither the Gallows he had provided for Mordecai was any thing if compared with the Rack in his own Breast A Spirit of Charity would have saved him all that expensive Vexation which his ill Nature put him to amidst all his Honours Half that Charitable Temper which was such a great Blessing to St. Paul amidst all his Troubles no meer Man ever loved the Souls of People more than he None was ever more Compassionate towards a needy World None that fled over Land and Seas with that vigorous Zeal to serve Mankind as St. Paul did none that suffered so much for his great Charity A short Inventory of his Hardships he himself gives us 2 Cor. 11. In Labours abundant in Stripes above measure in Prisons frequent in Deaths often of the Jews five times received I forty Stripes save one Thrice was I beaten with Rods once was I Stoned thrice I suffered Shipwrack a Night and a Day I have been in the Deep In Journeying often in Perils of Waters in Perils of Robbers in Perils by my own Country-men in Perils by the Heathen in Perils in the City in Perils in the Wilderness in Perils in the Sea in Perils among false Brethren Throughout this whole Series of Hardships we never find the Apostle cast down or disconsolate but on the contrary always Glorying of his Sufferings and of his Sufferings only as Sorrowful said he yet always rejoycing 2 Cor. 6. 10. And the Ground of his Rejoycing was this the Testimony of his Conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity he had had his conversation in the world 2 Cor. 1. 12. The comfortable Consideration that with an upright and honest Heart he had endeavoured to serve Mankind and to express his great Care of the Churches which were committed to his Charge Plutarch could observe That neither Riches nor Honour nor Power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor any thing else can bring a Man such Serenity and Divine Pleasure as a pure Soul A Soul from whence good Actions flow like a gentle and limpid Stream from a clean Fountain Though Misfortunes from abroad may affect such a Man yet comparatively they are not sharp and right Reason can help to take away that little Acrimony that is in them It is saith Plutarch an evil Conscience that is truly dolorous and galling it is this that creates Griefs from within Griefs that are more heavy and afflictive than any Accidents from without As a Feavour in the Blood is far worse and much more troublesom than the Heat of the Sun And therefore the true way to have solid Peace within is to have Minds full of Probity and in stead of entertaining any dishonest Purposes to be always Virtuously disposed and above all to be kindly and benevolently inclined and to do all the Good that lieth in our power 2. One great Reason why a benign and gracious Temper brings such Advantage to ones own self is because it is a Ray of the Divine Nature so that by searching into his Heart the Charitable Person cannot but be comforted with an humble and modest Assurance that he hath much of God himself in him And this is the second Thing we are to consider for the exciting of a Spirit of Charity in us how near it brings us to the ever-blessed God even while we stay in the World God is Love saith the Scripture 1 John 4. 8. Not only because all Love is of God as the Origine and Fountain of it but because it is one of the infinite Beauties and Glories of his Nature so essential to him and so perfect in him that he is the most transcendent and excellent Exemplar of Love made up of it so that he may be well called Love it self By reason of this Love God extendeth his Goodness to all his Creatures and especially to Mankind intending and ordering all Things here for their Good Threatning and Admonishing Commanding and Forbidding Assisting and Strengthning Cherishing and Chastizing them in order still to that great End their own Good and in all the Methods and Dispensations of his Providence expressing his Mercy and Tenderness towards us as it is most agreeable to his Wisdom and as far as it is consistent with the Honour and Authority of a Lawgiver Nor are the wicked'st Men denied a Share and Portion of his Goodness For though by the Rules of strict Justice he might without any more ado consign them to everlasting Misery and cut them off in the midst of their Impieties yet he offers to all Peace and Reconciliation in and by and for the sake of his Son whom he sent into the World to seek and to save that which was Lost that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting Life And to express the sincerity of his Desire that none should perish but that all should come to Repentance he daily shews the Riches of his Goodness and Forbearance and Long-suffering that thereby he may lead Wicked Men to Repentance not to be repented of Nay they have their Portion even of the Things of this Life too the the Rebel and the Runagate is taken care of as well as the Heir nor are any cast out of the hands
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-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
and wishing well to our very Enemies and by expressing our sincere Affections to all Mankind 3. These Things do naturally carry a great deal of Force with them So that if no Obligations were upon us from any Laws to this purpose the Divine Excellence of these Actions would Recommend them to our Practice because they are God-like Actions and therefore must needs be of the highest Excellence in their own Nature But besides this we are to consider yet in the third place how helpful a Spirit of Charity is to us in answering the great Ends of the New Covenant The grace of God or the Gospel that bringeth Salvation hath appeared unto all Men teaching us that denying Vngodliness and Worldly Lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present World Tit. 2. 11 12. Which shews that the design of the Evangelical Covenant is to reclaim Mankind to the Love and Practice of all manner of Virtue Because God is a most perfect Being himself of infinite Goodness and Rectitude in his Nature his blessed Purpose is to imprint upon our Souls his own Image according to the Capacity of our finite Faculties And in order hereunto he hath given us by his own Son the brightness of his own Glory not only the most excellent Promises all confirm'd and seal'd with his Blood upon the Cross but moreover the most perfect Example and the most perfective Duties Now of these Duties this of Universal Charity and Love is the Chief For Love being such a Divine Affection the Fruits of it must needs be Divine too if it be sincere and zealous As for Instance If our Love to God be pure and hearty it cannot but move us to a solicitous Care of doing nothing that is repugnant to God's Will and Holiness because this Affection is naturally attended with an earnest desire to please and imitate its Object or the Party we intirely love So also if a Man's Love to himself be Rational and Regular it must needs put him upon doing himself all the Good especially all the Spiritual Good he can because his Spiritual Part the Soul is to live for ever and therefore requires his tenderest Care that it may be everlastingly Happy The same Inclination doth true Charity work in us towards all other Men to be beneficial to them likewise for it always operates according to the nature of the Thing and according to the condition of the Object It cannot possibly be of any advantage to our Maker because he is out of the reach of our Charity and too high for it Can a Man be profitable unto God as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous Or is it gain to him that thou makest thy Ways perfect Job 22. 2 3. And again If thou be righteous what givest thou him Or what receiveth he of thy hand Job 35. 7. No all our Goodness extendeth not to him Ps 16. 2. He neither needs it nor is he capable of being benefited by it because he is infinitely perfect and happy in himself But our Love to God hath this Effect it makes us admire and adore him serve and worship and endeavour to please him and to be like unto him and so it is an Instrument of Godliness as well as of Sobriety and Righteousness In this respect it may be said to be a Fulfilling of the whole Law even the first Table of it though indeed it serves most directly to Fulfil the Second And thus the Apostle argues Rom. 13. 8 9 10. He that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law For this Thou shalt not commit Adultery thou shalt not Kill thou shalt not Steal thou shalt not bear false Witness thou shalt not Covet and if there be any other Commandment it is briefly comprehended in this saying viz. Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self Love worketh no ill to his Neighbour therefore Love is the fulfilling of the Law We cannot be Injurious to our own Souls or to the rest of Mankind or to God himself but it must proceed from the want of those enlarged Hearts and those fervent and tender Affections which the Gospel requires of us all Here then we should employ our greatest Pains and use our utmost Endeavours to kindle in us a true Spirit of Charity For it is the end of the Commandment 1 Tim. 1. 5. And because it is the most Perfective Grace the Scripture sets it above all Things even above Faith and Hope 1 Cor. 13. 13. Now abideth Faith Hope Charity these three but the greatest of these is Charity The greatest not only because it is most profitable to others which the other two Virtues are not for Faith and Hope keep at home a Man believeth for himself and hopeth for himself nor is ones Neighbour the better for them 'T is this that is the active the dispensing Grace that walks about doing good and every one fares the better for it But 't is the greatest Virtue too because of the three it is the most beneficial to ones self also It gives him solid Reasons for his Hope which otherwise would be groundless and Perfection to his Faith which otherwise would be fruitless and consequently unprofitable even at home The Hypocrite's Hope shall perish And his Trust shall be as a Spider's Web Job 8. 13 14. A sorry weak Thing to bear ones Heart up especially on a Death-bed For Hope if it be right must be built upon some Promise nor can it go further than the Promise it self goes for if God hath not promised me his Mercy how can I reasonably hope for it Now it is plain that there is no Promise of that Nature but on condition of Charity on our part The Texts are so clear that they need no Comment 1 John 3. 10. In this the Children of God are manifested and the Children of the Devil whosoever doth not Righteousness is not of God neither he that loveth not his Brother And again V. 14. He that loveth not his Brother abideth in Death or is in a deadly State And again V. 15. Whosoever hateth his Brother is a Murderer and ye know that no Murderer hath Eternal Life abiding in him Nay to shew how extensive our Charity must be for our hopes of Mercy at God's hands our Saviour himself hath passed this Decretory Sentence That there is no Mercy for us unless we shew it our selves and that even to our Enemies Mat. 6. 15. If ye forgive not Men their Trespasses neither will your Father forgive your Trespasses As for Faith great Things indeed are spoken of it in the Scripture but withal we are told that without Works it is dead such a spiritless empty Thing without a Life of Virtue that it no more deserves the Character of a saving Faith than a dead Carkass deserves the Name of a Man Faith as it is distinguished from Works signifies here an Act of the Understanding whereby a Man owns the
Beautified Spirits different Degrees of Glory And though God himself be infinitely exalted above all yet Love is the Universal Principle and Perfection which unites God and all his Glorious Creatures with him into one inviolable Communion This being the State of the other World how can we be prepared for the Enjoyment of it or be fit to take pleasure in it unless we be Connaturaliz'd to it by a correspondence and agreeableness of Temper Some thoughtful and wise Philosophers among the old Heathens went upon this Principle that all Happiness consisteth in the Perfection of Nature And they did not only believe That the Soul is Immortal and shall find the Rewards of Simptic in Epicteâ— Virtue after its departure from the Body But believed too That its Felicity after Death lieth in such a perfection of its Faculties and Powers as is most suitable to a Rational Being That is in perfectly knowing every Thing which it is capable of knowing and in perfectly loving and doing Things that are most Excellent These are great Notions from Men that had not the benefit of Divine Revelation Nor do we find any thing in them but what is highly consistent with the Christian Philosophy for when that which is perfect is come we shall be like God himself in the Rectitude and Perfection of our Nature according to the Capacities of Created Beings And Charity being the greatest and most God-like Virtue every perfected Soul must needs be conformable to the Divine Nature by it which yet is not possible for any Soul to be but by exercising in this Life all those good Acts which serve to form it unto a Charitable Temper For this Temper is acquired as other Habits are by the constant Repetition of Actions which are therefore to be our Care and Business in this World because Heaven is a place not for the beginning but for the consummating of a Life of Virtue Nor can Death so alter and change a Man's whole State as to furnish his Soul with Inclinations and Qualities quite contrary to those it contracted in the Flesh so that if we be not charitably affected now we do but flatter our selves with vain and lying Hopes of a Blessed Eternity Though I have the Gift of Prophecy and understand all Mysteries and all Knowledge and though I have all Faith so that I could remove Mountains and have no Charity I am nothing And though I bestow all my Goods to feed the Poor and though I give my Body to be burned and have not Charity it profiteth me nothing saith the Apostle 1. Cor. 13. 2 3. For as it is God's Will and Purpose that Uncharitable Souls shall not by any means come into his Presence so the very Nature of the Thing renders their Access impossible because they are not fit to be Partakers of those Pleasures which are at God's right hand for evermore Hatred and Malice Rancour and Revenge Spightfulness and Envy are the Works of Hell and the Dispositions of those who are going apace thither nor are they fit to be in any Society but that of Devils and damned Spirits to whom they are already a-kin by Vice and into whose Company they are prepared to be gathered by an assimilation and likeness of Nature Upon this account it concerns us as much as our Everlasting Happiness is worth by all possible Acts of Charity to bring our Minds to such a loving Frame and Genius as when we die may be suitable to the State and Condition of Heaven 'T is true some particular Branches of Charity will cease there because there will be no need of them among the Blessed There will be no need of Alms-giving because in Heaven there are no manner of Wants There will be no need of Mutual Forgiveness because in Heaven there are no Injuries and Affronts Nor will there be any need of bearing with one another's Infirmities because in Heaven there is neither Sin nor Error However these and the like Acts of Charity must be performed and repeated by us here on Earth because in their kind they all serve as Means in order to the main End to cleanse the Mind from all Leaven of Malice and Naughtiness to raise and improve the Soul by degrees to perfect it insensibly by an Universal Love and to produce in it a true Heavenly Temper though they be of no further use to us when once we come to the actual Possession of an Heavenly State To illustrate this a little by a familiar Similitude In the training up of a Youth in the ordinary course of Learning many lesser Rules are necessary in the beginning a long Method great Readings many Observations and various sorts of Exercises are necessary in the Progress and all these help in their kind to improve ones Parts insensibly and to make at last a compleat Scholar though in the course of his Studies some of these Things are apt to drop out of his Memory And when he comes to be a Man and a Man of great Knowledge and Judgment many of them are quite forgotten and lost because they cease from being of any further use the Practice of them is no longer necessary but yet the Noble Effect which by the former Practice of them was produced doth remain to the last namely an Understanding now polished and perfected to a very high pitch by an Universal Knowledge The subservient Rules and Method are laid aside and gone many of them but the Perfection of the main Faculties and the Improvement of his Parts holds as long as his Life continues It is much after this manner that a Man is trained up and disciplined into a perfect Saint Several sorts of Charity are required of us now which are proper to a Militant State to a needy suffering Condition and therefore they must cease of course when we come to a State of Bliss and Glory Nevertheless they are at present wonderfully Advantageous to us because they do more or less all contribute towards Perfection they all serve in their kind and in some measure to bring the Soul to an habit of Universal Love and so to fit it for that blessed Place above into which nothing that is Uncharitable can enter By the Co-operation of every Charitable Act the Soul is better'd by degrees though we may not perceive its gradual Proficiency every moment It is the more and more improved and heightned towards Heaven and the more and more accomplished for it still so that when it departs out of the Body a State of perfect Peace and perfect Harmony and perfect Love is the most proper for it nay if I may so speak the only Natural State for it to be in And then the Soul finds the Noble Effects of every Work of Love the Divine Habits which every Work helped to produce and the Unspeakable Perfection every Work did prepare it for though in its flight to Heaven it droppeth some Works and leaves them behind it as the Prophet did his Mantle Men
talk at random when they speak of going to Heaven without a Charitable Temper they may as well speak of seeing the Lord without Holiness for Charity is one great part of Holiness And therefore our great Care must be to mould our Hearts into such a Frame and Condition that we may be fit and agreeable Company for the Glorious Family of Love And this is not to be done but by using and accustoming our selves to the constant Practice of Universal Charity now For Habits are gotten by many Repeated Acts and to perform the several Offices of Charity is both the effectual Means of gaining a Spirit of Charity and a plain Argument and Token too that there is such a Spirit in us especially when those Performances and Acts are more and more abundant III. 3. Which brings me to the third Thing that in the beginning of this Discourse I proposed to shew namely the Way and Manner after which our Christian Charity is to be expressed For those Expressions are manifold and various and those People are mightily deceived who restrain and limit all Charity to Alms-giving That indeed is one Expression of Charity when our Alms come from a Charitable Heart for if that be wanting all our Alms loseth the Name of Charity Though I give all my Goods to feed the Poor and have not Charity it profiteth me nothing 1 Cor. 13. 3. You see that in the Apostle's account Alms-Deeds may be without Charity that is when Vanity or Ostentation is the Principle from whence they flow But though they come from a right Principle from a kind and compassionate Heart yet are they but a little part of Charity as we find by St. Paul's Description of its several Branches in the place above-mentioned Now because we cannot follow a better Guide than St. Paul I shall proceed upon this Subject according to those Noble Characters which he himself gives there of Charity intending as I go along to discourse of those Things after a particular and distinct manner which the holy Apostle hath laid together within the compass of a few but very significant and comprehensive Expressions 1. And there are two Characters given of Charity in reference to Anger The first teacheth us to be very Slow to Anger-Charity saith St. Paul suffereth long Meaning that a Charitable Man is not presently moved out of a calm and composed State 2. The second teacheth us to moderate our Passion that it may not swell beyond a due measure when there is any just and sufficient cause of Resentment Vers 5. Charity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not easily provoked so indeed it is render'd in our Common Translation but rather it should be render'd Is not highly provoked or exasperated Meaning that for Charity-sake no Man must suffer no not any just Anger to turn into Fury so as to make him either to meditate Revenge or to fall into indecent Rages Now though these be two distinct Subjects the one touching the Rise the other touching the Progress of this Passion yet because both may easily fall under one Consideration I shall speak of both at this time and in this place as far as they relate to the Subject Matter of Christian Charity leaving some other Things more particularly to be consider'd when I shall have opportunity and leisure to form some Practical Discourses more upon other Christian Virtues and upon that of Meekness among the rest Anger is not Universally Evil for the Apostle's Direction is Eph. 4. 26. Be ye angry and sin not Which shews that all manner of Anger is not sinful But there are three sorts which are inconsistent with the Law of Charity and very displeasing unto God First Rash Anger when a Man is apt to be soon offended and to let his Passions take fire presently not fairly examining the Nature and Circumstances of the supposed Provocation nor considering throughly as he ought whether there be just and reasonable cause for Displeasure This is a wicked Disposition that proceeds from Pride Capriciousness and ill Nature and it looks as if the froward Creature watched for his Neighbours Haltings and wanted only an opportunity of Quarrelling and took Delight and Pleasure in a Life of Contention and in rendring himself uneasie and vexatious to others This is far from favouring of the true Spirit of Charity especially as it is raised by the Law and Example of Jesus Christ whose Love to us ought to be the Standard and Measure of our Charity to one another But besides this the Effects which follow our unreasonable Passions are very hurtful and injurious when Things are taken amiss rashly and with such a quick hand For we are all apt to be mistaken and then most likely when Men's Actions are not permitted to fall under our due Consideration But we run away headlong and in great hast upon indeliberate Apprehensions In this case Innocence it self too often suffers by reason that the Merits of the Cause are not calmly inquired into at the first and Men are hardly perswaded to examine them afterwards because few care to be thought guilty of an Error By means hereof a long Train of Mischief followeth Passion still growing higher and hotter than at the first kindling And therefore when our Passions begin to be warm we should have an Eye to the Fewel consider the Cause which blows the Spark give our selves time to think and to think as candidly and favourably as we can lest we go on to punish Men quite contrary to the Laws of Charity and Justice too not so much for their Crimes as for our own false Presumptions and if we would do this very carefully that is give room for Thought and favourable Consideration before we lift up the hand it would both lessen the Passion and either stop or moderate the Effects of it Secondly Though Anger be Just in respect of its Cause yet if it lasteth a longer time than it should it is Sinful The sooner our Resentments go out the better it is for our selves and others And best of all when they die presently after they are conceiv'd when a Man's Anger is like the Fool 's Mirth which Salomon compares to the crackling of Thorns on a Flame that vanisheth in a few moments for glowing Coals are very dangerous the longer ones Displeasure continues the more averse he is to Purposes and Expressions of Charity the stiffer in his Resentments the more inflexible and the harder to be Reconciled That which should have been but a transient Fit precipitates in time and setleth into a fixt Habit and that ranckles and frets inwardly and eateth so deep and so venomously into the Bowels that it proves a deadly Ulcer and then it ends as in the case of the Spleen which was once a natural and innocent Infirmity but at last becomes a very painful and mischievous Disease The Apostle therefore gives us all this Noble Rule of Charity Let not the Sun go down upon your Wrath Ephes 4. 26. This looks
and then you will have gained a Brother Nay you will have gained your self you will have the better of your self you will be a Winner in both respects you will go off with the Comfort and Honour of a double Conquest and each gotten with a very gentle Hand If for want of due Consideration the Fit continueth some hours you must Secondly Govern the Fever so as to keep it from being Hectick There is a time for all Things under the Sun and then it is high time for you to express your Charity when the Sun is ready to set Cool Thoughts should be for the Night and when the Hurries of the Day are over we should leave off Wrath and let go Displeasure too An Implacable Temper is very Offensive to the Divine Being because it is utterly void of Charity and true Religion By the Laws of Christianity every one hath a Right to his Neighbour's Mercy especially if he be sorry for his Faults and desires Forgiveness That indeed every Offender is bound to do and the least he can do is to ask Pardon yet that is enough where the Injury is not so great as to require Satisfaction Repentance and Intreaties are Satisfaction sufficient in common and ordinary Cases And when a Man hath gone thus far he hath acted like a Christian and may safely put his Cause into God's hand who is an Avenger of all that are oppressed with Wrong But the Wretch that hardeneth his Heart and stoppeth his Ear against Christian Application contracteth Guilt intolerable His own Sins are all bound no outward Acts of Religion avail him for want of a Charitable Spirit within his very Prayers are stopt for how shall God hear him that heareth not his Brother He heapeth daily such a Load of Sins upon himself as makes him uncapable of the Mercy of that good God who expects no other Satisfaction at our hands for the Affronts against his own Majesty but our Repentance and Prayers Let us hear our Great Law-giver Luke 17. 3 4. Take heed unto your selves If thy Brother trespass against thee rebuke him and if he repent forgive him And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day and seven times in a day turn again to thee saying I Repent thou shalt forgive him Nay I very much question whether a Christian may stay for an Offender's Repentance in every Case For St. Matthew delivers us that Law of Charity without that Condition Matth. 18. And if our Saviour's Love to us be the Rule and Standard of our Love to one another it seems to be our Duty and that which best becomes the Generous Spirit of a Christian to be beforehand with our Enemies as Christ was with his And even for the Offended Party to endeavour for Reconciliation as He did though but in hopes of their Repentance But Thirdly Let a Provocation be never so just and Resentments never so long-liv'd we must above all Things beware of all Actions and of all Intentions that are Revengeful For Proceedings of this kind are a most horrible Violation of the Laws of Religion Charity and Humanity also They are for Mischief and Hurt only and therefore Savour of the Devil's Temper and Seal a Man up to Eternal Flames It is a dreadful thing to want Bowels I may call it a great Curse for a Man seldom comes to that high pitch of Inhumanity as to have a hardned Heart but by the Judgment of God though the Work be a Man 's own yet so it is that a Trade of Uncharitableness draws on Cruelty So that by putting off the Christian People learn by degrees to throw aside Man too whereas the Design of our Religion is rather to make us Angels To this purpose we are strictly commanded not to Avenge our selves not to Recompense Evil for Evil but to overcome Evil with Good to be Patient Merciful and Kind if an Enemy Hunger to Feed him if he Thirst to give him Drink and thus to heap Coals of Fire upon his Head not to hurt but to in-tender and melt him I do not deny but great Prudence and Caution may be used in Treating such as have done us considerable Wrongs For tho' we are bound to forgive them and to wish them well as sincerely as we wish our selves and to do them good Offices yet we are not obliged to love them in an equal degree and proportion nor to take them again into our Bosom at least not presently who have already wounded us to the quick However all manner of Revenge is utterly unlawful Revenge is not when a Man punisheth an Offender justly moderately and with a charitable Purpose of doing him or others Good so Parents punish their very Children and Magistrates a Delinquent but when he thirsteth to wreak and execute his Hatred only or chiefly to satisfie an enraged Mind and with a cruel Design to grieve afflict or torment his Neighbour This is extream Wickedness in a Christian a Thing that was Condemned even by the wiser Heathens Nay that which was not permitted the Jews themselves to do with their own private Hands though some Things were permitted them for the Hardness of their Hearts They were allowed indeed to require an Eye for an Eye and a Tooth for a Tooth but this was to be done by the Magistrates Hand the rest of the Jews had a common standing Law given them Lev. 19. 18. Thou shalt not avenge thy self nor bear any Grudge against the Children of thy People All manner of Revenge is now sinful though it be sought even of Publick Authority and that too under another Name and with specious Colours Christianity is the highest Improvement of Virtue and the Laws of it are so strict and perfect so sublime and pure that all Tinctures of Malice and Ill-will are a Violation of them The Spirits of Christians should be above all such base Alloy they should be refined and raised to that high and noble Pitch and true Greatness as to pass by Affronts with Meekness and Charity and if it be possible with Slightings and Disdain This is that true Greatness and Nobleness of Mind which becomes us all For it is rightly observed by Plutarch and other old Moralists who have written against our Unreasonable and Foolish Passions That Desires of Revenge proceed from a Defect in Nature from Infirmity and Weakness from something that is Little and Mean and therefore those Creatures are most addicted to it which are most Contemptible Bees and Wasps and those Infects among Mankind too which therefore bite and sting and vex and wound because they are of low and fordid Spirits Wrath saith Plutarch doth some Things that are terrible and some that Plutarch de ira cohib are ridiculous And therefore of all the Passions we are subject to this is the most hated and the most despised A plain Argument that this Passion is of the meanest Extraction that it proceeds from the most abject degenerate and fordid Natures from Slime and
Dirt that is utterly inconsistent with the Purity of Religion That Holy and Just One who descended from Heaven to cleanse raise and perfect our Nature took great care to rid us of all this Filth by the noblest Precepts and by his own the noblest and most perfective Example The Infinite Excellence and Dignity of his Divine Nature made all Offences against him swell to infinite degrees of Guilt and consequently rendred the Actors of them liable to all the degrees of Punishment which infinite Justice might have inflicted And yet with what evenness of Mind did he endure all Reproaches Contumelies Disgrace Stripes Buffetings Wounds Nails and Cross too He bore all though from the rudest the vilest the most malicious Hands with Patience and Lenity with Meekness and Self-denial with Humility and Resignation with Candour and the highest Charity to the last Gasp When he was reviled he reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously 1 Pet. 2. 23. And what was this for Why saith the Apostle Christ suffered for us leaving us an Example that we should follow his Steps IV. 4. Having thus discoursed of the two Characters of Charity relating to Anger and shew'd how we are to express this great Christian Grace in each respect by Commanding Governing and Moderating that mischievous Passion I proceed now to the Consideration of the next Property which is called Kindness Charity suffereth long and is Kind Meaning that a Charitable Person is Compassionate and Beneficent both in Disposition and Actions ready in every respect to do all the Good he can By giving us a Description St. Paul shews us a Duty and he opens it particularly in another place which seems to be an Explication of this whole Verse Eph. 4. 31 32. Let all Bitterness and Wratb and Anger and Clamour and Evil-speaking be put away from you with all Malice And be ye kind one to another The Greek Word in both places is in effect the same and the Apostle's meaning is that in stead of hating and maligning one another we should be tenderly affected and useful to each other ready from our Hearts to do one another all the good Offices which lie in our Power Now for the due Practising of this Matter the Laws of Charity require of us these following Things 1. That we have a true inward Sense of other Men's Wants and Afflictions This is that which the Holy Scripture calls Tender-heartedness Ephes 4. 32. Bowels of Mercy Colos 3. 12. And Having Compassion one of another 1 Pet. 3. 8. By which Expressions is meant that we should Sympathize with all that are in Distress and have a Fellow-feeling of one anothers Afflictions For where Men's Hearts are so hard and crusty that their Brethren's Calamities make little or no Impressions upon them there it is impossible for Charity to be so Kindly Free and Generous as the Laws of Christianity do require Whoso hath this World's good and seeth his Brother hath need and shutteth up his Bowels of Compassion from him how dwelleth the Love of God or of Man in him 1 John 3. 17. It holdeth true in all Cases as well as in that of Alms-giving for the Heart is the Spring of all our Actions And it is as hard for Charity to take its due course and scope where the Bowels are shut up as for a River to run where the Fountain is quite dried up Rocks many times yield a Stream but a Stony Heart never to be sure not that Liberal Supply of any kind which the Necessities of miserable Objects call for Therefore those Old Philosophers were cruelly mistaken who though they were for outward Offices of Humanity yet thought it unbecoming Reasonable Natures and inconsistent with a Man's Happiness to be moved with Compassion in the Mind and to be pierced with a sense of anothers Misfortunes This is to commit a Rape upon all Mankind to Ravish them of their Bowels Nay it doth not only stifle the very Principle of Charity but it prepares a way too for the greatest Injustice and Oppression For how can he stick at any thing though never so hard that hath no sense of it As long as the Affliction toucheth not himself he feels no more his Neighbour's Smart though he himself gives the blow than a Flint or an Adamant and at such Hands neither is Mercy nor Justice to be expected This was one great Reason why the Son of God was pleased to take Humane Nature upon him that he might be sensible of those our common Miseries whereof a Spirit is not capable of feeling In all things it behoved him to be made like unto his Brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful High-Priest Heb. 2. 17. We have not an High-Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our Infirmities but was in all Points tempted that is tried by Afflictions acquainted with Sorrows and Griefs like as we are Hebr. 4. 15. His own through-sense of the Hardships of the World made him the more willingly go about doing good during his abode in the Flesh and the more merciful to Mankind now since all Power in Earth and Heaven hath been put into his Hands And this will be in us the Principle of right Christian Charity to one another to be painfully affected with the Sufferings of others And to this end we should use all possible means to mould our Hearts rightly to supple them into a very soft tender and compassionate Temper and to let all moving Idea's sink deep into them because we are the Body of Christ and all of us Members of it knit together by the same Ligaments of Faith and Hope we should be all animated with the same Spirit of Charity too we should have as St. Paul speaks 1 Cor. 12. 25 26. The same Care one for another so that if one Member suffer all the Members should suffer with it 2. But Secondly This is not enough if it be all 'T is poor kindness just to be troubled for another and to say God help him Grief and Sorrow and Anguish and good Wishes must break out into Action else all the rest is but good natur'd Compliment The Laws of Charity bind us not to be Barren or Unfruitful but to be full of Good Works according as our own Capacities and according as the Wants and Necessities of other People are First To do their Souls all the Good we can This is the noblest Work of Charity because it is done to the noblest Part of Man And because there is a necessity for the Soul upon its parting from the Body to pass into an Everlasting Unchangeable State either of Happiness or Misery Greater Charity there cannot be than to minister such Helps and Means to it now as serve to prepare it for a Blessed Eternity As to instruct it in the right sound Faith to teach it the true Fear of God to subdue its Sinful and Inordinate Lusts and to bring it
in stead of viewing the Face and consider throughly first whether it be Just then whether it be Charitable also consistent with that Goodness and Kindness of Mind which becomes a Christian If the Thing be contrary to the Law of Love and such as we would not have another to do to our own selves we must with a very quick Hand lay the Bridle upon our Passions lest the Beast should prove Heady and by running away with us at all adventures rush us headlong into a great many Sins We should sit down a while and consider how short our Life is at the best and what little time in comparison we have to do Good in the World and how suddenly many drop into the Grave before they have done any at all We should consider what base Vices Hatred and Malice are what Dishonourable and Wicked Purposes they tend to what Mean and Hellish Arts Men are driven to for the putting of them in execution what Disorders they make in the World how Prejudicial they are to the Interest of Mankind to the Peace and Comfort of Humane Life and what Irreparable Mischiefs arise from them naturally not only to Single Persons but to Bodies to Families to Publick Societies nay to the whole Church and State when once they come to break out as very often they do into Epidemical Outrage We should consider too what Rewards they bring to the Actors themselves after all these Dreadful Consequences Vexation and Anguish of Spirit a Polluted Conscience a lost Credit an abbreviated Life and in stead of any solid Satisfaction in the Course or at the End of it Eternal Damnation at last both of Soul and Body What Fruit will Men have then of those Things whereof they ought even now to be Ashamed I am perswaded if People would but Deliberate thus before-hand and suffer their Minds kindly to entertain these or some of these Considerations it would be impossible for half so much Folly and Storm to be in the World Such an excellent way this is not only to express but to encrease Men's Charity to one another and to keep them from tumbling precipitously into a vast Complication of Wickednesses and Misfortunes which one day Uncharitable Wretches will repent of tho' perhaps not till it be too late till they have Sinned the time of their Peace away VII 7. The next Character of Charity is that it is not Puffed up alloweth not People to be Proud and Arrogant to be Haughty and Supercilious to have an immodest lofty and over-high Conceit of a Man 's own self or to behave himself with Contempt and Scorn towards those whom he looks down upon at a distance as his Inferiors There is hardly another Vice that is more Foolish more Hateful than Pride is none that is so like to the Devil's Temper I am sure none that stands in more direct opposition to all the Laws of Charity An humble Mind stoops to all though the meanest and lowest Offices nor is there any Act of Love which it is not willing to reach out a kind Hand unto though it be to the washing of Feet And the Reason is because a truly humble Man hath so modest an Opinion of himself and so high an Esteem of others that he is apt to reckon all good Offices to be a kind of Debt to them and a very necessary though a poor Tribute of Honour to the Meek and Lowly Jesus But Pride sets Men so remote from their Neighbours that to desire their Friendship looks like Incroachment and for themselves to offer it seems to them a Transgressing the Rules of Greatness and so in that distance and interval between State and Meanness many Acts of True Charity are wanting many Blessed Opportunities of doing Good drop to the Ground and are quite lost and perhaps too when the Necessities of Poor Wretches are most pressing Seldom do Proud Men think of God himself They care not for God neither is God in all their Thoughts saith David Psal 10. 4. They think not of him as their Maker and Benefactor by whom they live or as their Law-giver and Judge by whom they must be Sentenced to Eternity at least they think not with that Gratitude Reverence and depth of Thought which should swallow up all their vain Imaginations And if God be not in their Minds it is no wonder if Men be not there and if they be full of nothing but Themselves But this is not all The Case would be better though they did no Good if they did no Hurt neither But Pride is such an Injurious and Imperious Vice that where it Ruleth it admits of no bound but those of its own setting and those are as uncertain as precarious Priviledges under an Arbitrary Power Pride commonly hath Covetousness for its Factor to Toil and Drudge for its Maintenance and when those Vices go hand in hand nothing is safe that is within reach though it be Naboth's Vineyard Ahab was sick at Heart for it and to recover his Content the Poor Man's Blood was sought for too as the speediest Remedy Men of such Tempers are so bloated with an Opinion of their own Deserts that they fancy themselves to have a kind of Right to every Thing especially if it be judged necessary and convenient and how then can we hope for Charity when there is no room for Justice Fraud Rapine and Oppression are the usual designs of an elated Mind and 't is the harder to stop them because Proud People are ever apt to over-look their Actions think it a Diminution to obey such a Thing as Conscience are too Big to be taken to account too High to ask themselves is there not Iniquity in my Right Hand Indeed People who are thus puffed up have not always power to hurt others much in their Fortunes but then they seldom fail to oppress them in their Fame which is another Thing utterly inconsistent with that Candor and Goodness which evermore attends a Charitable Temper Pride is always very Censorious though many times there is no other Reason for the hard Character it gives but this only That it may have a Foil to set off it self The greatest Innocence is often Reproached because Proud People care not what others deserve but would have you know how Singular their own Merits are by exposing a Neighbour they hope you will think the better and the more highly of them By throwing Dirt upon others Faces they think their own will appear the more Beautiful like the haughty Pharisee in the Gospel who thought to Recommend himself to God by making Reflections I am not as other Men are Extortioners Vnjust Adulterers nor even as this Publican Luke 18. 11. By this Injurious and Uncharitable Practice many Mischiefs befal Mankind as Strife Railings Animosities Violence and all manner of Outrage So that Salomon saith Prov. 13. 10. Only by Pride cometh Contention 'T is the only Natural Mother of Contention There are Accidental Causes of it as Drunkenness
Christian Liberty as to both Now though St. Paul gave this Rule to each Party Rom. 14. 3. Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not and let not him that eateth not judge him that eateth Yet the Apostle seems most inclined as Charitable Men are apt to be to the weaker side and that Charity might have the casting Hand in the whole Controversie He directed those who were throughly Instructed not to use their full lawful Liberty in the presence of a weak Brother lest he should be tempted either to do as others did though against his Conscience or else to forsake the Christian Communion either of which would have been a deadly Sin Judge this saith the Apostle that no Man put a stumbling Block or an occasion to fall in his Brother's way Rom. 14. 13. And again If thy Brother be grieved or scandalized by thy Meat now walkest thou not Charitably destroy not him with thy Meat for whom Christ died V. 15. And again For Meat destroy not the Work of Gods all Things indeed are pure but it is evil for that Man who eateth with Offence It is good neither to eat Flesh nor to drink Wine nor any thing whereby thy Brother stumbleth or is offended or made weak V. 20 21. The other Case related to those Proselites who had been brought over to Christianity from Heathenism Whereas there was an old General Custom among the Heathens to eat part of those Sacrifices which had been offered to their supposed Deities many of them though they had received the Christian Faith continued this Custom nevertheless believing still that the Things they Worshipped were Real Beings and that they themselves were better by much for partaking of those their Sacrifices Others knew that these were grosly mistaken and were convinced that those Idols were nothing but Fictitious and Imaginary Deities However these too resorted to the Idol-Feasts for Compliance-sake yet believing them not to be Religious but ordinary Friendly Meals Now this was a very Shameful and Evil Practice For though the eating of those Meats abstractedly and simply considered was a Thing indifferent yet the Scandal it gave made it utterly unlawful because it was a Violation of Charity it confirmed others in their old Heathenish Opinion and encouraged them to go on still in their old Heathenish sinful Course To rectifie this Matter therefore St. Paul discourseth in 1 Cor. 8. shewing that though he and others had a very vile Opinion of the Heathen-Idols yet it was a most shameful and wicked thing to lay a stumbling Block in their Brethren's way that is the Expression again that is to Minister unto them any occasion of falling into or of continuing in a sinful Practice Meat commendeth us not unto God for neither if we eat are we the better neither if we eat not are we the worse But take heed lest by any means this Liberty of yours become a stumbling Block to them that are weak For if a Man see thee who hast knowledge sit at Meat in the Idols Temple shall not the Conscience of him that is weak be embolden'd to eat those Things which are offered to Idols And through thy knowledge shall the weak Brother perish for whom Christ died Vers 8 9 10 11. And at the close of that Chapter he declared his own Peremptory Resolution That if Meat made his Brother to offend he would eat no Flesh while the World stood lest he should make his Brother to offend Here then is a noble Rule of Charity for us all to go by viz. To be very careful that we do not at any time encourage others to do Evil by our Indecent and Scandalous Examples in any case Not so much as in the use of Things purely Indifferent much less by doing Things that have a Moral and Natural Turpitude in them Such Things are of a most shameful Nature and of very dangerous Consequence and therefore we should always beware of them lest we be answerable for other Men's Blood and Ruine as well as our own St. Chrysostom understands the Apostle thus Charity is not ashamed and he instanceth in our Blessed Saviour who was not at all ashamed when the Harlot washed his Feet with Tears and wiped them with the Hairs of her Head kiss'd his Feet and anointed them nor when he was spit upon and abused by base Fellows nor when he carried a Thief and Murderer with him into Paradise The meaning of that great Man is That true Charity doth not permit one to do a foul Thing a Thing which he hath just Reason to be ashamed of The Lord Jesus did all Things with a Charitable Purpose and to Charitable Ends And we that are his Followers should follow him in this To win as many Souls to him as we can in stead of Discouraging or Offending any to gain all that are about us at least to endeavour it This is Christian Charity indeed to become ones Brother's Keeper to lift him himself out of the Pit whatever becomes of his Ox or Ass to save his Soul from Death to be tenderly concerned for that Immortal Part to Convert him from the Error of his Way to take him up like a wandring Lost Sheep upon the Shoulders and by a Good Example and Charitable Directions to shew him the Way to Everlasting Life IX 9. The Reason why Charity requires these and the like Offices at our hands is because it is a publick-spirited Grace And that is another noble Character the Apostle gives of a Charitable Person that he seeketh not his own not his own Private Advantage only but the Profit of others too and especially the good of the whole Community to which he stands related This is included in the very Notion of Charity for it is a kind benevolent Disposition that makes us lend an helping hand wherever it is wanting The truth is this is Charity to ones self too as well as to others if you consider the Matter rightly That we may be tied and linked and bound close together by mutual Love and Kindness God hath so ordered the State of this World that all Men have a necessary Dependance one upon another nor would there be such a shiftless pitiful miserable Creature in the World as a Man were he to live alone and by himself Every one of us stands in need of the Society and Help of others as much as we need Food or Air. He needs the Magistrate to Protect him under God the Statesman to Consult and Advise for him the Divine to Instruct him the Tradesman to Supply him with a World of Necessities the Soldier to Fight for him the painful Husbandman to find him Bread the poor Servant to Work and Sweat for him nay the Greatest and Richest Man on Earth needs the very Beggar to do him good too He needs even the Blind and the Lame the Hungry and Naked the comfortless Mother and her sucking Child For what Why to lay up his Treasure in Heaven for him for
the Apostle saith Charity rejoyceth not in Iniquity or in Men's Sufferings by Iniquity there is much more intended than what is Literally express'd Charitable Men must shew their Grief for those Sufferings by Relieving and Aiding the Sufferers Prosperity hath Friends enough if we may call them Friends who Congratulate and Caress us while we are able to Reward them or to do them Service But if Job be cast upon the Dunghil or Christ be brought near the Cross the one is forsaken of his Acquaintance and the other of his very Disciples 'T is Adversity that shews the real the fast Friend and then is our Time to express our Charity when another wants it whether Friend or Enemy by endeavouring to Relieve him that Suffers by Iniquity For if we use not our Endeavours for his Deliverance it is to be supposed that we are well enough pleased with his Condition well enough satisfied though he continue in it And is this Charity That Active Generous Restless Virtue that knows no Bounds but Impossibilities That Christian Grace which is ready to offer up Life it self That God-like Spirit which is made up of Goodness Mercy and Love No no Charity Befriendeth all doeth Good to all extendeth Relief and Compassion to all to him that Suffers and even to those that do the Wrong to those that seek Counsel against the Just and gnash upon him with their Teeth Psal 37. 12. Their Case is to be Pitied indeed because their Day is coming the Day when God will render to every Man according to his VVorks To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for Glory and Honour and Immortality God will give Eternal Life But to those who are Contentious and do not obey the Truth but obey Vnrighteousness he will render Indignation and VVrath Tribulation and Anguish upon every Soul of Man that doeth Evil Rom. 2. 6 7 8 9. XII 12. But I must hasten to the next Character St. Paul gives of Charity which is That it Rejoyceth in the Truth The best Divines take the Word here not in a strict limited Sense as it signifies Truth in Speech only in opposition to Lying but in a very large Notion as it signifies Probity of Heart Sincerity in all Things Universal Uprightness and Rectitude of Life in opposition to all Iniquity Charity is of no narrow Spirit but as diffusive as the Ocean as wide and spreading as the Universe and therefore it is not fit to bound it up here within a narrow Sense In short it signifies the Entire and True Practice of Religion and so the Apostle's meaning is That Charitable People are overjoy'd when Religion prospereth and encreaseth when Truth and Righteousness take Place and gain Ground when the Power of Godliness appeareth in Christians Lives when they perform their respective Duties truly uprightly and sincerely as it becometh their Profession and is suitable to their high Calling This is peculiarly Applicable to those of St. Paul's Function who cannot but be passionately affected with Joy unspeakable when they find their Labours successful when the Work and Pleasure of God prospers in their Hands when they see of the Travel of their Souls and behold the Fruit of it to their Satisfaction Nor can there be any such great Encouragement to Men of that Sacred Office as to be able to call their several Charges as St. Paul did the Thessalonians their Joy and Crown of Rejoycing 1 Thess 2. 19. Or to say as St. John did in the like case 3 John 4. I have no greater Joy than to hear that my Children walk in the Truth That is as becometh the Truth in Holiness and Sobriety in Humility and Meekness in Peace and Love and in all those Virtues which Adorn the Doctrine of God their Saviour But this Matter doth not only concern Ministers of the Gospel All People should be their Assistants in their respective Stations and Degrees to forward the true Interest and Advancement of Religion This is the most Zealous Expression of our hearty Love towards God the most significant Argument of Charity towards our Brethren the truest Testimony of an Enlarged and Noble Mind To take Pleasure in seeing Virtue and Holiness thrive and the Kingdom of Christ advanced in the World In order thereunto every one should be Zealous in his Place and Capacity in Encouraging the Growth of true Piety and in helping to Promote the Ends of the Gospel So that Vice and Irreligion may be not only out of Fashion but out of Countenance too This is the greatest Charity in the World because on this depends the Salvation of Souls which every particular Member of the Church is obliged to help on and set forward as much as in him lieth Begin at Home and Encourage your Families to be truly Religious in the first place The holy Psalmist sets you a great Example Psal 101. from Vers 2. to Vers 8. I will walk in my House with a perfect Heart I will take no wicked Thing in hand I hate the Sins of Vnfaithfulness there shall no such cleave unto me A froward Heart shall depart from me I will not know or countenance a wicked Person VVhoso privily slandereth his Neighbour him will I destroy VVhoso hath also a proud Look and high Stomach I will not suffer him Mine Eyes look upon such as are faithful in the Land that they may dwell with me VVhoso leadeth a Godly Life he shall be my Servant There shall no deceitful Person dwell in my House he that telleth Lies shall not tarry in my sight Our great Business in this Life is not to raise our selves Fortunes but to do God Service and to do the greatest Good we can to those about us And the true way of doing both is by our Examples Councels and Authority to Encourage all under our Care to live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present World And next to our Private Families the Neighbourhood we belong to must have a due share of our Zeal also As we go about we should sow Righteousness especially where we find the Soyl good Weed out the Cockle and Thistles Suppress every Thing that is Scandalous and Hurtful Mend Breaches Reform Manners Reprove Immorality Cherish Honesty Countenance the Meek and Gentle Teach Men to be Humble and Peaceable to be Orderly and Pious to be Just and Charitable to go to their Prayers to live in Unity to submit to those who have the Rule over them in the Lord we should teach Men how to Love and how to be Beloved In a word we should make it our business to Direct and Assist one another so that in this World we may all lead Quiet and Peaceable Lives in all Godliness and Honesty This is the way to serve the Truth to promote the Truth to advance its Interest and Honour to make it spread flourish and prosper so that we may have cause of Rejoycing indeed what Joy had St. Paul to see Religion propagated though it was sometimes by the
swim in the saltest Waters but Humane Nature is apt to participate of the Temper of the People and of the Condition of the Climate where we live and our Dispositions alter accordingly just as Waters which pass through the Channels of the Earth vary their Savour with the Veins of the Soyls through which they slide In a corrupt Place 't is an easie thing to be corrupted and one great Reason is because the Knowledge of a Neighbour's Vices is apt to breed in another an Inclination to the same Evils it worketh in another presently and insensibly if not a full Approbation yet a less Dislike of those Corruptions which their Eyes and Ears are used to the Sense of So that when one comes to be familiarly acquainted with the Irreligious Courses of bad Neighbours he is in a great Hazard and 't is great odds if he doth not in time make those Courses his own Choice because this is a great Encouragement to Vice that it wants not a Precedent Therefore to express our Charity in this case let us carefully observe that Advice of the Son of Sirach Ecclus. 19. 7 8. Rehearse not unto another what is told unto thee and thou shalt fare never the worse Whether it be friend or foe talk not of other Men's Lives and if thou canst without Offence reveal them not For Charity-sake every Story is not to be told for though it be true it may be hurtful though it be not hurtful in the first Report it may be so in the consequence because Fame is like the Cloud which the Prophet's Servant saw 1 King 18. 44. the further it spreads the greater it grows till there be no more comparison between its Original and its Increase than there is between the breadth of a Man's Hand and the Dimensions of the Firmament and who can tell how Mischievous and Terrible the End will be The Tongue is a world of Iniquity saith St. James ch 3. v. 6. And for the preventing of a great deal let me recommend these few Things in short to your Charitable Practice With all possible Art and speed stop the Mouths of those who like the old Athenians spend their Time in nothing else for the most part but either to tell or to hear some new Thing Act. 17. 21. In spight of good Neighbourhood and Religion too some will wander about from House to House Tatlers Busie-bodies speaking Things that they ought not 1 Tim. 5. 13. The only Business of such idle People is to lay open the Lives of others to stain their good Name and to spoil the Savour of that which is better than precious Ointment by casting in such dead Flies as turn the Perfume into a Stink And what Injuries come by this Evil Practice not only to particular Persons but to whole Societies is too too manifest The least is that which Salomon mentions though that is too great and sometimes irreparable a Whisperer separateth chief Friends Prov. 16. 28. A good Remedy in this case is to turn the Ear aside and not suffer it to receive any hurtful Informations Such Stories are not wont to be told People that are deaf because there the Ends of the Whisperer cannot be answered 'T would be an Effectual and Charitable Means of destroying those Works of Darkness to discourage the Authors of them by letting them see how Unprofitable their Works are in the first Practise If another's Sin chance to fall under thine Eye express your Charity by laying a Mantle over it with a quick Hand that it may not indanger the rest by being exposed to publick View It is thy Brother's Nakedness that is seen and where there is such a shameful Spectacle Love should imitate the Piety of Noah's two Sons Shem and Japhet who that they might not cast the least glance upon their Father's Nakedness went backward with a Garment upon their Shoulders venturing rather their stumbling at his Feet than they would behold his Shame Cursed was Cham that not content to have been an Eye-witness of the Indecent Sight Scoff'd at it too and became the Proclaimer of it If the Sin be so manifest that it cannot or so foul that it must not be hid express your Charity by speaking of it and that with Prudence and Kindness also to the Criminal himself who is the Party concerned to Repent and to mend his Life for the future The way to cure a Flaw is not to run to such as are whole but to dress the Side where the Wound lieth Though it be Oyl and Wine too which you pour in there the Smart is tolerable because the Operation is proper and the Hand that works is Charitable and Friendly Other Methods are to be avoided because they always Fret and very rarely Heal. After all in stead of discovering other Men's Faults it is necessary for every one to look into his own And if People would but turn their Eyes homeward they would find so much Employment for them there that they would have neither Need nor Leisure to look abroad There is in every Breast so much Nature whatever there be of Grace that our continual Care is necessary to Cleanse our selves from the one and to Increase the other Nor is this possible to be done but by searching narrowly into ones own State which if all Inquisitive People would do they could not but discover presently this one great Fault of their own that by prying curiously after others they have all along overlook'd themselves XIV 14. So far is Charity from delighting to reveal the Failings and Miscarriages of others that St. Paul gives this further Character of a Charitable Person that he believeth all Things that is all Things that are Good and all Things that are Reasonable for a Good Man to believe Credulity at large is no Virtue or if it be 't is no safe one because 't is so easie a matter to be deceiv'd especially in Men which upon the Weights are the most deceitful and because it is sometimes such a woeful and calamitous Thing to be deceived indeed There are many Dangers which Religion doth not require us to run into by Trusting without Reserve and the Question may be Undeterminable which of the two is most to be blamed He that believes every Thing or he that believes Nothing that is told him On each hand it is not Charity but Folly that is the Ascendant The Apostle's meaning therefore is That in Cases which are not plain and clear beyond just Reason of Doubtfulness true Christian Charity inclines one to believe favourably and to Err rather on the right Hand by entertaining a kind Opinion even when it is not apparently deserved St. Paul who so well understood the Operations of Virtue was sensible what good Effects this is apt to produce and how naturally it tendeth to make the Minds and Lives of People easie and on the contrary how hurtful it is to the Peace and Comfort of particular Men and whole Societies to take
up hard Conceits without sufficient and plain Grounds to run away with them and to act upon them Hatreds and Mischief follow in the end witness those Outrages which he himself committed upon his own groundless Apprehensions He believed once that Jesus Christ was a Deceiver and that his Disciples were a very Dangerous and Heretical Sect. Upon which false and groundless Principle he verily thought with himself that he ought to do many Things contrary to the Name of Jesus of Nazareth Act. 26. 9. And how fatal and mischievous was that one Thought to the Church of Christ What a world of Vexation and Misery did it not put them to And yet all the while the People he Persecuted were Innocent and the Persecution was bottom'd upon nothing but his own unreasonable and wild Presumptions Thus it is when Men believe without Judgment and Candor believe Evil Things upon Evil Surmises and side with Sinister Notions as their first Imaginations and Passions sway them Havock and Outrage are the usual Consequents Peace and a good Conscience and Charity and whatsoever else is desirable all goes to wrack in the Storm which sometimes cannot be allayed without a Sacrifice of Blood too Now for the increasing in us a Spirit of Charity and for the due expressing it as to this Point this General Rule must be carefully observed To take Things always in the best Sense and never to give way to Hard Thoughts where there is room for kind or favourable Constructions Many times indeed Men's Guilt appeareth so foul and open that the Evidence is too strong for those that are willing to be Scepticks in that particular In which case Charity no more requires you to believe contrary to your Experience than it binds you to discredit the Testimony of all your Senses As where People act maliciously every Day in spight of all the Charity in the World you cannot but look upon them as very ill Men. But where the Matter is doubtful and uncertain Charity should always set it in the fairest Light or rather I should say in the darkest Corner to blind the Guilt as much as is possible and to hide it even from our own Eyes Remember the Charity of the Lord Jesus upon the Cross when his Blood-thirsty Enemies had now done their very worst against Him One would have thought their Malice was open enough For Pilate himself was satisfied of his Innocence He knew saith the Evangelist that for Envy they had delivered him Mat. 27. 18. And yet to cover their Sin in some measure He himself pleaded their Ignorance in that Charitable Prayer for them Father forgive them for they know not what they do Luke 23. 34. Had it been possible he could have found in his Heart to have concealed their Guilt from his Father's view But God seeth the very Secrets of the Heart all Things are naked and open to him with whom we have to do But this is one of God's incommunicable Attributes We see at best but through a Glass a dark and dim View and our Sight is much the dimmer when we would look into Men's Breasts where we have no Glass at all to look through Therefore where we are left to Conjecture our Opinion should be on the Charitable side because our Eye can have a direct Stroke upon the Principle of another's Action Perhaps it was Inadvertency perhaps it proceeded from Ignorance perhaps from common Humane Frailties Many Excuses Charity will help us to find out before we need charge it upon the Heart This General Rule of putting the best Sense upon Men's Actions being laid before you I shall add these few Particulars for the better Practice of it Not to be easie in believing the first Representations By our daily Experience we may find that the first Account of Things is commonly the Falsest because it is usually attended with Partiality to possess the Minds of People with a Prejudice before-hand it is so in Men's relating Things of others especially of their Superiors in Church or State Partiality is never wanting there Some have a sort of Itch both in their Minds and Tongues to speak Evil of those they care not for Upon which account when an ill Thing is offered to our Belief before Credit be given to a foul Story we should consider Whether the Suggestion may not proceed from Hearts which are touch'd with a Disease somewhat resembling the Botch of Egypt Many are apt to take up hard Opinions upon Trust which is not only Uncharitable but Unrighteous too Because the Party is thereby rifled of his Reputation at all adventures If the Story be false the Injustice is manifest if it be but probable there is Probability against it too if it be altogether uncertain it is not Judgment but Partiality that Governs the Belief of it And after all if Accusations be enough every Man must lie at Mercy for his Innocence though his own Conscience acquit him 'T is necessary therefore in all ill Reports to suspend ones Perswasion till the Truth appears and rather to be for the Charitable Sense because to be sure no Wrong is done in that case whereas Judgment is Iniquity when it passeth upon Surmise and he that Suffers by the Sentence Suffers not for his own but for another's Fault that is for another's too quick and rash Judgment In short That Charity may make us believe all the Good we hear and hardly any thing but what is Good let it teach our Hearts to be in Love with Peace Reports whether they be true or false are disquieting and whatever the first Design of them be the End is Quarrel a Mischief that is attended with such a Train of ill Consequences that we cannot be too careful in using our utmost Endeavours to choak the Original Cause Study to be quiet and to do your own business saith St. Paul 1 Thess 4. 11. If Men's Hearts and Hands were thus honestly and wisely employed it would be a concise but a very effectual way of setting their Ears and Tongues much more at rest XV. 15. The Fifteenth Character of Charity is That it hopeth all Things As by the former Description St. Paul shews how we are to think as to Things present or past so by this he directs us what Thoughts we are to entertain as to the future However Men be represented or may appear we must not despair of them or give them utterly for gone as Reprobates and Castaways undone and lost to all Eternity The Reasons of this are taken from the Office of Charity which is to do all the Good we can in every respect 1. Now first to account a Man past all Recovery is the ready way to supersede the use of those Means which in ordinary Cases are thought fit and proper to bring People to Repentance Charity is a most Active and Zealous Grace especially when it is concern'd about a Soul No good Methods are wanting there as long as there are Hopes True Charity is apt to