Covenants and Contracts by the Institution of God as well as by the Constitutions and Appointments of Men to love and serve one another Love is the Heart of Civil Society And besides all this Provision which Divine Wisdom has made for our Exercise of Love he has by the Gospel taught it us and obliged us to it in a most extraordinary manner For Love your Enemies that is 4thly Yours who were loved when you were Enemies and had been miserable if you had not Rom. 5. 10. When we were yet Enemies we were reconciled to God by the Death of his Son Here are three Particulars very considerable 1. What kind of Enemies we were 2. Who it was to whom we were Enemies and who loved us 3. With what kind of Love 1. We were the most causeless and unreasonable the most disingenuous and unworthy the most weak and inconsiderable Enemies that could be What Reason or shadow of Reason will any Man bring for his Hatred against God Why should Man be angry with God Or why should he hate him who is altogether Good and can do no Evil What could make him at odds with his Maker or engage him in a quarrel with his Preserver This is wholly unaccountable How base and ungrateful is Man to oppose the Interest of God who has done him so much Good Doth he thus requite his Love his great Kindness Lastly How little can he do against God He is not nor cannot be hurt by Mens Ingratitude and Rebellion No what we intended against Heaven falls upon our own Heads Such a kind of Enemies we were and yet 2. Our God and Saviour loved us God who is infinitely wise who depended not on us who is our Example and Patern and to be like him is our greatest Perfection And lest any should say Because he depended not on us and was so much above us therefore he loved us God in our Nature the Man Jesus Christ loved us he who was like as we are in all things except Sin He that was so injured as never Man was who received the greatest Indignities and Contunâ—elies and tasted the bitterest Fruits of Malice yet he loved and prayed for and did good to his worst and cruellest Enemies 3. God and Christ loved their Enemies with the greatest and reallest Love God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son c. And our Saviour laid down his Life and greater Love than this hath none Now then we who have seen such Examples of Love as are those of the ever-blessed God and our Saviour and who have received so much of Good by this Love to us when we were Enemies how can we not love our Enemies who are in no degree so unreasonable or disingenuous or inconsiderable as we were to God 5thly Tours who are Christians and therefore cannot be hurt by any Man so as to be made miserable All that any Man can do against a Disciple of Christ is but little so little that it is not worth his earnest Contention Our Saviour bids us not fear them that can kill the Body and after that have no more that they can do And our Imagination representing Evils much greater than we find them if there be no reason to fear our Enemies there can be none to hate them There is nothing more conducing nor indeed essential to our Happiness than Love And therefore the Religion of Christ which manifestly designs our greatest Happiness has by all means secured the Practice of Love it has removed all Obstacles out of the way and enlarged its Bounds discovering new Objects that were not before thought of extending it to Just and Unjust Strangers and Acquaintance Friends and Enemies 6thly This is the wisest Method we can take to be freed from the Evil we complain of We shall hereby most probably 1. Put an end to this Evil. 2. Prevent new ones to our selves and others And if this be true then there can be no Plea for Hatred This is the meaning of Hatred to deliver our selves from some Evil to destroy that Now let us compare and see whether Love be not a better and wiser Method to this than Hatred 1. It is more innocent doth less harm to the Party himself or others and destroys less Good 2. It doth more ordinarily prevail upon Men to lay aside all malicious thoughts And there are many Causes in Nature which make it necessary so to do 1. We are naturally prone to imitate and here is a contrary Example set before us a Patern of Love 2. There is no Reason for any to hate one that loves him because we only hate that which is evil to us but if any Person love us we cannot think he doth us evil for he designs and will do us good So that he who hates such an one hates his own Good 3. Ingenuity 3. Returning Love for Hatred quencheth the Violence of it The common opinion is let the Sun shine upon the Kitchin-Fire it will put it out Love takes away the Fuel from those consuming Fires it destroys both the Parents and the Nurse of Enmity which are Hatred and Evil These propagate and preserve but Love and Goodness destroy and extirpate it Overcome Evil with Good saith the Apostle that indeed is the likeliest way to overcome it Love by yielding overcome that which by resistance increases its strength as Wooll-packs damp the force of that Cannon-Bullet which will make Breaches upon a Stone-Wall Farther let us consider 1. Either we deserved to be opposed in this Interest or we did not If we did why do we complain If not our Reward will be greater Let us patiently bear Persecution and the Revilings of Men and great will be our Recompence that God will give us 2. Our Enemy either doth well or ill in being so if well love if ill pity him His Sin is worse to him than our Suffering can be to us If he do ill do not follow his Example if well do not hate him 3. This Practice will bring Religion into Repute we shall adorn our Profission and shew that Christianity can do something singular somewhat above other Religions that they who have the Light of the Gospel exceed Heathens and Infidels in their Lives 4. It is necessary to Salvation Our Sins will not be pardoned to us unless we pardon others If ye forgive not Men their Trespasses neither will your Heavenly Father forgive yours Whatsoever ye would that others should do to you the same do ye to them 5. We condemn our selves if we do not Our Prayers and our Lives clash We daily pray for Forgiveness from God as we forgive others and yet we do it not 6. This is a firm Foundation of Peace If this Principle obtained there would be no Quarrels for these cannot arise except both Parties be agreed to be Enemies If all these Arguments be well considered it will appear how little reason the Enemies of our Religion have to take any Advantage from this
the Multitude of your Sacrifices to me saith the Lord c. Chap. 58. 6. Is not this the Fast that I have chosen to loose the Bands of Wickedness to undo the heavy Burdens and to let the Oppressed go free c. Mich. 6. 6 7 8. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow my self before the high God shall I come before him with Burnt-Offerings c. He has shewed thee O Man what is Good But for our Christian Religion its manifest Design is that we should do Good to all St. James 1. 27. Pure Religion and undefiled before God is this to visit the Fatherless and Widows in their Afflictions 1 Tim. 1. 5. The End of the Commandment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Charity out of a pure Heart and a good Conscience and Faith unfeigned So that God esteems himself most honoured and Men to be religious in the highest degree when they are beneficent More particularly 1. Christianity takes away all separating and dividing Ceremonies that were as Walls of Partition and so intends the proselyting of all Men without Distinction And does not this tend to lay on them the greatest Engagements to an universal Good-will 2. It has taken great care to remove all Obstacles of this and has made it the necessary Condition of being happy We must love all Men and do them good tho they be wicked tho they be our Enemies Love your Enemies c. says our Saviour And if ye forgive not Men their Trespasses neither will your Heavenly Father forgive yours 3. The Representations the Gospel has made of God and our Saviour whom we are instructed and obliged to follow will engage us to do Good universally Our Saviour went about doing Good He loved his Enemies to Death he laid down his Life for them he requited the greatest Malice with the greatest Love God is described as loving the World and that with the greatest truest heartiest Love that can be He does Good unto all his Sun rises upon the Wicked as well as the Good If then it be our Duty our Perfection and Happiness to conform to our Saviour's Example if by this we come to the utmost that our Natures can reach to to be like God whose Mercy extends to all things Let us also love and do Good to Enemies to Strangers to all Men. Were there those among the Heathens that had only the Light of Nature and yet both taught and practised this Duty of Beneficence in so high a degree and shall not we Christians who have the Revelation of the Gospel we who read of the eternal Son of God devesting himself of the Glory he had with God before the World was and taking our frail Nature into Union with himself learn and practise iâ— much more Are we not told what the Blessed Jesus did and how much he suffered in Life and Death and all this that he might redeem Mankind from Sin and Death and Hell and make us happy Was this the Design and Business of his Life and Death to do the greatest Good to all Men Let us make it appear that we are indeed his Disciples in that we carry on the same Design which he did and follow his Example in doing Good This is so necessary a part of Christianity that if I were to give a Character of a Christian in short it should be this He is one that designs and doth Good unto all Men. Catholick Charity makes a Man a Member of the Catholick Church Holding of the Catholick Faith is not so sure a Mark of a Christian as living in Universal Love whosoever doth so is a Christian he that doth not is none no tho he can repeat his Creed and think he believes every Article of it it is not so material as this universal Inclination of doing Good it is not so material in order to our Acceptance with God what our Opinions are as what our Affections and Lives are This is final and ultimate in Religion that which God design'd to bring Men unto by all the Revelations which he has made and by all his Institutions All true Religion that has ever been in the World has aim'd at this to make Men better wiser and more vertuous And why is this but in order to Action And do we or can we act only about our selves If we be better shall it not be better for other Men Can a Man be good to himself singly and not to Society Or does Religion intend the Good of private Persons and not of Communities Assuredly that which designs to make Men good to themselves designs to make them good to others That Man is most truly Religious who gives most Honour to God and he does that who makes the most true and worthy Representation of him to the World and he does that who is universally good and kind Not he who macerates his Flesh with Fasting or wears out his Knees with long and frequent Praying or spends the greatest part of his time in Hearing or Reading or denies himself the useful and innocent Pleasures of Life and Conversation that turns Recluse or Hermite that goes a long Pilgrimage bare-foot that exposes himself to pinching Cold or scoâ—â—hing Heat that calls for Fire from Heaven upon the wicked Transgressors of the Law Not any of these or others that pass for the only Religious Men in the World make so clear and true and becoming a Representation of God to the World as that poor Man does whose only Design it is to do Good unto all who makes it his great Business to be innocent and useful to every one in the World This Man's Life shall do more to make other Men entertain true and honourable Thoughts of God than all the Devotions and Fervors of them who confine their Religion to such Passions and Exercises Nor can all Faith and Knowledg have such an effect upon others to make them glorify God as the Life of this good Man who does Good Lastly Nothing can make us more sure of and fit for the Happiness of Heaven than this As nothing can make us more like to God and Christ and the good Angels than this Divine Temper of Love to Mankind so nothing more fits us for nor more assures of their Converse in Heaven Indeed this seems not so much a necessary Condition of the Happiness of that State as an essential Ingredient in it and a great part of it The great Change which I apprehend will be in Heaven from what is here on Earth is this That our selfish contracted Love will be enlarged and extended and that there we shall every one love all By what has been hitherto said it may appear sufficiently that nothing better becomes or is more worthy of us either as Men following the Principles of Nature or as Christians enlightned by revealed Religion than to be universally good But I shall argue this further by shewing that 3. To do Good to all Men c. is one of those means which
it as a great Privilege only to have the Word of God read to them 1. Those that cannot read it themselves 2. They who have it not in a known Tongue And hence it was that in the beginning of the Reformation here in England when it was first order'd that the Bible should be read in English in the Congregation that the People flock'd so very much to the Churches Tho this is a thing now despised and Men make no account of coming into Church till after the Chapters as if it was nothing to have the Word of God read by one whose Office it is to proclaim the Divine Counsel But if any will pretend that he can read the Bible as well at home and it is all one to have it read by one of his own Family as by Christ's Minister and Officer I will only say this That the sacred Place and the Time set apart for this thing and the Presence of others may all contribute to his greater attendance to and better observation of it Mirum Judicium oritur ex aliorum praesentia And when I see many others hearkning to the Word read it will excite my Attention and thereby help my Understanding I need not put you in mind that care hath been taken in selecting those Portions of Scripture to be publickly read which are most easy to be understood and most useful and necessary to be remembred and practised But if a Man should persuade himself that no Benefit will come to him by conforming to the Orders of the Church in coming to the publick Assembly to hear the Word of God read yet he ought to do this for the sake of that Society of which he is a Member and for the sakes of the Ignorant who by their attendance on the publick reading of the Word will proclaim to the World that they are the only ignorant Persons if none else will come to hear it And the Shame of this may make them absent themselves too because they would not be look'd upon as so altogether and only without understanding Therefore to encourage and keep them in countenance even such as can themselves read should come to Church to hear the Scriptures read tho there are other Reasons to move them to this But besides the bare reading there is also the Expounding of the Word of God in the Publick Congregations and it is applied to particular Cases For this is the business both of all Catechising and Preaching Where any Text is not at all or so well understood there the Minister doth expound it by some plainer Text or by an Interpretation of the Original and he always shews its agreement with the common Notions and Sense of Mankind And if any be so careless or dull as not to deduce the particular Consequences they might nor make use of it to direct their own Practices they are helped by the Sermon in those matters And thus by hearing the Divine Commands and Promises and Threatnings read and explained and applied Mens Understandings are increased their Memories refreshed their Affections quickned and consequently their Practice is better'd For the Word of God where it is understood and believed where it is entertained and kept it will have this certain Effect to help Men to live holy and vertuous Lives for it is a Spirit of Holiness and Purity that breaths in those Divine Writings and they have this only design to make Men good 3. The last of the Benefits I mentioned which the Christian hath in the publick Assemblies is the Sacraments I have already said something concerning Baptism which is the initial Rite that is used at our first Admission which solemnizes and as it were confirms and ratifies the Engagement which the Proselite to Christianity then takes upon him I might here add that it cannot seem improbable to expect the secret and unseen tho not unfelt Blessing of God to be conveyed upon the Observance of his own Institution and the Prayers which are made by the Church on the behalf of the Party baptized The other Sacrament of the Lord's-Supper if we consider by whom and at what time it was instituted we shall look on it as a mighty Privilege to be admitted to it For our Saviour ordained it and he did this at the time of his Death when he was about to give the greatest Instance of his Love to us that ever the World had If we think how frequently it was used by the Primitive Christians and what an Esteem they had of it we shall by this also be persuaded that it is a very valuable thing But on the other hand if we make an Estimate of it according to the Judgment of our own Times we must then look on it as having either much Evil or very little Good in it for else sure Men could not possibly neglect it as they do But let us not judge of it by any extrinsecal Considerations whatsoever Let us consider the Nature of the Thing it self and the excellent Uses it serves and then we shall better discern the Advantages it brings The thing we are to do is to commemorate the great Performances of our Lord Jesus Christ which were consummated in that painful and ignominious Death he underwent for our sakes This we are commanded to do in eating Bread and drinking Wine Now whilst we do an Action which so well becomes us and that is so honourable to our dearest Lord we receive unto our selves unconceivable Benefits For when we look on Christ crucified for our Sins as the Sacrifice offered for us this shews us the Heinousness of Sin and makes us more sensible of and sorrowful for the Sins we have committed as also more to detest and resolve against all Sin for time to come This also convinceth us of God's Right to challenge our Obedience and to punish us for our Default And he doth by this Instance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shew us what we are to expect if we continue in a sinful Practice Again When we look on the Sacrifice as accepted and esteemed by God this will increase our value of Obedience to the Divine Law and we shall set an higher Price on Holiness for it was this which made our Saviour's Oblation so acceptable unto God This will also encourage our Faith and Hope in God when we consider that a Sacrifice hath been offered and is accepted on our behalf When we take a view of our dying Saviour as our Example and Patern we then learn the most perfect Submission of our Wills the most entire Resignation of our Selves to the Will of God the most unconquerable Patience the greatest Resolution and yet the most of Mildness and above all the most universal and intense Love that can be exprest Love to Enemies to malicious and wicked Persecutors to be desiring heartily and earnestly endeavouring their Welfare whilst they are eagerly seeking our Ruine And when we have had Christ set before us as dying for our Brethren this will
which Charity hath set that is to do nothing inconsistent with the Goodness of any Man at present nor consequently with his everlasting Happiness We must not punish Body and Soul too that belongs only to him that is the Judg of Souls We must not do any thing but what may be and what we intend to be serviceable to their Happiness And not to mention lower and lesser Penalties even the Punishment of Death it self has many times had this good Effect on them who have suffered it Many Criminals by being sentenc'd to Death have been brought to a true Remorse for their Sins who probably had they escaped the Condemnation of the Judg had fallen under the Condemnation of God So that this Doctrine only tends to moderate our Anger to direct and restrain our Hatred and to set Bounds to our worser Passions not to extirpate but to prune and rectify them to bring them under the Government of Charity Secondly The other Objection proceeds on a great Mistake that he that doth Good to All whose Temper and Principles engage him to such a large Beneficence will neglect himself Whereas 1. It no way interferes with that natural Principle but on the contrary strengthens it as will appear if we consider 1. That he that doth Good to all doth Good to himself for he is one of that Number and he has a greater Opportunity of doing Good to himself than any other because he is alway with himself so that a Man's self is not excluded from his Care If it be objected That himself is not the only Object of his Care and Kindness I answer Nor is this either fit or just or reasonable or natural No Man can be the sole and adequate Object of his own Love he cannot circle in himself be his own both Center and Circumference If he should force himself to such an unnatural use of himself he would be very unhappy if he take himself off from his Relations to others he must be miserable 2. Every Man must be first good to himself that he may be more good to others He that would be a Benefactor to other Men must first be kind to himself 3. He that is good to others is best to himself For First He engages them to make him Returns of Kindness and these Vicissitudes of Benefits preserve the Societies of Men as the natural Life of Man is preserved by the Circulation of the Blood to and from the Heart And 2dly If they fail to recompence yet the great God will not but whatsoever Good any Man doth he shall receive of the Lord his Prayers and all his Labour of Love shall return into his own Bosom And besides all this 3dly The very doing Good it self is a Work that is an abundant Recompence to it self To do Good is certainly the highest Pleasure of which the Soul of Man is capable as will appear further when I shew the Advantages which will accrue to us by such an universal Goodness So then notwithstanding this Exception from self-Self-love we may love universally and do Good to all for these are two natural Principles that agree well together which seems to be well represented in the natural World For as the Astronomers tell us the Earth at the same time moves round its own Axis and yet makes a Progression in the Ecliptick Circle in which it always keeps the same steady Position in reference to all the circumambient Bodies This doth represent the Man of a regular Self-love and an universal Charity He moves about his own Center but yet retains his Relation to the rest of Mankind and keeps his Parallelism to the Axe of the Universe as I may say Or to use a more familiar instance The Systole and Diastole of the Heart are very fit resemblances of a Man's doing good to himself and to others The Blood 's coming into the Heart is the motion of self-Self-love the flowing of it out from thence into all the extream parts of the Body is his Love and Beneficence to others to all Men. This is the motion that keeps Life in the Body and the doing Good to a Man's self and to the rest of the World preserves Society and tends to the Perfection of the Souls of Men. I have said enough to clear this difficulty and shewn that to do good to all is no prejudice to any Man 's particular Interests To sum up then what has been said by way of Explication Because of the great advantages that will certainly accrue to us by such a practice let us lay out our selves to procure the greatest good and happiness of every Man in the World Not of our selves only or our Kindred our particular Acquaintance and Friends or of good Men but of all and every one of those that are and those that are not of our Blood of Country-men and Foreigners of such as think as we do and of those that differ from us of Friends and Enemies of good Men and bad I intend the Perfection and Happiness and in order to that the Vertue and Goodness of all Men Do this absolutely this is to be universally indispensibly observed and do them all other Good with reference and in order to this Inform Advise Exhort Rebuke Comfort Please them in your Discourses where it will be for their advantage or where it will not hinder or obstruct it Thus do to all in general and to every one in particular And as in case of Competition ever the greatest Good is to be preferr'd so if a Competition of Persons be we are caeteris paribus to prefer the most or if you say the best that is true but that is also because the most are concern'd in them For a good and a wise Man is a publick Benefit and of more value than numbers of others that are not so Doing Good to the most is also the greatest Good Lastly In all the ways of imparting our Aid towards this let us ever observe the Seasons when any Actions will probably contribute most to this Effect and when they can best be done by us This I would have especially observ'd because Actions that are materially good and where we mean well are often spoil'd by being mis-timed As when Men are discoursing of their lawful secular Occasions or entertaining each other with pleasant Diversions then for any to make mention of things most Sacred and Venerable this is importune and impertitent and here is a good meaning lost by an in observance of Opportunity IV. I now proceed to the Arguments which perswade us thus as we have opportunity to do good unto all Men. First To do thus is very agreeable to Nature I am of their mind who think Nature a trusty Guide and make this the first and Sum of all their Precepts and Advices to follow Nature I do believe there is not one Command in the Gospel which is not a Branch from this Root a Particular under this General I need not say that we are not
that But I will shew what Influence a Life of universal Love and Goodness must have to make us think well and truly of God and live in a due regard to him In general therefore this Life of Benevolence and universal Good-will helps us to a better that is a clearer and more certain and sensible Knowledg of the Goodness of God and thereby engages us to love him and trust in him The Man who in his Disposition and Practice is beneficent he feels this to be the best State of all others and consequently will attribute it to him who is the best and happiest of all Beings He who lays the Foundation of what he believes concerning God in Testimony only his Soul may be filled with Doubts he may question whether he rightly understands what he reads or hears at least he cannot be so sensibly and fully assured of it as he that builds upon his own Sense and Feeling Some say and not without very good Reason that none can know what God is who are not themselves Partakers of the Divine Nature And the Scripture gives Countenance to this Opinion in such Passages as these Blessed are the pure in Heart for they shall see God Without Holiness no Man shall see God Which places imply that Purity and Holiness which is a Participation of the Divine Nature are the necessary Qualifications of those that shall know God A Divine Life is a Prerequisite a Preparative to Divine Knowledg And our Saviour tells them if they will do God's Will they shall know his Doctrine A vertuous good Life is certainly the best Preparation and doth most dispose the Soul to the Reception of all Truths but more particularly of that which concerns God and spiritual Matters This also gives further Credit to that Assertion That most or all Mens Opinions of God are founded in their own Life and Temper And there 's good reason it should be so For generally Men like themselves and approve of what they do and all in their Reasonings attribute that which they think good to God who is absolutely so Hence it is that the wicked profane Man thinks God like himself and that he doth not detest nor will punish Sin any more than he Or if he cannot think thus of God as it 's strange a Man should then he thinks there is no God And indeed Observation as well as Reason will teach us that a wicked Life is the compendious way to Atheism He that lives ill either thinks there is no God or thinks falsly of him for true Knowledg of God and a vicious Life cannot consist any more than Light and Darkness Again Others Men of severe austere Humours and of angry and malicious Tempers conceive God to be as they are And the Man of a benign Mind he accounts Love and Goodness the most essential Property of God which he therefore does because his own Sense and Experience in Conjunction with Reason and Scripture and the Consent of other Men assure him past all doubt that this is the best Temper and that no Life can be so good as that of Love and Benignity and thence he firmly concludes this must be the Nature the Life of God himself This Sense as I said takes away all that Obscurity and those Doubts which might remain notwithstanding all that is revealed in Scripture or discoursed by Reason or reported by other Men. For we might suspect that we misunderstood the Text or that our Reason were short being conversant in Divine Matters and the Testimony of Men leaves room for doubting but what we feel we cannot doubt But the Man of Good-will he cannot in the least question whether the Life of Benevolence be not the best and consequently the Divine Life And this will engage him to give God the Worship that 's due to him that is to love and trust him He that knows and feels the Goodness of God he must love him and trust in him and then and not till then is God worshipped in the Soul when he is loved and trusted in Particularly this Man of universal Good-will when he views the Creation of God and beholds how good he made all Things and with how great Wisdom he conducts them all to the end of their Beings their utmost Perfection and chief Excellence More especially when he considers in what Condition and Place God hath set Man to be Lord of this inferior World how he hath given him an Understanding in the use of which he may enjoy God and himself and all things and may make his Abode here easie and delightful to him and may by the use of his Reason and the Government of himself according to the Rules of Vertue raise himself above the Calamities of this State and may serve himself and his Happiness of all that befals him may make the most unhappy Circumstances he can be in serviceable to his best Interests When he considers all these Wonders of Goodness that appear in the Creation and Providence of God he adores this great Benefactor and praises the great Creator and Preserver and Governour of the World And when he further considers those astonishing Passages of Divine Goodness in the Redemption of the World by Christ and sees the Good that hath come to Men by that miraculous Incarnation of the Son of God by his Life and Death his Doctrine and his Works and the great Good that was design'd and how God is never wanting to do all that on his part is to be done for the attaining it this fills him with Love and Wonder and makes him break forth in Praises of the Divine Philanthropy And when this good Man is endeavouring the Good and Welfare of others but finds his Attempts unsuccessful and his Power too short that he cannot do the Good he desires then doth he send out his earnest Longings to Heaven that Almighty Power would supply his Defects and do that Good to the World which he would but cannot God is not by such an one call'd upon to destroy but mend the World He doth not pray for Fire from Heaven to consume them that oppose him but for the good Spirit of God to convince and change them God is not then worshipped when he is invoked to assist bitter Zeal and Anger and to execute the Designs of Malice and Cruelty No then God is worshipped and truly represented when we seek to him and depend on him for help in carrying on good and charitable Designs in being universally useful and beneficial For then we shew that we think him benign and kind and we do profess by this our Perswasion that 't is his Design and great Work to do Good to the World And this is the truest and most honourable Representation of God and the best Worship we can give him No Fear or Horrour is such an Acknowledgment of God as he will accept and own or look on himself as honoured and worthily represented by No the Devils believe and tremble but they
various Dispensations and Providences to his Church This it seems was a Secret to the Angels themselves But what is this of which so great things are spoken This that is called a Mystery that deserves so great a Name For it intimates to us 1. That it is a thing of great importance and moment a matter of great consequence as well as 2. That it is secret and concealed And indeed if it were not a matter of moment the Obscurity and Secrecy of it would not make it of more account with wise Men whatever it may do with the Ignorant This was an Art the Heathens used to bâ— get in the Worshippers of their Gods a Veneration of their Religion by concealing some parts of it and turning them into Mystery They in this imitated some Painters who draw a Curtain which hath nothing behind it But far be it from us to imagine any such Artisice used by the Author and Publishers of the true Religion No their business hath been to reveal not hide not to obscure and vail but to declare and uncover Truths They have manifested them to us as much as the Matters themselves and our Capacities would bear and when they have done all such is the greatness of some things in Religion and such is the littleness of our Understanding that there will yet and alway remain something that is beyond our reach too big for us to comprehend too glorious for our Minds to behold There are Mysteries to the highest Angels of Heaven much more to us Mortals Their knowledg is gradual That now saith the Apostle in the tenth verse of this Chapter unto the Principalities and Powers in heavinly Places might be known by the Church the manifold Wisdom of God and so may ours well be thought It increases according to the further discoveries God makes to us so that that is known in a following Age which was not in the formet Thus it was in this particular before us That the Gentiles should be Fellow-heirs and of the same Body and Partakers of his Promise in Christ by the Gospel For the full understanding of which Words and the Mystery they import we will consider I. In what condition the Gentiles were before they were called to be Christians II. Their excellent State after they became Christians And from both these will appear how great things are done for the Gentiles and how much the Christian Dispensation excells not only the Gentile but the Jewish also This is exprest in the Text by such Words that they are Fellow-heirs c. III. We will consider by what means this is to be done which is here also declared to be the Gospel IV. And then we will conclude with some Inferences I. As to the Condition of the Gentiles before Christianity 1. If we take an account of this Matter from the Jews I know not whether we should look on the Gentiles to be Men or not for they will scarce afford the Nations as they call'd them by way of contempt as we say the People any better Names than Dogs But we will not rely upon them who were so highly conceited of themselves and their own Privileges and who treated all other Men with so much disdain and scorn as the Jews are known to have done Nor 2. Will we take our account from some Christians of a Jewish Spirit who confine the Divine Love to some Places and Times and will not allow that God has had any regard at all for Men that have not been baptized in these latter or circumcised in the former Ages If they were not of such a Denomination within such an Inclosure they exclude them from the Favour of God and look on them as wholly rejected as those for whom God has no regard at all They will not allow them to be in any possibility of escaping the Torments of Hell and the Miseries of the future State That is because God thought not fit to confer on them all the Privileges which he vouchsafed to some they conclude he had no kindness for them Because he bestowed on the Israâ—â—â—â—es greater Helps to Vertue than he 〈◊〉 to the rest of the World which he 〈…〉 partly for the sakes of those excellâ—â—tly good Men from whom they sprang and partly because they were so very â—ull and hard-hearted as Moses every â—here tells them therefore in compassion to their Infirmities he vouchsafed them â—â—ese Helps therefore he loved the Israelâ—tes and had no affection for any other Or because we Christians are bless'd with the Gospel-Revelation which is not made to others that therefore God loves us only and either hates of slights all the World besides All which are great Mistakes and false Conclusions which neither agree with the natural Notions which we all have of God for with the Revelations he has made of himself For how can we conceive that that God who is Love it self and the tender and compassionate Father of Spirits and who hath inculcated this in the Bible that he loves the World and desires not the Death of a Sinner that he should lay aside all thoughts of the far greatest part of Mankind and wholly abandon their interests that he should have no care of their Concerns no regard whether they be happy or miserable for ever No no these are unworthy dishonourable unnatural unreasonable unscriptural Representations of God Men of these conceits make our Condition worse than 〈◊〉 Jews themselves for the Jews as I reâ—ember thought the Gentiles would not after death but these Men conclude 〈◊〉 under everlasting Wo. And as much 〈…〉 is better not to be than to be miserable so much better do the Jews think of the Gentiles than such mistaken Christians We will dismiss â—oth these and take our Information from Scripture We will neither rely on the proud and scornful Jews nor yet on such narrow-spirited Christians as I have mentioned but see what representation the Gospel makes of the Gentiles See in the second Chapter of this Epistle where the Apostle describes to us the State of these Ephesians before they became Christians and we have no reason to think them to have been worse than others Verse 1. They were dead in Trespasses and Sins So immerst in them that there was very little hope they should ever get out of them They walk'd in them it was their practice their course and way of life According to the fashion or course 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of this World after the guise and manner of Men as to the far greatest part According to the Prince of the Power of the Air the Spirit that now works in the Children of Disobedience i. e. They liv'd in obedidience to and were under the Dominion of the Devil to whom they are still in subjection who will not obey the Divine Laws Doing the VVill of the Flesh and of the Mind that is indulging themselves in Sensuality and also being Slaves to Pride and Revenge and such which I take here to be
the Will or Desires of the Mind or Discourses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the former are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And were by nature the Children of Wrath even as others And were truly really as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used Gal. 4. 8. or fully and perfectly as the Syriack and St. Hierom or by Nature i. e. made by Custom such as deserv'd and became obnoxious to Punishment or by Birth born Idolaters And as if he had not fully enough described their Misery before they were converted to Christianity in the 11th Verse he calls on them to remember that they who were Gentiles in the Flesh were called the Vncircumcision that is were destitute of that Federal Rite whereby the Israelites entred into Covenant with God VVere at that time without Christ that is had not the Promises of Christ at least not so plainly as the Jews or knew not and so had no expectation of a Messiah Alienated from the Commonwealth of Israel Were not Members of that Commonwealth which was by God's own appointment and wherein he did preside in a special manner for he was their King and bestowed many special Favours on them that were his Subjects And Strangers from the Covenant of Promise that is those which were made with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Moses which had great and good Promises annexed to them Having no Hope that is no sure well-grounded Hope of Pardon and Resurrection and Eternal Life The Philosophers themselves were very uncertain and doubtful in these matters And without God in the VVorld i. e. without the true and certain Knowledg of and Love to God and Worship of him And also set at the greatest distance from the Influences of the Divine Goodness as all wicked Persons and those that are led Captives by the Devil at his will are A most dismal Condition to be without God in the World See a farther Description of this sad State Ephes 4. 17. As other Gentiles walk in the Vanity of their Minds which is exprest most signally in the worshipping of Idols as that Phrase is used in Rom. 1. They became vain in their Imaginations Having their Vnderstandings darkned their Minds being ignorant and mistaken their Discourses obscure and confused perplext and doubtful Being alienated from the Life of God Mere Strangers to that Divine Life which God lives and requires them to live Through the Ignorance that is in them because of the hardness of their Heart Here he assigns the Cause of all the other Mischiefs which are also a part of them that is Ignorance proceeding from ill Custom or that Vnwillingness which was the Effect of ill Custom for that is signified by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I need not give any further account from the Scriptures of the Condition of the Gentiles before Christianity The Sum of what we have found concerning it is that they by long ill use of themselves had as it were so seared their Hearts and made them so sensless that they were ignorant and vain in their Imaginations and obscure and uncertain and frequently mistaken in their Reasonings in general and more particularly they were without the Knowledg of the true God Worshippers of Idols and of vicious and wicked Practices to which they were engaged by the Examples of most Men. And that they were under the Power of the Devil and liable to that Punishment which the Divine Justice would inflict on them Very great was the Misery they lay order at present and they were still liable to and in danger of more and greater afterwards and very little were the Probabilities of escaping from them They were as miserable as Ignorance and Folly as Wickedness and Vice as Idolatry and Atheism as the Malice and the Power of the Devil could make them and then their Misery must be very great They were Men of vicious Lives and when this is said enough is said to shew their Misery for they that are without Vertue want the greatest Good of which Humane Nature is capable and they that are wicked are under the worst Evil that can befal a Man in this State and they are in great danger of all that Misery to which Man is liable they are obnoxious to these terrible Punishments which the Divine Vengeance will certainly inflict on all wicked Doers the very Apprehension of which tho uncertain did so astonish and amaze them that it was alone a great Punishment as the Poet excellently describes it Quos diri confcia facti Mens habet attonitos surdo verbere caedit Occultum quatiente Animo tortore flagellum Paena autem vehemens multo savior illis Quos 〈◊〉 aedituus c. Nocte dieque suum gestare in pectore Testem If the Presensions of that Misery were so â—rmenting what will the Misery it self be For those are not the Effects of a deluded Imagination which many times make things greater than we find them but they are the very Results of our Natures the Discoveries which natural Sagacity makes and Nature doth not deceive us This was the Condition of the Heathen World and no Possibility of escaping but by living well which how hard was it for them to do who must struggle with so many Difficulties vanquish so mighty Oppositions before they could forsake their evil Ways and learn to do well It is true it was not impossible for God has implanted in Man a Power of Consideration which is inseparable from his Nature and to which he has ingaged and inclined him by a love of Truth and desire of Good which are also inseparable from the Nature of Man Now in whatsoever Condition any Man on Earth is if he come to consider impartially and universally he will through the Grace of God which is never wanting to him that diligently uses God's means in time be recovered out of the worst State But alas how hard is it for him to consider who has been long accustomed to Inconsideration How easily is he diverted from beginning this Work How frequently interrupted in it How apt is he to give it over Nay and tho Men did with some Diligence consider themselves and the World yet how easily might they slip into Error and mistake Good and Evil in divers Instances And so notwithstanding that it was not utterly impossible for them through God's Grace assisting to get out of that woful Condition in which the Gentiles were yet it was extreamly difficult and tho they might get out of Danger yet they could not be quite out of Fear for they had no Revelation that God would accept of their Repentance they had no assurance of a future Life and therefore they must through fear of Death be all their Life-time subject to Bondage So then we have no Reason to question that Account of their Condition which the Scripture hath given as that the whole World of Gentiles did lie in Wickedness 1 John 5. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lay prostrate before the wicked One or
is in seeking after supply of his Wants the less he will want and the less he wants the less he must desire if he act by Reason And so long as Want continues Desire must and if it be earnest it may probably hinder us in the good use of our Reason and so engage us in that which is dishonest making us transgress those Bounds and Land-Marks which Propriety hath set On the other hand It would be strange if the happy Man should be envious or ravening When the Sun shines upon his Tabernacle who can desire his Neighbour's Candle That which may confirm all this is That in all the Descriptions we have of the Golden Age which is supposed to have been in the World we have no mention made of Mens Inordinate Desires which shews that when they are in good condition these have no place or if they have they spoil it And this leads me to the Arguments against all unreasonable and unjust Desires First They are both noxious and vain They do others hurt and our selves no good How much Harm they do in the World I have sufficiently declared when I have said that all the Disorders and Injustice and all the Evil that one Man doth another grow from this Root Whatever Mischief of this sort you complain of know that unreasonable Desire is accessory to them All Murders and Robberies and Wars and Over-reaching in Bargains owe their Original to this This turns Men into Brutes and makes Societies of Reasonable Creatures become Dens of Lions or Kennels of Foxes Nay this hath made a City less eligible than a Wilderness and 't is more safe to be in a Herd of Brutes than in a Society of Men so much more insatiable are our Desires than theirs And there is therefore less Danger in converse with unreasonable Nature than with immoderate Desires And as unreasonable Desires do harm to others so they are no way advantagious to our selves for whilst we desire unjustly we lay a Foundation for Disquiet to the Publick Peace and also of Ruine to our own particular Interest For our Example hath an Influence on others to make them do as we do and that will bring in all Confusion amongst us Besides this whilst any one impropriates too much the less remains for others Uses And this brings near extreme Necessity and when that is their Case they have Right to other Mens Properties and when they are near it they may easily mistake it for their own Case and if they do but think it is their Case they 'll act as if it was and seize upon that which they have not but imagine they have Right to Secondly Remember our Profession We call our selves the Disciples of him who had not where to lay his Head who tho he was Lord of all yet Possessor of almost nothing And shall the Disciple be above his Master Had our Lord so very little and shall we grasp at all Why have we need of more than he had If we have shew it if not why do we desire it How is it that we cannot be content with Food and Raiment when by a harmless diligence we can obtain no more when our Saviour was For if we be indeed his Disciples that is if we live well and follow his Example we have also the Promises of this Life and of that which is to come We have all Assurance given us that the great Disposer of all Things interests himself in our Affairs and will manage all for the good of them that live well We know that the worst that can befall us is Death and that is the End of all our Miseries and is our Passage to a blessed and endless Life We know also that the Unrighteous shall not be Partakers of this Happiness that the Violent the Oppressor the Deceiver shall be excluded Nay that they who have not subdued and overcome the evil Desires of doing such Things are not owned by Christ to be his Followers and then they cannot be saved And if we cannot be Christians if we cannot be happy whilst they prevail in us why do we suffer them Besides The Gospel which we own nay and our own Reason hath represented all the Things of this World as very undesirable We cannot but see how little Tendency they all have to make us happy Do we not ordinarily find the Poor as good as the Rich and the Servant as wise as his Master And we know that all these Things are to us as We are To the Good all are Good Res perinde sunt ut illiu animus qui â—a possidet Qui uti scit ei bonâ— illi qui non utitur rectà mala And if the Things themselves be not valuable their Number doth not add to their Esteem And our Saviour hath expresly told us that our Life consists not in the Abundance of Things we possess Nay and that Riches make it hard for us to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven This they do by exciting unreasonable Desires He that believes all this it ill becomes him to be a passionate Lover of the Things of this World The Gentiles who are unâ—â—qâ—â—inted with our Religion who have as 〈◊〉 suppose almost lost their Reason for them to seek after these things is tolerable but for Christians there is no Excuse Besides all these Engagements which our Christian Profession lays on us to subdue our Desires there 's this one other which I will only mention and that is that Vniversal Love that Love to all the World which Christianity doth so much oblige us to We are commanded we are exhorted to this the highest Examples lead us to it our God and Saviour go before us in the plainest ways of Love and Kindness It is a great part of our Religion and indispensable to Happiness Yea the very Badg and Character of Christians so that we are not to be call'd by that Name if we do not live a Life of Love and if we do we shall not covet what 's another's For Love as the Apostle saith fulfils the Law it will not only preserve us from doing but also from desiring any other Man's Injury If then we would do well to the Publick by preserving Peace and Order if we have any regard to other Men that are like to and generally equal with or better than our selves If we would not fall of Happiness if we would not act in Contradiction to Religion and Reason if we would approve our selves to be Men or Christians let all our Desires be wise and just and innocent Let it be all our Endeavours and God of his infinite Mercy afford us the necessary Aids of his Grace which we beg for the sake of his Son to whom c. OF Doing our own BUSINESS 1 THESS 4. 11. That ye study to be quiet and to do your own Business THE Apostle in these Words exhorts Christians that they would study or strive earnestly as Men do who are in pursuit after Honour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
to your Guest Let your Servants also bo diligent and faithful in their Ministrie◠Let your Kindness also extend to the Servants of your Guests if they be attended Nay let it come out of the Chamber and visit the Stable that the poor weary Horse be not neglected And when you are to receive the Recompence which the Law allows for all this Care do not take the Advantage you have of hoisting up the Prices of things to the utmost but according to a moderate Estimate of matters deal with him and give him occasion to say that you have not only been just but fair that you have used him kindly as well as honestly that you have not been an Host but a Friend Use your Guest so that he may not miss his other Acquaintance and Friends nor have occasion to complain that he is from home If any one should demand of me for what reason he should do this I think I might give him full Satisfaction For 1. I would tell him that this will be the best and surest way to bring Guests to his House and thereby promote his Secular Interest Men will themselves go and invite their Friends to the House where they have been well used But this is a small matter For 2. This is a necessary Exercise of that universal Love and Benevolence which is found in every good Man Where-ever Love is it will be working as it has opportunity And I am sure those of your Prosession have great and frequent Opportunities of expressing their Humanity and Goodness This then is my Plea You have a fair Opportunity of doing much Good neglect it not Above all I beseech you take heed lest you turn that into an occasion of Evil and Mischief which was intended for Beneficence and good Offices 3. Your very Calling and the Nature of your Employment requires you to be good to Strangers so that if you be not kind you are not honest you are not what you profess to be 1. Out of an Inclination to this way of Life 't is to be supposed you have taken it up or at least you have been bred to it and profess it and will you not do what you seem and pretend and bear the World in hand you do this cannot confist with Justice 2. You are they who are trusted by the Government to entertain Strangers and how can you break this Trust This is a Trust publickly committed to you which therefore you must by no means break The Essenes as Josephus tells us who were so famous for Hospitality chose some excellent Persons to take care of Strangers You are those choice Persons upon whom by our Constitution this great Care is left You are by Publick Authority set in this Station see therefore that you maintain it that you discharge so publick a Trust 3. Strangers themselves put a Confidence in you they expect you should have a care of them they look for not only just but fair Dealing they hope to be treated friendly and civilly as well as honestly And if you do not thus you disappoint and deceive them and so cannot be honest 4. You are publickly allowed some Recompence for this And since the Law doth not forbid and your Guests are content to make fair Allowance for what you do in this kind it is great Injustice not to deserve it of them 4. Let me desire you to consider what place you fill up in the World Now I look on your Employment thus to have begun In the first Ages of the World when Men were fewer and better than now they are I suppose the best and richest to have entertained Strangers freely and that they received no Requital but only some Expressions of Gratitude Afterward when the World was more peopled as in the days of Abraham as I know not but this was become a Trade by that time so I am sure that those that were both good and rich would still continue the ancient free Hospitality they would not be deprived of the Pleasure and other Advantages they had by Converse with Strangers In these latter days when Men are more numerous and travel more frequently and do not carry their Houses with them as they did at first and when Money that common Measure of the worth of all things is so easily carried and for these and some such Reasons it is thought best by all there should be such Houses as yours of publick Reception So that now the Care of Strangers by the confent of Mankind is even wholly devolv'd upon you others in a manner discharging themselves of it tho' all ought not for some in these days are as Rich as they were in old times and if they were but as kind too they would entertain strangers still But however they all casting this on you this Consideration must carry great force in it to engage you to Hospitableness As the Hospitals are Places appointed for the Sick and the Lame and the Poor so your Houses are Hospitals for the Stranger the Traveller to come into yours are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as theirs are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 You seem to be risen up in the Room and to fill the places of those antient Hosts Abraham and Lot and such other great and good Men whose Houses were open to all Strangers Be you therefore Imitators of them I do not mean that you should entertain all on free-cost as they did that your Conditions will not suffer nor would this according to the best estimate of things I can make be for the good of the World that is it would be no way to maintain that Equality by which Societies subsist But this is that I would perswade you to to be as kind to Strangers as they were to do them all the good and friendly Offices within your Power that any of them did Let your Hearts be as large tho' your hands cannot be so open and by this means you will be the Children of Abraham if you thus walk in the Steps of the Faith of Abraham Now that the Love more than the Wealth of Men is decreased and we are grown more selfish and contracted in our Spirits now that there 's less Generosity in the World than there was let me call upon you to emulate the Goodness of old Times and to retrieve that ancient Hospitality which is almost lost Be so kind and good to your Guests that they may have no occasion to complain of these Days that they are ill for Strangers nor wish they had lived in those former Times 5. And let me also speak to you as English-Men and desire you that you would use your Guests well and kindly for the honour of your Nation which by a French Libeller was censured for Incivility to Foreigners But I think his Animadverter observ'd that it was only a Remark upon Boys who being surpriz'd with some odd uncouth Garb or ridiculous Carriage might laugh at it Or else perhaps there was not so much Talk and
him and tho it be pleasant to other Eyes to behold this Light it makes his to smart and puts them out The Angry Person is never quiet is like the troubled Sea ever casting up Mire and Dirt. Every Wind causes the Waves to rise every Word casts him into Disorders nay Silence it self will cause Commotions in him so that Contraries have the same effect on this Subject and his vitiated Palate is disgâ—sted both with â—owre and sweet This is one of the Race of the churlish Fool Nabal of whom we read that he was such a Son of Belial that he could not be spoke to And if he be desirous of Revenge how fearful is he to take it And yet how impatient till it be had And how restless when he hath it for fear of a Reâ—aliation And the Man of immoderate unreasonable Desires is tormented before they are accomplished and when they are is unsatisfied and disappointed The Sensualist his Expectations are great his Enjoyments next to nothing and both full of Trouble the first of a Delay the second of a Defeat The Ambitious Man is vex'd to the Soul that others do not make that account of him that he doth of himself that they do not esteem him as much as he would have them much more perhaps than he doth deserve and many times than he knows he deserves Tho some tho many honour him if any one cast a slight on him he cannot bear it This great little Man that is so big in Conceit and so small in Truth so little in other Mens Opinions and so great in his own can never be at rest because there can be no agreement betwixt his Thoughts and Things betwixt his and other Men. He doth not think of himself as he is nor will others think as he doth He can never have his Wishes and his Desires are impossible and can never be accomplished And the same or greater is the Trouble of the Covetous that poor rich Man is in perpetual Disquiet He is infinitely sollicitous to get and as anxious to keep He is anxious to have and fearful to lose and being rack'd betwixt Desire and Fear he enjoys nothing He seeks for Riches when he hath them and seeks endlesly because tho he finds what he sought he knows it not nor doth he think himself rich tho he be And 't is all one as to Enjoyment whether a Man have a small Estate or a poor Mind whether he be poor or conceit he is so therefore is it that he hath and hath not that he wants what he hath Thus is he distracted betwixt getting and keeping And certainly infinite are the Cares and Anxieties that disquiet these Two-penny Souls 1 Tim. 6. 10. For the Love of Money is the Root of all Evil which while some have coveted after they have erred from the Faith and pierced themselves through with many Sorrows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 transfixerunt And are not these three the great Incendiaries of the World and the Troublers of our Peace both within and without But lastly The Remorse and Anguish that arises from Conscience of Sin when they have at any time been transported by the Rage of Anger or Madness or Envy or by unsatiable Desires of Esteem or Wealth or Pleasure so as to imbrue their hands in the Blood of some harmless Abel or Vriah or take away honest Naboth's Vineyard When they have maliciously belied a blameless Joseph or some way or other have irreparably and undeservedly injured their innocent Neighbour then is it that they feel the sharp Stings of an unquiet Conscience then are they frighted with Ghosts and Specters and lash'd with Furies and gash'd with the deep Wounds of self-accusing Thoughts And these are certainly the most inward and piercing the most insupportable of all the Sorrows of which the Mind of Man is capable Now let us see what an Antidote universal Good-will is to preserve us from these that are the worst of Diseases Charity saith the Apostle envies not it is not troubled that Men are so well but desirous they should be better and happier than they are And the Reason of this follows for us said She seeks not her own that is not only nor chiefly nor in opposition to the Concerns of all others The charitable Man will take care to be innocent none shall ever be wrong'd by him nor shall any suffer or be worse by what he doth where that is not necessary to publick Good Nor secondly doth he in the first place intend himself nor doth his own single Interest in his Esteem outweigh the Concerns of many but he always gives the Verdict for the Community against a private tho it be his own Interest Nor thirdly doth he much less only and wholly design himself he knows not how to confine his Thoughts and Desires to so narrow a Compass but his Goodness hath enlarged his Soul and stretch'd it forth as far as there is any Being And where Love hath taken possession of any Man it constrains him to wish well and do Good to All so that where this Plant of God's planting grows those Roots of Bitterness Envy and Malice are pluck'd up and cast out Where this Divine Temper of Benignity and Beneficence is Envy and Malice can have no place Where a Man is so outed of himself and all particular and private Affections and Respects are brought into due Order and a fit Compliance with the more publick and universal there is no Foundation for envious Discontents or malicious Purposes When this Spirit and Power of the blessed Jesus the Son of God appears those Furies and Fiends those evil Spirits vanish and flie away as the Shadows of the Night do before the Brightness of the Sun Anger tho it may sometimes by surprize enter into the loving Soul yet it cannot stay there This mighty Power of God the Spirit of Benignity commands these Winds and Storms and bids them obey and they are quickly calm and still and the Face of the Soul is presently smooth and clear again This Cordial soon allayâ— the Feverish Heats of that Passion and quenches the Violence of a Fire that was kindled in Hell and would consume the World We read of some Evil-Spirits that would cast those into the Fire that were possess'd of them Such is Anger also it casts into the Fire and makes them foam and tears them in whom it is But this Power of God this great Love casts it out also When David the Love that 's after God's own Heart plays on his Harp before Saul the Evil-Spirit will go from him Thus Goodness easeth the Soul of that Vexation which arises from An Besides It suffers no plotting of Revenge nor Contrivances of retaliating Evil for Evil and so prevents some of the greatest and most violent Disturbances which we are subject to And how accurately well doth it bound and moderate those Desires which when they are irregular are the Causes of so great Disquiet For our Love to
others will make us desire their Honour as well as our own And where we love all and have an Affection for the Publick we shall desire no more than we deserve we shall be unwilling that other Men should be so far imposed on as to think us better than indeed we are We cannot be so unjust as to expect Reward without Merit and Praise where it is not due Charity is not puffed up 1 Cor. 13. 4. and therefore frees a Man's Mind from all the Tortures that ambitious Spirits lie under This makes a Man not displeas'd that other Men are prais'd and himself not nay tho they have more and he less than deserved yet he is very well satisfied because his own and the Approbation of a few competent Judges is sufficient to support him whereas Men of less Worth have need of greater Applause to bear up their Minds and to bring them into Request and enable them to do Good And how perfectly doth this Principle subdue and regulate all the Appetites of corporeal Pleasure He that is acted by universal Love cannot go to a forbidden Bed for he will not draw one whom he loves into Sin he will not deprive them of the lasting Pleasures of Innocence and Chastity He will not violate the Orders of all the Civilized World which have been from the beginning of Time which for the sake of the Publick for Posterity as well as the present Generation ought to be inviolably observed He will not eat nor drink more than is good for him as for other Reasons so lest others should want that which is good for them Again This universal Love by engaging us to do all the Good we can takes away all inordinate Love of Money We shall not now desire more than we can and will use for the advantage of others as well as our selves And when it is thus with us we shall not grasp at all we could get and we shall use what we do get And where we are thus minded we have freed our selves from that infinite Carking and Anxiety which an inordinate Desire of Riches causes Lastly This will in many cases prevent the bitterest Remorse for Sins by preventing the Sins themselves as I have shewed For the good Man will not be unjust or unfaithful he cannot oppress or cozen falsly or needlessly accuse will not violate the Chastity prejudice the Health much less take away the Life of any and thus secures himself from those Terrors of Conscience which follow such Wickednesses And where we are surprized and do unwillingly mis-behave our selves towards God if we be indeed charitable and loving towards Men we can then pray that God would and hope that he will forgive us as we do them Thus I have shewn how this universal Beneficence frees us from Trouble and Unquietness And now I will briefly shew how it brings us Pleasure as well as Quiet By Pleasure I here understand that Joy which is caus'd in the Soul by an Apprehension or Sense of Good Now where this Principle is become natural to us and we act from it and according to it it must necessarily be a Spring of Delight to us How pleasant and joyful must the Mind of that Man be which is govern'd by an universal Love As much Good as there is in the World so much cause of Pleasure is there to them For 1. He is set at Liberty from contracted Selfishness every Man is now to him as he is to himself and other Mens Concerns are as his own so that he now rejoyces in their Welfare and is heartily glad at the Good which befals them So much is his Joy greater now than it was when he liv'd to himself for then he was pleas'd with his own private Advantages but perhaps repin'd or at least was unconcern'd at other Mens whereas now he is delighted to see it go well with any Man in the World Thus he honestly and innocently enjoys the Good of others without depriving them of any gathers of the Honey-dew without robbing the Flower of its own Sweetness As much Good then as there is and as he can see in the World and there is very much for the Mercy of God is over all his Works and he that will consider things may discover it so much cause of Gladness hath this good Man And then 2. The infinite Love and Goodness of God is an inexhaustible Fountain of Joy to the good Man For tho he sees many things much amiss and a great deal of Evil in the World tho he sees poor Man at a great distance from his Happiness and the whole World lying in Wickedness yet he also sees infinite Goodness at work and that it has done very much in order to Man's Happiness and doubts not but in some ways which he is ignorant of all the ends of Divine Goodness will be accomplish'd at last I have shewed before that this Goodness of Temper helps us to an assured Knowledg of the Goodness of God We may also refer the two fore-going Particulars to the Object of Benevolence If there be so great Pleasure in loving one or two or a few how great is that which arises from an universal Good-will a Love to all Men Thirdly The good Man hath Pleasure as concerning himself from his Beneficence to others and it is such a Pleasure as hath many Advantages above most others For 1. As to its degree it is both intense and exquisite 2. As to its kinds it is both of Memory Sense and Hope as it refers to Good past present and to come 3. It s Original is from Man himself in concurrence with God and Nature and therefore it is both certain and near 4. As to its Duration it is both continued and lasting 5. As to its Quality and Effects it is absolutely Good 6. In respect of its Objects it is largely extended and manifold 1. The Pleasure that arises from a Sense of our Beneficence is without any allay or mixture of Pain and that which is so is pure and in the highest degree This cannot be said of most other Pleasures the Price of them is much abated by the Pains that accompany them The more corporeal and gross they are the more they have of this Dress This is a Commendation that almost only belongs to the Pleasure that arises from vertuous Practices and yet not any not all of the other Vertues can afford so great a Delight as this which is both a Complex of most of them and the End and Consummation of all The rest are but mediate and subordinate Vertues this is ultimate and final When a Man is in the exercise of universal Love of Charity and Good-will he is as good and as great and happy as he can be then is all finished The greatest Pleasure is in Love Now when Love is universal and in exercise Pleasure keeps proportion with it and is as great as it can be for it is as large as its Object and therefore
Poverty as an armed Man 2. When a Man doth not give but throw away neither considers to whom nor why he gives nor what he hath He slatters away his Estate he spends meerly because he hath no power to keep To avoid the Extreme of parting with Nothing this lavishing Man parts with All. 3. Solomon and Experience say the same That he who loves Pleasure shall be a poor Man He who loves Wine and Oil shall not be rich The Sons of Appetite if they be not born to Estates never get them and seldom keep what they have got to their hands Certainly this is a great Waster By means of a Whorish Woman saith the Wise Man is a Man brought to a Piece of Bread Luxury and Incontinence Gluttonny and Drunkenness are very chargeable Sins How many Men have eat and drunk up great Estates And how many have sold their Lands to make their Mistresses fine 4. And who knows not how many have been undone by Gaming have ventured and lost great Estates by trusting to their own Skill and Fortune 5. And are there not many ruin'd by Law-Suits They either are contentious and sue others or unjust and provoke others that have no mind to it to sue them Now the beneficent good Man he is out of danger of losing his Estate in any of these Ways For 1. He cannot be idle and unactive He will be labouring for this Reason that he may have to give to him that wants He will overlook his Affairs and mind his Shop or his Field or where-ever his Employment is because this will enable him to do Good 2. Tho he be liberal and charitable yet not prodigal and profuse He will part with what he hath freely on a good account but not on none at all He is so bountiful as to lay out whensoever it becomes him and yet is so frugal also as to keep what he hath when it doth not misbecome him 3. He sees how unprofitable it is to himself to the World to waste away his Time and Substance in Eating and Drinking or any other Sensuality He finds these Courses are mischievous to him and render him useless to other Men. Because he is bent to do as much Good as he can he will not rise up early to drink strong-Drink nor continue at Night till Wine inflame him 4. He loves himself too well to lose and his Neighbour too well to win an Estate at Cards or Dice This good Man cannot be so foolish as to run such a Hazard as this to disable himself from doing that Good which he otherwise might nor can he take any pleasure to undo his Neighbour 5. This good Man will neither be so quarrelsom as to contend with others where he hath not Right nor yet so unjust as by detaining their Rights to engage others to sue him And when ever he is forced by the Injustice of others he doth it more to vindicate Justice and preserve those Rights which Custom and the Wisdom of their Forefathers have setled than upon any private particular Account 4thly The secret Blessing of God goes with the good Man Providence will and doth concern it self that such an one should not want the Power to do Good who hath such a mind to it It is by the secret Curse of God upon him that the Covetous Man puts his Money into Bags with Holes He puts it in but never takes it out never sees never enjoys it He gets and loses what he has got And it is the Blessing of God that makes the liberal Mans Bread which he casts upon the Waters where it seems quite lost after many days to return to him again He that takes care of others God will take care of him and if he lay aside his own private Concerns to serve other Men the Angels of God will minister to him Thus I have briefly yet so plainly evinced that to do Good is the way to be rich that I cannot but hope Covetonsness it self will be engaged to Beneficence I now proceed to shew how much an universal Beneficence conduces to private and particular Friendships and how much if it obtain'd in the World it would tend to Publick Peace 1. A Friend is certainly the greatest of all external good Things Nothing so profitable nothing so pleasant nothing so suitable to and becoming a Man as a Friend Nothing without him so much contributes to the attaining all his Ends. My Friend is my Riches and my Reputation my Life and Health my Pleasure and Delight my Understanding and Wisdom the Guide and Conductor of my Life the Governor of my Passions he that moderates my Desires and subdues mine Anger and doubles my Joys that excites all the good and useful that restrains and quells the evil and pernicious Motions of my Mind My Friend doth me Good when my self cannot for he rectifies my Mistakes and allays my Griefs and unburdens me of all the Loads which mine own Folly and Melancholy would bind fast on Thus he is better to me than my self he is more than all the World besides when I cannot help my self and when others will not he doth In sum my Friend is to me both my self and all the World nay my 〈◊〉 visible God I do with my Friend enjoy both Solitude and Company When I converse with him I have both the Secrecy of mine own Breast and the Ease and Freedom of Discourse I speak and yet have the Security of Silence When I am with him I am retir'd into mine own Thoughts and can contemplate without disturbance and yet I feel the highest Pleasure and most ravishing Delights that the whole Frame of Nature can yield The Glories of the Sun are not so pleasant to behold as the Face of my Friend and the most melodious Musick cannot be so grateful to my Ears as the Voice of the Person who loves me and whom I love He is the Epitome of the whole World and the liveliest Image of God himself He is God and Man in one Person if I may so say for he hath the Love and Goodness of God an infinite Good-will join'd with the Weakness and Impotency of Man I can scarce forbear to go on and set forth the Excellency and Usefulness of Friendship which of all the things in the World doth most conduce to both our spiritual and bodily Welfare our present and future greatest Happiness But I have said all this only that I may the more commend this universal Goodness which is the best if not only Means to great and good Friendships To do Good to him is the Sign and Effect of my Love to another and 't is the sure Cause of his Love to me and where there is a mutual Love it will not long be conceal'd and where it is discovered that is Friendship This therefore is the Way to make all Men my Friends to do Good to All they cannot possibly hate their Benefactor This is the way to extinguish all the Fires of Hatred