is guilty of that Adultery and therefore causes her that is put away to commit Adultery VIII How he that Marries her that is put away commits Adultery 1. In saying so our Great Master confirms the antient Law of God Deut. xxiv 3 where the Wife put away by her Husband is peremptorily forbid to return to the Husband that did give her a Bill of Divorce and put her away She had Liberty indeed to Marry another but if after his Death or during his Life her former Husband should be desirous to Marry her again this God saith there is Abomination and Christ calls it Adultery So that the words of the Text whosoever shall Marry her that 's put away commits Adultery do establish and ratifie what God said of old to the Jewish People He that puts away his Wife may not afterward when another Man hath known her Marry her again if he doth he commits Adultery 2. He that puts away his Wife for a less or meaner cause than Adultery doth not by that means or voluntary Divorce cancel the Marriage Bond and the legal Contract betwixt him and her That Bond continues firm and indissoluble notwithstanding that Dismission and therefore he that Marries such a Person that is unjustly put away Marries another Man's Wife and consequently commits Adultery Under the Law he that Married the Woman put away by her Husband for Causes God then allow'd of did not Sin except the High Priest who was forbid to Marry any Woman that was Divorced And under the Gospel he that Marries her that 's put away legally for Causes the Gospel allows of cannot be said to commit an Offence especially if the Rules we mentioned before be observed But he that Marries her that's justly put away or divorced for Causes frivolous or not allowed of by the Gospel and so Marries her he hath no power no right to Marry even a Person who notwithstanding the Divorce is still the Wife of him that put her away he certainly commits Adultery INFERENCES Having thus resolved the Queries suggested by the Text it 's time I should after all add some wholesom Directions whereby such Divorces and all Desires after them may be prevented I. There is no better Antidote against such Mischiefs than Love mutual Love a true Conjugal Love a Love grounded not upon a bare satisfying the desires of the Flesh for that will be of no long continuance but establish'd upon the lasting Principles of Duty and fed by Pious Considerations And they who think that no less Authority hath joined them together than God himself and intended that this Union should be great and withstand all Temptations of Dissolution except that of Death and thought fit to represent by it the Love of Christ to his Church They who make these Considerations the Foundation of their Love will not be easily moved to the desire of Separation Love in a married State being grounded only upon Beauty and Riches and other external things when these fade Love will fade Vertue and the Fear of God and the Oath that is betwixt them these must tye their Hearts together and where they do so their Love like a treble Cord is not easily broken Love is the great Preservative of Happiness in a Married State where that reigns no desires of Divorcement can find Entertainment But then it must be such Love as the Apostle describes 1 Cor. xiii 4 5 6 7. that suffers long and is kind that envies not that vaunts not it self that is not puffed up doth not behave it self unseemly seeks not her own is not easily provoked thinks no Evil rejoices not in Iniquity but rejoices in the Truth beareth all things believeth all things hopeth all things and endureth all things This Charity we owe to all that are of the Houshold of Faith more or less much more to Persons of so near a Relation who besides the general Obligations as Christians have bound themselves Vowed and Promised before God and the Elect Angels and the Congregation to love one another with a pure Heart fervently Love is an Universal Medicine If the Infirmities of one Party be invincible Love will bear with them if vincible Love will endeavour to reform them If Crosses happen Love will administer Comfort if Prosperity comes flowing in Love will exhort to Thankfulness if Disputes arise Love will appease them if Quarrels are broacht Love will quench that Fire If Misconstructions be made Love will rectify them if Suspicions disturb the Mind Love will reject them if Failings appear Love will cover them and whatever things are amiss in a Family Love will endeavour to cure them Where this Love decays there the Good Angel that should guard the House prepares for his departure Where this Love is not maintain'd Temptations prevail and Quarrels come and Differences arise and Persons are let loose and ill Thoughts do enter and reproachful Language flies about and the Parties become uneasy and Divorces are thought of and being difficult to compose according to Law they are wished for and desired and if they cannot be had there Adulteries and Fornications and a thousand Evils are entertain'd as woful Experience shews and thus the married State becomes bitter as Wormwood which if Love had had the Management of it might have been sweet as the Morning Rose fragrant as the Balm of Gilead refreshing as Evening Showers II. As unequal Yoakings are very often the causes of great Contentions so where they may be they ought to be carefully shun'd and prevented By being unequally Yoaked I do not mean only Inequality of Age of Temper of Rank and Fortune but marrying Persons of a different Persuasion in Matters of Religion for if one of the Parties be Zealous for the Religion he professes he will think himself bound in Conscience to draw the Partner of his Bed into a Partnership of his Religion and if the other will not yield there arise such Flames of Discord sometimes that Divorces and Separations are not only desired but unjustly Endeavour'd and Practised and one party contrary to Law and Reason and Conscience and Modesty leaves the other Of this we have too many Examples not only where Protestants have married Papists but where Protestants have joined themselves to Protestants of different Sentiments not that the Differences among Protestants are of any great Consequence but where Pride Passion Ignorance or Prejudice turns disputable Questions into Articles of Faith and makes them Balls of Contention they shed a bad influence even upon a married State Indeed where both Parties are of a gentle and charitable Temper there is no great danger of falling out about Religion but as such Tempers are somewhat rare so where they are found they may be Influenced by external Causes and Motives which may alter them and though Promises are often made before Marriage not to molest one another in point of Religion yet false Persuasion afterward that it is their Duty to convert them who are so nearly related to them
for blending and joining God and Belial but we have not so Learned Christ And if he that wilfully offends in one is guilty of all it cannot be that God will pass by that Sin we allow our selves in for and in consideration of the acts of Morality and Religion we perform It 's true of Charity it 's said that it shall cover a multitude of Sins Jam. v. 19 20. but the meaning is not that the Charity or Alms of a wicked Man shall blot out the multitude of Sins he cherishes but that the Charity which a good Christian exercises in the Conversion of a Sinner is a means whereby the Sinner is brought to a true Repentance and entitled to the Grace and Love of God in Christ Jesus which pardons all his Transgressions and covers the multitude of his Sins All which shews that a Christian must do more which leads me to the second Proposition II. Those who would be Christians indeed must do more than carnal Men in Matters of Religion and Morality For if you salute your Brethren only what do you more than others saith our Saviour here Were the former Proposition duly consider'd this would be practised better It is a vulgar Error That a little Religion goes a great way And were it believ'd that Men escape not the brand of wicked Men by the Formalities of Religion they practice while they espouse some forbidden Lust or other they would certainly do more than others I am very sensible of the great Mistakes that arise from comparing our selves with others but the reason of it is because the Comparisons are not rightly made There are degrees of Wickedness and Impiety and I know abundance think because they are not quite so bad as others they do more than others and because they do not run with others into the same excess of Riot they take themselves to be tolerable Saints But such Comparisons are false as well as odious and there is nothing hinders Men more from a vigorous progress in Goodness than these preposterous Comparisons All that can be inferr'd from another Man's being more Wicked than we is only this that there are degrees of Sin but not that I am therefore safe because I am not come up to his Excess and Extravagance in offending God When our Saviour therefore obliges us to do more than Heathens more than Carnal and Natural Men in matters of Religion and Morality his meaning is not that all we are to study is to be less vitious than they for though this in some sence may be true yet considering the nature of the Gospel we must needs conclude Christ in saying so had respect to the following Particulars 1. Since departing from Iniquity is made the Character of a Christian indeed 2 Tim. ii 19 no doubt this is the Character too which doth distinguish him from a Carnal Man and he doth more than they if he actually departs from every Sin forbidden by the Gospel for then he ceases to be Carnal and walks after the Spirit and as every Christian ought to be becomes a new Creature and departing in his Affections from all Iniquity forbidden he doth more than those who depart may be only from some Sins that would make them scandalous and securely allow themselves in others 2. A Carnal Man in Matters of Religion and Morality acts for the most part according to his natural Temper Interest Passion and Appetite in all which Particulars we must do more than they i. e. act contrary to all these A Carnal Man is naturally may be Envious or Malicious he continues so there being no Principle in him to turn the Byass we must do more than he and if our Temper be so it must be subdu'd and overcome with Rejoycings at the Good and Parts and Gifts and Abilities and Blessings of our Neighbours It is a Carnal Man's Interest to comply with his Potent Neighbours when they Curse or Swear or Talk lewdly As much as it may be our Interest to comply we must shew our Dislike and Abhorrency A Carnal Man his Passion provokes him to bitter and reviling Language whatever Inclinations to Passion we may have no such corrupt Communication must come out of our Mouths A Carnal Man's Appetite inclines him to Eat and Drink immoderately and to crave every thing which is pleasing to the Flesh and which he hath means to reach or come by We must prescribe Laws and Bounds to those Desires and study Moderation and Temperance and Modesty and Decency and then we do more than others 3. In matters of Religion what external Services a Carnal Man performs our Care must be that our Hearts and inward Man be affected with them that the inside be Devout as well as the outside and that the Mind perform it's part as well as the Lips and Hands and that an inward sence go along with the Devotion we express without A Carnal Man's Lips only pray our Care must be to cry with our whole Heart Psal. cxix 145. and then we do more than others 4. In matters of Religion what a Carnal Man does out of sinister Ends we must do for ends great and laudable and acceptable to God ver 9. A Carnal Man receives the Holy Sacrament may be to satisfie the Law and to secure his Employ or Office that 's the principal motive of his Coming and if it had not been for such an occasion he had not come our care must be to receive it with an intent to inrich our Hearts and Lives with Faith and Love and Good Works and Courage against Temptations and then we do more than others 5. In matters of Religion what a Carnal Man doth partially and by halves we must do with Integrity and Impartiality This may justly be said of the Religious Services and Moralities of a Carnal Man all is done by halves He either doth one Duty and neglects another or shuns one Sin and wallows in another and even the Vertue he makes a shew of wants the better half viz. a true Principle of the Love of God An equal and uniform Piety is that which is most rational and consequently most pleasing to God and in this we are to do more than others 6. Particularly in Love and acts of Charity and Kindness A Carnal Man loves those who love him and is civil to those who are civil to him and he very rarely goes farther Our care must be to do good to those that do not love us and to be civil even to those that are not so to us and all this because our Light our Motives our Rewards our Revelations and Encouragements exceed and go beyond what Publicans and natural Men have or ever had And this is to do more than others However if this account be not satisfactory I am sure the Inquisitive Christian may easily see and understand wherein he is to do more than others if he will but impartially read and take a view of this Chapter For as the Precepts here given are
challenges the Jews to tell him wherein he acted against the least tittle of it John viii 46 As to the Ceremonial he was circumcised the eighth day observed the Sabbath eat the Passover kept the Festivals of the Synagogue c. And as to the Judicial none could charge him with breaking of it so far from it that when the Collectors came for Tribute Money for the use of the Temple rather than not obey the Rulers who had sent them he would work a Miracle and ordered Peter to go to Sea and take a Fish where he should find a piece of Money and give it for Peter and himself Matt. xvii 24 2. Not only himself observ'd it but he bid others observe it too Matt. xix 17 when the young Man ask'd him What good thing he should do to inherit Eternal Life he directs him to the Commandements of the Law Nay in the Ceremonial part of it while the Oeconomy of it lasted he advises others to observe it and therefore when he had cleans'd a Leper the next thing he advises him to do is to go and shew himself unto the Priest and to offer the Offering which Moses had Commanded Matt. viii 4 3. Upon all occasions he hath commended the Law and the Prophets and asserted their Divine Original and Consonancy with the Will of God as Matt. vii 12 Matt. xxii 40 Matt. xxiii 23 Add to all this 4. He proved his own Doctrine out of the Law and the Prophets even all that he did Luke xxiv 44 The Resurrection of the dead Luke xx 37 His own Resurrection Luke xxiv 26 27. His Commission to preach the Gospel Luke iv 21 The Truth of his Testimony John viii 17 18. His Divinity John x. 34 35. And surely he that observ'd the Law himself exhorted others to observe it asserted the Divinity of it and proved his own Doctrine out of the Law and the Prophets could not possibly be said to come to destroy the Law and the Prophets But IV. How did Christ fulfil the Law and the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfil 1. By making it the Rule of his Actions as I have hinted already it 's true he was charged sometimes with breaking the Sabbath and therefore with Violation of the Law but all considerate Men may see this was unjustly imputed to him for the Law though it did forbid all servile Works upon the Sabbath yet it did not prohibit works of Necessity and Charity and such was his healing the Paralytick and the Man whose Hand was wither'd the Blind and the Woman who had had a Spirit of Infirmity eighteen years c. and therefore this could be no breach of the Law 2. The Ceremonial Law particularly he fulfill'd not only by submitting to the Rubrick of it while he lived but by making good what was intended by it The Ceremonial Law was only to bind the Jews while their Republick lasted and perhaps was impos'd upon them by way of punishment for the sin of the Golden Calf Besides it pointed at the Spiritual Worship the Messiah was to teach his Followers which accordingly he did As it enjoyn'd Sacrificing so it represented the Sacrifice himself was to offer to God for the sins of Mankind for these very Jews to whom that Law was given Their Circumcision represented our Baptism their Passover our Eucharist He fulfilled all this by answering God's intent in it So that he did not destroy this Law but the nature of it was such that it could not but fall upon the account of its Imperfection It being all Shadow it ceas'd in course when the Substance was come 3. He fulfilled it not only by rescuing it from the false Glosses their Superstitious Teachers had put upon it but by giving a more perfect Rule of Life That River was swallow'd up in the Sea of Goodness that came along with him He that distils Wine into an excellent Spirit or turns the courser Metal into Gold doth indeed cause the meaner Material to lose it self in a nobler but he doth not properly destroy it no more than a Drop of Water is annihilated by mixing with a rich Cordial What was good and excellent in the Law of Moses he retain'd and what he did retain he resin'd and sublimed and advanced into Rules more excellent and therefore fulfill'd it the rather because the Law made nothing perfect but the bringing in of a better Hope did by the which we draw nigh to God Heb. vii 19 4. He fulfilled it by confirming and establishing the principal design of it The end of the Law of Moses was to make Men good for which reason it is called Spiritual Rom. vii 14 for its design was to oblige Men to love God with all their hearts and with all their minds and with all their strength Deut. vi 5 and to love their Neighbours as themselves Levit. xix 18 upon these two Pillars the Law and the Prophets are said to hang Matth. xxii 37 38 39. But whatever the intent of God was in that Law we see very few among the Jews answer'd that end and design for want of sufficient helps which the Messiah was to afford and therefore this was a Schoolmaster to lead them to Christ and a motive to long after him The Law was cloath'd with Terrours and Threatnings which caused the Spirit of Fear but the Messiah was to give them the Spirit of Adoption and accordingly Christ fulfilled it by giving larger supplies whereby they might be able to act according to the intent of it such as offering Pardon for sins past pouring out his Spirit upon men in a more plentiful manner and setting Eternal life before them c. 5. He fulfilled the Prophets particularly by doing and suffering what the Prophets said He as the Messiah was to do and suffer and that 's the reason why when Christ did do or suffer any thing it is so often added that it might be fulfill'd what was spoken by the Prophet In a word There were Four things in the Law and in the Prophets which Christ fulfilled 1. The Promises and Predictions 2. The Precepts of the Moral Law by interpreting them to better purposes 3. The Precepts of the Ceremonial Law by performing what was prefigured by them 4. The Sanctions of the Law by changing Temporal into Eternal punishments and He fulfilled the Law and the Prophets by his Doctrine Practice and Command Inferences I. See here the fate of sincere upright impartial and conscientious Reformers Christ came to reform the Jews who were overrun with Error and Superstition and yet behold they give out that he came to destroy the Law and the Prophets What Christ did was nothing but reducing the Law and the Prophets to their true genuine and ancient lustre and splendor and setting them in their own light yet so ungrateful was that Generation that they nick-name all this destroying the Law and the Prophets This came purely from the Devil's Malice who to put a stop to
Phrase may justly be understood of the Publick Worship of God nay any sort of Divine Worship whereby we intend to express our respect to God whether Publick or Private and that want of Reconciliation in case we have offered a signal Injury to our fellow Christians either in Word or Deed renders the Gift or Devotion we offer unpleasing or unacceptable will appear from the following Considerations 1. Because the Devotion is offered from an impure Heart want of Reconciliation I mean a wilful want or neglect of it supposes a Heart full of Rancour and Malice and secret Grudges against the Person whom we are at Variance with or whom we have offended and in this case David's saying holds true If I regard Iniquity in my Heart the Lord will not leave me Psal. lxvi 18 Shall God whose Purity is great and astonishing and infinite accept of an Oblation which hath so impure a Foundation Can we imagine God is so fond of Services as not to regard the Heart which is and ought to be the principal Agent in the Service He that scorned the Blind and the Lame offered to him in Sacrifice will he be pleased with such blind and lame Devotion It is not the bare Flower as beautiful as it's Colours may seem to be that God is delighted with if the Soil on which it grows be a Dung-hill No Let 's not flatter our selves that the Building we erect will be taking in the Eyes of the great Architect while the Foundation is rotten A Heart that cherishes Malice is the impure Root that sheds poyson on the Plant it produces and that can cause no odoriferous Scent in Heaven He that hath protested that an evil Heart is abomination to him will he relish the Water which comes from that bitter Spring He that hath told us that the pure in heart shall see him and none but they will he admit that Devotion into his gracious Presence which comes from a bottom where Toads and Serpents crawl He that delights in nothing so much as in a Heart sincere and upright will he be fond of Hypocrisy What is Hypocrisy Is it not seeming to be good when we are not And is not Devotion coming from a Heart unwilling to be reconciled to our fellow Christian an appearance of Goodness while love to our Brethren the principal Ingredient which must make it so is wanting 2. Such Devotion is a perfect Contradiction The Soul that is a Stranger or an Enemy to Reconciliation and yet offers Services of Devotion to God pretends to obey him by those Services and yet at the same time disobeys him by being unwilling to be reconciled Doth a Fountain at the same place send forth bitter water and sweet saith St. James ch iii. 11 Of the Samaritans we read 1 Kings xvii 33 That they feared the Lord and served their own Gods They sacrificed to the Great Jehovah and to Devils and their Worship was divided betwixt God and Belial betwixt Dagon and the Ark betwixt the Temple of God and Idols And is not Devotion from a Heart unwilling to be reconciled a Worship much like theirs At once to obey God and to disobey him at once to honour and to affront him at once to worship and to blaspheme him To build with one hand and to pull down with another At the same time to please God and to offend him to please him with Devotion and to offend him with neglect of Charity Is God a God of Order and will he be pleased with Contradictions May it not justly be said to such among you as Elijah to the Israelites 1 Kings xviii 21 How long halt you between two Opinions If the Lord be God then follow him but if Baal then follow him But to think to oblige both is to reconcile Fire and Water Light and Darkness Heaven and Hell and things that have the greatest Antipathy one to another 3. God is the God of Love and will he accept of a Devotion coming from a Heart that hath no Love Can there be Love there where there is no Reconciliation Can Charity be there where the Man will not be Friends with his offended Brother It was indeed said in Commendation of that Roman that having lived so many years with his Mother he was never reconciled to her but the meaning was that they had never quarrelled never fallen out so there was no need of any Reconciliation But here we speak of Offences given and taken and a wilful neglect of Reconciliation must necessarily argue want of Love and can God love that Service in which there is nothing agreeable to his Nature Behold how good and how pleasant a thing it is for Brethren to dwell together in Vnity saith David Psal. cxxxiii 1 It is pleasant to Men and pleasant to God He loves to see it there is harmony in it and can that Devotion make Musick in Heaven which runs upon jarring and Discord and Animosities and Dissentions God is Love and where should Love dwell but in a Heart that loves A Heart that doth not is no Seat no Place no Mansion no Habitation no Tabernacle for the God of Love to rest in The Spirit of love flees from such a House There must be a similitude of Tempers For God to dwell in a Heart where Hatred lodges would be as unseemly a thing as for a King to chuse a Dungeon for his Habitation I love them that love me saith the Eternal Wisdom Prov. viii 17 He that is unwilling to be reconciled to his offended Neighbour cannot love God and God cannot love him nor his Service for if the Man doth not love his Brother whom he hath seen how shall be love God whom he hath not seen 1 John iv 20 4. Such Devotion coming from a Heart loath to be reconciled is a plain attempt to put a cheat upon the great God of Heaven for such a Man hopes God will be so dazled with his Devotion that he will over-look the Malice that 's glowing in his Heart He hopes that God will be so taken with the external Service he lays at his feet as not to take notice of the abomination that lurks within Will you put out the Eyes of these Men said Corah and Dathan Numb xvi 14 And may it not be said to such Will you put out the Eyes of Almighty God Do you think to blind him that sees by Night as well as by Day Do you hope to deceive him that searches the Hearts and the Reins Is it a small thing to you to affront him and would you cheat him too Do you think to lull him asleep with your Devotion that he may not mind the Leprosy which infects your Souls Is he a Man that you think to impose upon him Or a Being so weak that it 's possible to gull him into approbation of your Services See what Absurdities Men run into when they hope that some external Acts of their Piety will cover the multitude of their Sins Strange
the Accomplishment by our uneasiness under the Injury Ay but still experience shews that this Patience under Injuries hardens the insolent Man in his Sins We grant it but whose fault is it not ours but of his own impenitent Heart which indeed deserves our Pity and our Prayers but heaps no Guilt upon our Heads Surely we shall not be answerable for other Mens boldness in their Sins nor is our Patience a compliance with their Folly which is not intended to harden but to melt them and if like vitious Stomachs they turn that into Corruption which was intended for their Nourishment they feed indeed but not like Bees that gather Honey from the Flowers they suck but like Toads and Vipers that convert the Juice of wholsome Herbs into Poyson But is this an Argument that I must therefore inflame my Soul with Wrath and Revenge because the other swells with Venom So that all these Objections vanish and that which seem'd impossible appears if view'd without these false Glasses very practicable No doubt it is so and may be made very easie too and if you ask me how the following Rules will give you satisfaction 1. By admiring the praise of God above the praise of Men. It is recorded to the eternal Shame and Disgrace of those chief Men and Rulers among the Jews who believed in Christ yet durst not confess him Cowards as they were that they loved the praise of Men more than the praise of God Joh. xii 48 Men in great Places and Dignities this is their Temper this is the Rule they go by let God praise and commend a Vertue never so much if it meet not with the same Applause among Men. If Men do count it disagreeable to the Punctilio's of Honour and the Aire of the Court and the Humour of the Age or if it be not good Manners they carefully shun it and to be sure such Men will never come up to the Rule of the Text. But he that comes to a fixt and steady Resolution of esteeming the praise of God above the praise of Men that 's the Person who is like to triumph over all the Desires of Revenge And O God! why should not we esteem thy Praise thy Commendations and Approbations beyond the Applauses of Mortal Men Are not thy Commendations most rational most weighty most unbyass'd most true and most durable whereas those of poor Mortals how partial are they how subject to Mistakes how uncertain how weak how transitory how short and how unprofitable in that Day when God shall judge the World in Righteousness He that esteems the praise of God more than the praise of Men doth not only act like a true Philosopher but hath this satisfaction in himself that he lives by Faith and not by sight and will be able to Laugh when others shall Howl in outward Darkness so true is that Saying of the Apostle 2 Cor. x. 18 Not he who commends himself and we may add Not he whom Men commend is approv'd but whom the Lord commends 2. By a firm perswasion that without this Patience under Evil or Injuries or Affronts or reviling Language we cannot be and are no Christians I say by a firm Perswasion for most Men have general slight and imperfect Idea's and Notions of the thing but that will do no good A firm Perswasion is convincing our selves thoroughly by suitable powerful Arguments that we bear the name of Christians in vain and play with it and make a meer formality of it except we heartily comply with our Master's Will in this particular And if the Soul be impregnated with this principle and hath a brisk and lusty Sense of it the Danger or rather the Thoughts of it will work through all Obstacles and Impediments and we shall make a shift to resist the importunate desires of Flesh and Blood which tempt us to return Evil for Evil. 3. By fixing the Eyes of our Understandings upon the future Reward and Recompence This is the great Engine whereby our base slavish and worldly Fears must be removed and till we have lively apprehensions of that Reward and are concern'd about it like Men in danger of losing the greatest Blessing the Opinions and Censures of the World will prevail more with us than all that Christ or any Apostle can say Till a Man doth more vehemently desire to be happy in the other World than in this the Vertues which go against the Interest of Flesh and Blood will move very heavily and so will Patience under Affronts and Injuries But the Soul being chafed and heated with brisk and lively thoughts of that Heavenly Country and walking through that Holy City which is above and viewing the Towers and Bullwarks of it will break out into Holy Flames which will consume and burn up the Hay and Straw and Stubble of Carnal Reasons and false Suggestions of the Flesh and the Devil and frown the motions of Revenge into Exile 4. By quickning and raising our Love to God into more than ordinary fervours Love dares do any thing I mean Love that hath Fire in 't and burns clear upon the Altar of the Heart The great Reason why you dare not venture upon these harder Lessons is because your Love to God is weak and faint and like that of green Wood apt to expire The Soul that sets God before her in all his Beauty and Glory and Mercy and Rewards and Promises till she loves him beyond what the Eye doth see and the Hands can handle gets the Victory and this very Command will not seem grievous to her Love made the Lord Jesus give his back to the Smiter and Love will make you give the other Cheek to the striker Love will make you even rejoyce that you have something to lose for God and that you can do something that inclines his Favour to you Love will carry you above all the little Lime-twigs which are apt to catch and intangle your Souls Love will charm your Passions tye up your Tongues and hold your hands that you will not dare to return Evil for Evil. 5. Examples are incouraging things And have not we very illustrious Examples of this Patience under Affronts and Injuries in Moses David St. Paul and of other Apostles and Believers Why should not we do as they did Why should not we free and extricate our selves from the Snares of the World and press toward the Mark as well as they Was the way they walk'd in good and safe and shall we be afraid to tread in their Steps Did they understand the Will of God and can we follow better Patterns We all conclude they were saved by doing as Christ directs in the Text and shall we be fond of finding out a new way to Salvation It 's true they were derided by the World for so doing but have they lost any thing by the Bargain If they have been Gainers why should not we venture upon the reproach of Christ as well as they Did they thrive and
to prove what I intend that we are not to hate an Enemy because the Kindnesses we owe him relate only to this present Life And to this may be added that the injurious acts of an Enemy bear no proportion to the acts of Enmity we are guilty of against God and we would not have God hate us notwithstanding those Acts it follows that there is no reason for our hating an Enemy upon the account of the Injuries he doth or hath done us But this we shall have occasion to discuss more largely in the following Verses Let 's go on and IV. Enquire What is the true import of loving our Neighbour And 1. As by a Neighbour in Scripture is meant every Man that stands in need of our Help and Assistance and of whose Help and Assistance we may stand in need as appears from the Parable of the wounded Man Luk. x. 30 so Love to our Neighbour imports a faithful discharge of all the Duties of the second Table which is the reason that St. Paul affirms of this Love that it is the fulfilling of the Law because love works no ill to his Neighbour no ill to Princes no ill to Magistrates no ill to Parents or Relations no ill to High or Low Rich or Poor no not to the meanest or poorest Creature Rom. xiii 8 9 10. 2. The measure of this Love is set down by God himself Lev. xix 18 Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self which properly denotes not the same degree of Love but the same Sincerity and that we are to make our Love to our selves the Rule and Standard whereby we are to Love others according to the several degrees of their Relations and the several degrees of Goodness which appear in them for no doubt we are to be kinder to a Father than to a Stranger and more officious to a good Man than to a bad one yet so that neither the greatest Strangers nor the worst of Men be altogether excluded from our Kindness or such acts of Kindness which we might rationally expect under the same Circumstances 3. This Love to our Neighbour implies not only abstinence from Wrongs and Injuries from dishonouring our Parents from Murther from Adultery from Stealing Lying bearing False-witness and from Coveting our Neighbour's Goods but all those positive acts of Charity mention'd in 1 Cor. xiii 4 5 6 7. and 1 Pet. xi 8 9 10. and Matth. xxv 35 36. And these acts must flow from inward Compassion For as the Spirit of Man is the principle of all Moral and Spiritual Acts so whatever acts of Love we exercise toward our Neighbour they must come from the Heart and from a sence of our Duty and of the Love of God and these acts must be so managed that they become not accessary to other Mens Sins for it 's no Love to Love another into Sin or sinful Compliances which is the reason that the Apostle pressing this Peace and Love to our Neighbour makes Holiness its inseparable Companion Follow Peace with all Men and Holiness without which no Man shall see the Lord Heb. xii 14 And this Love is called the Royal Law Jam. ii 8 not because the King of Kings gave it but because this Love to our Neighbour is the Queen of all Graces and he that excels in it Reigns and Rules over a Thousand Lusts and Temptations But V. May it not be in some sence a Duty to love our Neighbour and to hate an Enemy That which makes me take notice of this Point is an Observation of Origen who saith This is very good Divinity if by the Enemy we understand the Devil Though its certain that our Saviour in these words doth not directly aim at this yet it must be confessed that in this sence that loose Principle of the Pharisees may bear a very good construction Indeed the Devil is the greatest Enemy we are to hate We have renounc'd him in our Baptism and we are sworn to that Hatred Against him let 's boldly vent our Hatred even against all his Works and all his evil Suggestions which way soever they are presented to us whether by the Flesh or by the World or by Evil Men. Here we need move no Scruples no Cases of Conscience how far we may lawfully hate the Devil We are to hate him with a perfect Hatred and express it by Trembling and by abhorrency of all that 's pleasing to him or offensive to God It 's true we see not the Devil but we feel him and whatever Evil Thought or Desire or Motion appears in our Minds let 's firmly conclude it comes either directly or indirectly from that Enemy To this Enemy no kindness is to be shewn No League no Peace no Confederacy no not so much as a Truce is to be made with him with him we are to wage War continually He is no Subject capable of making Peace with for Peace with him is Enmity against God wounding our own Soul destroying the peace of our Consciences and descending into the Chambers of Hell Inferences 1. If we take a view of the Manners of Men in the Age we live in one would think that the Pharisees are still alive and instill the same Principle into them that they did into their Disciples in Christ's Days viz. Love your Friends and hate your Enemies For the Actions of Men are so exactly conformable to this Rule that if a Man were to measure Christ's Religion by the Practices of his Followers he might go near to inferr that Christ taught this Doctrine as well as the Pharisees To hate an Enemy we look upon to be a very just and reasonable thing and do him all the ill Offices as we have occasion to speak Evil of him to Reproach him to Calumniate him to invent Lyes of him and to Report them too we generally make so light of that we wonder at the Man that offers to exhort us to better Principles Among Heathens and Infidels this would not look very strange among Men who never heard of a Jesus or of the Gospel this might pass though there is something even in the voice of Nature which might teach them better things but among Christians who talk and sing and speak every Day of God's loving them when they were his Enemies this is a huge Paradox Christ exercised the greatest acts of Love toward us in dying for us when we were Enemies we confess it and our Churches ring of these glad Tidings How easie would be the Inference Hath God loved me when I was his Enemy and shall I hate my Fellow-Christian because I look upon him as mine Enemy Is this my acknowledgement of God's Love Is this to express my gratitude for his Goodness Had God Compassion on me when I was his Enemy and shall I have none on mine Was God's Love to me intended as a Pattern for me to follow and shall I overlook the Design and please my self in my Hatred and Ill-nature I am moved by the Examples of
great Men by the Examples of good Men by the Examples of my ordinary Neighbours and shall the greatest Example the Example of God the Example of Christ Jesus make no impression upon me How easie a matter were it to draw such Inferences from what we believe and what a damp would this be to our Hatred And yet to see how careless how regardless we are of it and in despight of this great Example which we commend and magnifie justifie our Animosities against those whom we look upon to be our Enemies would make a Rational Man conclude and very justly too that whatever we pretend or talk of we do not believe that Christ died for us when we were God's Enemies What believe it and have no sence of it or if we have a sence of it not to gather our Duty from it Would any Man think that we are of the number of those Believers we read of Heb. xi Their Belief affected and wrought upon their Hearts and put them upon Heroick Actions and as God had done by them so they did by others This puts me in mind of the Justice of that Expostulation and the Proceedings we read of Matth. xviii 32 33 34. Then his Lord after he had called him said unto him O thou wicked Servant I forgave thee all that Debt because thou desiredst me Shouldst not thou also have had Compassion on thy Fellow-Servant even as I had pity on thee And his Lord was wroth and deliver'd him to the Tormentors till he should pay all that was due unto him Do you make the Application II. Though the Law of Moses enjoyn'd this Precept To love our Neighbour as our selves yet the Gospel presses it much more and in greater Instances too As by our Neighbours in the Gospel are meant not only our nearest Friends and Relatives not only those who dwell near us and about us not only those of the same Church and Religion with us but all our Fellow Christians and all Persons who were redeemed with the Blood of Jesus so our Love is to extend to all these and especially to them of the Houshold of Faith To this purpose St. Peter Honour all Men Love the Brotherhood Indeed this Love to our Fellow Christians the Apostles press with more than ordinary Fervour They lay the stress of Religion upon it and when they would describe Christians who thrive under the Showers and Irrigations of the Gospel they say That their Faith grows exceedingly and the Charity of every one toward each other abounds 2 Thess. i. 3 This was the distinguishing Character of the Primitive Believers and their Love one to another their dear their tender their affectionate Love one to another was taken notice of beyond any other Vertue whatsoever They called themselves Brethren and Sisters and by the Brotherhood or Fraternity they meant the Christian Church as appears from Clemens Romanus Their Hospitality their Candour their Veracity their Beneficence were the wonder of all Spectators Their tenderness to the Afflicted to Prisoners to Captives to the Sick and the Lame to the Ignorant and to their very Enemies was unspeakable insomuch that Julian the Apostate saw there was no way to propagate Heathenism like that of imitating Christians in their Works and Labours of Love and Charity Hereby shall all Men know that ye are my Disciples if ye love one another and so it was in those purer Ages and they were known more by their mutual Love than by their talking of Christ Jesus How is this Character inverted at this Day and one may say Hereby do all Men know who are Christians even by their hating one another I know not which is the harder Task whether Love to God or to our Neighbour Sure I am that many who pretend great love to God are strangely defective in their love to their Neighbours What a stir do many Men make about Religion and yet make nothing of Slandering Abusing Deriding Undervaluing their Neighbours My Brethren Doth a Fountain at the same place send forth bitter Water and sweet Indeed none is so fit to love God dearly as he that doth exercise himself very much in Love to his Neighbour It 's true one must help the other and Love to God must Influence that to our Neighbours but still great acts of Love to our Neighbours are the best Preparatives for high degrees of Love to God The Branches of this Love to our Neighbours are many and various and he who abounds in these acts of Love gets a Holy assurance that he is neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Lord How do we confine our Love to little Sects and Parties and from hence comes that bitterness of Spirit of one Party against another and how hard is it to find a Christian of a truly Catholick Love and Charity When shall we be wiser When shall that pristine Unity and Purity return When shall that admirable Spirit which shined so bright in the primitive Believers revive again Lord When shall thy Kingdom come that the whole Multitude which Believe shall be of one Heart and of one Soul The Spirit and the Bride say Come and let him that hears say Come Come thou God of Love thou Prince of Peace thou lover of Concord and Unity Come Amen even so come Lord Jesu SERMON XXXV St. Matth. Ch. V. Ver. 44. But I say unto you Love your Enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you MArcellinus writing to St. Austin tells him That the great Stumbling-Blocks which lay in the way of the Heathens of his Time especially of the wittier sort and hindred them from embracing Christianity were chiefly these three the Incarnation of our Lord the meanness of his Miracles which they thought those of Apollonius Tyanaeus did equal and the Prescriptions of the Text Love your Enemies bless them that curse you c. Not to meddle with their first and second Head this last particularly they could not digest they look'd upon 't as obliging Men to work Miracles and thought it in a manner as easie to snatch a Man from the Embraces of the Grave as to receive an Enemy into their own What! Love an Enemy He might as well have bid us swallow Poyson and take Toads and Vipers into our Bosoms What! Love a Man that hath sought my Life Caress a Wretch that hath attempted to ravish the pledges of my Love Take him into my Arms that hath endeavour'd to snatch from me the dearest Blessings I enjoy He might as well have bid us pull up Mountains by the Roots transplant Islands touch the Sun with our Fingers and empty the Waters of the Ocean Indeed this seems to be the highest step of Christianity and he that is arrived to an habitual observance of this Rule may not unfitly be said to be come to the top of the Mount of God But still whatever noise be
Office of a Magistrate is not superseded by this Command Nor 3. Doth this Law of loving our Enemies forbid us reproving an Enemy for the Sins he involves himself in by hating us much less doth it import that we are to love his Sins and Follies or flatter him in his Undecencies and Insolencies There is no doubt we may lawfully tell him of his Faults in a meek and rational way and seek to reduce him to a better Temper and in doing so we do nothing against that Love we owe him so far from it that it is an Argument of Hatred not to Rebuke him Lev. xix 17 Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thy Heart thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy Neighbour and not suffer Sin upon him Nor 5. Doth this Command import that we are to make an Enemy our Bosom Friend to whom we are to unburden our selves and make him acquainted with the Secrets of our Souls Friendship in this strict sence is Master of Discretion more than Duty nor is our Love to our Enemies prejudic'd by not making them Friends in this sence Indeed if by the Coals of Fire we heap upon their Heads if by the warmer kindnesses we shew them we melt them into a tractable and docible Temper and then prove occasions of their becoming new Men we may if we see it convenient raise our Love Unto a higher degree even to that of Friendship and make him that was an Enemy as our own Soul but while he is an Enemy he is not a Subject capable of entring into the Bond of Friendship with him except by Friendship we mean the acts of Love hereafter mention'd 6. As an Enemy is a Person who cherisheth a secret Spleen and Malice against us in his Heart and as occasion serves vents and expresses it either in his Words or Actions either by Reviling or Abusing us or doing Unkindnesses or attempting to Betray or Bespatter or to Ruine and Undoe us in which sence even a Husband a Wife and the nearest Relatives may be Enemies so this Love we owe them imports an inward Affection to them even Bowels of Mercy and Compassion and a certain tenderness within The acts whereby our Love to them is to be expressed must have some Root and that Root must be the Heart the true seat of Love and let no Man plead here that Love arising from the agreeableness of the Object it 's impossible there should be any real Love in the Heart toward an Enemy because of the disagreeableness of the Object to our Temper and Contrariety to our Humour and Interest for though there may be no agreeableness with respect to the Wrong he doth or hath done us yet there are other Respects and those more weighty and of greater Concernment in which a likeness and similitude appear and consequently a suitable Foundation for this Love For 1. He is God's Creature and so are we 2. He is a Man and so are we 3. He is a Neighbour still nor doth the Wrong he doth us deprive him of that Relation 4. May be he is a Christian too and professes the same Faith the same God the same Jesus and the same Religion all which Respects make even an Enemy an agreeable Object of our Love Nay his very Enmity doth formally dispose and qualifie him for our Love for the nature of Love is That it is not easily provoked 1 Cor. xiii 5 And I need not tell you that Men are not provoked by Kindnesses but by Injurious Acts and these being the acts of an Enemy Love not being easily provoked by such acts the Enemy must be a very proper object of our Love But let 's go on and consider II. The particular acts of this Love or whereby this Love is to be expressed And the first is 1. Bless them that curse you This is to give good Language for bad kind Answers for Revilings praising the good that is in the Enemy for his denying that there is any in our selves and gracious Wishes for his base and horrid Imprecations The Apostles did so for being reviled we bless being defamed we entreat saith St. Paul 1 Cor. iv 13 This look'd great What a lovely excellent sight was this How pleasing to God how pleasing to Angels how pleasing to all rational and understanding Men Do but take a serious view of it you your selves cannot but like it approve of it and commend it What harmony what beauty what sweetness what evenness what perfection must there be in such a Soul What a command over his Passions must we suppose in such a Person and can any thing look more stately and magnificent And if there be such beauty in it why are not we enamour'd with it Why should we think much of it to cry God bless you when the Enemy cries God damn you Is not the one as easily said as the other and is there not far greater satisfaction in the one than in the other What if the brutish Man do curse us what hurt can his Cursing do us while we do not answer him according to his Folly The Curse may fall on his own Head but cannot singe a Hair of ours His ill Language doth it not look very odious in him and doth it change its Face or Nature if we use it by way of Retaliation Can that be lovely in us which all Men take to be deformity in him Doth not the Enemy sin grievously against God when he doth Revile or Curse us And shall not we be concern'd at his Sin How are we concern'd if we do not mourn for it How do we mourn for it if we do not pity him How do we pity him if we do not endeavour to reform him How shall we reform him except we shew him a good Example How can we shew him a good Example if we do not let him see that there is a better Spirit in us And how shall he be convinc'd of that if we do not return soft Answers for his rough and insolent ones even Blessings for Curses Such Christian returns God blesses sometimes with Conversion of the Enemy and thinks himself concern'd to reward the Self-denial with an extraordinary Providence To this purpose Moschus tells us That three Religious Men Travelling and losing their way and thereupon belated were forc'd to lie down on the Ground the Night coming on and the Sky growing very dark But so it happen'd that ignorantly they laid themselves down at the edge or corner of a Corn-field whereby they pressed a portion of Corn on the Ground Early in the Morning the Owner of the Field coming by and seeing what was done began to be in a Passion and cursed them bitterly saying You Religious Men if you had had the fear of God before you you would not have done so The innocent Men let him run on and then with all gentleness imaginable told him Truly you say right if we had had the fear of God before us we should never have done so
a Feast what Consolation the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper will be to you if you let your Light break forth and shine How chearfully may you come to this Holy Table where you may expect that the Lord Jesus the Son of God will meet you and communicate himself to you and make the Union between him and you closer the Friendship greater the Correspondence more endearing the Agreement sweeter the Reconciliation surer and the Application of his Promises firmer and more comfortable You bear his Name before Men and he will write his Name and the Name of God on your Foreheads and enter your Names in the Book of Life Christians Let the Light of your Piety shine forth c. and behold the Sacrament is the Treasury-chamber where you are to receive your Reward What Reward Even a Reward which the unhappy Spirits in Hell would give ten thousand Worlds for if they had them even forgiveness of your Sins and being wash'd in the Blood of the everlasting Covenant Heaven Eternal Life is consign'd into your hands and Christ enters at it even into Bonds and Obligations that you shall inherit it when your Race is run And thus the Sacrament proves to you the Suburbs of Heaven the Anti-chamber to the Mansions of Glory and in this outward Court if I may so call it you receive Assurances that e're long you shall be admitted into the very Palace of him who dwells in Light inaccessible and surely this must be a great encouragement to let your Light shine forth before Men. SERMON XVII St. Matth. Ch. v. Ver. 16. Let your Light so shine before Men that others may see your good Works and Glorifie your Father which is in Heaven WHAT is sweeter than Light and what is more amiable than Goodness Goodness the Image of the Almighty the Similitude of the Living God the Transcript of the Divine Nature Favour is deceitful and Beauty is vain in comparison of it and all the Glories of this present World fall short of it God loves it and Angels love it and Men that imitate them or desire to be like them cannot but love it God is Goodness it self and therefore must necessarily love it Angels of all Creatures are the most perfect and as Perfection is the Object of their Love so must Goodness for Goodness is Perfection Men that long after Happiness cannot but long earnestly after it for there is no true Happiness without Goodness If there be any rational Creature that is not enamour'd with Goodness it is because they do not see its Charming Rays To the Blind-man the Sun himself is invisible so is Goodness and all the Glories which encircle its Head to him in whom the God of this World hath blinded the Eyes of his Understanding Goodness is Light and the better a Man is the more Splendid he is and consequently the greater is the Glory that shines in and about his Soul a Glory which God delights in and Angels prize and which sheds blessed Influences on all that are round about us And therefore Christ had reason to exhort Let your Light so shine before Men that they may see your good Works and Glorifie your Father which is in Heaven Having already told you That by Light is meant Goodness I need not spend any Time in Explication of the other Terms and Phrases of the Text which may easily be understood That which will be most edifying will be to resolve the Words into these following Propositions I. A Christian must not stop at a low degree of Piety Let your Light so shine So i. e. to that degree II. Our good Works do not shine except Men see them Let your Light so shine that they may see your good Works III. Where our good Works are any way considerable Men will certainly take notice of them This is also implied in this Saying That Men may see i. e. They will certainly see and take notice therefore let your Light so shine that they may see your good Works IV. The great end of our letting our good Works shine before Men must be to endear Religion to others and to make them Glorifie God That they may see your good Works and Glorify c. V. One great Motive to let the Light of our good Works shine before Men is this consideration That God is our Father which is in Heaven That they may see and glorify your Father which is in Heaven I. I begin with the first viz. That a Christian must not content himself with a low degree of Piety Let your Light so shine i. e. To that degree What the meaning of this expression is you may plainly guess by the parallel place John iii. 16 God so loved the World Whereby we all understand a very high degree of Love and indeed the words in the Text are so express and the antecedent Passages have so near a relation to them that we can believe no less then that they do import what is hinted in the Proposition There is nothing more common among Men that profess Christianity than to content themselves with very ordinary degrees of Godliness and if they are once arrived to such a pitch of negative Vertue that they are not scandalous or do not commit Sins which make them a by-word a hissing a Proverb or the talk of their Neighbours they look upon themselves as tolerable Saints and therefore take no farther care to improve their Talents or to bless their Souls with richer Graces But surely this is an Argument that either you do not rightly understand what Religion is or that a fatal Laziness the Scurvey of the Soul hath over-run all your Faculties And to cure your selves of that Distemper I beseech you examine your selves Whether the stop you make be agreeable to the frequent Commands of the Gospel to grow in Grace to add to our Faith Vertue to grow strong in the Lord to abound more and more in Faith in Love in Patience And Whether a Man may not be in a state of Nature and in an unregenerate Condition still who is come no farther yet than a bare freedom from clamourous and notorious Sins I suppose you look upon some Heathen Philosophers who arrived to some degrees of Morality such as Socrates Plato Cicero Seneca c. as natural Men and that notwithstanding the Progress they made in Vertue they were still without the Pail of Grace and the Precint of Christ's Kingdom and if so judge ye whether you are passed from Death to Life when you go no farther than they or perhaps not so far as they Grace is a state of Life which consists in Progress and if Goodness be Light as our Blessed Master stiles it it must go on like the Sun unto a perfect day He that doth not desire to be better surely was never very good and he cannot be said to desire it that doth not endeavour after it If you find Sweetness or Consolation in that degree of Goodness you are arrived to
them and to raise Hallelujahs Gratitude and Thanksgivings in them Or if by beholding the good Works which shine in our Lives they become sensible of their own spiritual Wants and come to see how far short they fall of the Perfection which is in us and thereupon grow importunate with God for the same degree of Faith and Love they spy in our Conversation and begin to use the proper means in order to it this surely is glorifying God when they see our good Works 4. When others take occasion by the good Works they behold in us to spread Religion and Goodness and use their Talents to make others conformable to the Rule of the Gospel as those pious Christians did we read of Acts xi 19 who taking Example by what they saw the Apostles do to propagate the Faith of Christ in this Case our good Works prove Incentives to others to exhort those who are afar off to draw nigh to God and thus the Glory of God pleads when our shining and burning Lamps convey Fire into other Men's Hearts which makes them communicate the Light they feel to as many as have Faith to be heal'd of their Infirmities And these Beloved Hearers are the Ends you must propose to your selves in letting your Light even the Light of your good Works shine before Men Ends great and fit for Christian Philosophers These are Royal Ends and therefore not unbecoming those who by their Profession are Kings and Priests to God The greater a Person is the higher ought his End and Design to be A Christian is a Person highly exalted and therefore the End we speak of being High and Masculine is to be the Object of his Thoughts And now give me leave to ask you Is not this Work and this End the most proper Task of Persons who have renounc'd the Devil and all his Works You have all done so and all the Evasions and Excuses you can make cannot dissolve the Obligation to let your Light shine thus and for this End May so much Good be done by letting the Light of your good Works shine before Men Is it certain that by doing so you put your selves in a capacity of Converting others of engaging the Praises of others for your selves and them and of encouraging them to promote the Honour and Glory of God and shall you and I stand idle in the Market-place What if no Man hath hired us Is not the excellency of the Work enough to make us run into the Vineyard Nay there is a Penny to be earn'd by it a Penny at Night when you die a Reward which will be all Light all Glory all Splendour to be sure an infinite Recompence for all your Labours Behold you are permitted to aim at Glory in all your good Works not at your own Glory not at your own Praise but at the Glory of God even that others may Glorifie God And do but think what a satisfaction it will be to you in the last Day when you shall hear the Confessions of those who were illuminated edified and comforted by your good Works when you shall hear them say I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth for giving me an opportunity to be acquainted with such a Saint and to know the Conversation of such a holy Man of such a holy Woman and to see the Light of their good Works for by that sight my Soul was inflamed Hence it was that I received the first Sparks of Grace and the Seed of God and hence flowed all that Happiness I now enjoy The Satisfaction that must naturally issue from such a Confession is not to be expressed it will be so great And that 's it the Apostle aim'd at when he said to the Thessalonians 1 Thes. ii 19 What is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing Are not ye even in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ for ye are our glory and joy And now what shall I say more to oblige you to let the Light of your good Works shine before Men Yes there is one Motive more and the Text suggests it and with that the last Proposition V. That one great Motive to let the Light of our good Works shine before Men is this Consideration That God is our Father which is in Heaven That others may Glorifie your Father which is in Heaven How sweet how charming is the Motive What! Not let your Light shine before Men when 1. A Father speaks to you a Father who will deal gently with his Children will overlook many accidental Failings and Infirmities will not proceed against you according to the Rigour of his Justice knows how to remember Mercy in the midst of his Anger and will consider more the Sincerity than the Perfection of your good Works Say not therefore my good Works have Spots in them every thing I do hath so much Frailty and Imperfection in it that God will never accept of my Endeavours and therefore I may as well let them alone as apply my Mind to them for it will be much to the same purpose What! Christian harbour such Thoughts of a Father who is all Love all Mercy all Kindness to those that fear him to those that do their best to please him that do not wilfully and obstinately offend him and rejoice before him with trembling Can a Father reject or forget such Children What if they be weakly and sickly is it likely he will turn them out of Doors or cast them away from his Presence Is it not more agreeable to a Father's Name and Nature to help their Faith to cherish their Hope to strengthen their Love and to supple and establish their Charity 2. Remember he is your Father He is so to Angels who are therefore called the Sons of God Job i. but he is yours too not only theirs but you that dwell in Tabernacles of Clay may very justly call him so Nay yours in a special manner not only because he gives you a Natural Life and Being and watches over you Night and Day but yours by giving a Son for you his only Son his Eternal Son yours reconciled to you by that Son even by the Blood of his Cross. And have not you reason to please such a Father Can such a Father leave or forsake you May not you very justly be confident that such a Father will assist you strengthen you bestow his holy Spirit upon you and enable you to let the Light of your good Works shine before Men What! Can such a Father Command any thing that 's unreasonable or that is not fit for you or which is against your Interest What! such a Father to call to you Let your Light shine c. and can you refuse to do it 3. Remember it is your Father which is in Heaven In Heaven not that Heaven holds or imprisons him but there he manifests his Glory his Goodness his Perfection his Beauty in a special in a very eminent manner In Heaven What a Condescension
them the same shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven i. e. He that shall make Conscience of these least Commandements and though the World count them little and inconsiderable and looks upon them as things of no moment shall have and bear an equal respect to these the same he doth to those Commands which are acknowledged to be greatest and shall teach Men to do so not only in his Discourses and Colloquies but in his Practice and Example he shall be truly great greater than this World can make him greater than the greatest here on Earth even great and high and honourable in the Kingdom of Heaven Having thus acquainted you with the Sense I must do what I can to enforce this great and weighty Truth and this I cannot do better than by making the following Addresses to your Souls 1. This Text overthrows and breaks the neck of that loose Principle that in order to Salvation it is sufficient to avoid only gross notorious scandalous Sins How can it be sufficient when Christ protests here Whosoever shall break one of these least Commandements and shall teach Men so shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven It 's a marvellous thing to see what Schemes of Divinity Men erect to themselves that they may with greater Security and Satisfaction wallow in the Mire and please the World and the Flesh. I know not whether the Popish distinction of Sins into Mortal and Venial hath contributed to this Error but sure I am that in abundance of things which are not very agreeable to the Rule of the Gospel which yet Custom and Education and the humour of the Age hath made either necessary or convenient the Expedient Men find out is this that they are trivial little inconsiderable Faults whereby the dreadfulness of them soon disappears and this done they practise and commit them without Terror or Regret or Concernment and their Consciences do not at all boggle at them especially while the fair Weather of their Health and Pleasure and Ease and Strength and Liberty and Plenty lasts And of this Nature are most of the things Christ takes notice of in the Discourse succeeding the Text and whereof we shall have occasion to treat more largely in the sequel Such as secret Envy Hatred Grudges Malice in our Heart against our Neighbour abusive Language calling him by ill Names mincing of Oaths needless Asseverations lascivious Thoughts Desires Words Expressions Passions Affections Touches Kisses Looks Glances keeping ill Company and complying with their Follies neglect of several Acts of Charity and self-denials sinister Ends and Intentions in religious Actions mistrust of Gods Providence Discontentedness loving the World better than God c. That these are Sins is evident because they are forbid yet you cannot but know how they are overlook'd as inconsiderable Failings nor do the generality think they lose their Reputation and Character of good Men by not watching against them or by suffering them to go and come as there is occasion While they commit no Sins that send them to Goals and Prisons or bring them to the Gallows or while they keep free from Sins which the Hectors and Deboshees of the Age do wallow in they take themselves to be tolerable Saints and look upon the other Deformities of their Souls as things of no moment and while they are guilty of no Crimes that make them Infamous and can charge themselves with nothing that 's very bloody they have no melancholy Thoughts about the Garment spotted by the Flesh and may be make matter of Sport and Laughter of that which hath cost considerate Men many Tears and mournful Accents There is no doubt but there are greater and lesser Sins and some have greater Malice in them and are attended with greater bruitishness and stupidity with higher degrees of boldness and insolence and are more immediately level'd against the Nature of God than others But though in this respect some are greater some lesser yet if we consider the tremendous God who is offended by that which we call a little Sin it will appear in other Colours for either it is forbid or it is not if it be not forbid it must be either lawful or indifferent if it be forbid it is forbid as much as Adultery or Blasphemy And can any Sin be little that is an Affront to a Great and Infinite Majesty Can that be little which is injurious to Gods Power makes War with his Mercy and Goodness abuses his Patience diminishes his Glory and wrongs his Perfection and Holiness Can that be little which disfigures the noblest Workmanship of God our immortal Souls fills them as it were with Scabs and fullies their Beauty and Splendor Can that be little which manifestly hinders our progress in a spiritual Life stops the Stream and Current of the Divine Grace and Influence and disposes to Damnation Could we play the fool as they do in the Church of Rome and tell you that these lesser Sins may be purged away by a little Holy Water by the Bishops Blessing by smiting the Breast and the bare saying of a Pater noster by a general Confession c. You might think then there is no great matter in them but if they require a serious Repentance and Reformation as well as other Sins who can make light of them Were there nothing in them but that they dispose the Soul to greater Sins and to a loose careless sort of Religion this would be discouragement enough for all the World knows that no Man grows perfectly wicked on a sudden but by degrees they go on to more dareing Impieties Know ye not that a little Leaven leavens the whole lump Saith the Apostle 1 Cor. v. 6 And Behold how great a matter a little Fire kindles saith St. James Chap. III. 5 And doth not Experience tell us to use the words of a certain Divine how an unchast Thought assented to soon welcomes Delight Delight Consent Consent Action Action Custom Custom Habit Habit Perseverance Perseverance an obduracy of Heart which without God's miraculous Providence interposes leads to final Impenitence A Man may avoid scandalous great and clamorous Sins such as Murther Adultery Cursing Blasphemy Theft Extortion Prophaneness c. and yet all this while have not one grain of true Love to God for all this he may do meerly out of regard to his Ease and temporal Interest and if you consider what St. Paul protests that if any Man love not the Lord Jesus let him be Anathema Maranatha Cursed and for ever Cursed 1 Cor. xvi 22 What satisfaction can that Man enjoy within that notwithstanding his shunning some scandalous Sins hath not any tolerable assurance that he loves God and the Lord Jesus Christ If you love him you must keep his Commandments and if Love obliges you to keep one why not another Do not they all come from the same Law-giver Are not they all deliver'd with the same Seriousness and by the same Authority Who makes
the first Insinuations of it and the dangerous Spark as soon as thrown in must be shaken out of their Bosom Lust in some Persons is naturally stronger than it is in others and its Motions more violent in one Man than in another where it is so greater care must be used but still the chief Remedy is to beat off the first Images and Representations of it My Text gives me occasion to speak here of the proper Remedies whereby this Sin may be cured but because the two next Verses treat of these Receipts I shall reserve the Discourse of such Medicines till that Occasion 2. If impure Thoughts are so dangerous what then must be obscene Expressions and filthy Jesting and amorous Songs and talking of things which a modest Person must blush at And yet how fashionable are such Discourses grown And stiled Wit and Salt and ingenious Repartees A true Christian is a very chast Creature and he counts it but a pitiful Piece of Self-Denial to forbear the outward Acts of Adultery or Fornication or Sins of that Nature His Chastity appears in his Words and Expressions too Nay he goes farther than that and will not suffer a Lustful Thought to lodge in his Breast and then how should he allow himself Liberty in Discourses and Speeches which intrench upon the Rules of Gravity and Modesty He that is a stranger to this Watchfulness over his Words may call himself a Christian so we call a Picture a Man but he had need go to School again and learn which be the first Principles of the Oracles of God and among these he 'll find these two necessary Rules Ephes. iv 29 Let no corrupt Communication proceed out of your Mouths but that which is good to the use of Edifying that it may minister Grace unto the hearers and Ephes. v. 3 But Fornication and all Vncleanness and Covetousness let it not be once named among you as becomes Saints neither Filthiness nor foolish Talking nor Jesting which are not convenient but rather giving of Thanks 3. Give me leave to Suggest to you that there is a Spiritual Adultery which many of us who perhaps detest Carnal Adultery as they do Toads and Serpents may be very guilty of And this as well as the Sin of the Flesh excludes from the Kingdom of Heaven and it is no other than inordinate Love of the World or such a Love of the World which makes us neglect our Duty to God and to our own Souls To this purpose St. James Jam. iv 4 Ye Adulterers and Adultresses know ye not that the Friendship of the World is emnity with God and whosoever will be a Friend of the World is an Enemy of God We are Married to Christ Jesus He is our Bridegroom and our Husband who bought us with his Blood and made us his own by the dearest thing imaginable by laying down his Life for us And there is none that knows how Love Affection and Fidelity and seeking one anothers Happiness are the indispensable Duties of married Persons but must grant that these Qualifications must necessarily be required of us with respect to our Lord and Master and Husband Christ who hath not failed to do his Part but hath loved us discovered his Faithfulness to us and sought our Happiness even to Astonishment If we make not the same returns or pay that Love and Fidelity to the World to the Riches and Pleasures of this Life which are due to him as our Husband we become Adulterers and Adulteresses and the love of the Father is not in us 1 Joh. xi 16 Carnal Adultery is a crying Sin one of the blacker sort A Sin so heinous that the Primitive Church especially the African would give no Pardon for it no though the Offendour were never so Penitent nor admit him to their Publick Prayers and Communion Such dreadful Apprehensions had they of this Sin if a Person fell into it after Baptism Indeed it is a Violation of the most sacred Institution of God and making a Separation there where God hath commanded the greatest Union It is a manifest Violation of that Faith which was given to each other before God and the elect Angels and the whole Congregation It is an Injustice attended with Profanation of God in whose Name the Parties were joined together there is Theft there is Robbery in it for one of the Parties is not only Robbed of his or her right but of the greatest Jewel which is Peace and content of Mind It is a Profanation of the greatest Mystery of our Religion even the Union of Christ and his Church which is represented by Marriage And if the Conscience in the guilty Person awakes on this side the Grave it will fill the Soul with very great Horrour kindle Hell fire in her Bosom as a presage of the Flames that will shortly if God's Mercy doth not interpose be her Portion in the other World So heinous a Sin is Carnal Adultery And shall we make nothing of Spiritual Adultery Which must necessarily be as dreadful as the Person whom we are tied to is more excellent the Wrong that 's done to him greater and his Arm more powerful to revenge our Treachery In the two standing Sacraments of the Church we own this Marriage and profess we are united to God in a Matrimonial Bond that we are joined to Christ Jesus and that we will be Faithful to him beyond all Persons whatsoever Love nothing like him Honour and Reverence him as our Head and suffer our selves to be guided by him If we neglect all this care not for so great a Person are taken with Trifles more than with his Love and espouse those Sins which his Soul doth hate if we leave him in Adversity forsake him in the time of Danger comply with the World and had rather part with a good Conscience than with our Ease and Profit and Advantages in the World Is this Matrimonial Love Is this being faithful to the Husband of our Souls Is not this breaking the Bond and dissolving the Tie and divorcing our selves from him who loved us and wash'd us with his own Blood And will not this Perfidiousness make him break out in the Language of a disconsolate Husband I am broken with their whorish Heart which hath departed from me Ezech. vi 9 Well a Christian that 's sensible of the Unreasonableness of such Perfidiousness I am sure will take another Course and submit himself heartily and willingly to the Saviour of the Body Christ Jesus and like a loving dutiful Wife be subject to him in the fear of God and that 's the way to share in all his Benefits even in the Benefits mention'd Ephes. v. 25 Husbands love your Wives even as Christ also loved the Church SERMON XXVI St. Matth. Ch. v. Ver. 29 30. And if thy right Eye offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee for it is profitable for thee that one of thy Members should perish and not that thy whole Body should
such as Fasting Severities doing things irksome troublesome and uneasie to the Body great self-denials in Dyet in Apparel in Company in Talking in Mirth and Recreation large Alms doing much good c. These strangely advance a spiritual Life especially if joined with those I call gentler Means and as painful as this may seem to Flesh and Blood at first the Discipline will become sweet and easie when the Soul perceives the glorious Effects of it And O! that you would but try and venture upon this severe Course There are Treasures in it of Joy of Comfort and Satisfaction and you will find how your Sins will abate how your Corruptions will decrease and your evil Inclinations will become less troublesome you 'll find how everything will thrive under it and what a strengthening it will be to your Faith and Hope and Love and Charity and how all these Graces will grow and swell and become large and fruitful Some of you I am confident have been striving against Lust and other Sins you have pray'd you have resolved you have meditated c. Yet you find you fall into the same Sins again Here must be some fault either your Prayers are not fervent or your Resolutions are not strong enough or some more painful Discipline must be used some Austerities whereby the Body is subjugated and made obedient to the Spirit for the more the Body is pinch'd and denied in its Satisfactions the better doth the Soul thrive I grant these Austerities have been abused by Pharisees and by some Votaries of the Church of Rome into Superstition so is Wine and stronger Spirits which make some drunk but are a Cordial to others but a modest and humble use of them cannot but be very beneficial in order to the Life we speak of This is a very tempting Subject and I could dwell upon it a little longer but that I have something more to explain viz. the III. Proposition That to avoid or to be rid of unlawful Lust or adulterous and impure Desires Wishes and Inclinations a Christian must not give the least Encouragement to the Sin by Actions which will feed it nor cherish any thing that will provoke to it And of this Nature is the right Eye in the Text and the right Hand the one by looking the other by touch or contrectation These must be forborn and totally abandoned where they are apt to cause the least disorder in the Mind for these are the Fewel that feed the impure Fire and it stands to reason the Youngster that feeds his Eyes with the charming Looks of the Minion or Idol he adores and puts his Hand into the Bosom of his Mistress may as well hope to cure himself of a Fever by a Draught of cold Water as cure himself of his Lust by that means Though Marriage be the great Remedy against Adultery Fornication and all other unlawful Lusts and Desires of the Flesh and a Remedy prescribed by God himself yet all Persons are not under those Circumstances which may make a Married state fit for them Some though they have not made a Vow yet are resolved or minded to continue in a Virgin State and to imitate the Great Apostle and High Priest of their Profession Christ Jesus as in the Primitive Church thousands of Men and Women made themselves Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven i. e. that they might attend the Lord without distraction and be able to do more good they denied themselves not only in all sinful Lusts but in Marriage too not out of any ill Opinion of that State but by way of Mortification and voluntary Abstinence and because they thought a single Life spent in the Service of God and in doing good a higher degree of Christian Perfection Others are under the Yoak of Service and tyed by the Law of the Land and their own Indentures and Oaths and Promises not to Marry before the time of their Service be ended Others there are whom Poverty and want of means to maintain a Family keeps from entring into that Condition and others for other Reasons are obliged to abstain from it Now all such Persons may justly be supposed to be liable to Temptations of unlawful Lusts and therefore such may stand in need of Counsel and Advice how to keep themselves Chast and Innocent from the Garment spotted by the Flesh. Nay there is Chastity to be observed in a Married State Adulterous Lusts and Desires are dangerous as the fall of a Thunderbolt and burn into the nethermost Hell And such also fall under the direction of Preservatives These Preservatives are various and they either regard the Mind or the Actions As they have respect to the Mind Consideration I mean that which is serious and attentive must be used and a Christian must take time to ponder and reflect how great how dreadful how heinous how dangerous the Sins of Adultery Fornication Lasciviousness and Uncleanness are for they exclude from the Kingdom of Heaven alienate the Love and Favour of God from the Offender and kindle his Everlasting Wrath and Indignation Galat. v. 19 20 21. Besides he that commits Fornication Sins against his own Body he is injurious to that Body which was purchased and bought for Christ's Service makes a Beth-aven a House of Impiety of that which should be a Bethel a House of God and violates the Sanctity of that Tabernacle which was dedicated to the Worship of him who is of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity makes the Members of Christ the Members of a Harlot and profanes the Temple of the Holy Ghost for so his Body is and for that use it was intended as we see 1 Cor. vi 17 18. Not to mention how by these Sins of Impurity the Understanding is darken'd the Light of God is obscured and the Life of Religion turned out of doors how Adultery was punish'd with Death by the Law of Moses as much as Murther which shews the heinousness of the Offence and what Judgments have been inflicted on Men and Nations from time to time even in this present Life as fore-runners of greater Plagues in another World such Topicks the Understanding must six upon and except this be done all other Means and Preservatives will be in vain for if these Sins be shun'd it must be upon rational Grounds and its impossible the dread of these Sins should be Rational except the Mind takes these Arguments into Consideration The things that are to be done in order to be rid of these unlawful and forbidden Lusts and joined with these Considerations are these following 1. We know how much Idleness and want of Employment helps to feed these Lusts and therefore this must be watch'd against it was this which precipitated the Inhabitants of Sodom into those Lusts which procured their Ruin and Destruction Ezech. xvi 49 2. Drunkenness and Gluttony and Pampering the Body do manifestly administer Fewel to the Flame and therefore these must be renounced Jer. v. 7 3. Whatsoever feeds the
Except the Lord build the House they labour in vain that build it Ps. cxxvii 1 2. How much more must this hold in Spiritual And therefore Christian since the Eyes of all do wait upon that God that gives them their Meat in due Season behold the Rock from which thy Water of Life must flow Thy Faith is weak go to him and he will make it mount up with Wings as Eagles Thy hope is faint run to him and he will give it Life and Spirit Thy Love wants Fire address thy self to him and he will enflame it Thy Charity languishes apply thy self to him and he will breathe Vigour and Activity into it Thy resistance of Temptations is feeble follow him with fervent Tears and Prayers and he will make thee bold as a Lyon Happy that Soul that is truly sensible of her weakness this sense will make her breathe and pant after the Living God When I am weak then am I strong saith St. Paul 2 Cor. xii 10 i. e. when I am most sensible of my weakness God follows and blesses me with greater Strength God loves to manifest his Power in our Weakness and the weaker we are I mean so as to be sensible of it and make it a motive to earnest Prayer the fitter we are for God's fortifying Grace For you see your calling Brethren God hath chosen the foolish things of the World to confound the wise and God hath chosen the weak things of the World to confound the things which are mighty c. 1 Cor. i. 26 27 28. Hence arises the Glory of God's Grace and that joyful acknowledgment of St. Paul and all good Men By the Grace of God I am what I am Every true Believer finds this by Experience and joyfully sings with the Royal Prophet as it is Psal. lxxxiv 11 12. The Lord God is a Sun and a Shield the Lord will give Grace and Glory and no good thing will be withhold from those that walk uprightly Blessed be God who is both ready and willing and hath promised over and over to give his enlightning strengthning sanctifying comforting and assisting Grace to the hungry and thirsty Soul that calls upon him in Truth For this Cause as the Apostle did for the Colossians Col. i. 9 10 11. We will not cease to pray for you all and to desire that you may be filled with the Knowledge of his Will in all Wisdom and spiritual Understanding that you may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good work and encreasing in the knowledge of God strengthen'd with all Might according to his glorious Power unto all long-suffering and patience with joyfulness SERMON XXX St. Matth. Ch. V. Ver. 37. But let your Communication be yea yea and nay nay for whatsoever is more than these comes of evil CHRIST having in the foregoing Verses declar'd all Swearing except it be in Cases of very great Necessity and Weight and Moment altogether unlawful and utterly condemn'd not only Swearing by the supream Being in common Discourses but particularly Swearing by the Creatures as a thing horrid and dreadful and not to be suffered among his Disciples he proceeds and lets us see what decency modesty sincerity and simplicity is to be observed in our Communications and Speeches such especially as relate to Promises and Bargains and the ordinary Affairs of the World And whereas Men might object that they had used themselves to Swearing in their Discourses and therefore could not leave it he passes by that Objection as frivolous and childish and silly and not worth taking notice of supposing that he who hath learned an evil Custom if he will use the proper Means may unlearn it again and to be sure will most heartily abandon it if he be a true Disciple of the Gospel and seriously touch'd with a sense of another Life and the weight and importance of Christ's Doctrine Taking no notice I say of this common Objection he peremptorily declares what he expects of his Followers with respect to their Discourses Speeches Answers and Communications and Colloquies with their fellow Christians But let your Communication be yea yea and nay nay for whatsoever is more than these comes of evil Where we have First A Precept Secondly The Reason of it The Precept But let your Communication be yea yea The Reason For whatsoever is more than these comes of evil We begin with the Precept and that imports three Duties With respect to our Speeches and Discourses Constancy Veracity and Plainness 1. Constancy as it is opposed to Saying and Unsaying in which sense we find the Expression used by St. Paul 2 Cor. i. 17 When I therefore was thus minded did I use lightness or the things that I purpose do I purpose according to the Flesh that with me there should be yea yea and nay nay i. e. yea and nay lightness fickleness inconstancy and unsteddiness in Promises saying one thing this Hour and another the next 2. Veracity as it is opposed to Falshood and Lying and in this place also we find the Apostle uses this Phrase 2 Cor. i. 20 For all the Promises of God are yea and in him Amen unto the Glory of God by us i. e. They are firm immovable not so much as a shadow of Falshood mingles with them and Heaven and Earth shall sooner sink and be dissolv'd than these Promises shall fail 3. Plainness as it is opposed to Oaths and strong Asseverations which is the thing directly aimed at by our Saviour here and hath respect chiefly to our Promises to Men and imports that we are to content our selves with bare Negatives and Affirmatives and such Affirmations and Negations that People may depend upon them as much as if we had confirmed them with an Oath Not but that if the thing be Weighty and of great Moment some Asseveration may be added such as Verily Amen of a Truth I say unto you as we see Christ himself doth in the Gospel where the Souls and the Salvation of Men are concern'd but in ordinary Affairs or things relating to our Business Calling and Employment Bargains and Negotiations in all Discourses and Speeches and Promises of this Nature not only great Veracity but bare Affirmations and Negations are the Things which become us as we are Christians and profess our selves Followers of the best of Masters So that when it is said here Let your Communication be yea yea and nay nay the meaning is not that in our Answers and Discourses we must use no Words whatsoever but only yea and nay according as the Question is which is ask'd us That 's contrary to Christ's Practice and the Apostles Example which are the best Comment on the Text. No doubt we may Discourse with our Neighbours as long as we think fit and say as much as is needful to the purpose But 1. The general intent is to teach us that to avoid greater Sins we are to shun the lesser To avoid Swearing in Discourse we must
Gain if they lead us to secure the everlasting Inheritance The Precepts of our great Master are so order'd and so laid that the Love of this World may be rooted out of our Hearts and if this Love be truly mortify'd we are greater Gainers than if we gained the whole World and lost our own Souls It is true we would fain keep this present World and all the enjoyments of it and enjoy the bliss of the next too but he that goes by that principle reckons without his Host and will find himself miserably mistaken when he comes to set his Accounts even with the Sovereign Judge of the World To meet with ungrateful and unreasonable Men is no more than what our Master and his Disciples have met withal and to think we must fare better in this World than they is to mistake the end of our Vocation Let us do good and rejoyce in the doing of it and be confident we shall be no losers in the end He is faithful who hath promised and he will perform it too It is but a little while that we are to continue here and the great Question in the last Day will be not how Rich or how great we have been here but whether we have made Conscience of the Rules our Master hath left us Blessed are those Servants whom their Master when he comes shall find so doing Prosperity is so far from being a sign of God's Children or of our Reconciliation to God that a Christian who enjoys much of it hath very great reason to question his Spiritual Condition and Interest in Christ Jesus Not but that it 's possible to be prosperous and a true Servant of God but where there is one that is so there are multitudes that drown themselves in Destruction and Perdition I shall conclude with St. Paul's Saying 1 Tim. vi 17 18. Charge them that are Rich in this World that they be not high-minded nor trust in uncertain Riches but in the Living God who giveth us richly all things to enjoy That they do good that they be rich in good Works ready to Distribute willing to Communicate SERMON XXXIV St. Matth. Ch. V. Ver. 43. Ye have heard that it hath been said Thou shalt love thy Neighbour and hate thine Enemy FOR the right understanding of this Passage these following things will deserve Consideration I. By whom it was said Thou shalt love thy Neighbour and hate thine Enemy II. How agreeable this principle is to corrupt Nature III. How contrary to the Principles of Reason and the design of Christianity IV. What is the true import of love to our Neighbour V. Whether in some sense it may not be a Duty to love our Neighbour and hate our Enemy I. By whom it hath been said Thou shalt love thy Neighbour and hate thine Enemy And most certainly 1. It hath not been said so by Almighty God in the Old Law we have indeed a Command Levit. xix 18 Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self but we read no where Thou shalt hate thine Enemy so far from it that there are express Precepts against it as Exod. xxiii 4 5. When thou seest thine Enemies Oxe or Ass going astray thou shalt freely bring him back to him again and if thou shalt see the Ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burthen and wouldst forbear to help him thou shalt surely help with him Besides the Law God gave the Jews was never intended as a contradiction to the Law of Nature it was to be a help to the better Observance of it but never design'd to reverse it or any part of it and we are certain the Law of Nature enjoyns no such thing but Mercy rather than Hatred to an Enemy and this is evident from hence not only because the Law of Nature bids us imitate God who is kind to the Unthankful and to the Evil but because we find that the very Heathens from the dictates of this Law of Nature have shewn Mercy even to their greatest Foes not only by giving them decent Burial after Death as Hannibal and others but also by exercising acts of Charity toward them while they were alive and therefore God it could not be that said so Thou shalt love thy Neighbour and hate thine Enemy And therefore 2. If God did not say so then the Men that said and taught so must be the same Men who had corrupted several other Laws of God mention'd in this Chapter and detorted them from their original Intent and Design to accommodate them to the sinful Humours of Men and to the interest of the Flesh even the Scribes and Pharisees and their Ancestors the ancient Masters of the Oral Law who by their Traditions rendred the Law of God of none effect I have observ'd often in the preceding Discourses what false Glosses and Interpretations these Men did put upon the Sixth and Seventh Commandment and the Law of Divorces and Retaliation In like manner this Precept of loving their Neighbour could not escape their Sacrilegious Hands for as their business was to make the Moral Law of God as easie to the Flesh as they could and as they had made several Experiments of that Nature in others so they dealt with this excellent Precept Indeed many of them in Christ's Days made no great Account of this Duty for when they spoke of the summ of the Law of God they repeated part of the sixth Chapter of Deut. Hear O Israel the Lord thy God is one God and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy Might This they said taking no notice of the Precept of loving their Neighbour was the summ of the Law of God and this they inscrib'd and writ upon their Philacteries or Parchments they tyed to their Wrists and Foreheads Which shews that the Lawyer who came to Christ to enquire of him What he must do to inherit eternal Life Luke x. 27 was more rational than the rest for when Christ asked him how readest thou he answered Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy Strength and thy Neighbour as thy self Upon which our Saviour tells him That he had answer'd right or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Mark hath it Mark xii 34 So that set aside some few judicious thinking Persons the Scribes and Pharisees in general pretending warrant from Tradition had very slight and slender Notions of loving their Neighbour and though they granted it was a Command of God and confessed their Obligation to obey it yet they had made so many restrictions of it that in effect they had render'd it very insignificant For 1. By the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Neighbour they understood a Friend or a Person that was kind to them or had obliged them the largest signification they would allow of was that of a Jew or a Person of the same Tribe and Kindred and
from a Blasphemer to the Faith to Holiness and to be a Preacher of that Doctrine which before he persecuted from City to City and was exceeding mad against Such force have these Prayers for our Enemies especially if coming from the Heart Nor must we content our selves with Prayers for our Enemies in general but Intercessions and Groans unutterable must be particularly for that Enemy that Man or Woman who hath persecuted and despitefully used us loaded us with the blackest Calumnies and offer'd the greatest violence to our Persons These must be named and specified in our Prayers both Publick and Private and for the Person who hath been Injurious to us our Supplications must be put up not only once and twice but often and importunately and for ought we know he that went out from us an Enemy may come home a Friend a Friend to God and to Religion a Friend to our Persons and Concerns a Friend to all that call on the Name of the Lord Jesus And having thus represented to you the Commands of your Master I may justly expect you should all with one Heart and with one Voice say as the Israelites at the hearing of the Conditions of the Covenant All that the Lord our God hath said we will do If this be not the effect remember you go home Enemies of God and of Christ Jesus There is no medium you must either be God's Friends or his Enemies If you are Friends you 'll stick at nothing he Commands you Christ himself saith so Joh. xv 14 If his Commands be nauseous or grievous or a burthen to you most certainly you love him not and therefore are not his Friends and if not his Friends what remains but being his Enemies and can you sit down quietly under such a fearful Character especially when you read and consider what you read Luke xix 27 As for those mine Enemies that would not that I should reign over them bring them hither and slay them before me But how is all this to be done We live in an Age wherein Men do scarce love their Friends much less their Enemies Such Lovers are very rare very few Examples appear and what encouragement is there to venture upon a Duty so unpleasing so distasteful to Flesh and Blood However the Duty looks fair and lovely and Reason says it is a Perfection which deserves our Ambition and Endeavour But how is this excellent Temper to be attain'd Why easily enough if you are not averse from wholsome Counsel if besides the tempting Reward that is before you you are willing to be govern'd by the following Directions 1. Represent not an Enemy to your selves in those black Characters you usually do There are fairer and finer Colours in which he may be drawn and make use of these 1. When ever a Person doth you an Injury look higher and believe and perswade your selves the Almighty sent him and Providence order'd it and an All seeing God had a hand in it David did so when Shimei cursed him and it quieted him He look'd off from Shimei and saw God in the Calumny not as the Author of it but as one that made use of it He regarded Shimei as God's Executioner as the Instrument of his Displeasure and the Rod of his Anger and what a Calm did this Consideration produce in his Soul while Abishai's Fingers itch'd to take off his Head 2. Look upon the Enemy as thy Physician He is intended to bring Salvation to thy House He is sent to cure thy Soul and it will certainly appear and prove so if thou make his Wrongs and Malice an opportunity to reflect upon the Wrongs and Injuries done to thy God and repentest of them and mak'st thy Peace with him The Enemy is a preacher of Patience a teacher of Submission a School-master that is to instruct thee in the Art of Humility and resisting Temptations If thou improve his Snarlings and rude Assaults mak'st them occasions and incentives to Prayer to do good to his Soul and Body thy Soul will thrive and thy Spirit grow healthy and his Injuries will become Gems and Jewels and Pretious Stones as that Holy Man said whereby the Foe pelts and drives thy Soul to Heaven 3. Look upon the Enemy as blind blind with Rage and Fury and Envy and Malice and this will incline thy Heart to pity him Who doth not commiserate a blind Man And which is the greater blindness Corporal or Spiritual The poor Wretch sees not how sweet and how gracious the Lord is nor what the hope of his Calling is nor what the Riches of his Grace are He hath no sence of the height and breadth and depth and length of the Love of Jesus Christ. He sees not the mighty Obligations that lie upon him to Love his Neighbour as himself and therefore he is Blind and and if Blind he is miserable and if miserable will you add Misery to Misery and hate him who is already in a deplorable Condition Nay if he be miserable doth not he deserve your Prayers your Alms and your Charity 4. May be his Nature is not changed he is not Converted knows nothing of Regeneration nothing of the Sanctifying Grace of God and wilt thou be angry with him for acting according to his Nature Why art not thou angry with the Fire for barning the Stuff that 's thrown into it An unconverted Man acts according to his Temper and Interest and Passion according to his Nature as much as the Sun and Rain and Wind. These move not thine Anger or thy Rage let them blow and scorch and wet and why should the others acting according to his Nature stir up thy Wrath and Indignation 2. There is a Promise and a Promise which if believed and rely'd upon will very much animate and encourage us to these acts of Love It is Prov. xvi 7 If a Man's ways please the Lord he will make his very Enemies to be at Peace with him we have no more to do but still to be followers of that which is good and God will turn and wind things for our advantage and make an alteration even in the Hearts of our Enemies as great as we see in Esau who before had threatned Jacob with Death and on a sudden by a secret invisible Hand is forced to fall into his Brother's Embraces and though this may not always happen yet the Promise will certainly be fulfill'd in something greater and better than is hinted in the letter 3. Oblige your selves to this Love in the Holy Sacrament of Christ's Supper the fittest Time and Place to engage your selves to this Work Though before we come to this Ordinance our endeavours must be strong and vigorous after the Qualifications of the Text yet the Sacrament of the Eucharist is both an excellent Motive and a very considerable help to fix and establish this Love to our Enemies Talk what you will it is not Philosophy nor conversing with Men of this Age nor being at Court nor seeing
Fashions that will make you Masters of this Love No the School of the Cross teaches this Self-denial and the Sacrament is that School There a Crucify'd Saviour dying for his Enemies is seen and what were all his Prayers and Tears and Agonies but kindnesses to Enemies These we contemplate in this Ordinance at least they come to very little purpose that approach not with this Consideration Here to see his Love and Charity spread and diffuse it self with all the acts of Love my Text speaks of and to believe all this must needs help to melt the Heart and make us willing to bless them that curse us to do good to them that hate us and to pray for them which despitefully use us Let the Soul walk about the Cross and think Behold the Son of God whom I have promised to follow and to imitate even he who bleeds on the Cross he blessed me that had cursed him did good to me that had hated him and pray'd for me that had despitefully used him If I am not like him how shall I be washed with his Blood The Language of the Gospel is that I must be conformable to his Image and chang'd into it and tread in his Steps if I mean to be partaker of his Merits and shall not I consider the importance of this Truth and contrive that the same Mind may be in me which was also in Christ Jesus Thy Death sweet Jesu must do it Thy Death must kill my Hatred and my Rages Thy Love must burn that dross away and whenever my unruly Passions rise against my Enemy I 'll tâ—row the whole weight of thy Love upon them that they may be crush'd to Death and expire I conclude with a Passage of St. John and the rather because he was the great Preacher of this Love and St. Jerom takes notice that when he was very old and his Disciples came to visit him still he would say My little Children love one another and being ask'd why he did repeat this so often he said This is all Love one another as you ought to do it is enough you need no more I conclude I say with 1 John ii 9 10 11. He that saith he is in the Light and hateth his Brother is in Darkness even until now He that loves his Brother abideth in the Light and there is none occasion of Stumbling in him But he that hateth his Brother is in Darkness and walketh in Darkness and knows not whither he goes because that Darkness hath blinded his Eyes SERMON XXXVI St. Matth. Ch. V. Ver. 45. That ye may be the Children of your Father which is in Heaven for he makes the Sun to rise on the Evil and on the Good and sendeth Rain on the Just and Unjust OUR Saviour having in the two foregoing Verses endeavour'd to rectifie the wilful Mistakes of Men the Jews especially about loving their Neighbours and hating their Enemies confuted their false Maxims and Notions establish'd a standing Law among his Followers and charged them as they hop'd for the everlasting Kingdom he promised and proclaim'd to love their Enemies to bless them that curse them to do good to them that hate them c. He lays down some Motives and Arguments in the Text which he thought would prevail with rational and considerate Men and such who had a serious sence of God and another Life prevail I mean if seriously thought of and consider'd and ponder'd in the Heart It 's thinking that puts Men upon Action and we see with what violence and vehemence Men fall to work if they apprehend in it something that 's profitable or pleasant or preservative from Evil and indeed in in so great a work as loving our Enemies and doing good to them that hate us a work so contrary to corrupt Nature and the receiv'd Customs of Men the motives must not be survey'd slightly or superficially but so regarded that no Objection no Temptation of Flesh and Blood may stop or hinder the Votary from doing so Carnal Men may fancy that no Motive can be strong enough to effect it but if it were so our blessed Master would have been under a great Mistake which is impossible yea let God be true and every Man a Lyar. He knew they would prevail and no doubt they will prevail with Men who are ambitious of things unseen ambitious of the invisible future Glory ambitious of being Children of their Father which is in Heaven for so we read That you may be Children of your Father which is in Heaven for he lets the Sun rise upon the Evil and the Good and sendeth Rain upon the Just and Unjust Concerning the Phrases and Expressions of the Text I have only this to observe That for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Children some ancient Copies read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like your Father which is in Heaven which it 's probable was at first only a Marginal Note and was afterward by the Transcribers put into the Text. However the sence is the same and to be Children is to be like our Father which is in Heaven In Heaven not that he is confined to that place for he is not far from every one of us Act. xvii 27 and The Heaven even the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain thee saith Solomon 1 Kings viii 27 And whither shall I go from thy Spirit or whither shall I flee from thy Presence If I ascend into Heaven thou art there if I make my Bed in Hell behold thou art there if I take the Wings of the Morning and dwell in the uttermost Parts of the Sea even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me saith David Psal. cxxxix 7 8 9. yet he is in Heaven because there is his Court his Palace his Throne where he manifests himself in a most signal manner and his Power Goodness Mercy Influences are felt and dispensed there infinitely beyond what is known here on Earth This is all I think necessary to observe concerning the Expressions used here The more material things may be resolv'd into these following Propositions I. Men are made Children of God not born so II. The great design of the Gospel is to make us like God like our Father which is in Heaven III. The greatness and vastness of God's Bounty is to be seen in his letting the Sun rise upon the Evil and the Good and sending Rain upon the Just and Unjust I. Men are not born Children of God but made so That you may be the Children of your Father which is in Heaven which shews there is something to be done that they may become God's Children and come into the World with that Privilege Indeed if we consider God as the Original Cause of all things as in him we all live and move and have our being and as of one Blood he hath made all Nations of Men in that respect he is the Father of us all and all are his Children and born so But I do
kindness O Lord toward them that fear thee and put their trust in thee before the Sons of Men They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy House and thou shalt make them drink of the Rivers of thy pleasure for with thee is the Fountain of Life and in thy Light we shall see Light This must needs be a very comfortable Consideration to all that by patient continuance in Well-doing seek for Glory Honour and Immortality Rain and Sun-shine and the common Blessings of this Life are not the proper Rewards God intends you These are Mercies design'd chiefly for his Slaves and meaner Servants They are greater richer and nobler Blessings that are appointed for his Friends and Children Eye hath not seen and Ear hath not heard and Heart cannot conceive what God hath prepared for them that love him Grieve not ye in whom the fruits of the Spirit do appear that God doth not give you the Blessings of his Left-hand the Blessings of Men who have their portion in this Life If he should put you off with these you would be miserable The Joys above the triumphs of Paradise the felicity of Angels the festivals of Heaven the eternal Enjoyments of God the everlasting rest the endless beatitude in your Father's House These are the Portions of his Children This World indeed is inhabited by his Friends but the greater part of those who dwell in the Earth are his Enemies Among these good Men live as Strangers and Pilgrims but they are higher larger and loftier Mansions that are prepared for them and when their Earthly House of this Tabernacle shall be dissolv'd there will fall to their share a building of God a House not made with hands eternal in the Heavens SERMON XXXVII St. Matth. Ch. V. Ver. 46 47. For if you love them which love you what Reward have you Do not even the Publicans the same And if ye salute your Brethren only what do you more than others Do not even the Publicans so LAws are best understood by the Preamble because that gives an account of the occasion to these Words by the preceding Among the Rules of Holy Living prescrib'd by our Saviour to his Disciples in this Chapter that of loving our Enemies blessing them that curse us and doing good to them that hate us and praying for them which despitefully use us is most remarkable He was sensible Flesh and Blood would raise Objections against this Duty and therefore he backs it with Arguments great and powerful to let us see how equitable and reasonable it is In the preceding Verse he sets before us the Example of God who receives greater Affronts and Injuries and Abuses from sinful Men than one Man can possible receive from another And yet as ill as that Supream Being is used he lets his Sun rise upon the Evil and the Good and sends Rain upon the Just and Unjust The next Motive is taken from the nature of the Christian Discipline which transcends all other Religions in the World and whose very design it is to raise Men above the common level of Nature and Education and consequently requires greater degrees of Love and Goodness to Men than natural Men Heathens and Sinners and Publicans usually pay for if ye love them which love you what Reward have ye do not even the Publicans the same and if ye salute your Brethren only what do ye more than others do not even the Publicans so The Publicans here mention'd were Persons that sate at the receipt of Custom or receiv'd the Customs due to the Roman Emperors in Palestinae from Commodities Imported or Exported Such a one was Matthew the Writer of this Gospel Matth. ix 9 and Zachaeus Luk. xix 2 i. e. before they were Converted for though Tertullian will not allow that any Jews were Custom-House Men or would suffer themselves to be employ'd in the receipt of Customs yet that in this Point he is under a very great Mistake is evident from the Examples of Matthew and Zacchaeus who were both Jews and of the Stock of Abraham Mar. ii 14 Luk. xix 9 It 's possible there might not be so many Jews of that Profession as there were Greeks or Romans yet that even the Jews did sometimes court and accept of these Employments and personally discharg'd them what has been alledg'd is as good as Demonstration These Publicans were properly Gatherers or Receivers of the Customs or a kind of Under-farmers For the Roman Government under which the Jews at this Time were used to let the Customs of the several Countries under their Dominion to Farm or to be farmed by the Noblemen Knights and Gentlemen of Rome These undertook to pay the Government a certain Summ for the Customs of such a Country And these Farmers had Officers under them who either farmed the Customs of them again or were at the trouble of Gathering and Receiving them whereby they had great Opportunities and were under very great Temptations to Cheat and Exact upon the Merchants and others they had to deal with and such were the Publicans in the Text. And therefore they were commonly look'd upon as Extortioners Unjust Unrighteous and Oppressors and among the Jews particularly they had so ill a name that they were called Sinners by way of eminency and a Heathen and a Publican were with them convertible Terms Nay the Pharisees seem'd to exclude them from all hopes of Salvation which was one great reason I suppose why many of them I mean of these Publicans did so readily close and join with Christ when he preach'd to them Repentance and offer'd them the Kingdom of Heaven But though they were guilty of great Oppression and Extortion and false Accusation and lived by it and by that means lay expos'd to other Vices as one Sin seldom goes alone yet they were not so bad those who were Jews especially as to neglect the common Duties of Religion or the ordinary Offices of Civility and Humanity which makes our Saviour say and affirm that they loved those who were loving and friendly to them and saluted those who were their Brethren and Acquaintance and were civil to Men of their own Religion This being premised the Observations the Text affords may be reduc'd to these three Propositions I. Even wicked Men do and may perform the common Duties of Religion and Morality II. Those who would be Christians indeed must do more than Carnal Men in Matters of Religion and Morality III. If they do not they have no Reward I begin with the first which imports that even wicked Men do and may perform the common Duties of Religion and Morality a truth plainly intimated in the Text for the Publicans were Men wicked and scandalous who got their Livelihood by Cheating Lying Defrauding False-accusation c. It 's true there lay no necessity upon them to do so for St. John the Baptist told some of them who came to him for Advice that they might continue in their Calling provided they
you do not heartily believe an eternal Reward What! Believe it and do nothing for it Yes something ye do as much as some of your indifferent Neighbours do but that 's the very thing Christ finds fault with because you stop there where Men of no great sence of Religion stop It 's true all the doing in the World cannot deserve this everlasting Reward but since doing more than Publicans and Sinners is the Condition to which God hath annex'd this eternal Reward will you neglect the Condition without which you cannot be sure of that Reward 4. When in the last Day ye shall see those excluded from the Kingdom of Heaven who were loath to step farther than their Friends and Acquaintance in the way to Happiness those particularly who thought it sufficient to be kind only to those who were kind to them Will not you wish that you had done more than they But what will Wishes signifie in that Day when the time of Sowing and Planting and Working is past Now you have an opportunity of shewing your extraordinary Zeal and Love and Fervour and Charity and endeavours to do more than others Lay hold and remember we entreat you in Christ's stead to lay hold on the present opportunity and let the eternal Reward tempt you the Reward invisible indeed but as sure as certain as infallible as the Great God who hath promised it Say not this doing more than others is an endless thing for at this rate we must do more than every Man we see or hear of or converse withal a thing enough to make a Man distracted with Religion No my Friends there is no danger of that the Persons beyond whom you are to go are chiefly carnal careless indifferent Men who have a low Opinion of Religion and do no more in these Matters than is consistent with their Interest and Honour and Reputation and Ease and Temper and Profit and Sensual Pleasures Cross your selves in all these and do more than Flesh and Blood and Nature and Custom and Education would prompt you to and as you excel others in Temporal and Spiritual Advantages labour still to do more than they especially where you see they are defective and let all be done according to the Directions of the Text and this Chapter not ceasing to implore God's powerful Arm and the Time will come when you shall Sing and Triumph and Rejoyce more than others and when others shall be Judged Disgraced Despised and Rejected you will sit on Thrones judging the Tribes of Israel Amen SERMON XXXVIII St. Matth. Ch. V. Ver. 46 47. For if ye love them which love you what Reward have you Do not even the Publicans the same And if ye salute your Brethren only what do you more than others Do not even the Publicans so I Thought I had done with these Words but upon a review of the Text there appear several Things which will require our farther Disquisition and Examination Our Saviour's principal Design in these Words I think I have sufficiently explain'd in the last Discourse his principal Design I say which is to shew that in Matters of Love Charity Kindness and Civility we are to do more than others more than Heathens and Infidels more than Carnal Men and according to the Rules and Measures of Analogy I extended the Command to other Collateral Duties of Religion and Morality But I find that while I have pressed doing more than others I have forgot to urge some of you at least to do so much as others and while I have taught you to go beyond Publicans and Carnal Men I have overlook'd the Duties and good things suppos'd in the Text to be in Publicans and Carnal Men which are loving those that love them and being kind and civil and courteous to those who are so to them and doing good to those who do good to them Indeed to recommend to you such Duties as these seems to be a thing altogether needless and superfluous as needless as to teach People to Trade one with another or to Eat when they are Hungry or to Drink when they are Dry. But if we look abroad and consider the Christian World as it appears to us now we shall find that even these lesser Duties are trampled upon as well as the greater and as impossible as it may seem to be not to love those who love us it will appear from the sequel that there are not a few even among our selves Christians such as they are who break through the Obligation of this Duty and may be justly charged with wilful Omission and Neglect even of these common Offices which Nature Custom and Education teaches Indeed it is a great disparagement to our Religion at least to the Professors of it that they who for the time they have lived in the Church should be able to digest the strongest Meat should stand in need of Milk the those who should be able to teach others should have occasion or lie under a necessity to be taught the common Principles of Heathen Divinity But so it is and to that pass are things come that we are forced to teach People the first Rudiments of natural Theology so incapable or so unfit are many to be instructed in the higher Lessons of Christianity To love and do good to those who love and do good to us is a pure natural Principle and it looks a little impertinent to prove the necessity of it because it is a Point all Men take for granted yet that I may not seem to leave out any thing that should have been said and for your fuller Conviction and Satisfaction I shall I. Consider the reasonableness of this Principle II. Enquire what Persons they are who act against this natural Principle III. Examine what it is that makes Men sink so low beneath Publicans and Heathens and act against this Principle of Nature 1. The Reasonableness of this Principle of loving and doing good to those who love and do good to us And it will appear from the following Particulars 1. Not to love those that love us or not to be civil kind and courteous to those who are so to us tends to the Ruine and Destruction of Humane Society Mutual and reciprocal Kindnesses are the Solder of Humane Life and without these the World would soon become a Habitation of Savages Trade and Commerce would quickly cease and the Condition of Mankind like the Leviathan's state of Nature become a state of perpetual War This would encrease Animosities and set at variance Father and Son and the Daughter against her Mother and the Daughter-in-law against her Mother-in-law and open a gap to infinite Quarrels and Dissentions for as nothing sowres our Spirits more than Unkindnesses from those whom we have been kind to so if this proceeded to an universal Custom Love and Charity would be destroy'd aud with that the Peace and Order of Common-wealths or Kingdoms This would alienate Mens Affections one from another and this would
proceed to Hatred that Hatred to Revenge that Revenge to Destruction In a word this would breed the greatest Confusion in Families Cities and Provinces and nothing would be more miserable than the Children of Men. In the worst of Times when Vice and Impiety abounds and triumphs and Religion is scorned and lies neglected This Principle of loving those who love us doth yet uphold Humane Societies but were this Cement abolish'd or abandon'd the whole Frame must fall into Disorder and break into a shapeless Chaos 2. To love those who love us is a dictate not only of Reason but of instinct too and therefore Instances of it are to be found even in Beasts and Brutes and irrational Creatures I am not very apt to believe all Passages in History concerning Beasts and their wonderful Kindnesses to those who have been kind to them yet some are so well attested that I cannot forbear giving credit to them Andronicus his Lyon is Famous and what Wolves and Tygers and Serpents have done to the Holy Hermites of old are things not to be slighted However let 's cast our Eyes upon what our own Experience doth furnish us with we all know how wonderfully kind Dogs are to those who feed them and make much of them and there are such Examples of Fidelity and Love to their Masters in these Animals that many a Man may blush to see himself outdone by those despicable Creatures Nay Wild-Beasts are serviceable and obliging to those of their own kind that are so to them so that not to love those who love us is to be worse than Beasts and Brutes whom instinct and the weight of sence forces into this Duty Nay 3. The Devils themselves are kind to those who are so to them And therefore one of them sent word to Croesus who complain'd of his Unkindness after he had fill'd his Altar with frequent Incence that he had no reason to find fault with him for being unkind for when he i. e. Croesus was to be burnt by the order of Cyrus he i. e. the Devil raised a Storm of Wind and Rain and put out the Fire and it 's probable he did so if God gave him leave being the Prince of the Air and therefore in a Capacity of making Alterations and Changes in Wind and Weather However his Kindness is very evident to those who do ordinarily serve him by their Vices for to require their faithful Service he frights them not molests them not perhaps not all the Days of their Lives but feeds them with pleasant Fancies gives them opportunity to fulfil their wicked Desires and to accomplish their Lusts and sometimes as we read of Pope Silvester II. helps them to considerable Preferment It 's true these are dangerous Kindnesses yet they are taken for such by vitious Men and it serves to prove that the Principle of the Text is observ'd by the Devils themselves and then what a strange Creature must he be who is defective in this Practice seeing he is worse than Beasts and Devils And the thing being so very bad one would think none should be found at least among Christians who can be charged with this Guilt but whether there be such Persons will appear from the second Particular II. What Persons they are who act against this natural Principle And here 1. What do ye think of refractary unnatural and untowardly Children who reward the tender Care of their Parents their Love and Tenderness and Indulgence with contempt of their Advice and Admonitions and running into Rioting and Drunkenness into Chambering and Wantonness into Strife and Envy and taking Courses which tend to the undoing of their Souls and Bodies Are there no such Children If there are none what 's the reason of the many daily Complaints of this Nature Whether there be any such among us at this present I know not but if there were I would shew them their Faces in this Glass and let them see how ugly and deform'd they look I would call to them in the Language of St. John the Baptist O Generation of Vipers why will not ye be warned to flee from the Wrath to come A Generation of Vipers indeed that tear out the Bowels of those who gave you Life Do not your Parents love you Do not they Maintain and Feed and Educate you in the fear of God Do not they entreat you to mind your everlasting Interest Do not they encourage you to Goodness dissuade you from Vice invite you to the House of God to Prayer and to other Exercises which will give you Peace in the End Do not they plead and reason and argue with you and warn you not to undo your selves And is not this Love and Tenderness and Affection But if you reject their Holy Counsels despise their Exhortations and scorn their warmest Expostulations will run into Company which is your bane rush into destruction and venture into the Chambers of Death is not this requiring their Love with Hatred their Kindness with Baseness and their Charity with the greatest Ingratitude And is not this sinking below Publicans and Heathens for they love those that love them Tell me not that you love their Persons though you hate their Instructions for what doth Love to their Persons signifie while you hate that wherein they do most of all express their Love and declare their Tenderness and Affection 2. The same may be said of Hearers with respect to their faithful Pastors and Teachers we admonish we entreat we reprove we tell our People of their Vices and spare them not we represent to them their Errors in their Native Colours and all that they may amend their Ways and become Favourites of Heaven And is not this Tenderness and Love and Affection What else can be the reason of it It is true our Calling and Profession obliges us to say something but this we might do in general Terms without rubbing their Sores or Lancing their Wounds or breaking their Imposthumes It 's Kindness therefore that makes us tell them the Truth and lay open their Defects and assure them of the Terrors of the Lord and all that their Souls may live and be blessed and glorious and enjoy the future Glory But yet we find that some there are who hate us for our Pains call us Rash and Inconsiderate and worse Names and bear a secret Spleen to us because we are so plain and downright and so free in our Censures and is not this hating those who love you St. Chrysostom had large Experience of these unkind Returns and therefore in several of his Homilies he warns his Auditors and exhorts them not to suffer their faithful Teachers to be slander'd or abus'd Some of the Corinthians 1 Cor. ix 11 thought much of contributing to the maintenance of their Pastors the Apostle is surpriz'd at it What saith he if we have sown unto you Spiritual things is it a great Matter if we reap your Carnal Things And he had reason to find fault with
this mean Spirit of theirs as being contrary to this natural Principle of loving those who love us 3. The same may be said of all Persons who have been signally oblig'd by others and yet can hardly afford a good Word to those from whom they have receiv'd such signal Kindness but carried away by Faction or Interest speak Evil of them and Revile them would to God such Persons were as rare among us as African Monsters are but even of such ungrateful Wretches the Age we live in gives us too many Instances David complained of them long ago Yea mine own familiar Friend in whom I trusted and who did eat of my Bread hath lift up his Heel against me Psal. xxi 9 and could any thing be more base or barbarous than for Herod to go about to kill Christ who had purged his Country of Devils and Diseases Luke xiii 31 And was it not a most Inhumane Attempt for those very Soldiers whose Lives St. Paul preserv'd from Shipwrack to consult to kill him with the rest of the Prisoners Acts xxvii 42 43. And it seems this wicked Generation doth last still And what shall I say more we cannot without Grief behold the many bold Offences which are committed daily against this Principle of Nature even in those Relations the very Name of which speaks mutual and reciprocal Kindnesses such as Husband and Wife Brothers and Sisters Masters and Servants c. who would suspect Unkindness among those Relatives to those especially who study and seek their Good and are more than ordinarily concern'd to express their Love and Respect to them and in whose Mouth is the Law of Kindness yet even in this Grass the Serpent lies and the Snake doth hiss After all the Rich and Great offend against this Law such I mean as are Morose and Proud and Self-conceited and do not think a poor Neighbour their Brother in Christ worthy of a civil Salutation a Civility not denied by Heathens and Publicans to the meanest of their Brethren and of this nature are those false Salutations and pretended Civilities of dissembling and Hypocrital Men such as Joab and others whose Words are softer than Butter but War is in their Hearts who seem indeed to love those who love them but it is from the Teeth outward for they hate them within There needs no Gospel to condemn such bold and daring Sinners The light of Nature will serve to do it though it is confess'd that the Gospel under which they live and which teaches them greater and better things will help to aggravate both their Sin and Punishment And this will justifie our third Enquiry III. How Men come to sink so low so much beneath Heathens and Publicans as to act against this natural Principle And 1. They have very weak dull and dark apprehensions of the worth and nature of Christianity and indeed of any Religion some Religion or other they must profess and since Providence lets them stumble upon the Christian they embrace it but cansider not what it imports how holy its Precepts are how rich its Promises how ample its Advantages how clear its Revelations how great its Excellencies and how justly it requires greater Strictnesses than either Judaism or Heathenism or any other Religion in the World This Consideration would make them dread offending against the Law of Nature and make them asham'd to think that they who are bound to do more than others should not do so much as others These things being no Objects of their Thoughts they have a very low Opinion of the Religion they profess and therefore are not concern'd nor frighted if they fall below the Grandeur of it lower than Heathens and Publicans and consequently do not love those who love them 2. Their Lusts are stronger than their Religion This natural Principle of loving those who love them is agreeable enough to their Reason and Speculation but some predominant Lust either Avarice or Ambition or Pride or Envy or Lasciviousness or Delight in vain Company or something their sickly Desires crave and which they fancy their reciprocal Love would hinder them from some such Lust I say reigning and domineering within it damps and drowns that reciprocal Love they owe to those that love them A Man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own Lust and enticed saith St. James Ch. i. 14 As natural as it is to be kind to those who are so to us yet if a Man gives way to some violent Lust or Desire and le ts that have the upper-hand it will draw and force the Man away from the most easie and most familiar and most rational Duty whatsoever Not to mention that if the Party who is or hath been kind be defective in one Act if after nineteen Kindnesses he fail to do the twentieth This shall be thought by such Persons an Argument sufficient to justifie their want of reciprocal Love and Affection But this shews the disingenuity of their Temper and that an Evil Spirit hath taken Possession of their Hearts and committed a Rape upon the dictates of their Reason and Understanding And thus Men come to act against Principles which even Heathens and Publicans do observe Inferences I. I observe here That Religion is not intended to make Men Clownish and Uncivil For our Saviour in the Text supposes saluting our Brethren to be not only Lawful but a natural Duty which God expects of Men as Men. Indeed he would have us do more than this comes to and extends it even to Enemies and to Persons who have wrong'd affronted and abus'd us but he doth not deny the lawfulness of it but establishes this lower Duty which even Heathens and Publicans count reasonable And therefore that Sect which places Religion in forbearing all external Salutations sins against a natural Duty The Gospel doth not abolish but exalt all natural Duties and sets them in a brighter Light and that therefore if saluting our Brethren or Fellow Christians be a natural Duty it must be much more a Christian Duty so that the Spirit of the Hat seems rather a Spirit of Pride and Delusion than the Spirit of God which inclines the Soul to Assability Courteousness and Civility and Respect to Superiors Nor must the condescention of Superiors to the meanest Capacity or their Humility make us lay aside the Respect we owe them for this is to give occasion that the way of Truth is Evil spoken of and to bring an Evil report upon the good Land It 's true in Christ we are all equal with respect to the Privileges and Advantages that come by Christ they being promised or tender'd to all but that doth not destroy the external Respect Obeisance and Civility we owe to Persons of different Ranks and Qualities or to Men whom Providence hath raised above the common level in Church or State I grant the Men of this World will call that Clownishness when a good Man will not drink with them nor comply with their Sensualities
but reproves them either for their Oaths or other Sensualities But that Clownishness if it must be call'd so is a Duty Notwithstanding this we may preserve the respect due to their Places and Elevations in the World as we see in St. Paul who though he did not comply with the Sins of Ananias the High-Priest and of Festus the Governour yet paid them the respect their Stations and the Figure they made in the World requir'd II. The Text teaches us how we are to aggravate our Sins in our confessions to God To commit Sins which the very Heathens and Publicans condemn and abhor must needs be very dreadful in a Christian because he Sins against the very Principles of Nature In the same manner to neglect that which Heathens and Publicans by the light of Nature do find and affirm and observe as necessary must make the omission exceeding black in a Christian because he is without excuse And therefore if any of us have been unkind disobliging ill-nanatur'd cross and surly and morose to those who are kind and loving and tender and charitable to us let 's not make light of the Sin which is so much the greater by how much it is condemn'd by Heathens and Publicans Christians the Gospel obliges you to love your Enemies and will not ye love your Friends Not to love your Enemies will bring the Wrath of God upon you how much more your not loving those who love you The neglect of the more difficult Task will make you miserable and will not neglect of the easier cover your Faces with Confusion Intemperance Drunkenness Cheating Defrauding Lying Extortion Profaneness c. are condemn'd by the very Heathens and will you from whom greater Vertues are expected defile your selves with such Sins as these The brighter the Light is the greater is the Sin and therefore a Christian who lives under a higher Dispensation if he neglects that which the lesser was sufficient to instruct him in Sins with a witness for he Sins in the midst of Sun-shine In our Confessions therefore such Sins must be particularly deplor'd as exceeding others in heinousness And O! let the greatness of the Sin fright us for ever from venturing upon the like again and let 's bless God that there is yet hopes of Mercy and Vertue the Efficacy in the Blood of Jesus to wash away Sins which bring more than ordinary Guilt upon the Soul III. Since it is so unnatural and irrational a thing not to love those who love us behold how irrational and unnatural a thing it must be not to love God who loves us and hath loved us into Miracles and Prodigies Hath not he loved us Dares any say he hath not If he hath not loved us what do our Praises signifie Why do we praise him as it is in our Liturgy for our Creation Preservation and all the Blessings of this Life Why do we publickly and privately praise him above all things for the Redemption of the World by our Lord Jesus Christ for the means of Grace and for the hope of Glory Are not these signs of Love Can there be greater Characters of his Love Do not we own and confess and acknowledge that these are certain marks of Love But why Christian why art thou so unkind to that God who hath loved thee thus He keeps thee he watches over thee he is thy Sun and thy Shield thy Shade on thy right Hand daily and hourly he showers down Blessings upon thee and all the Evils that befall other Men and which thou art preserved from it 's he that preserves thee from them But why so disrespectful to that God who incircles and crowns thee with loving kindnesses and tender Mercies Art not thou unkind to him when thou sin'st against him Art not thou disrespectful to him when thou wilfully do'st that which he protests in his Word is abomination in his Eyes What Iniquity do'st thou find in him that a God so tender and so kind cannot attract or charm thy Heart into reciprocal Love Why wilt thou suffer that Tongue of thine to vent it self in frothy and corrupt Communications which was given thee to sing his Praises Why wilt thou dishonour him with those Creatures which were intended for thy use and refreshment Why wilt thou make those Members of thy Body Instruments of Unrighteousness which were intended to be Instruments of Holiness Why wilt thou make thy Soul a sink and sty of impure and noisome Lusts which was intended to be a Temple of the Holy Ghost Why wilt thou make those Mercies thou enjoyest Weapons to fight against him which were intended as silken Strings to lead thee to his Banqueting-House the Banner whereof is Love He draws thee with Cords of Love was ever greater gentleness used toward a Child and canst thou find in thy Heart to grieve such Bowels of Compassion Behold what manner of love the Father hath shewn to us that we should be called the Children of God and is this your gratitude to make your selves Children of Hell and Heirs of Damnation There is that in the Love of God which would be an Antidote against all Sins whatsoever had'st thou but Courage to remember that Love and to set it before thee in lively Characters Joseph remembred God lov'd him and he resolutely resists the Charms of his Mistress How can I saith he commit this Wickedness and Sin against God Christian were the Love of God seriously remembred and thought of thou could'st not Sin To offend him would go as much against thee as drinking Poyson or a draught of Gall and Wormwood We talk a thousand great Things of Love what Power it hath to charm rational Souls Sirs God hath given you rational Souls and you are sensible there is no Love so great so amazing so wonderful as the Love of God to your Souls and Bodies I beseech you therefore Brethren by the Mercies of God by the Love of God by the Charity of our Lord Jesus Christ that you present your Souls and Bodies living Sacrifices Holy and acceptable unto God which is your reasonable Service Amen SERMON XXXIX St. Matth. Ch. V. Ver. 48. Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect THat no Man may be offended at this Command of Perfection which some think utterly impossible on this side Heaven and others do as vainly boast of as if they were arrived to it Give me leave to tell you that it 's no unusual thing in Scripture to meet with Exhortations of that Nature It was God's Order to Abraham Gen. xvii 1 Walk before me and be thou perfect and it seems it is the design of the Gospel and of the preaching of it that we may present every one perfect in Christ Jesus Coloss. i. 28 And to this purpose was the Prayer of Euphrates for the same Colossians That they might stand perfect and compleat in all the Will of God Col. iv 12 And accordingly St. Paul entreats treats the
an Enemy than we are constrained and to lose our Cloak and Coat and Garments when we are abused what hopes of Mercy have we if we will not so much as prevent an Enemy in the point of Civility and Salutes Thou say'st I shall be laugh'd at if I do so Mad-man that thou may'st not be despis'd by Men dost thou offend thy God That thy Fellow-servant may not Jeer thee dost thou dishonour thy Creator and greatest Benefactor The more thy Fellow-Creature despises thee for doing thy Duty the greater is thy Reward for thou suffer'st that Contempt for God's sake and let me tell you that it 's greater and better to be despised for God's sake than to be honour'd and caress'd by all the Princes of the World 2. Another Perfection which requires our Imitation is his Patience See how God bears with Sinners See how loath he is to strike see how unwilling he is to afflict the Children of Men. They abuse him and he lays by his Rod they wrong him and he with-holds his revenging Arm. St. James to engage his Auditors to Patience sets the Examples of the Prophets before them Jam. v. 10 But we have a greater Example to follow even him that teaches his Prophets Wisdom Is God so Patient and shall we burn with Rage and Revenge immediately upon an Injury that 's offer'd to us Is this to be like our Father which is in Heaven We would not have God deal with us in this manner Foolish Creatures And shall we deal thus with our Brethren 3. In his Veracity God cannot lye Tit. i. 2 and we must not Lye Wherefore putting away Lying speak every Man Truth to his Neighbour Eph. iv 25 It is our Duty upon several Accounts but more particularly upon this because our Father in Heaven whose Children we profess our selves to be is a God of Truth How unlike God is that Man who talks deceitfully to his Neighbour that tells him one thing and means another How contrary is this to the Temper of our Father which is in Heaven whose Promises are steddy like Pillars of Brass and Heaven and Earth shall sooner perish than the least tittle of his Promise shall fail When he saith the Word Men may as firmly depend upon it as if it were confirm'd with Oaths This must be our Example and a strict Veracity must attend our Speeches He that in his Words hath not a strict regard to Truth not only Deviates from the Temper of his Father which is in Heaven but is like the Devil the Father of Lyes a likeness from which Good Lord deliver us 4. In his Purity To this purpose is the standing Command Be ye Holy as I am Holy 1 Pet. i. 16 God is a hater of Sin and so must we abhor that which is evil Rom. xii 9 God is an Enemy particularly to all Uncleanness Lasciviousness and unlawful Mixtures and so must we For this is the Will of God even your Sanctification that every one of you should know how to possess his Vessel in Sanctification and Honour 1 Thess. iv 3 4. And purity in our Thoughts Desires Words and Actions is the surest sign that we belong to him who is of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity For I will be Sanctified in all them that draw nigh unto me And what shall I say more God is a Lover of good Men dwells with the Humble and Lowly prizes Holiness and an active Faith beyond all the Riches and Honours and Grandeur of the World esteems a Saint before the most potent and unsanctified Wretch condescends to Persons of the meanest Rank executes Judgment for the Oppressed relieves the Fatherless and Widow takes care of the Stranger pities them that are in Bonds commiserates the Needy comforts the Afflicted counsels the Stubborn reclaims the Impenitent encourages the Pious and Serious strengthens them that do stand raises those that are fall'n He heals the broken in their Heart and binds up their Wounds in all which Particulars our imitation of him becomes a necessary Duty And this is to be perfect as our Father which is in Heaven is perfect To imitate his Perfection is our Perfection a Duty necessary because commanded and some other Reasons which make it so are these following Reasons 1. In this imitation we cannot be mistaken Here we are sure we are in the right Were there danger of going astray or falling into Waters or running upon Precipices it would be some discouragement God can do nothing that 's Evil. The Perfections which are in him are undoubtedly good and right Here is no fear of a false Light of an Ignis fatuus of a false Teacher of a Barcacab of a Deceiver God can deceive no Man it is against his Nature and his Will He is the fountain of Goodness He is good and doth good and is a guide to them that walk in darkness Whatever he doth must be praise-worthy and commendable and in following his Example we cannot run into By-paths into Labyrinths into dangerous Gulfs He is Light and in him is no darkness at all and therefore we have reason to walk in the Light even as he is in the Light for in following that Light we do and cannot but do that which is Holy and Just and agreeable to the Rules of Wisdom and Righteousness and which will lead us into the ways of Peace and Satisfaction and Joy and Comfort even to the still Waters to the fountain of living Waters whereof whoever drinks shall never thirst again 2. Our Interest our Duty our Life our Breath and Being and all the Mercies we enjoy oblige us to love him but how can we love him except we imitate him Love doth naturally incline to imitation The ancient Egyptians are said to have a mighty veneration for their Kings and that love so wrought upon them that they would imitate their Princes in their Halting Lameness and such other Defects and Infirmities The Persians had that love for Cyrus that they would even bow their Childrens Noses to make them Aquiline or like Bills of Eagles because that of Cyrus was so So did Alexander's Courtiers hold their Heads on one side because Alexander went so and the Disciples of Aristotle would go stooping out of Love to their Master who used that Posture If Love hath that power with Men that it constrains to imitate those whom they love even in their Blemishes and that with Pain and Uneasiness can we talk of loving God while our Love works in us no imitation of his Goodness Righteousness Veracity Mercy Clemency c. than which nothing is more profitable or edifying to our Souls and in which our very Perfection consists Perfection is that which we very earnestly desire and endeavour after in other things perfect Health perfect Strength perfect Liberty c. and is perfection in Goodness no motive no temptation 3. It is certain we are to tread in our Saviour's steps It 's this that makes us Christians We have vow'd it we
made about it it implies no such Contradiction as the Heathens and sensual Men did or may imagine For 1. Let us grant it's hard but the harder the work is the greater is the Reward He that gave this Command understood what Reward was design'd for the Votary No marvel if Heathens thought it strange who had but imperfect and broken and uncertain Notions of another Life If the Reward be proportion'd to the Difficulty we see Men refuse no Pains What is daily practis'd in Martial or Warlike Exploits is a demonstration of it The recompence Christ designed for those who should chearfully obey this Command doth not only equal but infinitely transcend the difficulty of the Task and he that considers what is promised must confess that the work is not worthy to be compared with the grandeur of the Recompence and therefore there is nothing unreasonable in the Injunction 2. Of all Men those who are in love with any Vice have no reason to talk against this Precept for they practise what they condemn and do things as unnatural as loving an Enemy can be supposed to be Were it not for the lapsed Condition of Man and the depravation of our Faculties Sin would be a very unnatural thing to the Soul The blessed Spirits who have left Mortality and Things below and recover'd their primitive Integrity and Innocence have as great an antipathy to Sin as Men here on Earth can have to a Toad which shews that Sin is an Enemy to a rational Soul and as contrary to right Reason as Darkness is to Light or a Chronical Distemper is to Health and that it is agreeable upon no other account than Cinders and Ashes and Chalk are to some Stomachs because of their Corruption So that a vitious Man really loves his Enemy nay his greatest Enemy He loves the Devil that prompts him to it that Devil whom at other times he doth Abjure and at whose Presence he would tremble he loves Damnation and Eternal Death for so we read Prov. viii 36 And therefore of all Men such Persons have no reason to speak against this Rule as unreasonable 3. What is commanded here hath been done as I shall shew in the sequel How and which way and by what means it hath been done how far the Grace of God must concurr what Industry must be used what Impediments are to be removed and how the whole concern is to be managed I do not now enquire but supposing that it hath been done the Inference is Rational that it may be done again It 's true they were Saints and Holy Men who have done it but since it is very possible to be a Saint and to arrive to a state of Holiness it follows this Precept is practicable and far from being impossible Nay 4. It hath been done with respect to some Acts at least by natural Men and upon the account of Temporal Interest either in a Bravado or out of Generosity or to be talk'd of and to have Glory of Men Examples and Passages of this Nature are frequent in History and if it were possible to do it upon a motive of Temporal Interest why should it be thought impossible to be done upon a greater Motive even Mens eternal welfare It is but changing the Principle which is the spring of Motion and the shining Brass may become Gold the Counterfeit a real Vertue and the Shew may turn into Substance And having thus removed the grand Objection that lies against this Precept I now proceed to explain it I. The general Command Love your Enemies II. The Branches or the Particulars of it Bless them c. I. The general Command Love your Enemies And here I must note 1. That Christ doth not speak here of a publick or professed and open Enemy of our Country or Nation that makes War upon us and seeks the destruction of the Community or a subversion of the Government for though there is an Humanity to be shewn even to a Publick Enemy by what the Prophet Elisha did to the Host of Syria when he had enclosed them in Samaria the King of Israel would have dispatch'd them with the Sword No saith the Man of God Set Bread and Water before them that they may eat and drink and go to their Master 2 Kings vi 22 And we know that even Heathen Nations have allow'd decent Burial to a publick Enemy when slain in Battel yet these are not the Persons Christ directly aims at in these words Christ as he came not to reverse the Laws of Government nor prescrib'd a Model or Platform of it but left Governments as he found them supposing them to be agreeable to the Law of Nature and the good of Mankind so by this Precept he did not forbid Christian Kings and Princes entring into a just Defensive War for the Security of their Country nor can it be imagin'd that by this Rule he would oblige Magistrates and Sovereigns so to Love the Publick Enemy as to let him Rage and Ravage and Burn and Plunder without any Opposition This Precept being given to Christians consider'd as they live and converse together we must conclude that by the Enemies who are to be loved are meant Enemies in a more private Capacity such as we meet with in Conversation and in the Places and Stations we are in whether they be High or Low whether Superiors or Equals or Inferiors Nor 2. Must we think that this Precept is given to Magistrates with respect to Malefactors and Publick Offenders as if by Vertue of this Command they were not to punish them This would be manifest Injustice to the Publick Good and we may be very confident Christ would not have us do Evil that Good may come out of it nor obey one Precept at the expence of another Though a Magistrate if he will act Conscientiously ought to behave himself as a Father who loves his Child when he doth Chastise him and therefore Chastiseth him because he loves him so Magistrates are to punish with Pity and Compassion and in private Injuries where their Office is not concern'd they are bound to Forgive and love their Enemies as much as others yet doth not this interfere with the necessary administration of Publick Justice not to mention that it is said in the Text Love your Enemies but a publick Malefactor or Offender is not properly the Magistrates Enemy I mean no Enemy to his Person or Fortune or Relatives but to the Law of the Land and the common Good and therefore if the Magistrate doth punish him he doth not punish him as his Enemy and therefore Sins not against this Precept but as an Enemy of the Common-wealth in general It 's possible the Malefactor may be an Enemy to the Magistrate consider'd in other Circumstances in which case the Magistrate is bound to exercise all the acts of Love here mention'd toward him and notwithstanding these punish him according to Law and the Duty of his Place and Calling So that the