World He that hates his brother says S. John 1 Ep. 2.11 walks in darkness but he that loves his brother abideth in the light The Metaphor of light and darkness signifies the knowledge or ignorance of our interest the selfish man is as wretched as those who are blind or travel in the dark exposed to grievous evils dangerous precipices sharp and rugged ways But he that loveth his brother abideth in the light acts wisely proceeds with confidence and good success lives safely and securely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is no danger of his stumbling of his offending others or being himself offended The Second motive to universal Love and Charity couch'd and implyed in these words thy Neighbour is the propriety in and the relation that we have to one another He is thy Neighbour All Mankind are of the same extraction and original sons of the same God Vno patre conditi unâ matre tanquam fratres uterini editi as the Father speaks S. Ambrose stamped with the same Divine Image equally inspirited with the breath of God The meanest man in the world agrees with him that is the greatest in that that is truly Great and Noble in him his Reason and Understanding Wherefore then since we are all children of the same Family and which is more professors of the same most holy Faith Citizens with the Saints of the houshold of Faith Eph. 2.19 Nay farther since our union is more intimate and we are members one of another Eph. 4.25 we ought to love as brethren to sympathize as parts of the same body to be easily touch'd with a sense of each others evils forasmuch as the case of our Neighbour is in a moral sense our own and we are stupid if we neglect it There is something of our selves in every man the same Divine Principle inlivens us the same blood runs in all our veins We have therefore a propriety a real interest in one another So that to love thy Neighbour is indeed to love thy self That is the second Thirdly From the necessity of a publick spirit in order to our Happiness and from the Relation that we stand in to our Neighbour arises another motive to universal Charity namely the beauty the harmony and the pleasure of the thing Whatsoever actions necessarily tend to the good of man and are agreeable to the Laws and impressions of humane Nature must of necessity be full of ease and pleasure The Soul exults and enjoys her self in the practice of them as her proper acts and operations As on the other hand an irrational course of proceeding is unnatural and therefore a violence to our frame and constitution as poyson or the sharpest pains are to the body But to love our Neighbour as our selves is not so properly a rational act a thing that is fit to be done as Reason it self our essential difference our very form To pursue the satisfaction of naturai desires by strength by craft or by any means is the property of Beings meerly sensitive But there is no other notion of humane Nature than that of making a distinction of actions nor of Rational Ends but Good nor of Good but publick Interest And therefore universal Love or a regard to others as well as to our selves is the perfection of our Being For let our distinctions otherwise be never so many or so great yet if our Will by nature be unbounded there is no Essential difference between us and Brutes Hence Love according to St. John is the very definition of God himself who is the standard of Rational perfection 1 Joh. 4.8 Beloved Let us love one another for God is Love How easie then would all Men be in this their most Divine and perfect state What a confidence would Love create what delight what trust what assurance what a free and chearful intercourse No Man would be diffident of his Neighbour as averse to his interest or cross him as an enemy but we should enjoy the unvaluable blessings of society with ease and peace But a Man of a shrivell'd narrow spirit that is wholly resolved into himself proceeds against universal Law and Right Rows against the stream with difficulty and fear with perplexity and danger he cannot live alone and yet he can never be sure of the good will of those with whom he must converse he is always practising hypocrisie and must accomplish himself with arts of disguise and tricks of deceit that undiscern'd which is impossible he may deceive the World He is under a perpetual constraint in the management of his conversation for fear he should be betrayed into that shame confusion and hazard which attend the detection of base designs and which they deserve who depart from this Royal Law of Love thy Neighbour as thy self a Law which in the practice of it would put a new face upon the World would banish gnawing cares and angry fears and give sincerity and chearfulness to every countenance There could be no misery amongst Men. We should all be happy in one another and anticipate that concord harmony and love which are supposed to constitute the joys of Heaven And thus I have explain'd the duty of universal Love and considered the beauty and necessity thereof from the words Thy Neighbour Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self It now remains that I should represent the likeness of this Command to the former that of Love to God and the second is like unto it Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self First In the nature of the duty they both oblige us to the same office of Love Secondly In extent and amplitude they are both comprehensive duties the former containing all the severals of the first the latter of the second Table Thirdly In that they suppose and are predicated of each other He that loveth God will love his Brother also 1 Joh. 4.20 As Philo truly says of moral vertues in the general they follow and are linked together As also Lastly I should have considered both the construction and the reason of this expression On these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They consent and agree with these St. Paul interprets the word by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 13.9 If there be any other Commandment it is briefly comprehended in this saying namely Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self This is the end the scope and the design of the Law and the Prophets All the Precepts of the Jewish and the Christian Religion have their ground and existence in these two and into these they are finally resolved out of these universals flow all the particulars of both Religions And therefore for a Conclusion of the whole I shall only pray to God Vse that he would affect our minds with a sense of his goodness to us who has given us a Religion so easie to be learn'd and understood If we heartily believe the Being of a God we cannot but desire his favour and to
the purity of our hearts and the sincerity of our intentions shall be now accepted and all our manifold transgressions through humane frailty shall be now forgiven through the satisfaction and intercession of our Blessed Saviour That if we sin as we all do and repent and amend as we all should do 1 Joh. 2.1 we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous and He is the propitiation for our sins We have one that will plead our cause and urge a Right that repenting Sinners have to Pardon Gal. 3.13 because by being made a curse he has delivered us from the curse that is from the punishment of the Law Heb 7.25 and is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for us And that all this blessed Mystery of our Redemption through the Cross of Christ is both signified and confirmed unto us in the Holy Sacrament This is my Body which is given for you This Cup is the New Testament in my blood And therefore you cannot be qualified to receive untill you understand these Principles of the Christian Faith You cannot be qualified to enter into Covenant with God till you understand the contents and articles of the Indenture Again Is the Sacrament a Recognition of your Christianity Do you by partaking of the visible signs of our Saviour's death by assisting in the solemn Ordinance of distinction profess and own your self to be his disciple 1 Cor. 10.18 19 20 21 c. as those who ate things offered to Idols were understood to consent with the Sacrifices to own and profess the heathen gods and worship Does God by his Minister offer and confirm his Covenant of Pardon to us in the blood of Christ and are we understood to consent with all our hearts to accept the Conditions with all humility and gratitude to enter into Coveant with God our selves that we will perform the Conditions required of us Then you cannot be worthy to receive unless you stedfastly believe his Revelation trust intirely in his Propositions depend upon his Promises and chearfully resign your self to be governed by his Laws It is therefore absolutely necessary to examine well the steddiness of your Faith the seriousness of your Repentance the purity of your Intentions and the sincerity of your Obedience at least in serious resolution for the time to come since it is evident that without these qualifications you prophane this Holy Ordinance whilst you make profession solemnly of that Religion 1 Cor. 11.26 which you neither understand believe nor practise Par. Sir I am clearly of your opinion I think if we communicate in the most solemn Ordinance of our Religion we certainly ought to understand it believe it and intend at least to practise it But are we obliged whensoever we receive the Sacrament to have the History the Principles and the Duties of our Religion distinctly in our minds this seems to be very hard and almost impossible Min. No surely you mistake me very much These ought to be confidered and examined well before you presume to present your self or before you are admitted to the Holy Table But when you are entred confirmed and setled in your Religion there is no necessity of such a particular recollection your Faith will become a habit and if you have no doubt of any Article you may boldly make profession of your Faith at any time and if you are not conscious of any Vice you wilfully indulge you may profess the sincerity of your heart and your resolution of persevering in a course of universal righteousness without a particular examination of your self upon the several duties of Christianity The ordinary preparation after you have been throughly instructed and admitted to the Holy Table is this Namely first to consider and weigh the doubts and scruples that are upon your mind concerning any Branch or Article of your Religion if any be and clear them fully to your self by consideration inctruction and advice And secondly to observe your own particular infirmities what those evils are to which you are most inclined and which are aptest to prevail upon you and are subdued with the greatest difficulty and how you may prevent their return for the time to come what business what conversation what occasion what company are apt to expose you to temptation that so your humble resolutions and professions may be well considered and perfectly sincere and with particular respect to the present state of your Soul with earnest desire to be better instructed and reformed by the grace of God Par. This is but reasonable indeed and now I hope I apprehend both the nature of the Sacrament and the duty of the Communicant Min. I pray God enable you to perform it but there is one thing more that concerns our preparation which must not be omitted and that is this Is the Sacrament the Death and Passion of our Lord exhibited in proper signs Is our Saviour slain before our eyes 1 Cor. 11.26 Is his death shewed forth represented to us till he come as St. Paul expresses it then we ought to raise in our minds such a feeling sense such a sympathy such passions affections and devotions as the sight of such a stupendous passage would have stirred up and excited in us if we had been Spectators of it Had we been the Disciples of our Saviour as we now profess to be and had we seen Him at his Trial under his scourging in his Agony and on the Cross should we not have adored and magnified the love of God that he should send His only begotten Son into the world to bear the punishment of our sins should we not have been astonished at the love of our blessed Saviour that He should be contented to divest himself of all his glory for our sakes and humble himself even to death upon the Cross to save our souls Would we not have reflected with indignation upon the cause of all this grief to so good so great so innocent a Person even the sins of men should we not have resolved for our own part Heb. 10.29 never to contribute to his pain again but to live in all Obedience Love and Gratitude to God and our Blessed Saviour to the end of our lives should we not have made the most passionate professions of Fidelity and Constancy to him that has thus redeemed and purchased us by His blood should we not have exercised acts of faith affiance trust and confidence in his Word and Promises that if we fulfil our resolutions and perform our duty as well as our weak and frail condition will allow that then we shall be accepted of Him received into his Favour and made partakers of the great and precious promises of His Gospel and when you have considered all these things and understand them competently well and have prayed to God to enlighten your mind and purge your soul from all
agreeable passion of love is too often exercised upon unworthy objects pursued and enjoyed after an unreasonable manner But notwithstanding that whether the object be wisely chosen or foolishly whether the beauty apprehended be real or imaginary wheresoever delight and desire are there beauty or goodness in the object is however apprehended and supposed And from this general account of the nature and Principles of Love we may most firmly establish the notion of Love to God Wherefore then to Love the Lord our God is so to apprehend the excellencies of the Divine nature his absolute perfections in themselves and his infinite grace and goodness towards us as that we most sincerely and heartily admire and adore his Majesty and earnestly desire the most intimate enjoyment of Him and the most perfect union with Him that we are capable of This is the nature of the Duty in the general And the Qualifications with which it ought to be exercised are three with all thine Heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy Mind The Text is taken out of Deut. 6.5 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine Heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy Might St. Mark Luke 10.27 and St. Luke express it with all thy Strength And because of this indifferent variation of the phrase and because the same thing is sometimes expressed by one of these phrases only as with all thy Heart 1 Sam. 7.3 Sometimes the Heart and Soul without the Mind or Strength as in the 2 Kings 23.3 Therefore some Expositors consider the Heart the Soul and Mind as words of the same or of equal signification accumulated only to press and inculcate the duty more effectually upon us but not as a Climax of perfection in the practice of it But because we may observe a real and material difference in the common use and acceptation of the words expressing the degrees of Intention and desire in the acts and operations of the Soul and because it will very much administer to the just explication of the duty therefore I shall presume and with good authority to consider the Heart the Soul and Mind as qualifications of gradual Excellency as a Scale of Perfection in the practice and exercise of Love to God And first With all thy Heart By the Heart according to the usual signification of that Metaphor we understand Integrity Sincerity of affection Ye have obeyed from the heart Rom. 6.17 the form of doctrine that was delivered you that is sincerely and without hypocrisie And innumerable other places Secondly with all thy Soul that is with Understanding and Knowledge that our Love of God be not only Sincere but grounded well proceeding from Causes proper and considered not with Passion only but with Judgment The Soul here may be understood of Reason and Discretion whereby we distinguish of Good and Evil base and worthy and to whose determinations the Will Desires and instruments of Action are obedient Thirdly with all thy Mind By the Mind may be understood the more Spiritual Principle in Man whereby he feels and enjoys the truth of such Propositions as Reason by comparing one thing with another shall discover Reason is as it were an Artificial Mechanical deduction of Conclusions from Premises but the Mind enjoys them really by an intire agreement with the Proposition And upon this account the wicked in Scripture are said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as are able to collect the truths of Religion or any other Propositions by Scholastick inference but the Pious and Regenerate have an inward sensation of things Intellectual and Divine and are therefore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to whose Body and Soul is added Mind or Spirit Wherefore then to Love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy Mind is sincerely to Adore and Delight in God from a distinct perception from an inward sensation as well of his absolute Perfections in themselves as of His infinite Bounty and Goodness towards us And thus I have explained the Terms and stated the Nature of the duty in general I proceed as I proposed in the second place to consider the particular parts the necessary acts and exercises of Love to God First with all our Heart and with all our Soul Secondly with all our Mind And First the particular acts implyed in the Love of God with all the Heart and with all the Soul are chiefly these First the Preference of God to all other objects whatsoever He that loves with Judgment esteems and values according to weight and measure according to the degrees of beauty and excellence in the object As he readily acknowledges whatsoever worth or goodness he any where discerns so he suffers not his Passion and desire to go before his understanding But God is a Being that exists of himself in whom is implied whatsoever can be supposed to be and in whom all being is resolved as into its proper and most perfect cause Defect supposes impotence and controul but Omnipotence implies the most absolute perfection Desire of Good when known is necessary But can any instance of goodness or perfection be hid from his knowledge or kept from his possession who is the cause of all things Wherefore then since all perfections are essential to this first and Original Good one of the necessary acts of Love to such a being is the preference of him to all other Beings whatsoever If our Love of God be with all the Soul with judgment and understanding then we know that there is none in heaven but God and none upon earth to be desired in comparison of Him That he is the fountain of all the imperfect excellencies of all created Beings that he is the most constant and the most potent friend and benefactor who made us by his Power and sustains us by his Providence guides us by his Council assists us by his Spirit pities our Weakness pardons our Sins and is ready at last to receive us into Glory Wheresoever therefore He is understood all other objects habits and desires will necessarily fall before him For whatsoever beauty or goodness may be found in any other object they are all derived from God in whom all fullness dwells That is the first The Second particular implyed in the Love of God with all the Heart and with all the Soul is a stedfast Faith in whatsoever he reveals A sincere affection is apt in its nature to beget an unreasonable credulity It is very difficult to perswade our selves that our friend whose happiness we know is our greatest pleasure should abuse our Passion by deceit and guile to sport or private ends and therefore notwithstanding all the infirmities of humane Nature all the insincerities which may proceed from wicked dispositions and violent temptations yet Love creates an intire and perfect confidence in one another How much more if our Love of God be with all our Heart and Soul shall we
such as these no blessing can be compared with a clear revelation without distinct and certain knowledge of our duty because we then are free from anxious fears and doubts about the nature of Religion We aim at a steddy end without the mazes and uncertain wandrings of Imagination We run within the lines the ground is set out and the Goal is before our eyes Our whole intention may be taken up in accomplishing our minds with the love of God and Man the rode to happiness is plain and easie This is the Law and the Prophets And O! that we could be perswaded to lay aside all false opinions of Religion and believe our Saviour and accept him upon his own conditions that we would pursue the favour of God and everlasting happiness in the way of universal Charity For believe it no Faith no Creed no Church-Communion no outward Sanctimony no external Piety without the Love of God and Man will avail us any thing in the Day of Judgment No though we should be honoured with the power of working Miracles and should cast out Devils in the Name of Christ yet unless we cloath the Naked visit the Sick assist whom we may and pity all we shall surely be shut out with Depart from me I know ye not Matt. 7. ult Let us therefore be perswaded since so much depends upon it to set our selves industriously upon the practice of these Duties that we may procure to our selves universal love and peace the good will of God and Man in this present life and everlasting Glory in the World to come To which God of his mercy bring us all for Jesus Christ his sake the Righteous to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour Glory Praise and Love now and for evermore Amen Rom. xii 21. Be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good TO gratifie the present passion or desire by fraud by force or by any means whatsoever without respect to right or wrong to good or evil is the essential difference of irrational brutal Nature But to look before us to act for the sake of ends to do or to forbear as the event and consequence of the thing shall appear to be good or evil to us is the distinction the property indeed the definition of reasonable creatures But because the reasonable faculty in man who is the most imperfect in the kind is obscur'd and prejudic'd by the unaccountable union of the Soul and Body in our present state therefore God who is Wisdom it self has at several times but at last and especially by his Son in that most perfect institution of Reason as well as of Religion contain'd in his holy Gospel assisted our weakness clear'd our notions drawn out and set on work those eternal principles of Truth and Goodness which may be undiscern'd but can never be separated from our own minds And amongst all the excellent rules of Wisdom and Practice therein contained there is none of so high so exalted a nature as the love of Enemies for this alone is proposed under the style and character of Divine Perfection Be ye therefore perfect as your father which is in heaven is perfect S. Matth. 5. ult A Precept which through the prejudice of our passion and the depth of its reason is not easily understood hardly received more hardly practised yet in truth it is every way our interest as well as an indispensable duty and therefore if thine enemy hunger V. 20 feed him if he thirst give him drink for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head Be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good The Judaizing Christians Eus l. 2. c. 12. Meg. Eccles His Cent. 1. l. 2. c. 5. and the Gnosticks had extremely perverted the Christian Religion by asserting the obligation of the Ceremonial Law the lawfulness of a dissembled Apostasie and a liberty of indulging any Lust or Vice we shall be addicted to Now to hinder the spreading of these pernicious Doctrines and to assert the Truth and Purity of the Christian Religion against those false and spurious accounts which they had given of it S. Paul insinuates is his chief design in this his Epistle to the Romans Ch. 1.16 And First he shews that the Ceremonial Law was but a type or shadow of a more perfect institution of Religion which in after time should be established Ch. 2. That that time is now accomplish'd and the Ceremonial Law abolished and that therefore we are now obliged to those more perfect and substantial duties which were signified and represented under the Types and Figures of the Law Ch. 8. Finally That Christianity consists in the reformation of our lives in rectifying the evil dispositions of our Souls in conforming our affections desires and actions to the most pure and perfect Laws thereof And therefore as the use of the whole Discourse I beseech you Brethren by the mercies of God Ch. 12.1 That ye present your bodies all your bodily corrupt affections and desires a Living Sacrifice a whole burnt-offering to God That ye intirely resign your selves and suffer your Religion to have its last design and end upon you V. 2. And be not conformed to this World for so the Apostle proceeds to particulars But be ye transform'd by the renewing of your minds with fervent Piety and Devotion towards God V. 11. with sincere and universal Charity towards Men extending even to the love of Enemies in the words of my Text For if thine enemy hunger feed him if he thirst give him drink c. Be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good These words are a Precept of universal obligation which concerns our behaviour under injuries received Be not overcome of evil and our deportment to wards those who injure us but overcome evil with good And first we are instructed how to behave our selves under injuries received Be not overcome of evil We are not obliged to a Stoical insensibility To destroy our Passions is no perfection but a debility and sickness of the mind but to command them to keep them within their bounds to exercise them upon proper Objects and to a just degree is the honour of a Man and the duty of a Christian The Command it self Be not overcome of evil supposes and allows a sense of the injury but obliges us to govern our resentments by the rules of reason to mold our spirits into a temper of meekness kindness and condescension that we may be then most pleasant to our selves when we stand in the greatest need of counsel and advice that no provocation may be able to discompose our minds or transport us into frequish indecent words or actions much less into meditations of Revenge But that we receive the injury with Patience consider it sedately construe it fairly excuse it ingenuously or if the malice be too plain to be hid then to refer the Judgment of your cause to God Be not overcome of
then that comes to the Holy Communion with evil will or malice in his heart must needs be out of countenance as a man that wants the wedding Garment Matt. 22.11 But he whose soul is free from that unchristian vice he who is an enemy to none but delights in the happiness of all and is ready to assist whom he may he who loves his Neighbour as himself may approach with an humble confidence such a suitable temper will give him courage rational expectation and a modest assurance that his address will be accepted and his sins forgiven Finally and above all the particular necessity of universal Charity at the Holy Sacrament is grounded chiefly upon that passage of S. Paul 1 Cor. 10.16 17. The Cup of blessing which we bless is it not the Communion of the blood of Christ The bread which we break is it not the Communion of the body of Christ for we being many are one bread and one body for we are all partakers of that one bread In the 16th Verse you see the Apostle affirms that the faithful in the Holy Sacrament communicate together of the body and blood of Christ The bread which we break is it not the Communion of the body of Christ and from thence in the following words he infers the most perfect Love and Unity amongst themselves v. 17. For we being many are i. e. we ought to be one bread and one body why because we all partake of that one bread or loas which words of the Apostle may be understood in a double sense according to the several significations and constructions of the Holy Sacrament First The first interpretation of the 16th ver as this Supper of our Lord is the Christian Passover and bears an Analogy to the Jewish feast upon the Sacrifice of the Paschal Lamb which they are together after the Priest had presented and offered it up to God And to this the Sacrament succeeds and is understood as a perpetual feast upon the Sacrifice of our Blessed Saviour whose body was offered once for all Heb. 10.10 which body and blood we eat in the sign and figure to the end of the world by his own Command Christ our Passover says the same Apostle is sacrificed for us therefore let us keep the feast 1 Cor. 5.7 8. Now thus to eat and drink together at the Table The first interpretation of the 17th ver and upon the Sacrifice of our Lord engages us to one another in the strictest tyes of Love and Charity as children of the same Father redeemed by the same Lord co-heirs of the same inheritance fed at the same Table and nourished by the same Loaf which by common acceptation and fair construction is both a Token a Profession and a solemn League of Love and Friendship Again The second interpretation of the 16. v. according to the second Notion of the Holy Sacrament as it is an inward and spiritual grace a Seal of the New Testament a confirmation of all the blessings of the Gospel to every individual Person that accepts the terms and will fulfil the Counterpart the sense of the 16th Verse is this viz. that all who perform the Conditions required of them shall as surely enjoy the benefits of our Saviour's death as they partake of the visible signs thereof as they eat the Bread and drink the Wine by which it is shewed forth and represented The Cup of blessing which we bless is it not the Communion of the blood of Christ The Bread which we break is it not the Communion of the body of Christ that is of the benefits of both Now this consent to the Conditions of the Gospel this entring into Covenant with God this sincere and chearful dedication of our selves to the Government of our blessed Saviour which render the Elements the Body and Blood of Christ to the receiver is expressed in Scripture by all such Metaphors as denote the most intire and perfect union which can be possibly conceived between us as that between the Husband and the Wife Eph. 5.23 Jo. 15.1 Jo. 10. 1 Cor. 12.27 the Vine and the Branches the Shepherd and the Flock the Head and Members the Soul and Body which Unity is not natural and personal that were Blasphemy to imagine but Intellectual and Moral one Vital Principle moves them one spirit acts and inhabits in them both our Saviour and his true Disciples have the same opinions of what is good and evil the same affections to every thing that is good the same will to proceed and act according to the most perfect reason Rom. 8.10 If Christ be in you says St. Paul the body is dead Now the manner of His being in us is explained in the former Verse V. 9. by His temper spirit and disposition For if any man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of his as in another place it is explained by his Mind That the same Mind may be in us which was in him Phil. 2.5 Eph. 3.17 And again That He may dwell in our hearts by Faith Now from this spiritual Union betwixt our Saviour The second interpretation of the 17. v. and those who worthily receive the Sacrament that is who have resigned themselves to the obedience of the Gospel the Apostle infers the most intire and perfect unity of the whole body of faithful Christians amongst themselves Ye are says he united to Christ by eating His Body and drinking His Blood He becomes a principle of new life to every one that receives the Sacrament as he ought to do Now says he the union is the very same and upon the same account between the faithful amongst themselves For carrying on the Metaphor We being many are one body and one bread V. 17. because we are all partakers of that one bread We all receive nourishment from the same root and are therefore vitally united to one another We are all made to drink speaking of the Cup in the holy Sacrament into one spirit All which laying aside the Allegory is thus to be understood that forasmuch as all sincere and faithful Christians have entred themselves into the same Society undertaken the same institution and rule of life consent and agree in the same mind affections desires and converfation therefore they are morally united to one another as well as to our blessed Saviour For our Saviour is not divided He is one and the same in his Nature his Life his Gospel his Laws and Promises so that if innumerable individuals devote themselves to the belief of his Propositions to the love and obedience of his instructions if they resign themselves their wills and affections to his Command Jo. 17.21 whereby they become in a Moral sense united to him these of necessity by the same Moral unity are joyned and knit amongst themselves One common soul and spirit acts and influences them all they have parted from their own private will and conduct
and resolved themselves into the guidance of another whose Law is immoveably perfect and the same to every particular person There must be therefore an Universal and intire consent in their opinions desires and course of life as being derived from one and the same unalterable Law Iph. 4.15 They grow up into him in all things says St. Paul which is the head even Christ. And thus the unity of all sincere and faithful Christians with Christ and with one another may be easily understood of all and yet it is as real as strict and proper as the Metaphor in the Text before us by which it is exprest namely the unity of innumerable Particles of Flower by the balm or leaven which pervades and binds them all in one Lump or Loaf For we being many are one body and one bread V. 17. for we are all partakers of that one bread The Conclusion then is this that if all the faithful Christians upon earth are as the several parts of the same loaf if they are members one of another if they receive their vital influence from the same root 1 Cor. 12.20 if they are moved and acted by the same principle then we ought that is we must we can do no other than love one another intirely no love like that which sympathy and consent of will creates or to speak more properly love is not the creature of sympathy and consent but sympathy and consent of Will are Love they are the thing it self they cannot be distinguished And therefore without Charity without intire and perfect Love amongst our selves we cannot be united to Christ we cannot have eaten his Body or drunk his Blood The Elements will be no more to such as these nay less than common bread and wine We cannot be the members of the mystical body of Christ so long as we are separated from one another by the least degree of malice and evil will for no man ever hated his own flesh He then that loves not 1 Joh. 4 8. knows not God has no true principle of Religion for God is love Upon all these accounts it is that the Holy Sacrament has been always esteemed a token of Vnity a bond of Charity and a symbol of peace and concord And hence it was that in former times the Communicants brought their Offerings to the Minister Fruits of the earth or any Viands for entertainment which when the Sacrament was ended were eaten as a common feast by all degrees and ranks promiscuously without respect to place or quality And this was the feast of Charity â— Pet. 2.13 mentioned by S. Jude v. 12. and was concluded with a kiss in token of entire and perfect friendship But these pure and innocent Ceremonies being soon abused were afterwards disused Nevertheless we have something like them still continued in our Church namely in the Collection that is ordinarily made for the poor and after the Communion in eating and drinking what remains of the Consecrated Elements in the Church Rubr. without distinction of persons but as the custom is the meanest persons are invited to be the chief partakers of it Par. Sir I hope I understand you and I am heartily glad that I did not receive before I was instructed and I find upon the matter that it requires both time and retirement to prepare our selves as we ought to do and the first time more especially but I will endeavour by God's assistance to follow your directions Min. You have made a very good inference from our whole discourse the reason of the action and the solemnity of this most sacred Ordinance the several parts of our Religion which it has respect to require a very strict examination of our Knowledge Repentance Affections purposes and desires that so our apprehensions of the thing and the intention of our mind may bear a proportion to the outward action to the design the words and the gestures of the service Our devotion as you have heard is to be exercised upon every part of Christianity our particular defects are here to be bewailed the several graces of Faith Hope and Love universal Love towards God and Man are to be exerted in this solemnity and therefore it is very necessary to withdraw our selves from the world and retire into our selves some time before we receive That we may recollect the principles and the duties the blessings and the promises of our Religion that we may examine the state of our Soul what necessary Article of Faith we doubt of or do not understand what evil habit remains unmortified or is most unwilling to be subdued what is the sin that so easily besets us that has the advantage of our natural complexion violent inclination or present profit what methods we have taken or may take for the future to subdue it what improvements we have made since we last received and how we have kept our resolutions That we may sufficiently bewail our failings and take pleasure and satisfaction in our proficiency That we may excite and stir up our devotions by proper Meditations These are weighty matters yet very necessary and therefore require a previous consideration But to say how long how many hours or days or weeks a man ought to spend in Meditation and Prayer before he may presume to receive or to what degree of Knowledge and Virtue he must attain is both impossible and unnecessary Do you but remember that competent knowledge and great integrity with an hearty desire to grow in Grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 3.18 is the true preparation of the Soul and you shall be able with Sobriety to judge for your self He that wants this is not fit to receive but he that is thus qualified is a worthy Communicant though his knowledge may not be so distinct and clear or his virtues so shining and perfect as some other Christians possibly may be Has not God encouraged persons of weak Faith and a frail virtue provided it be true to hope for his acceptance Aatt 12.20 For he will not break the bruised reed nor quench the smoaking flax says our Saviour that is he will support it and inflame it by the influences of his Grace if we have but the first beginnings of Holiness an hearty liking of it and desire after it he will nourish it and bring it to perfection Aatt 7.7.5.6 For to them that knock it shall be opened They that ask shall have They that hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled No man therefore that is inquisitive to know and sincere in practice has any reason to be discouraged For the Grace and assistance which God has promised he bestows and infuses into the hearts of men as by the immediate influences of his Spirit upon the Soul so especially through his Word and Sacraments It is certain we cannot be too well prepared but we may be too scrupulous about the degrees of Knowledge
by the assistance of thy most holy and eternal Spirit Amen A Prayer for Divine Assistance and increase of Grace MOST Glorious and Blessed God! Thou art Infinite in all perfections thy Will is pure and all thine Excellencies are unchangeable But though thou hast been pleased to derive upon us some small degrees of thy glorious Nature though we act for the sake of such ends as we our selves propose and chuse yet our faculties are weak our sensitive appetites impose upon our reason The law of our members prevails upon the law of our mind â—om 7.15 16 c. that we cannot do the thing that we would O work in me O Lord what thou wouldst have me both to will and do â—hil 2.13 assist me by thy Grace that the power of evil habits may decay and dye in me that the life of God and all the Graces of the Holy Spirit may grow more vigorous and strong Break not O Lord Mat. 12.20 the bruised reed nor quench the smoaking flax but assist my weakness strengthen my faint desires encourage my sincerity confirm my Faith inflame my Love cherish mine Hope and enlarge my Charity support me under all my conflicts and carry me through all temptations that I may chearfully do and suffer whatsoever pleases thee Matt. 5 6. Psal 63.1.84.2.42.1 Phil. 3.14 O how I hunger and thirst after righteousness how my soul longeth after God! how chearfully could I leave all things that hinder me behind and press forwards for the prize of the high calling of God in Jesus Christ if by any means I may attain the resurrection of the dead O perfect what thou hast begun Eph. 3.47 Gal. 4.19 Ps 73.24 dwell in mine heart by faith and form thy self in me Guide me by thy counsels here and receive me at last into thine everlasting glory through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen A Prayer for a due intention of Mind in the Celebration of Religious Duties O Father of Mercies and God of all our Consolations It was Thine own essential Goodness that first inclined thee to create us that thou mightest communicate thy self unto us and exercise thy Grace and Bounty upon us Thou hast given us all the assurances that our hearts can wish That thou delightest to do us good and that thine ears are open to our prayers 1 Pet 3.12 How justly then art thou the desire and the Worship of all nations O that I could praise thee with understanding and recount thine Excellencies with that Sense and Adoration as I ought O that I could make my Prayers unto thee with a perfect Heart with true desire and sutable endeavour that in all the Solemnities of Religion I could approach thy presence with such an holy frame with such a temper and affection of mind as the duty may require But O Lord I cannot enough bewail mine own formality and deadness in things Divine and Spiritual How difficult do I find it to raise in my mind a lively sense of God even in the most solemn duties How hard it is to bring my Soul to such a perfect Unity to such an intire concurrence as it ought to have with the outward celebrations of Religion But O blessed Jesus who once didst pity and forgive the infirmities of thine own disciples Matt. 26.45 who could not watch with thee an hour have mercy upon me Warm mine Affections by the irradiations of thy Love refine my Nature and raise me above the body Enlighten my Mind that I may know Thee correct the perverseness of my Will that I may chearfully obey Thee mortifie all mine inordinate desires that I may prefer and chuse Thee heal all my bodily distempers ease my worldly cares subdue mine unruly passions and preserve me from too strong temptations that my Mind may be always steddy and composed always fit to serve Thee here that I may sing an eternal Hallelujah to thy Praise hereafter through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen A Prayer to be said by well meaning persons under any dejection or despondencies of Mind O Most Merciful God and Father Thou correctest Jer. 10.24 but it is with judgment not thine anger that thou shouldst bring us to nothing Heb. 12.6 thou chastenest every son whom thou dost receive All the evils that we suffer in the world are the directions of thy Wisdom for our Good Heb. 12.10 I therefore bless thy Holy Name for all thy Fatherly corrections wherewith in Mercy thou hast ever visited me And I humbly implore thy Divine Assistance that I may now behave my self with the most intire and perfect resignation to thy Will under that confusion fear and terror of mind which thou art pleased to lay upon me I rejoyce in the midst of this sore affliction as it is a token of thy care and Love how severely soever it may affect me Lord bring me nearer to thy self and preserve me stedfast in my duty to the end how sharp soever the means may be But O most gracious Father if the hiding of thy Countenance from me for a time has wrought those happy effects upon me for which thy Wisdom and Goodness did design it Restore me O restore me for Jesus Christ his sake to a sense of thy Love to peace in my Mind again Ps 6.6 I am weary of my groaning all the night long do I water my couch with my tears my Soul is disquieted within me sunk down into the dust of death even into the pit of hell Visit me O God Ps 106.4 with thy salvation cause thine Holy Spirit to descend into mine heart that he may defend and guard me in all my tryals support and quiet my dejected Mind Is 50 2. 59.1 Matt 8.8 Thy hand is not shortned that it cannot save say but the word O Lord and thy servant shall be healed O how would I magnifie thy Glory imitate thy Life and obey thy Will if Thou shouldst be pleased to trust me with Health and Peace again Lord pardon and hear the importunity of thy servant my heart is full Psal 6.4.55.5.142.1 Psal 60.1 Lam. 5.20 21. my soul also is sore troubled Lord how long wilt thou punish me O turn Thee again and have mercy upon me consider my complaint and let my crying come unto Thee O how chearfully would I do or suffer any thing whereby I might testifie the sincerity of mine Adoration Love and Duty to Thy Sacred Majesty I have none in Heaven but God Ps 73.25 and there is none upon Earth that I desire in comparison of Thee O when shall I feel that joy and peace in my mind which Thou hast promised to those that Love Thy Law Ps 119 165. O when wilt thou dispel those clouds of diffidence and fear which depress and trouble me even now that I find in my self the most sincere desires to do my duty in the World Yet not my will Matt. 26.42 O Lord but Thine be done here I am
believe his Word and rely upon his Promises because he is Truth it self and cannot be deceived he is Wisdom it self and cannot propose or promise at adventure he is Power it self and can bring into act whatsoever he decrees He is Goodness it self and neither can nor will deceive us If therefore our Love of God be sincere and with understanding the most intire and perfect confidence in his Word and Promises are necessary We shall inquire into his Will study his Laws submit our apprehensions to his determinations and stedfastly believe whatsoever he reveals If there arise among you a Prophet or a dreamer of dreams Deut. 13.1 2 3. and giveth you a sign or a wonder and the sign or wonder come to pass whereof he spake unto thee saying go after other gods which thou hast not known and serve them thou shalt not hearken to that Prophet or that dreamer of dreams for the Lord thy God proveth thee to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul The adhering firmly to the Word of God though a Wonder should be wrought in confirmation of a contrary doctrine is made a test of our Love of God by God himself That is the Second The Third particular implied in the Love of God with all the heart and with all the Soul is such an imitation of the Divine Perfections as our present state and capacity will permit Self-love or a desire of being happy and perfect in the kind is the necessary inclination or the first principle of every being And therefore whatsoever Good or excellence we clearly understand as essential to or perfective of our being or conducible to the ease and convenience of our life we cannot chuse but desire the possession of it It is not so properly an act of reason as an instinct of nature But if we love the Lord our God with all our Heart and Soul with sincerity and understanding we shall discern the beauty capacity and perfection of our own nature in the Qualities and the life of the first and most perfect of rational Beings and shall therefore necessarily desire to imitate those Divine vertues which we so adore and love The abstracted essence of God is impossible to be comprehended by a finite understanding but we judge of the Divinity as of all things else by effects and operations by his works of Creation and Providence by his Universal righteousness wisdom purity and goodness so visible in the government of the World If we therefore apprehend and admire these glorious Attributes of God we shall endeavour to transcribe his Copy and model our Souls according to this Exemplar because the resolution of the mind that such a quality is worthy and excellent includes desire and imitation we shall endeavour to be holy as God is holy in all our conversation that as he is so we may be in the World wise in the management of our ends just in our dealings merciful to the distressed ready to forgive our enemies in all things aspiring after the Divine perfections and setting the Life of God before us as the Rule of our Conversation That 's the Third The fourth particular implied in the Love of God with all the Heart and with all the Soul is a constant uniform Obedience to his Will What a chearful flexibility what a readiness to do any thing that may be grateful and pleasant to each other may be observed in the love of equals If therefore love has such a power where the authority is precarious only and by consent how much more will the Love of God oblige us to the most diligent observance of His will forasmuch as the love of our Superiors includes obedience in its nature No man can intirely love a Prince or a Father that does not approve and obey his Precepts and therefore St. John defines the Love of God by keeping his Commandments 1 Joh. 5.3 This is the Love of God that we keep his Commandments We cannot add to infinite perfection we cannot oblige Him in any real services who is already Lord of all there remains therefore no possible testimony of our Love to God without the resignation of our opinions desires and actions to his will This is all we have to offer If a man Love me says our Saviour he will keep my words Joh. 14.23 and he that hath my Commandments and doth them he it is that loves me Would it not be the greatest solecism in love if our friend should prescribe us a method of happiness promise his assistance assure us of success and we should receive it civilly applaud his judgment believe all he says but never proceed to accomplish the methods he proposes Hence those who live in disobedience to the Laws of God are said to hate Him Exod. 20.6 Indeed if we have any true conceptions of the Divine perfections which love supposes we know that God is infinite in wisdom to direct and guide us infinite in goodness and will suit his commands to our abilities full of mercy and compassion and will pity our weakness and pardon our failings If therefore love wheresoever it is sincere is apt to create an extravagant desire of pleasing the object even with the utmost hazard and sometimes by unlawful practices by humouring vices flattering deformities serving the basest ends any thing indeed that they think may gratifie the person How much more will the love of God oblige us to the strictest care and observance of His will because we know that His will is perfect He can command us nothing nor can he be pleased with any thing that is not truly Good He cannot be giddy and inconstant frequish and uncertain humorsome and hard to be pleased as imperfect objects are but He will receive our addresses and accept our services He will enable us to obey him and make the best construction of all our sincere endeavours and at last compleat our love in the everlasting enjoyment of Himself That 's the 4th The last particular implyed in the Love of God with all the heart and with all the Soul is the most hearty sorrow whensoever we shall offend him with an earnest desire to be reconciled Whosoever loves will endeavour to recommend himself by an obliging deportment to the good opinion of the object pursues a kind acceptance waits a sutable return and expects at length the enjoyment of his hopes If therefore he has given any just occasion of Offence by omitting what was necessary to be done or by doing any thing that was contrary to his Pretensions or inconsistent with his Love it must needs affect him with indignation against himself that he should bring his own sincerity into question injure the person whose happiness is his greatest Joy retard his progress towards that end he chiefly aims at and superinduce a Cloud upon that Sun by whose influence he lives Thus also in respect of God if we love him with Understanding we cannot but
Neighbour the object of the duty we understand the whole Society of humane Kind every Man that lives Amongst the Jews indeed this word was never understood to comprehend the Gentiles but however it was used indifferently for any Israelite as in the Ninth Commandment Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy Neighbour Exod. 20. and again Thou shalt not stand against the life of thy Neighbour Lev. 19.18 that is of any Jew though not of any Man for they hated the Gentiles and esteemed them accursed But under the dispensation of the Gospel our Charity is inlarged to every individual Person over the face of the whole Earth and therefore our Saviour declares expresly that the good Samaritan was Neighbour to the Jew that was wounded St. Luke 12.38 And St. Paul reciting this very passage Rom. 13.8 changes the word Neighbour for that of Another a word of the most indefinite signification of any that is used He that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law for all duties are comprehended in this saying namely V. 9. Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self This for the object of the duty our Neighbour every man I proceed as I proposed in the second place to consider the nature of the duty it self What it is and when a Man may be said to love his Neighbour And forasmuch as all Mankind are made the object of our love it would be absurd to explain the nature of that love by such intimate acts of affection and desire as arise from a chosen friendship or a near Relation but our definition of universal Love ought to be very general that it may be practicable in the utmost and the true extent thereof as a duty that reaches to the farthest corners of the Earth and is exercised upon Persons and Countreys we never saw or heard of as well as upon those with whom we do converse To love our Neighbour then or the whole Society of Humane nature wheresoever dispersed and scattered about the World is sincerely and heartily to desire and wish the happiness of every Man to be contented and pleased that our Brethren should share with us in all the blessings and advantages we are capable of enjoying to promote our own particular good with safety and regard to the interest of the whole In a word to Love our Neighbour is to prosecute a publick interest to consent and assist with all our hearts in the mutual good of one another That is the Second I proceed in the Third Place to consider what we are to understand by Loving our Neighbour as our selves To Love our Neighbour is the Duty to love our Neighbour as our selves is the Rule or measure in the practice of it or the qualification with vvhich it ought to be exercised And there cannot surely be a better or a more easie copy proposed to our Imitation A Rule that is so streight and perfect in it self and impossible to be mistaken by us Self-love is the first and most evident principle of our being every man understands and feels the nature of it how sincere and pure it is how vigorous and strong how constant and immoveable But thus are we enjoyned by our Saviour to love our Neighbour even as our selves with the same most ardent desires with the same sincere endeavours to divert impendent evils and procure all possible good to others as we would do to our selves This in general More particularly I shall consider the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as thy self in a double sense First as obliging us to an intire and perfect Love that we have a regard to all our Neighbours interests that we love him in the same extent and latitude that we love our selves Secondly as obliging us to love him after the same manner that we love our selves to pursue his good with the same affections and dispositions of mind that we find in our selves in the prosecution of our own First to Love our Neighbour as our selves implies a perfect and intire affection to all his several interests that we love him in the same extent and latitude that we love our selves All our possibilities of happiness are contain'd and comprehended in these four particulars viz. our Soul our Life our Estate and Reputation Every man has a tender respect for these it is the business of our Lives and the object of our Reason to become as happy in all these several capacities as we can no man chuses folly or iniquity disgrace or poverty diseases or death simply and under the proper notion of them but according to our measure of knowledge and the opinion that we have of things we endeavour to avoid them as evil and procure the good that is contrary thereunto Wherefore then to love our Neighbour as our selves according to this interpretation of the words is to desire his good as we do our own in all his several capacities to be really pleased with his happiness in any of his interests and ready to assist him according to our power First in the interest of his Soul a man of universal Charity envyes no mans parts or Vertue but is delighted with the Image of God wheresoever he discerns it with the rays of Wisdom and Righteousness which are scattered amongst men He is troubled for the wickedness of the wicked passionately sensible of the horrid consequences of their proceedings his eyes with David run down with tears because men keep not the Law of God He is ready to communicate his Knowledge to give his Counsel to instruct the ignorant to recal the erring to reprove the foolish 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as S. Paul says of himself Not seeking his own profit but the profit of many that they may be saved To love our Neighbour as our selves implies a regard to his Life his Estate and Property A man of universal Charity is not only just to all men ◠Thes 4.6 not defrauding or oppressing his Neighbour in any matter Neither is he indifferent only to his Neighbours interest doing no unhandsom thing to any man but he positively seeks and studies his Neighbours weal. He rejoyceth at any opportunity of doing kindnesses to men he receives and addresses the complaints of the Oppressed visits the Sick cloaths the Naked feeds the Hungry he is ready to distribute Rom. 12. and is given to hospitality According to S. Paul's description of a Charitable man 1 Cor. 13. to which we shall have a particular respect in our present disquisition v. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Charity seeks not his own is not circumscribed within the narrow compass of his own advantage is not frozen into dry sterility but fruitful and abounding in acts of Mercy and Beneficence He considers himself as a member of the one Society of humane Nature and therefore as a partner with all the World he prosecutes a publick interest is glad of the prosperity of those above him obliging by all the arts of Civility and handsome conversation
to those on a level with him ready to support the weak and assist the needy And as he is kind to all so he is not easily provoked into displeasure against any man He is not quick and forward to discern the injuries and ingratitude of brutish people he is not apt to aggravate but excuse a fault he is ready to believe that it proceeded of mistake of rashness or inadvertency rather than of malice or evil will For so says the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 4. Love is of a gentle easie disposition believeth hopeth all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he is not presently in a flame or feaver but resents an injury with a calm and steddy mind and studies no revenge for Charity will cover the multitude of sins Pro. 10 12. Pet. 4.8 Thirdly To love our Neighbour as our selves implies a regard to his Fame and Reputation A good name is better than life it self says Solomon We prefer it to all other interests whatsoever by the instincts of our very Nature No man can endure to be represented ill because it is the parent of contempt and neglect which of all other things is the most abhorr'd And therefore a man of universal Charity will be tender of his Neighbours Credit He heartily wishes that all men would behave themselves as they ought to do and live with decency and honour in the World Charity rejoyceth not in the wickedness of the wicked but rejoyceth in the truth that is in the upright conversation of men so Grotius upon the place He is more ready to discern the vertues and excellencies of others than his own He chearfully acknowledges worth and allows sufficient praise wheresoever it is due He puts the best interpretation upon any action that the nature of the thing will bear He judgeth no man till he understands the course of his Conversation nor any particular action till he knows the circumstances and affections of it Affectus tuus imponit nomen operi tuo as S. Ambrose speaks de offic He follows the rule of Epictetus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ench. does any man drink much wine say not that he drinks to a debauch but simply that he uses to drink much because the same action may proceed from a good as well as from an evil cause He that strikes another as Simplicius in his Exposition of the place may do him good and he that feeds him may be his enemy He that steals as the case may be may do no ill and he that relieves another may do unjustly And therefore a charitable man is ever slow and sparing of his censures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he hopeth all things and is willing to believe the best His Ears are shut to idle tales and evil reflections upon any man or if he is forced to hear them he endeavours to stifle the report and clear the imputation that if it be possible it may stop with him He is troubled for so much of it as he finds to be true and with an angry countenance he drives away the back biters tongue saith Solomon as the North wind driveth away rain Pro. 25.23 And thus by covering a transgression he seeketh love Prov. 17.9 Fourthly and Lastly As the result of all these instances of universal Charity a man that is really a friend to all will be courteous and easie gentle and civil in his outward conversation and deportment Haughtiness or elation of mind proceeds from an undue account a distinct unreasonable opinion of our selves above our Neighbours And all morose and supercilious conversation are the effects of conceitedness and pride of discontent and jealousie that we are not valued according to the price we have set upon our selves But a man that is frank and ingenuous that loves his Neighbour as himself treats and uses every man with the chearfulness and civility of a friend His own desires and expectations from his betters are the measure of his deportment towards those below him He then that loves his Neighbour as himself will be easie of access courteous and sincere in speech civil and obliging in all his conversation with him Since he is a friend to all he will not ruffle provoke or discourage any man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Charity is benign yielding and complaisant knows no supercilium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he is not full of himself V. 4. he is not puffed up This is to love our Neighbour as our selves as we understand it of loving him in all the several instances wherein we love our selves comprehended chiefly under his Soul his Life his Estate and Reputation But Secondly the Duty Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self not only obliges us to have a true respect to all his interests but to love him also after the same manner that we love our selves to pursue his good with the same affections and dispositions of mind which we find in our selves in the prosecution of our own It is always to be supposed that the Rule or Exemplar is more excellent than the Copy The love of a Man to himself is so unmixt and pure the unity so perfect that it is not possible he should confer it upon another in the same degree unless he could really and naturally unite him to himself Thus God Almighty is proposed to us the most imperfect of rational Beings as the Pattern of our Vertue Be ye Holy as God is Holy 1 Pet. 1.24 says St. Peter Be ye perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect St. Matt. 5. ult But in these and several other places we must not understand the Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as denoting an exact Identity but only that our Principle be sincere our vertue true though far inferiour in degree Wherefore in our present case the qualification of the duty as thy self though it may not import an equality of love which is impossible yet at least it signifies that we love our Neighbour with the same kind of affections and dispositions of mind with which we love our selves and therefore Erasmus expounds the words by perinde ac teipsum in like manner as thou lovest thy self First With the greatest Tenderness and Sense every Man is affected intimately with his own affairs he feels every motion that concerns them because he knows he must enjoy or endure the event of his designs And thus we are enjoyn'd to love our Neighbour as our selves Not only to do him no hurt in any interest neither yet to do him service only but to be inwardly moved and affected with his case that we be Men of Bowels 1 Pet. 1.22 apt to be wrought into pity compassion and desire to do him good into Joy and delight at any prosperous event Secondly We love and pursue our own particular happiness with solicitude and diligence Our sensible apprehension and innate desire of good provoke and encourage our most earnest endeavours according to our knowledge to promote it No Man is indifferent
and cold in his own pursuits We think no pains too great we leave no stone unturn'd we grudge no present self-denial in the prosecution of our own designs Thus also thou shalt love thy Neighbour even as thy self with fervency of affection with a Zeal for his Good It is not a tender expression a friendly wish an unwilling word a cold essay that fulfils the duty but a chearful service ready motions effectual assistances that we be patient to hear and willing to understand and be concern'd in a case that is worthy of us that we lay it to our heart and put it forward according to discretion by our counsel our friend our person our purse as the occasion may require for thus we love our selves with passion and solicitude Thirdly With constancy and everlasting affection Self-love can never abate or cool every Man pursues what he thinks to be good to the last it is a natural principle an essential property of our Being which can never be extinguished But thus are we obliged to love our Neighbour even as our selves all the days of our life This duty of universal love is never perfected It is not enough that we have been useful and beneficial in some particular instance but we must never stop never contract our selves never imagine that we have paid this debt of universal Charity but so long as we have ability and opportunity so long as we have objects before us that is so long as we live we must dilate and expatiate our selves to the benefit of our Neighbour for Thou shalt love him as thy self as well in all the several instances wherein thou lovest thy self as with the same affections and dispositions of thy mind with tenderness and passion with fervency and Zeal with steddiness and constancy And thus as briefly as I could I have explained the duty of universal Love and by comparing the temper of our Souls and the course of our conversation with the rules and measures I have now laid down we may know infallibly whether we are endowed with this grace of Charity or no whether we love our neighbour as our selves Are we pleased with the practice of Vertue or any worthy quality wheresoever we discern it or rather are not the infirmities nay the debaucheries of Men our delight and sport Do we govern our desires and aimes by the rules of equity and love Do we use no tricks no mines no unhandsome arts to circumvent another Are we content that every Man should prosper and be happy Are we ready for every good work Do the Loins of the poor bless us Job 31.20 are they warmed with the fleeces of our wool Job 31.20.22.22 Do we govern our Authority over inferiour Men with Justice Do we not trouble our own flesh Prov. 11.17 Do we not rob the poor because he is poor and oppress the afflicted in the gate May it not be said of us as Solomon complains Eccles 4.1 On the side of the oppressor there was power but the oppressed had no Comforter Are we willing to discern and praise the vertues of our Neighbour and to hide his faults Can we chearfully hear the Commendation of another and not embase the Character by some malicious insinuation Does not our Soul desire evil Pro. 21.10 and does our neighbour find any favour in our eyes Are we civil and ingenuous in our Carriage towards all Are we meek and approachable sincere and plain gentle and easie to be intreated Are we never weary of well doing never discouraged by our own mistakes in objects by the tricks and deceits that may sometimes be put upon us by the ingratitude of those we have obliged or the disappointments of those from whom we had expectation by the errours that a Zealous Charity may run into or the censures of unworthy Men to which it may sometimes be exposed Do we centre in a sense of Duty and the sincerity of our principle and design resolving never to look back or faint but persevere in a steddy course of universal Charity to the end This is to love thy neighbour as thy self And so I proceed as I proposed in the second place to perswade you to the practice of this duty of universal Charity by certain motives and encouragements couched and implied in these words Thy neighbour We are obliged to prosecute a publick interest to be kind and compassionate to all because we are neighbours and that implies First The Necessity of the thing To love our neighbour as our selves is our real Interest because of our Cohabitation and necessary converse with one another No affection or property of humane nature is more evident than a disposition to Society Our innate impresses of natural Affection Goodness and Compassion our passions of Desire and Love our abilities of inventing useful Art our faculty of Speech which is peculiar to Man and what only serves the purposes of Society do all suppose it and the impotence and inability of man in a loose and separate state to perfect his capacities to satisfie his natural desires nay to support and defend his life demonstrate it But without an hearty consent in the mutual good of one another without policy and a publick interest Society would be dangerous and useless black and uncomfortable solitude our only refuge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Reason without Goodness is mischievous subtlety and would prove the greatest instrument of evil in the World The fierceness of the Leopard and the strength of the Lyon would not be so dreadful as the understanding of Rational Nature devoid of Justice Every man would be against his Brother our life would be a state of war a continual hostility Here an attempt by force there by subtlety and circumvention every where distrust and fears guards and preparations of defence So that according to the Principles of our Nature and the design of our Being we are one Society one interest one common happiness is amongst us all And no man that separates himself from the Community and proposeth with himself to stand on his own legs and acquire whatsoever pleases him by any means without respect to others can ever prosper or be safe because he can never hope to be endured Every man has a tender respect for his Life his Honour and his Interest which whensoever they are forcibly invaded will provoke him to retaliate the injury No man can expect with reason to be treated more civilly himself than he treats his neighbour Such a conceit is Vanity there is no foundation for such a deference in Nature but he raises the whole Society against himself and how he should acquit himself in such an unequal combat is not easie to imagine And therefore Qui se amat hunc alios sic amare Epist 6. Lips in Loc. says Seneca nec sibi sed toti genitum se credere mundo He that loves himself will love his neighbour and consider himself as born for the benefit of the
evil But overcome evil with good In the former clause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be not overcome of evil is understood of the injury received but evil in the latter clause overcome evil with good has respect to the injurious person Conquer your enemy by kindness bring him to confession of his baseness to repentance to offers of satisfaction to the very same submission even from his heart which you would propose to your self to force him to if you could conquer and disarm him in the open Field If thine enemy hunger feed him if he thirst give him drink for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good And thus much for the Explication of the duty and the sense of the words By which we may see that it has no relation at all to Government or the punishment of Offenders against the peace of the publick Nor to the resentments of Princes or the Wars and Peace of Nations Nor lastly to the defence of our Persons our lives and fortunes against the assaults and out-rages of wicked men These are Considerations of another nature with which our present argument is not in the least concern'd But the Duty of the Text concerns the moderation of our Passions under any opprobrious words or ill designs which have been spoke or form'd against us and obliges us to forbear revenge to seek no private illegal satisfaction for any such injury received that we do not therefore become his enemy because he seems to be ours that we harbour no ill will ill wishes or ill designs against him but endeavour to reconcile him to a state of amity and friendship by a readiness to oblige and serve him Be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good And for the clearer illustration of this most perfect Precept of our Religion I shall briefly consider these Four Things First The indispensible Obligation of the Duty by the express Command of God Secondly The fitness and necessity of the thing considered in it self Thirdly The rewards and benefits which will accompany the practice of it Fourthly and Lastly The possibility of performing it And first of all This Duty That we be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good is indispensably required It is not to be understood as a Council of perfection as a glorious unattainable temper which we are not obliged to pursue but it is a positive Duty an express Command in which we are no more at liberty than in any other precept of our Religion S. Paul designedly in this and the following Chapters collects and repeats the principal duties of Christianity V. 2. or what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God And amongst the rest he mentions the love of enemies V. 20. and upon this he insists and stays for several Verses as being a duty more unwillingly received and inforces at last in the words of my Text Be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good And our Saviour himself in the 5. of S. Matth. proposes and urges the love of our enemies after the same manner and under the same form as he does the rest of his precepts without any dispensation or indulgence whatsoever v. 44. But I say unto you love your enemies Indeed there is no one duty of our Religion more strictly enjoined more frequently inculcated or press'd by a greater variety of cogent arguments than that before us The very Spirit of Christianity is meekness and mutual condescention Col. 3.8 and therefore we are obliged to put away all anger wrath and malice to suffer all things to be kind Jam. 1.19 to think no evil 1 Cor. 13.5 to be patient towards all men to render to no man evil for evil or railing for railing 1 Pet. 3 9 but contrariwise blessing To put on as the elect of God Col. 3.12 bowels of mercy kindness humbleness of mind meekness long-suffering forbearing one another Eph. 4.31 forgiving one another if any man have a quarrel against any even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven us And all this is inforced upon us by the terrible sanction of God's everlasting anger towards us For if ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will your heavenly father forgive you S. Matth. 6.15 Nothing says S. Chrysostom is more odious to God than a man that is thirsty of revenge Hom. 27. â—n Genes the mischief of this sin is such that it deprives a man of the benefit of God's mercy and will not suffer it to have any place upon him And thus we see that to restrain our Passion to be meek in Spirit slow of resentment dead to revenge easie to forgive and ready to oblige an enemy is an indispensable duty of our Religion If it be objected that our Saviour seems to curse the Cities of Capernaum Chorazin and Bethsaida because they withstood his doctrine S. Matth. 11. Wo unto you Chorazin wo unto Bethsaida and thou Capernaum which art exalted unto heaven shalt be brought down to hell Or that S. Paul cursed Alexander upon a private personal injury offer'd to himself in his Second Epistle to Tim. 4.14 the Lord reward him according to his works Or that the most holy Saints have taken a liberty of imprecating evil upon their enemies Psal 109. They compassed me about with words of hatred they rewarded me evil for good and hatred for my good will let his days be few and let another take his office let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow let his children be vagabonds and beg their bread let the extortioner consume all that he has as he loved cursing so let it come upon him If the practice I say of our Saviour and of those holy Saints seem contrary to the precepts of love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you S. Augustine's resolution of that question is sufficient who observes how common it is in Scripture to foretel the event of future evils under the form of an imprecation So that all such places as I have now recited are to be understood not as the wishes of the speaker but as Prophecies of what will certainly come upon them And as for that of S. Paul He observes that he says not reddat let the Lord but reddet dominus the Lord will reward him for it There is therefore no indulgence to be found no dispensation allowed it is positively required That we be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good And indeed if it be well considered there is nothing more fit and reasonable in it self and this was the second head of discourse proposed As the benefits of cohabitation and Society are great so has it also this inevitable inconvenience that amongst so many persons of different humors diverse interests and various designs Justice and Honesty will be violated private and open injuries will be offered