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
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
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