Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A31078
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Of the love of God and our neighbour, in several sermons : the third volume by Isaac Barrow ...
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Barrow, Isaac, 1630-1677.
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1680
(1680)
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Wing B949; ESTC R12875
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133,534
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328
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and the actions of our neighbour we may thence obtain a true opinion and just esteem of him and secluding gross folly or flattery of our selves how can we in that respect or instance be more kind or benign to our selves Is it not also within the compass of our ability to repress those passions of soul the eruption whereof tendeth to the wrong dammage and offence of our neighbour in regard to which practice Saint Paul affirmeth that the Law may be fulfilled Love saith he worketh no evil to his neighbour therefore love is the fulfilling of the law And what more in this respect can we perform for our selves 3. We may consider that commonly we see men inclined by other principles to act as much or more for the sake of others as they would for themselves Moral honesty hath inclined some ambition and popularity have excited others to encounter the greatest dangers to attaque the greatest difficulties to expose their safety to sacrifice their lives for the welfare of their Countrey Common friendship hath often done as much and brutish love that mad friendship as Seneca calleth it commonly doth far more for what will not a fond Lover undertake and atchieve for his Minion although she really be the worst enemy he can have yet for such a Snake will he not lavish his estate prostitute his honour abandon his ease hazard his safety shipwreck his conscience forfeit his salvation what may not a Delilah obtain of her Sampson a Cleopatra of her Anthony how prejudicial soever it be to his own interest and welfare Why then may not a principle of Charity grounded on so much better reason and backed by so much stronger motives be conceived able to engage men to the like practice why may not a man be disposed to doe that out of hearty good-will which he can doe out of vain conceit or vicious appetite why shall other forces overbear nature and the power of charity be unable to match it 4. Let us consider that those dispositions of soul which usually with so much violence do thwart the observance of this Precept are not ingredients of true self-love by the which we are directed to regulate our charity but a spurious brood of our folly and pravity which imply not a sober love of our selves but a corrupt fondness toward an idol of our fancy mistaken for our selves A high conceit of our worth or ability of our fortune or worldly state of our works and atchievements a great complacence or confidence in some endowment or advantage belonging to us a stiff adherence to our own will or humour a greedy appetite to some particular interest or base pleasure these are those not attendants of natural self-love but issues of unnatural depravedness in judgment and affections which render our practice so exorbitant in this regard making us seem to love our selves so immoderately so infinitely so contracting our souls and drawing them inwards that we appear indisposed to love our neighbour in any considerable degree If these as by serious consideration they may be were voided or much abated it would not be found so grievous a matter to love our neighbour as our selves for that sober love remaining behind to which nature inclineth and which reason approveth would rather help to promote than yield any obstacle to our charity if such perverse selfishness were checked and depressed but natural kindness cherished and advanced then true self-love and charity would compose themselves into near a just poise 5. Indeed which we may further consider our nature is not so absolutely averse or indisposed to the practice of such charity as to those may seem who view it slightly either in some particular instances or in ordinary practice nature hath furnished us with strong instincts for the defence and sustenance of our life and common practice is depraved by ill education and custom these some men poring on do imagin no room left for charity in the constitution of men but they consider not that one of these may be so moderated and the other so corrected that charity may have a fair scope in mens heart and practice and they slip over divers pregnant marks of our natural inclination thereto Man having received his soul from the breath of God and being framed after the image of his most benign parent there do yet abide in him some features resembling God and reliques of the divine original there are in us seeds of ingenuity of equity of pity of benignity which being cultivated by sober consideration and good use under the conduct and aid of heavenly grace will produce noble fruits of charity The frame of our nature so far disposeth us thereto that our bowels are touched with sensible pain upon the view of any calamitous object our fancy is disturbed at the report of any disaster befalling any person we can hardly see or reade a Tragedy without motions of compassion The practice of benignity of courtesy of clemency at first sight without any discursive reflexion doth obtain approbation and applause from us being no less gratefull and amiable to the mind than beauty to our eyes harmony to our ears fragrancy to our smell and sweetness to our palate and to the same mental sense malignity cruelty harshness all kinds of uncharitable dealing are very disgustfull and loathsome There wanteth not any commendation to procure a respect for Charity nor any invective to breed abhorrence of uncharitableness nature sufficiently prompting to favour the one and to detest the other The practice of the former in common language hath ever been styled humanity and the disposition from whence it floweth is called good-nature the practice of the latter is likewise termed inhumanity and its source ill-nature as thwarting the common notions and inclinations of mankind devesting us of our manhood and rendring us a sort of monsters among men No quality hath a clearer repute or is commonly more admired than generosity which is a kind of natural charity or hath a great spice thereof No disposition is more despised among men than niggardly selfishness whence commonly men are ashamed to avow self-interest as a principle of their actions rather fathering them on some other cause as being conscious to themselves that it is the basest of all principles Whatever the censurers and detractours of humane nature do pretend yet even themselves do admire pure beneficence and contemn selfishness for if we look to the bottom of their intent it is hence they are bent to slander mankind as void of good nature because out of malignity they would not allow it a quality so excellent and divine Wherefore according to the general judgment and conscience of men to omit other considerations our nature is not so averse from charity or destitute of propensions thereto and therefore cherishing the natural seeds of it we may improve it to higher degrees 6. But supposing the inclinations of nature as it now standeth in its depraved and
maketh the fray charity will avoid it for it neither will strike the first in offence nor the second in revenge Charity therefore may well be styled the band of peace it being that onely which can knit mens souls together and keep them from breaking out into dissensions It alone is that which will prevent bickering and clashing about points of credit or interest if we love not our neighbour or tender not his good as our own we shall be ever in competition and debate with him about those things not suffering him to enjoy any thing quietly struggling to get above him scrambling with him for what is to be had IX 4. As charity preserveth from mischiefs so it procureth many sweet comforts and fair accommodations of life Friendship is a most usefull and pleasant thing and charity will conciliate good store thereof it is apt to make all men friends for love is the onely general philtre and effectual charm of souls the fire which kindleth all it toucheth and propagateth it self in every capable subject and such a subject is every man in whom humanity is not quite extinct and hardly can any such man be seeing every man hath some good humour in him some bloud some kindly juice flowing in his veins no man wholly doth consist of dusky melancholy or fiery choler whence all men may be presumed liable to the powerfull impressions of charity its mild and serene countenance its sweet and gentle speech its courteous and obliging gesture its fair dealing its benign conversation its readiness to do any good or service to any man will insinuate good-will and respect into all hearts It thence will encompass a man with friends with many guards of his safety with many supports of his fortune with many patrons of his reputation with many succourers of his necessity with many comforters of his affliction for is a charitable man in danger who will not defend him is he falling who will not uphold him is he falsly accused or aspersed who will not vindicate him is he in distress who will not pity him who will not endeavour to relieve and restore him who will insult over his calamity will it not in such cases appear a common duty a common interest to assist and countenance a common friend a common benefactour to mankind Whereas most of our life is spent in society and discourse charity is that which doth season and sweeten these rendring them gratefull to others and commodious to ones self for a charitable heart is a sweet spring from whence do issue streams of wholsome and pleasant discourse it not being troubled with any bad passion or design which may sour or foul conversation doth ever make him good company to others and rendreth them such to himself which is a mighty convenience In short a charitable man or true lover of men will saith S. Chrysostome inhabit earth as a heaven every-where carrying a serenity with him and plaiting ten thousand crowns for himself Again X. 5. Charity doth in every estate yield advantages sutable thereto bettering it and improving it to our benefit It rendreth prosperity not onely innocent and safe but usefull and fruitfull to us we then indeed enjoy it if we feel the comfort of doing good by it It solaceth adversity considering that it doth not arise as a punishment or fruit of ill-doing to others that it is not attended with the deserved ill-will of men that no man hath reason to delight for it or insult over us therein that we may probably expect commiseration and relief having been ready to shew the like to others It tempereth both states for in prosperity a man cannot be transported with immoderate joy when so many objects of pity and grief do present themselves before him which he is apt deeply to resent in prosperity he cannot be dejected with extream sorrow being refreshed by so many good successes befalling those whom he loveth One condition will not puff him up being sensible of his neighbours misery the other will not sink him down having complacence in his neighbours welfare Uncharitableness proceeding from contrary causes and producing contrary effects doth spoil all conditions rendring prosperity fruitless and adversity comfortless XI 6. We may consider that secluding the exercise of charity all the goods and advantages we have our best faculties of nature our best endowments of soul the gifts of providence and the fruits of our industry will become vain and fruitless or noxious and banefull to us for what is our reason worth what doth it signifie if it serveth onely for contriving sorry designs or transacting petty affairs about our selves what is wit good for if it must be spent onely in making sport or hatching mischief to what purpose is knowledge if it be not applied to the instruction direction admonition or consolation of others what mattereth abundance of wealth if it be to be uselesly hoarded up or vainly flung away in wicked or wanton profuseness if it be not employed in affording succour to our neighbours indigency and distress what is our credit but a meer noise or a puff of air if we do not give a solidity and substance to it by making it an engine of doing good what is our vertue it self if it be buried in obscurity or choaked with idleness yielding no benefit to others by the lustre of its example or by its real influence What is any talent if it be wrapped up in a napkin any light if it be hid under a bushel any thing private if it be not by good use spread out and improved to publick benefit If these gifts do minister onely to our own particular advantage to our personal convenience glory or pleasure how slimme things are they how inconsiderable is their worth But they being managed by charity become precious and excellent things they are great in proportion to the greatness of their use or the extent of their beneficial influence as they carry forth good to the world so they bring back various benefits to our selves they return into our bosome laden with respect and reward from God and from man they yield thanks and commendation from without they work comfort and satisfaction within Yea which is infinitely more considerable and enhanceth the price of our gifts to a vast rate they procure glory and blessing to God for hereby is God glorified if we bring forth much fruit and no good fruit can grow from any other stock than that of charity Uncharitableness therefore should be loathed and shunned by us as that which robbeth us of all our ornaments and advantages which indeed marreth and corrupteth all our good things which turneth blessings into curses and rendreth the means of our welfare to be causes of mischief to us for without charity a man can have no goods but goods worldly and temporal and such goods thence do prove impertinent baubles burthensome encumbrances dangerous snares banefull poisons