deserv'd not to see the Light yet the killing of them was a most Evil Example An Example that in latter Ages hath been scandalously followed by the Church of Rome and 't is the more to be Lamented because some furious Protestants followed it too The Burning of Servetus at Geneva was a Fact which the best Men of the Reformation would never go about to Justifie And the Author of the History of the Council of Trent tell us It was to the Admiration of many that the First Reformers did shed Blood in the Cause of Religion The Truth is such is the Spirit and Genius of Right Christianity that it savours of nothing but what is Pure and Desireable such as Meekness Patience Humility Goodness And with these most amiable Virtues Love Charity Peaceableness Moderation Gentleness Mercy and great Tenderness of Temper Though Charity it self may sometimes hold out a Rod to terrifie People from those Scandalous Disorders which Kindness alone cannot many times put a stop to yet to Vindicate even the true Faith with the cutting Arguments of Steel or by the Torments of the Stake is a Sign rather of a Barbarous than a Religious and Christian Mind Such Burning and Flaming Zeal as this the gentle Spirit of Christ doth not kindle I have now ended the Consideration of those things which I proposed at my Entrance upon this Discourse concerning Charity and in the most Useful because the most Practical Part of it I have as near as I could trod in the Steps of St. Paul himself who left us no less than Fifteen several Characters of Charity as a particular Direction for us how to express this most Necessary Christian and Comprehensive Virtue It is one great Argument of the Truth of Christianity that as its Doctrines are Reconcileable unto so the Duties of it are Founded upon the best Reason and are for the most part adapted to the Necessities and Interests of Humane Societies This particular Duty of Charity is one without which Societies cannot possibly subsist not in that happy Condition to be sure which Christianity hath an Eye upon in the Duties it lays before us if we were so wise as to consider and see where our Real Good lieth even in this World The Motions whether or Virtue or Vice carry a great Stroke with them and affect not our selves only but those also that are round about us And when the Apostle delineated this Virtue Charity it was upon great Consideration both of the Good Effects which attend it and of those very Evil Consequences which follow the several Vices to which Charity stands in opposition and they to it Hence it was that in shewing you the several ways of expressing your Charity I was concerned of course and necessity to take some Notice of those Operations and Consequences which Argue the great Reasonableness of your Practice as to this particular And hence too it was that in speaking of those Operations I have used all possible Plainness for every ones Conviction and this in pursuance of St. Paul's great Design to bring all our Hearts to a right Christian and Charitable Temper the Thing that is above all Things the Thing that we must mind very diligently if we expect ever to be saved We must not think to prescribe to our selves the Way to Salvation but we must take the Conditions of it at the Hand of God who alone hath a Right and Power to propose them and who alone knoweth which is the best way for us And Charity is the Way that he hath laid out before us in the Holy Scripture The same Jesus Christ that hath brought Life and Immortality to Light through the Gospel hath also revealed this as a Means of bringing us to that Life Immortal So that we must take the whole Revelation as it is and as well make the one part of it the Measure of our Practice as we make the other the Ground of our Faith and Hopes because the very same Revelation which gives us Authority to believe a future Blessed State shews us likewise the Necessity of a Charitable Temper in order to it There is one and the same Warrant for both and for that reason we must believe both or neither Indeed 't is very Suspicious that Uncharitable People believe very little of God and a future State whatever they pretend at least that they think not of these Things with that Seriousness and Intention of Mind which is necessary to prepare them for the Practice of Charity For such Divine Thoughts could not but affect them and work powerfully upon them did they really believe what is most certainly true that by wanting Charity they must needs come short of Heaven Charity is as indispensably necessary as Faith or as any other Act of Religion And that we may apply our Hearts in good earnest to the Study and Exercise of it let us at the close of this Subject consider briefly this one Thing only besides those Motives which have been considered already Namely What an Vncomfortable Condition People of Uncharitable Spirits involve themselves in continually How great soever their Health or Strength or Fortunes or their other outward Enjoyments may be they are the most miserable People in the World because all this while they are in an Unpardon'd State They go about with all their Sins bound and in danger of Eternal Damnation every moment for God is their Enemy and they his The Words of our Saviour are plain Matth. 6. 15. If ye forgive not Men their Trespasses neither will your Father forgive your Trespasses And to the same purpose saith the Disciple of his Bosom 1 John 3. 14. He that loveth not his Brother abideth in Death Hence it follows that the Ordinances of God though they be the standing Means of Grace and Salvation do such Uncharitable People no manner of Good but Hurt rather which is a great addition to their Misery The Hearing of God's Word doth but increase their Guilt The Sacraments of Christ's Body and Blood are like Poison to their Souls and their very Prayers which of all People they have most need to send up unto Heaven day and night are so far from availing them that they are turned into Abomination Prov. 28. 9. And what if Death should surprise such People unawares such Accidents do commonly happen nor is any Man secure but his Turn shall be the next to drop into the Grave on a sudden And what a desperate Condition doth he drop into who falls thus unawares with his Conscience burdened with such a heavy Sin and in a State of Enmity against the Laws of God and against the Saviour of the World It had been good for that Man had he not been born Mat. 26. 23. But 't is more than probable that Uncharitable Wretches seldom think of Dying much less of dying a sudden Death though Apoplexies and unexpected Accidents happen every where and are Daily Monitors to us all Let them presume then that some Lingering
Beautified Spirits different Degrees of Glory And though God himself be infinitely exalted above all yet Love is the Universal Principle and Perfection which unites God and all his Glorious Creatures with him into one inviolable Communion This being the State of the other World how can we be prepared for the Enjoyment of it or be fit to take pleasure in it unless we be Connaturaliz'd to it by a correspondence and agreeableness of Temper Some thoughtful and wise Philosophers among the old Heathens went upon this Principle that all Happiness consisteth in the Perfection of Nature And they did not only believe That the Soul is Immortal and shall find the Rewards of Simptic in Epicteâ— Virtue after its departure from the Body But believed too That its Felicity after Death lieth in such a perfection of its Faculties and Powers as is most suitable to a Rational Being That is in perfectly knowing every Thing which it is capable of knowing and in perfectly loving and doing Things that are most Excellent These are great Notions from Men that had not the benefit of Divine Revelation Nor do we find any thing in them but what is highly consistent with the Christian Philosophy for when that which is perfect is come we shall be like God himself in the Rectitude and Perfection of our Nature according to the Capacities of Created Beings And Charity being the greatest and most God-like Virtue every perfected Soul must needs be conformable to the Divine Nature by it which yet is not possible for any Soul to be but by exercising in this Life all those good Acts which serve to form it unto a Charitable Temper For this Temper is acquired as other Habits are by the constant Repetition of Actions which are therefore to be our Care and Business in this World because Heaven is a place not for the beginning but for the consummating of a Life of Virtue Nor can Death so alter and change a Man's whole State as to furnish his Soul with Inclinations and Qualities quite contrary to those it contracted in the Flesh so that if we be not charitably affected now we do but flatter our selves with vain and lying Hopes of a Blessed Eternity Though I have the Gift of Prophecy and understand all Mysteries and all Knowledge and though I have all Faith so that I could remove Mountains and have no Charity I am nothing And though I bestow all my Goods to feed the Poor and though I give my Body to be burned and have not Charity it profiteth me nothing saith the Apostle 1. Cor. 13. 2 3. For as it is God's Will and Purpose that Uncharitable Souls shall not by any means come into his Presence so the very Nature of the Thing renders their Access impossible because they are not fit to be Partakers of those Pleasures which are at God's right hand for evermore Hatred and Malice Rancour and Revenge Spightfulness and Envy are the Works of Hell and the Dispositions of those who are going apace thither nor are they fit to be in any Society but that of Devils and damned Spirits to whom they are already a-kin by Vice and into whose Company they are prepared to be gathered by an assimilation and likeness of Nature Upon this account it concerns us as much as our Everlasting Happiness is worth by all possible Acts of Charity to bring our Minds to such a loving Frame and Genius as when we die may be suitable to the State and Condition of Heaven 'T is true some particular Branches of Charity will cease there because there will be no need of them among the Blessed There will be no need of Alms-giving because in Heaven there are no manner of Wants There will be no need of Mutual Forgiveness because in Heaven there are no Injuries and Affronts Nor will there be any need of bearing with one another's Infirmities because in Heaven there is neither Sin nor Error However these and the like Acts of Charity must be performed and repeated by us here on Earth because in their kind they all serve as Means in order to the main End to cleanse the Mind from all Leaven of Malice and Naughtiness to raise and improve the Soul by degrees to perfect it insensibly by an Universal Love and to produce in it a true Heavenly Temper though they be of no further use to us when once we come to the actual Possession of an Heavenly State To illustrate this a little by a familiar Similitude In the training up of a Youth in the ordinary course of Learning many lesser Rules are necessary in the beginning a long Method great Readings many Observations and various sorts of Exercises are necessary in the Progress and all these help in their kind to improve ones Parts insensibly and to make at last a compleat Scholar though in the course of his Studies some of these Things are apt to drop out of his Memory And when he comes to be a Man and a Man of great Knowledge and Judgment many of them are quite forgotten and lost because they cease from being of any further use the Practice of them is no longer necessary but yet the Noble Effect which by the former Practice of them was produced doth remain to the last namely an Understanding now polished and perfected to a very high pitch by an Universal Knowledge The subservient Rules and Method are laid aside and gone many of them but the Perfection of the main Faculties and the Improvement of his Parts holds as long as his Life continues It is much after this manner that a Man is trained up and disciplined into a perfect Saint Several sorts of Charity are required of us now which are proper to a Militant State to a needy suffering Condition and therefore they must cease of course when we come to a State of Bliss and Glory Nevertheless they are at present wonderfully Advantageous to us because they do more or less all contribute towards Perfection they all serve in their kind and in some measure to bring the Soul to an habit of Universal Love and so to fit it for that blessed Place above into which nothing that is Uncharitable can enter By the Co-operation of every Charitable Act the Soul is better'd by degrees though we may not perceive its gradual Proficiency every moment It is the more and more improved and heightned towards Heaven and the more and more accomplished for it still so that when it departs out of the Body a State of perfect Peace and perfect Harmony and perfect Love is the most proper for it nay if I may so speak the only Natural State for it to be in And then the Soul finds the Noble Effects of every Work of Love the Divine Habits which every Work helped to produce and the Unspeakable Perfection every Work did prepare it for though in its flight to Heaven it droppeth some Works and leaves them behind it as the Prophet did his Mantle Men
to an habitual Practice of all manner of Piety and Virtue He which converteth a Sinner from the Error of his way shall save a Soul from Death Jam. 5. 20. Such a Man saveth several Souls at once his Neighbour's and his own too A most Honourable Office certainly the most Excellent Work that is Crowned with a Reward so Glorious so Infinite Secondly Charity obligeth us to express a tender Regard to the Worldly Necessities of others also according to our Abilities God who hath ordered all Things in Number Measure and Weight hath of his great Goodness and Wisdom made variety of Conditions among Mankind and hath so suited Men's Capacities Fortunes and Abilities to their several States of Life that every one is to be useful in some respect or other to the rest And because no Man can possibly live alone or support himself in a State of utter Separation from all others Common Necessity ties us all together like so many Limbs and Members into one Body that each may minister its Assistance towards the Maintenance of the whole Now so far as any one wants and becomes feeble so far it is disabled and hindred from lending its own help to its Fellows So that were nothing else to be consider'd but the Preservation and common Interest of Humane Society that alone would be enough to set all Hands at work upon extending themselves in Acts of Charity But our Obligations to it are the greater still because the Divine Being who careth for us all hath made that which is a Civil Duty to be a part of our Religion too that which the Necessities of Humane Society call for he himself requires as necessary in order to our Eternal Interest Upon both accounts therefore as we are Men and Christians also we must be very careful to express the Benevolent Disposition of our Hearts by all outward Acts of Beneficence according as our Stations and Capacities are and according as the Needs and Sufferings of other People require our helping Hand as to save Life when it is in danger to deliver Captives to relieve the Oppressed to take care of the Sick to help the Infirm to feed the Hungry to cloath the Naked to cherish the Comfortless to lift up the Head that hangeth down to visit the Fatherless and Widow in their Affliction and to send up to the God of Comfort our Charitable Intercessions for all It was a Pious and Noble Reflection which Job made upon himself in the midst of his own Distress Job 29. from Vers 11. to Vers 18. When the Ear heard me then it blessed me and when the Eye saw me it gave witness to me Because I delivered the Poor when he cried and the Fatherless and him that had none to help him The Blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me and I caused the Widow's Heart to sing for joy I put on Righteousness and it cloathed me my Judgment was a Robe and a Diadem I was Eyes to the Blind and Feet was I to the Lame I was a Father to the Poor and the Cause which I knew not I searched out And I brake the Jaws of the Wicked and plucked the Spoil out of his Teeth Thirdly Besides our doing Good to the Souls and Bodies of Men after this manner we are bound to express our Charity by being kind to their Reputation also Interest Fortune Comfort Peace Life it self depends upon this and it is the more necessary to be preserved with Care because it is easie to be lost and the hardest Thing to be recover'd Nay in some cases the common Welfare and the very Honour of God depends upon it too For if the Persons whose Credit is wounded be placed in any publick Station either in Church or State it will be impossible for them as long as the Wound remains to do the World that Good or God that Service which is the end of their Office and by this means the Blow striketh very deep and affects in some measure the whole Community And therefore for the Love of God and Man we should always endeavour either to prevent or heal If the Persons reproach'd deserve it not 't is but Justice to be their Advocates if they do 't is Charity however But what ever it be to them to be sure 't is Charity to the Publick and perhaps an Effectual as well as Charitable Way to shame and reclaim the false Accusers themselves whose business is not to convince or mend others but to expose them Besides rarely doth any one's Reputation bleed but the first Drop is drawn by those Backbitings and Whisperings which St. Paul mentions 2 Cor. 12. 20. by Artifices in private where the greatest Innocence cannot stand upon the Defensive and then 't is like the breaking in upon the Dead that cannot help themselves In which case Common Charity should move every Man to be for a Rescue Alas even Crimes should be buried and lie quiet in the Grave because they cannot appear above Ground without Scandal V. 5. Having shew'd you that Office of Charity which consisteth in Kindness or in doing others Good in every respect I proceed now to the next Character the Apostle gives of it Charity envyeth not That is will not be disturbed or grieved at another's Happiness or at any Thing wherein another excels The Scripture calls this Passion An Evil Eye Matth. 20. 15. And Plutarch compares it to a Disease in the Eye by means whereof it cannot endure to behold any splendid or bright Object Of all the Distempers of the Mind there is none that proceedeth from a worse nor yet from a weaker Cause for it is not grounded upon any Personal Crime but upon a Wicked Opinion of Partiality in Providence and upon an Abusive Conceit of ones own Deserts Where is any Injustice or Blame in the Man if God pleaseth to bless him with outward or inward Gifts above his Neighbours Yet this is the Original of Envy that for Great and Wise Reasons God doth dispense his Goodness to some with a more Liberal Hand than what he extendeth unto others And can any Thing be more wicked than to quarrel with the Divine Being for his Bounty Or can any Thing be more unreasonable than to find fault with a Man because he is happily made a Partaker of it For Anger and Hatred and some other Vices there might be some Tolerable Pretence did not the Laws of Religion forbid them This Vice is the most unfortunate of all that it hath no Covering but an Evil Heart But I am not now to consider so much the Unreasonable Nature of Envy as how contrary and opposite it is to a Spirit of Charity for whereas a Charitable Person wisheth well to all and endeavours as far as in him lies to do Good to all the Envious Wretch grieves and pines murmurs and complains frets and rages at his Neighbour's Happiness Such a Wretch is not so much as Charitable to himself because his great I had
submit my Private Sentiments and set them aside from being an hindrance to Unity and Peace Give none Offence neither to the Jews nor to the Gentiles nor to the Church of God saith St. Paul Even as I please all Men in all Things not seeking my own Profit but the Profit of many that they may be saved 1 Cor. 10. 32 33. He had a most difficult Task though he was an Apostle to please all Men in all Things But his meaning is that he took a ready way to please them if it were possible by suiting himself to them in every thing he could do for them without Sin And thus are we bound in Charity to our Fellow-Christians and in Duty to the Church of God as far as it lieth in our power to Comply in all Things especially in Things Established by Publick Authority Because differences in Religion are highly Scandalous hurtful greatly to the very Souls of Men accompanied with a world of Rancour and Uncharitableness and always tending to Confusion and to all Evil Works which naturally go along with Schism from the Church Therefore for meer Charity and Peace-sake were there nothing else we should be all of the same mind and if unhappily there be some difference in our Conceits we should nevertheless whereunto we have already attained all walk by the same Rule all mind the same Thing in hopes that in time by some means or other God will Reveal to us the Truth and Reasonableness of those Matters about which we are as yet differently perswaded Phil. 3. This is a sure Rule in such cases Hast thou Faith have it to thy self before God Rom. 14. 22. That is rather than occasion the least Sin or Scandal or Mischief in the Church keep thy Perswasion private if it be singular 3. A Thing which we should be the more careful of because Differences which begin in the Church are commonly carried off into Corners there to be fomented and ripened till at last they break out into the State and sometimes into the open Field to the great Disturbance of the Peace and Government of a whole Kingdom It is the Will of God that under Kings and all that are in Authority we should lead quiet and peaceable Lives in all Godliness and Honesty 1 Tim. 2. 2. And to this end we are commanded to study to be quiet and to do our own business 1 Thess 4. 11. Here then we must express our Charity in the third place by seeking not our own but the General Good of the Civil as well as Sacred Community we belong to Great are the Obligations which Nature it self hath laid upon Men to their Country insomuch that St. Paul wish'd himself accursed from Christ for his Brethren his Kinsmen according to the Flesh Rom. 9. 3. Meaning not that he might be Eternally Damned that Charity if yet it be true Charity is unnatural and too much even for a Christian but that he might be cut off from the Body of Christ here and from all the present Priviledges of Christians and if this were not enough that he might be delivered up to Satan in this World to inflict upon him all the Temporal Calamities he was capable of Suffering Persecutions Miseries of all sorts Death it self and whatsoever is most Grievous on this side Hell if thereby he might become an Expiation for his Country-men Like Zeal of Charity to that of Moses Exod. 32. 32. where he prayed to God to forgive the Sin of his People or if not to blot him out of his Book That is not out of the Book of Eternal Life but out of the Book of this Life that he might not behold the great Punishments which should come upon them These two noble Instances of Charity shew what Fervent Affections we ought to have for a whole Nation that is after a more peculiar manner Bone of our Bone and Flesh of our Flesh and how Passionately we should wish for as well their Temporal as Eternal Good and consequently seek it much rather than our own A very Learned Casuist and Prelate of our own calls this Allegiance to our Country Bishop Sander Case of the Engagem whence the Allegiance we owe the Sovereign Prince ariseth Originally because he is the Head of the whole Community So that it is with respect to the whole and in relation to the whole that the Duty to him becomes necessary by the Laws of Nature And hence it follows that Men's first Care should be for the Peace and Prosperity of the Community where the Original Reason of it lies The Truth is a Christian's Charity can hardly be extensive enough Prince and People and the whole World ought to have a Share of it Nor is any Thing more mean and unbecoming not to say Irreligious than a Narrow Sordid Hateful Spirit which seeketh its own Private Good only X. 10. Another Character of Charity that followeth now is that it is not easily Provoked or highly Exasperated But having already spoken of it I shall proceed to that which is next at hand it thinketh no Evil. Some Learned Divines think the Apostle's meaning to be That Charity doth not permit a Man to impute another's Faults and Miscarriages to him so as to upbraid him with them and to design him Evil or Hurt for them And indeed this is a Virtue very becoming and suitable to the Generosity of a Mind that is truly Charitable and Great and it is the more Laudable because it is not very common For such is the Temper of most People that they Treasure up Provocations against a Time of Wrath so that the Offender shall be sure to hear of them and to smart for them another day Nay it often happens that let a Man's Merits be never so considerable in other Respects they are forgotten or disregarded for one distastful Action No Allowance is made for Humane Infirmities and divers Circumstances which might well be pleaded in Abatement and Excuse of the Fault but the Memory of it continues and returneth still like the Pains of an old Sore against foul Weather All his Righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned so as to come into Account but for that one thing wherein he hath sinned he shall feel the weight of an Avenging Hand whether he Repenteth and Retracteth or no that is all one to the Uncharitable Person that meditateth Evil. But with Submission to better Judgments I conceive this cannot be the Genuine Sense of St. Paul here because it doth not come up to the Spirit and Height of this Christian Grace Not to design Mischief though it be an Essential Part yet it is no such great Commendation of that Charity which is properly Christian for Heathens themselves upon a Principle of common Virtue and Humanity have condemned all Mischievous and Revengeful Intentions And besides this is a Thing which hath already fallen under another Head that relateth to the moderating of Anger And to bring it in here again would