with kindness wait to be gracious not easily provoked longer before He punishes That his love to Man should be equal and universal but managed with the most perfect wisdom diffused more warm and lively where it is necessary withdrawn and eclips'd as the temper of the subject may require it and all this without any cause or motive from without himself but it is the pure effort and energy of his own nature no sudden passion to beget it no slight mistaken injury no pride or envy to withdraw it but goodness sincere and pure equal and impartial exerted with the most perfect wisdom towards the whole Creation from the beginning of the world till time shall be no more O the depth of the riches both of the Wisdom and Goodness of God! These depths and these riches of his goodness are not to be understood but by a due intention of the mind But whosoever thus exerts his Mind his utmost self in the contemplation of God will love Him with his Mind too because Desire and Love are always equal to our knowledge That is the First The Second particular implied in the Love of God with all our Mind is the Highest and most extreme Delight in such conversation with Him and enjoyment of Him as is sutable to our present state Desire of conversation with the object is a necessary act of Love The nearer we approach it the more we expect to be pleased and when once we have attained to an intimate conversation then all our previous passion and desire is perfected We now enjoy the object in continual assurances of mutual affection we communicate our hopes and fears our Joys and griefs we consult advise and assist each other and this indeed was the end at first proposed Thus also in respect of God wheresoever the Glories of his nature are apprehended there the humble profession of our Love the desire of his acceptance the discovery of our needs the opening of our hearts the imploring his assistance the expression of our passion in Hallelujahs and Songs of Praise will follow of necessity Where these are wanting there can be no opinion of the Goodness and Omniscience of the Wisdom and Power of God But if our love of God be with all the Mind with a more quick sensation of these perfections acts of Religion will be our greatest pleasure our most ravishing Delight For by these we converse with that invisible Majesty we adore receive returns and pledges of his love assurances of his favour and encouragement in our choice That 's the Second The last particular act implied in the love of God with all the Mind is a fervent desire of perfect union with Him and the Everlasting Fruition of Him Desire of the most intimate union according as the object is capable of being enjoyed is a necessary part of love And in respect of God there is no one thing that the Scriptures do more plainly assert and inculcate than the union of pious Men with God Good men are said to be joyned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 glued to the Lord and to be one spirit to dwell in Christ to put on Christ to be as closely united as the Vine and branches as husband and wife as the foundation and the building as the Soul and body Finally as God and our blessed Saviour for so our Saviour prays Joh 17.21 that those whom thou hast given me may be One as thou Father art in me and I in Thee that they also may be one in us May be one in us not essentially or hypostatically but in the consent of their will in likeness of disposition temper and design as if they were acted by the same Principle and in this the proper unity of Souls consists And thus our Saviour explains the Unity of Believers with himself by bringing forth the fruits of righteousness John 15.15 Indeed the effects of this Union the delights and pleasures which fill the minds of those who are thus united to God are ineffable and therefore according to S. Paul Eph. 5.32 it is a great mystery Whosoever therefore loves the Lord his God with all his mind with clearer knowledge and more pure desire will be impatient of a perfect Vnion of the most full and satisfying fruition of God in Heaven The more we know of God the more our Souls will desire him because he is absolutly perfect and therefore we are sure to be for ever entertained with fresh discoveries of Beauty and Glory Enjoyment will inflame our desire till our Souls shall be wholly resolved into the object O how despicable will all the World appear even Lise it self in comparison of a more perfect participation of the Divine Nature How earnestly shall we expect till our Knowledge shall be improved into its utmost capacity that we may see him face to face How shall we long for such a compleat enjoyment as shall not be allayed by infirmities and sins by temptations and despondencies by natural corruptions and impure affections but continue for ever vigorous and fruitful constant and indissoluble And as these higher and more perfect degrees of Knowledge and desire ought to be pursued as a duty so they are sometimes bestowed upon the diligent and sincere as a reward God is pleased to manifest himself unto them to raise their desires and refresh them with returns of his Love and cause them to drink of the rivers of His pleasure But if we never attain to this more spiritual frame if our minds through worldly impediments shall never be improved into a distinct and clear perception of the Attributes of God Yet if our love of God be with competent knowledge and great sincerity if it be fruitful in the necessary acts of Imitation Faith Obedience and the rest it will be rewarded and made perfect hereafter though it never arrive at the more perfect Knowledge and Desire of God here And thus I have considered the particular parts the necessary acts and exercises of love to God First with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul secondly with all thy Mind And the duty so particularly stated and examined we may easily discern the reason of that primacy and precedency which our Saviour ascribes to this above all the Commands of God This is the first and great Commandment And this was the Third head of discourse proposed It is first in the disposition of God himself He begins his Instituion of Laws with Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy Mind Deut. 6.5 It is first in the order of Nature it is the root the principle and reason of all other duties whatsoever It is first in respect of the Object end or final resolution of the Duty being chiefly exercised upon the Majesty of God himself It is first in respect of Amplitude and Capacity forasmuch as all the other duties of Religion have a necessary dependance upon it and relation to it And the
Duty being found so Honourable in its order so pleasant and agreeable to the humane Nature in it self my pains in proposing Motives which was the Fourth particular are I hope prevented The distinct understanding of the Divine Perfections requiring such intention and purity of Mind such a concurrence of circumstances as are competent to very few therefore our Saviour urges the duty of love to God by an Argument that falls under Sense and is easily understood of all that is to say our Relation to God Thou shalt love the Lord thy God Though God is infinitely perfect yet he vouchsased to impart his likeness and form a relation to himself that he might exercise his Goodness upon us and make us happy First in our Creation in the Dignity Liberty and Ingenuity of our Nature acting as God freely and for the sake of ends understanding clearly loving regularly capable of Arts Philosophy Policy and Religion and are sure to live for ever Secondly in our Redemption when we so foolishly desire to be independent and did what lay in us to cast off our Relation to God then God that knew our infirmities pitied our follies and redeemed us by the blood of his Son from the captivity of sin from our miserable servitude under the Tyranny of our selves our irregular lusts and passions and restored us to the rectitude of our Will to the Love and Obedience of himself again Thirdly in His particular Care and Providence The Government of God is managed by infinite Wisdom And though all his benefits are not bestowed upon every man yet if we rightly judge we shall find they are dispensed with an equal and impartial hand If one has riches another has health if one has external honour another has a good reputation if one has strength another has wit Every man for the most part has some particular happiness in his own condition sufficient to ballance his wants Thou shalt therefore love the Lord thy God What therefore now remains Vse but that we resolve to determine our Affections which are never idle never indifferent upon this most perfect Object of whom our opinion shall never vary our desire shall never cool enjoyment never clog where our reception shall be gracious and our passion encouraged whose kindness is immutable and whose Love is Operative It is Strength in Difficulties in Hazards Wisdom in Temptations Victory in Distress a Refuge in Fears a Support in Death everlasting Life to which of his Mercy may He bring us all for Jesus Christ his sake the Righteous To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be ascribed all Honour Praise and Obedience now and for evermore Amen Matth. xxii 39 40. And the Second is like unto it Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self On these Two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets THE Pharisees envying the Fame of our Saviour's Wisdom and fearing the success of his doctrine and the revolt of the Jews V. 15. took counsel together how they might intangle him in his talk and resolved upon a Question of State to be propos'd unto him Is it lawful to pay tribute to Caesar or not V. 17. To which they knew a direct and positive answer would either betray him into the high dipleasure of the King or at least into the hatred of the Potent Faction of Herodians But our Saviour who knew their thoughts defeated their malice by such a prudent and inoffensive answer as neither Party could except against viz. Render therefore unto Caesar the things that are Caesars V. 22. and unto God the things that are God's and when they heard these words they marvelled and left him and went their way V. 23. and the same day the Sadducees came to him also who indeed believe no future state at all but they dissembled their opinion for the present and pretended to consult our Saviour as if they sincerely desired his Judgment in a case concerning the Resurrection of the dead but in truth with intent to expose the doctrine it self Namely if a Woman have seven Husbands upon Earth V. 28. in the Resurrection whose of the seven shall she be In answer to which our Saviour corrects their false and gross opinion of the future life and shows them their ignorance of the state of the question they proposed For in the Resurrection they neither marry V. 30. nor are given in marriage and thus with the same most perfect wisdom he astonishes the multitude V. 33 34. and put the Sadducees to silence too Last of all a Lawyer having heard of the wisdom of our Saviour that he had put the Sadducees to silence and was able to answer all the doubts and Questions concerning the life to come inquires of our Saviour under the style of Master V. 36. Which is the great Commandment Jesus saith unto him Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind This is the First and the Great Commandment and the second is like unto it Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self On these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets Which words are a general Account of the Way and Method whereby we may attain everlasting life of such a conversation and course of action here as will procure to us everlasting blessedness in the World to come And all the duties qualities and habits which are required of us as conditions of Eternal life are comprehended by our Saviour under these Two Heads The first respects our duty towards God Thou shalt love the Lord thy God c. The second respects our duty towards our Neighbour in the words of my Text And the second is like unto it Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self On these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets In the handling of this useful and necessary Argument I shall confine my Discourse to this following Method First I shall explain the nature of the duty and consider what is understood by loving our Neighbour as our selves Secondly I shall illustrate the beauty and necessity of universal love and urge it upon your practice by several Arguments couch'd and implied in these words Thy Neighbor Thirdly I shall represent the likeness of this command to the former that of love to God in several Particulars and the second is like unto it Fourthly I shall consider upon what Accounts the Law and the Prophets are said to depend upon these two On these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets Fifthly and Lastly I shall make Application of the Whole I begin with the first of these viz. the explication of the duty what is understood by Loving our Neighbour as our selves and that I may proceed more clearly I shall briefly consider these Three Things First Who we are to understand by our Neighbour Secondly What by Loving our Neighbour Thirdly What by Loving our Neighbour as our selves And first by our
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
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
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
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