of as an Handkerchief to wipe off that slaver which they rudely cast upon them It may so said Eureketas and I think if I apprehend the Case right it is thus If I should go to Law with any Person before a Iudge and all People who hear my Case tell me That it is their Opinion that I shall be cast in my Suit and by some good means or other I understand from the Iudge the quite contrary Now hereupon I should be strangely dull and simple if I should be scared by them into a Distrust of my Suit and not rather dis-regard their Opinions and put my Confidence of Success in the Iudges Rightly very rightly infer'd said Eumenes and very apposite to our Purpose for if God says we do well when we Love our Enemies and that in so doing we shall get the greatest Gain and Honour we need not matter what others prate nor fear their evil Reports if he be for us we need not be 〈◊〉 who are against us I may add hereto That if we any whit value Generosity and Honour and think that good natural and gentle Behaviour are Qualities not to be ridicul'd we shall rather forgive than revenge the Affronts and hard usages of our Enemies for there are no Persons more Contemptible than they Who seek for Glory in revenge they are more like the Hangman who spares No body than to our gracious God Who spares when we deserve Punishment and in wrath thinketh upon Mercy Nay They are more cruel than any Hangman for he makes some delay at the place of Execution to permit the Condemned person to expiate for his offence by Confession and Repentance and after that executes him without any Symptoms of Anger and Hatred but they who resolve to revenge Offences rage like mad Dogs and enraged Wolves and were it possible would destroy the Bodies and Souls of their Enemies And now if to what hath been said to the Cavils of these Enemy-haters we add a Meditation on the Deportment of David to Saul we may for ever baffle their contradictious Humour and if hereupon they bend not to a more mild and soft Temper and become yielding and compassionate they will declare themselves very willful and perverse and receive the same measure from their offended God which they meet to their offending Neighbours for tell me I pray tell me do they say That they have an Enemy which is Matchless an Enemy Cruel Subtil Envious implacable and incorrigible yet he is not worse than Saul and yet he was beloved of David and once and again and frequently endeared to him And which is highly worth our Notice at those very times when he laid a thousand Snares and Traps for his Life and persever'd in his Tyranny in spight of a World of kindness and an whole Mine of Coals of Love laid on his head which should have melted him into a more mild Temper Now what can our Enemy-haters complain of which hath any Colour of likeness to this usage Which David met with from Saul Is it besides what hath been mentioned because their Enemies have forced away part of their Inheritance Is it because they damnified their Grain and Cattle in the Fields Is it because they pillaged their Houses and against all Equity possest themselves of their Goods and made them as poor as Iob Is it because they have maliciously poison'd the precious Ointment of their good Names Is it because they live better and are more eminent in the World and have a greater Credit and Repute with their sober Neighbours than themselves have Well be it for all or some of these Causes yet surely it never enter'd into their Thoughts to murder them and their Lives found better Usage than their Fortunes But was it not even so in this Example before us And yet to these these very Miscreants the love of a Royal Heart was exercis'd O Incomparable Love And though it may not find shall it also not make some Alteration in these Enemy-haters certainly it may provided they will be at the small pains to remember a Lesson but of one word and that is Consider But by your leave said the former Inquirer Eureketas what think you of that Expression of the Primitive Father Nazianzen wherein he says there is an unprofitable Peace and an useful sort of Discord Does it not contract that Duty which you spun out almost into an unmeasurable Line and is it not against the Love you plead for as being unacquainted with any Peace which is unprofitable or any Discord which is useful No no answered Eumenes but it intimates that our Love and Peaceable Temper to our Enemies should be declar'd not upon any Terms but only such as are Lawful or which have Peace with them without Confederacy with their Lusts and jar and fight with these whilst they kiss and embrace those I beg said Eureketas the Resolution of one more Problem from you and then praying your pardon for what is past shall give no more Interruption And it is whether what you have said would not prove as injurious to the Lawyers as Enemies are to them which hate them and whether they have not as great reason to be exhorted to love hereupon as any others who have been wronged in their Trades and Estates and good Names For should your Doctrine prove Orthodox there would be little to do in Westminster Hall and the Iudges have Dan. Cronlc H. 7. as much leisure to talk or fleep as they had in that part of one King's Reign when in one Term of the Year there was but one Sergeant at Law employ'd in that Place and whether this might be prejudicial and injurious to them or not will scarce require a Poll to determine In answer hereto Eumenes said that his Doctrine of Love-Enemy stood firm and was not built upon the prejudice of the Lawyers or the Ruines of the Magistrates Authority for though we may not take it our selves yet the Iudge and Magistrate may give us Satisfaction for Injuries and Affronts 'T is true we must not require it of them with ulcerated Minds that is with Anger and Pride and Malice and Revenge or Hatred or any such infectious Passions settled in them and breaking out from them against the injurious and harmful Person But with meek humble sober peaceable and N. B. mild Tempers and it must be from a Zeal for Iustice and for Quietness sake and from a desire to make them better who have wronged us and withal 't is much very much better to lose many nay all our Worldly Concerns than to let go our Patience and Christian Charity But since these Sayings says Eumenes may be thought to be only my own Thoughts and Iudgment I shall by dint of Argument defend and maintain this my Answer as I have the Office of Love-Enemy upon which this Question depends and my Reasons are partly because God hath appointed Magistrates and Trials of Cases and Iurisdiction and he doth nothing
David spared his raging Enemies and would if he could have obliged them For all Persons but those would have acknowledged themselves to have been so Let our next Stage be towards Mount Olivet and thence let us take a View of the Law of Grace and therein we shall find that the Holy Iesus St Stephen the Apostles and Martyrs and all Saints have been Exemplary herein this Motto was given by one of the first Rank of them Maledicimur Benedicimas 1 Cor. 4. It is true These were Saints and such to whom a large Manifestation of the Holy Ghost was given But yet Caesar and Pericles were not such nor were many others which we may call to mind from our own reading and observation and therefore what they did to procure a vain and transitory why should not we do to obtain a real and eternal Glory Moreover Ioseph David Stephen Paul and others were Saints yet at that time they were also Men they were kneaded up together of Flesh and Bones and we all know they had Sense and Blood and Choler tho' they were Pure and Holy and so ought we all to be otherwise we shall not enter into the Kingdom of God Thus we have heard that the whole World and each part of it enjoyn us by their Example to Love our Enemies And now Eumenes was passing on to his last Reason for this Duty But there being in this Congress a Nephew of his by his Sister Aurora named Musophil who Beloved of the Muses had been very attentive to what had been spoken and having peculiarly noted his Uncle's Argument for Enemy-Love which was drawn from Authority especially as to the two first parts of it made some sign to Glycon that they might admit of his chearful Interpone before any other Argument was urged in the present Matter This offer was kindly accepted and hereupon Musophil added to the Narrative of the first part of the Worlds Testimony for the Love of our Enemies this That Tho' 〈◊〉 with Storm the April Tulip be Yet when that 's or'e it smiles most gratefully And as unhurt Courts as before each Eye And again Th' Air pleasing Bird tho' turned out of Cage Wanders not to and fro in scraming rage But with her winged sails doth cruise in th' Air Back to her first place where she sings more rare I thank you said Eumenes for this gilt Button to my Freez Ierkin and for this carving said Glycon to our Oaken board And now Eumenes had in reserve his last Reason to Discourse upon but considering that 't would take up more time than could at present be well spar'd to make it clear and demonstrative to his Friends he kept it as a fit Subject for their hearing the next Meeting CHAP. XII Eumenes Second Discourse of the Love of Enemies WHEN they appear'd together again after the usual Formalities were over Eumenes assisted their Memories with a short Narration of whathad been formerly deliver'd and then past on to another main Reason why all Christians should Love their Enemies and this he drew from the State and Condition of all Persons in this World For says he We can go no where but we shall meet with opprobrious Terms and injurious Actions these are daily past N. B. upon us and we can get no Buckler large enough to defend us from them However unless we learn to Love these Enemies who are thus desperately bent against us and to Pardon their Affronts and sometimes wink at their Dis-obligations there will be no Love or Peace in this Life we must love them or we can scarcely Love any Body and therefore we should do exceeding well and that which would be much more than the value of our Pains to make this Virtue of Necessity And here I cannot choose but add That in this Life we are so frail of Temper and so full of Sin that the very thought hereof should hinder us from breaking the Band of Love when Injuries and Disgraces are cast upon us For to expostulate this Case a little I pray tell me Are we despised Let us consider that we N. B. have nothing Praise worthy Are we cheated or plunder'd of our Goods Let us consider that they were perishable and uncertain and that it becomes each of us to be as those who have nothing Are we hurt and maim'd in our Bodies We should consider that this is a sort of necessary Discipline taught us by God himself Are Traps and Snares laid for our Lives We should then consider what St. Paul in this very Case did and follow him Are we maliciously and peevishly slander'd and frequently ill spoken of We should then Note that our Great Master and dear Saviour was so used and when he was revil'd revil'd not again Now when we are gone hence and have proper time to Meditate let us do so by weighing these foremention'd Considerations and then we must think it reasonable to Love our Enemies so as to forgive and forget their Injuries And besides all this for Arguments in this Case swarm about us It is an Office most excellent in its Essence and Operations and highly Beneficial to those who can execute it and in good Earnest none can be more for it is a Matter Generous Noble and most Christian like To Love our Friends is a mere Mechanical Employ and can Challenge only the Name of Traffick or Merchandise for that is such and not Friendship which aims at Gain and only regards that it may be hoarded up To love our Friends is an Occupation which Publicans and Sinners can set themselves about Ay and by your leave said Musophil this Occupation as you well word it may and hath been manag'd by Creatures most irrational and vile For Wolves Vipers Lions Tygers can Give Love unto their Brood as well as Man The Youth who pickt the Thorne from th' Lion's Foot Got Friendship from him and his Life to 〈◊〉 It is well and truly observ'd said Eumenes but the Love of our Enemies is a Business of another kind and a Lesson of an higher form and a Star of a greater magnitude Believe it there is nothing of the forementioned Merchandize in it But we must acknowledge that there is in it another which is much more gainful for hereby we wind and turn the penny for things which are eternal It is not impossible but a Friend may be loved for the sake of God however it is not so apparent as that there can be no question made of it But when an Enemy is loved it seems as clear as Light it self that he is so in respect of God himself for where shall we find any other Motive to it 'T is certain that the Love of God doth not shine forth very hot in a Friend but in an Enemy it spreads forth its Beams largely and its Rays are very keen and servent And though thus to love be against Nature yet it is only that which is corrupt for it agrees and
is very suitable to that Nature which is improved and assisted by God's Grace I have heard long since that it was a St. Thom. § 22. Com. 27. qu. 7. Question put by a School-man Whether Art 11. the Love of a Friend or an Enemy be a matter most generous and excellent And he resolves it for the Love of the Enemy I shall not loaden your Ears by making Inserences hereupon nor scratch them by School-Briars You have heard my Argument in the case and let it sink or swim flourish or wither in your due Management of it while I proceed to add that the Office which we discourse of is profitable and advantageous It will appear in our progress that it is a single Ship far richer fraighted than an whole Fleet from the Indies and a single Medal of more value than all the Golden Mines in Peru. It is the Observation of an eminent Author Plut. de 〈◊〉 Inimicor That the Gardiners do expect that their Roses and Violets should flourish the better by being set near Leeks and Onyons and their Reason is because all the sowre Iuices of the Earth are conveyed unto them Semblably An Enemy by contracting to himself our peevish qualities may render us less humoursome and more candid and ingenuous to our Friends who are in a better and more happy Condition than our selves But there is a more excellent Author who in our matter in hand wraps up a better Observation than this in an elegant Trope and it is the Royal Prophet David for when he speaks of his Enemies his rancorous Enemies he says They compassed me about like Bees and burnt Psal. 118. me like a fire in the Thorns as I have read it translated signifying that as the Bee though she prick with her Sting yet N. B. gives excellent good Honey so our Enemies though they make us smart with their Injuries yet hereby they crown our Heads with an eternal weight of Glory and as fire amongst the Thornes affrights with making strange Noises and Cracklings yet afterwards it scoures the Field from Weeds and Fern and Trash so the troublesome Injuries of our Enemies being patiently suffer'd do purge our Souls from our Sins and conduct us to the Honour which is everlasting Thus these quaint Expressions of this Royal Prophet afford us special Evidence for the Gain which we may procure from the exercise of Love to our Enemies It is true there must be some Art made use of and some Prudence set a work to procure this Profit and we deny it not where we have less advantage than we may here look for But hereupon it will not fail us or we shall not be disappointed of our hopes or not ashamed and the Reason is plain for as Profit may be got not only from tame but wild Beasts not only from Trees in the Orchard but from those in the Wood and not only from sweet but from salt and bitter Waters In like manner Profit may be acquir'd not only from domestical kind and beneficial Friends but from cruel malicious and despiteful Enemies Moreover I can make it good that if we love them we may receive greater Profit from them than from our Friends and the Reason is because these as good Fields gives us Grain Flowers and Apples N. B. But when we have got the Skill to profit by our Enemies though they be as it were scraggy and barren Mountains yet they will give us Gold and precious Iewels and questionless Rich very rich Treasure lies hid under those Shrubs Thistles and Thorns of an Enemy For I pray Note our Bodies frequently obtain Benefit and Gain from our Friends but if we love our Enemies our Souls shall procure from them the chiefest and greatest Gain and this is so sure that 't was the Opinion of a Wise Father of the Christian Church That St. Bernard for advantage sake our Enemies should be loved more than our Friends for tho' says he they mischief our Bodies yet they profit our Souls because they prepare everlasting Rewards for them and tho' they pillage us of our Carnal and Earthly things yet they gather up for us those things which are spiritual and heavenly and hence the inference is plain They are best to be loved who give us the best things and as much to be preferr'd in the exercise of our Love as eternal Riches are to temporal It is true Our Friends give us sweet and luscious things but they stifle and choak our Souls and bring them into utter Perdition And it is as true that our Enemies hate and persecute us but they are hereby the Instruments whereby we obtain Happiness for our Lord and Saviour tells us that we are happy when we are so used and since it is thus what Friend can be so beneficial to us Moreover those who are truly Courageous Christians and we should strive to be so have so much servent Charity as that they can concoct Reproaches and Injuries and be nourish'd and grow by them It is noted by Plutarch that those Beasts which have great Stomachs and healthful Bodies though they eat Scorpions and Serpents yet they can digest them and he says that there be other Beasts which are nourish'd with Stones and Shells In like manner those Couragious Christians who are hot with the flame of Divine Love can digest all evil Surmises and Reproaches which are us'd against them and they can grow plump and fat with such sort of Serpents and Scorpions that is have their Graces exercis'd and encreas'd by them And hereupon I would to God we would all look back and think of the hot Stomachs of the Martyrs and then let us consider have not they there with digested flames and hot Irons And shall we we Christians of this Age be so squeamish and of such weak Stomachs as not to digest a few angry Words and Slanders O cold Stomachs What! have many valiant Saints upon Record nay delicate Virgins indur'd patiently Racks and Beasts and many other Torments and do we say that we can't suffer the Reproaches of vile Men Have they swallowed the most distasteful and can't we sip a scarce Bitter Potion For shame How can we have the Foreheads to pray to be Partakers of Eternal Bliss with these Saints whose Examples we will not follow in little matters Believe it it is a shrewd sign that we are mostly our own Enemies and that no Person injures us so much as we do our selves unless we add the Devil to boot For upon Examination we may find that his Cloven foot bruiseth us and not the hard kickes of our inveterate Enemies He sucks the Blood not of our Bodies but Souls and does not plunder us of our perishing and corruptible Riches but of those which are eternal Man who injures and persecutes us is not our Enemy but the Minister and Instructor N. B. of our Salvation for God through his means works it for he suffers the Sinner to