ij 9. tasted death for every man 'T was a love to mankind that he manifested when he became Man and when he died on the Cross which Consideration is of mighty force to engage us to this Extensive Charity He loved his Enemies he prayed and died for them And God as Jesus tells us causeth his Sun to rise on the evil as well as the good That is He does good to his Enemies that we might think our selves obliged to do good to ours II. In the next place I consider the Degree of this extended Charity It does not onely extend to our Enemies to them that curse and hate us that despitefully use and persecute us but it does this in a great degree We must love them bless them do them good and pray for them For our Enemies we ought not indeed to study revenge upon them and we are apt to think we acquit our selves fairly if we do not but our Lord carries it farther But I say unto you Love your Enemies For them that curse us it is not enough that we forbear to curse them our Lord says Bless them that curse you For them that hate us it is well indeed that we do them no harm but our Lord goes farther Do good to them that hate you For those who despitefully use us and persecute us we do well not to imitate them and not to return upon them with spitefull injuries and ill turns Thus far the best of the Heathen Philosophy directs us But our Lord carries it higher still Pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you This is the greatest pitch and the highest flight of Charity This is above the rate and measure of any other Philosophy or Institution We shall be apt to say as upon alike occasion the Apostles said unto the Lord Increase our faith This extent and degree of Charity does speak it Christian and does distinguish it from the limited and less Charity required by the Letter of the Law of Moses And as this is required by Jesus so what hath bin said upon this occasion will help us to understand our Saviour's words I mean those words of his John xiij 34. A new Commandment I give unto you That ye love one another as I have loved you that ye love one another Here our Lord requires both the greatest extent and the highest pitch of Charity And now it will be very easie to understand why Jesus who elsewhere calls it the great Commandment Matt. xxij 39. and his Commandment should call it a New Commandment John xv 12. It is true indeed that Thou shalt love thy neighbour was a Precept as old as Moses And yet this Precept as required by Jesus is a New Commandment because it extends to new objects and requires an higher pitch besides that the motive from whence it stands commended to us is new also As I have loved you that ye love one another What St. John says elsewhere is no objection against this account of our Saviour's words 'T is true when he speaks of this Precept He tells us that it is not a new Commandment but an old Commandment and which we heard from the beginning 1 John ij 7. with 2 Ep. v. 5. 1 Ep. iij. 2. There is no difficulty arising hence For it was no new Commandment to Christians at that time when St. John wrote those Epistles For as the Precept it self was old even as old as Moses so they had bin acquainted with the extent and degree of it from the beginning i. e. from our Saviour and the beginning of Christianity For that expression imports no more in that place and in that sense it is also used 1 John ij 24. Let that therefore abide in you which ye have heard from the beginning If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you ye shall also continue in the son and in the father The beginning here imports the beginning of Christianity as is evident from the Context And so it signifies in those words This is the message that ye heard from the beginning that we should love one another 1 John iij. 11. These Holy Precepts are not hard to be understood There 's no difficulty appears as to that matter if we look them over severally To love our Enemies imports Benevolence and a disposition to do them kindnesses Bless them that curse you This is explained sufficiently by St. Peter 1 Pet. iij. 9. Not rendring evil for evil or railing for railing But contrariwise Blessing knowing that ye are thereunto called For the next Do good to them that hate you tho' it be plain enough without a Comment yet St. Paul gives us a short Paraphrase upon it Rom. xij 20,21 If thine enemy hunger feed him If he thirst give him drink Be not overcome with evil but overcome evil with good For what follows Pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you nothing is more easie to be understood And the dying words of our Lord and of St. Stephen are most conspicuous Exemplifications of it These Precepts also as they stand commended to us in our Holy Religion are very reasonable and just We have no cause to complain of them or find any fault with them The practice of them is very much for the Peace of Societies and Communities and will prevent innumerable mischiefs which follow from malice revenge and rendring evil for evil Besides the practice of these lessons is commended from the most powerfull Considerations and such they are as speak our Obedience reasonable and render it easie also And they are such as these 1. The Example of God himself God is kind to his Enemies and therefore 't is very fit we should be so to ours 'T is our Saviour's argument in the words next following the words of my Text. Matt. v. 45. That ye may be the children of your father which is in Heaven For he maketh his Sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sendeth rain upon the just and upon the unjust God feeds and preserves and heaps his Benefits upon those who deny his Being or his Providence and that call not upon his Name 2. Our Blessed Saviour loved his Enemies he died for them and prayed for them even when they were putting him to death Rom. v. 8. Father forgive them God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us This is a very powerfull Consideration to every sincere Disciple of Jesus 3. Forgiveness of Enemies is made the condition of our own pardon and acceptance with God Matt. v. 23,24 vj. 14,15 xviij 35. And now 't is not onely our duty but our interest which generally lays the surest hold of Mankind To which I may add 4. That we are all very obnoxious to God We need great forgiveness Who can understand his Errors In many things we offend all There is no kind of proportion between our many
and aggravated Sins against God and the little injuries and trespasses which we do to each other The first are expressed by Talents the other by Pence Matt. 18.24.25 The first by the number of Ten thousand the other of an Hundred 'T is not hard to remit a small Summ when we need the remission of so vast an one He cannot find any difficulty to forgive a small debt that so much needs to be forgiven the greatest In a word to love our Enemies is an imitation of God and our dear Master 'T is an argument of a great and generous Mind 'T is equally our duty and our interest 'T is for the good of this lower World and the way to a better 'T is the Ornament of our Religion and speaks the perfection of our Nature and an high degree and pitch of Vertue As to the latter part of the words of my Text Pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you That will require a more particular and separate Consideration For tho' those words are-easie to be understood and our duty from them was commended by the Example of our Saviour Yet it may still be demanded if all manner of Prayer against our Enemies be there strictly forbid Obj. For we find the Psalmist frequently praying against his Enemies And the book of Psalms makes up a considerable part of our public Service and we commonly bear a part in our Responses therein And yet we find there a great many Curses and Imprecations which we repere in our daily Service without any scruple or remorse Thus we find him praying Psal vj. 10. Let all mine enemies be ashamed and sore vexed And x. 2. Let them be taken in the devices Again Psal xxxv 4. Let all them be confounded and part to shame c. xl 8. Let the sentence of guiltiness proteed against him lv 16. And now that he lyeth let him rise up no more Again lviij 6,7 Let death come hastily upon them and let them go down quick into Hell lix 5. Let them be rooted out and consume away like a snail We elsewhere find him speaking of seeing his desire upon his Enemies cxviij 7. To which I answer in the following particulars I. That it is certain that the Hebrews have no such thing in their Language as an optative Mood And therefore we cannot from the bare formation of the Verb conclude the desire or wish of him that speaks For the truth of this I appeal to those who are best skilled in that language II. That however they have a way by which they express their wish or desire that a thing should come to pass This the Psalmist does by two words which express the desire of the speaker 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thus Psal xiv 7. liij 6. O that the Salvation of Israel were come out of Sion And lv 6. O that I had wings like a Dove c. After this manner does the Psalmist express his wish or desire But he no-where useth this expression where he is supposed to pray against his Enemies III. That it is very evident that the Psalmist was far removed from that Spirit of revenge supposed in the Objection Psal vij 3,4 O Lord my God if I have done this if there be iniquity in my hands If I have rewarded Evil to him that is at peace with me yea I have delivered him that without cause was mine Enemy Again Psal xxxv 13. They rewarded me evil for good to the spoiling of my soul But as for me when they were sick my clothing was sackcloth I humbled my soul with fasting and my prayer returned into mine own bosom I behaved my self as tho' he had bin my friend or brother I howed down heavily as one that mourneth for his mother The Psalmist elsewhere tells how he was affected as to his Enemy lv 12. It was not an Enemy that reproached me then I could have born it David might well say so He did with singular meekness bear the Reproaches and Curses of Shimei and the causeless Persecutions of Saul without rendring evil for evil or railing for railing It is not then very credible that he should curse his Enemies in his prayers and solemn devotions and which he wrote by Divine Inspiration IV. That the Verbs in the Hebrew in the places above cited and elsewhere are in the future tense And if some there be of the imperative mood it alters not the Case because the Hebrew Grammarians agree that the imperative is but another future R. Mos Kimchi Grammat cum L'Empereur There is not in any one of these places any Expression that imports any wish or desire And then these Expressions are rather predictions than prayers and tell us what shall come to pass rather than what the Psalmist desires This is no new opinion nor without ground Non optat sed praevidet Prophetia est praenunciantis non votum maledicentis August This agrees well with the Psalmist's manner of speech elsewhere Psal i. 5,6 ix 3. xcij. 9. xciv 23. He tells us that the ungodly shall not stand in judgment that their way shall perish that his Enemies shall fall and that all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered and that He shall cut them off in their own wickedness In these places our Interpreters have kept to the future They had the same reason to have done it elsewhere especially in those words Let his days be few and let another take his office They might as well have rendred them His days shall be few and another shall take his office cix 8. with Act. i. 16. 'T is certain this contains a prediction of the fate of Judas and St. Peter mentions this Scripture as a Prophecy not as a Prayer He tells us that this Scripture must needs be fulfilled which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David SPAKE BEFORE concerning Judas And if this be so no man can blame the Psalmist for denouncing Evil against Evil men any more than he ought to blame the Prophets for Prophesying Evils against the greatest Sinners and Persecutors of God's Church and People V. It is farther to be considered that many of those places in the book of Psalms are to be understood of the Enemies of God and of his Church Psal v. 10. x. 2. lxix 22. lxxix 12. lxxxiij 13. cix 8. cxxix 5. And therefore the Psalmist is not to be supposed to indulge himself the liberty of Imprecations and Curses against his private and particular Enemies when he denounceth Woes against the Enemies of God and his Truth Besides 't is certainly lawfull to pray against the Enemies of God and of the truth and publick peace and those whom gentle means are not likely to reduce and such there are many times who are incorrigible We have an antecedent obligation to God and to the Community whereof we are members and where our Cause is righteous