c. It was not so much by your design as by the will of God that I was sent hither Therefore Load your Beasts and go up to my Father into the Land of Canaan and bring him and all your Kindred from thence and I will give you of all the good things in Egypt and you shall eat the marrow of the Land Thus did the good Joseph requite the unkind wickedness and ill-will of his Brethren with love But what shall we say of the Royal Prophet King David how much was he hated by Saul and how often persecuted by him to so great extremity that he was in imminent danger of his life thereby yet he never hated Saul upon that account but did him all the good Offices he could saving him several times when he was in his power and that David might at once have ridded himself of a cruel Enemy and gained both Crown Scepter and Kingdom to which he had right sufficient being by Gods special appointment anointed King over Israel to succeed after Saul The good King found his Enemy fast asleep his Spear fixed in the ground at his head and Abner with all the rest of his people sleeping about him yet would he not hurt him And when Abisai one of the Captains of King David offer'd himself to dispatch Saul at one blow alledging some shew of reason for it Because God had now deliver'd his Enemy into his hands and he ought not to neglect the opportunity which Providence gave him of securing himself David would by no means listen to the motion but forbad him doing any such thing in these express words 1 Reg. 26. 9 10 11. Kill him not For who can extend his hand against the anointed of our Lord and be innocent Vivit Dominus quia nisi Dominus percusserit eum c. As our Lord liveth unless God shall strike him he shall not be stricken by me or that his day come to die or that descending into a Battle he perish so God be merciful to me I will not lift up my hand against our Lords Anointed The New Testament wants not innumerable other Examples of this kind namely the Examples of all the holy Martyrs both of ancient and late Times who following the Example of Christ our Saviour have ever prayed for their Enemies and Persecutors with such fervent Devotion and ardent Charity that very often their Enemies and Persecutors have been converted by that means and become great Saints and Martyrs themselves Look but into the Acts of the Apostles there you presently meet with the Blessed Martyr Saint Stephen in the midst of his Sufferings praying for his Enemies in these words Acts 7. v. 60. Domine ne statuas illis hoc peccatum Lord lay not this sin to their charge The effect of which Prayer was besides other not mentioned the present Conversion of Saint Paul one of his greatest Persecutors For behold while he was in his greatest fury against Christians and posting in all haste to Damascus with Commission and Design to make havock of the poor Church there as we read Acts 9. 4 17. Christ appeared to him saying Saul Saul why persecutest thou me As if he had said I should have lost thee standing so much against me and my name But my Servant and Martyr Stephen praying for thee for his sake you are a chosen Vessel unto me and shall bear my name before the Gentiles and Kings and Children of Israel In the same manner and for like reason it is reported by Saint Chrysostom of Saint James the Apostle that he who lead him to the Execution of his Martyrdom was so much moved with the great zeal and constancy of this holy Apostle that he ask'd him forgiveness for what he was to have done which the blessed Apostle most willingly gave him embracing him and saying to him Pax tibi sit Frater Peace be with thee my Broter At which Salutation the poor man was so animated and encouraged that he forthwith publickly professed himself to be a Christian and was upon that Confession made a Martyr having his head likewise cut off Let these few Examples suffise to give you strength and courage to do the same whensoever occasion shall require it of you At all times let us be prompt and willing to forgive our enemies seeing God is so ready at all times to forgive us having penitent recourse unto him Be not of the number of those who when duty requires of them to follow the example of Christ and to forgive and love their enemies make their excuse and say Christ was God and most Divinely perfect and consummate in all goodness but they are weak men and cannot reach so high perfection as to forgive and love enemies persecutors c. But in vain it is for them to use such speech it will not serve their turn it will be no just apology for them at the latter day And verily it is to be admired how such persons can say their Pater Noster or how they can address themselves to God to be forgiven in the terms they do For they say Dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut nos dimittâ—mus debitoribus nostris Forgive us our debts as we forgive our Debtors As we forgive others so let us be forgiven What iâ— this but to pronounce Sentence againsâ— our selves if we do not forgive others Delay not therefore to make good your promise and to discharge your obligation Forgive your enemies as you would be forgiven of God Love your enemies as you desire that God should love you For otherwise I do let you all know that who so hates his Neighbour or Enemy it matters not which all 's one in this case renders himself uncapable of begging forgiveness from God he is so far from obtaining his request that he cannot without most grievous sin and entangling his Soul with further guilt make such a request unless we do first lay aside all hatred by loving pardoning and forgiving our enemies in heart 't is in vain for us to expect any mercy from God It is against all reason that God should love him who is not in true Charity with all Those that wish harm to others and will not forgive injuries received it is evident they do not love they are not â—n true Charity and consequently not in God according to the Doctrine of the holy Apostle 1 Joan. 4. v. 8. He that loveth not knoweth not God for God is love Sect. 4. In what manner of Love we are to love our Neighbors and our Enemies According to what we have said in the two precedent Paragaphs we must not only love our Neighbors and our Enemies but we must also forgive them yea though they should be obstinate and not repent for what they have offended us but should rather continue and encrease their enmity towards us than seem to desire reconciliation For we are not to reflect upon their obstinacy or disaffections but to perform what is requir'd on our
said that the Servants of King David being sent by the express Order of their Master and in His Name to salute Nabal and in a peaceable manner to request some Victuals of him the proud Churl answer'd the Kings Servants with this contemptuous Language v. 10. Quis est David quis est filius Isay c. Who is David and who is the Sonne of Isay There be many servants nowadayes that runne away from their Masters Shall I then take my Bread and my Water and the Flesh of my Cattle that I have killed for my Sheerers and give it unto men whom I know not whence they be and thus scornfully dismissed the servants with empty hands But his churlishness had cost him dear if his Wife Abigail had not been wiser than himself For David for his proud contempt had resolved to destroy him and all his houshold but that was prevented by the prudence and more kind respect of his Wife Abigail so that no harm came to him from thence Howbeit Divine Justice would not suffer his contemptuous Fact to pass unpunished For after the space often daies strucken partly with terrour of mind for having so highly and unworthily offended the King and partly by the hand of God he died For which cause David blessed God who had taken vengence for him and judged the cause of his reproch at the hand of Nabal keeping him from doing evill that is from taking revenge himself and returning the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head v. 37 38 39. Sect. 4. Malediction upon those that contemn their Neighbour The most just and equal rule of the Gospel is Dilivered by Saint Luke chap. 6 v. 31. As you would that men should do to you do ye also to them likewise we must do as we would be done by Now seeing that naturally and ordinarily speaking no man desires to be contemn'd or despised by his Neighbour if we do despise or contemn our Neighbours it cannot be but that we make our selves Transgressors and become guilty before God in further proof whereof the New Testament will not leave us unfurnished of many Signal Instances and Texts whereby it clearly appears how much offenders in this kind that is contemners and despisers of their Neighbours are rejected by God and remain lyable to severe punishment In Saint Matthew's Gospel we read chap. 5. v. 22. That whosoever shall say to his Brother Raca shall be in danger of the Council and whosoever shall say unto him Thou Fool speaking out of contempt and despite shall be guilty of Hell Fire Oh how many doth this Sentence of Christ send to Eternal Flames and yet few or none lay it to heart Why will you judge so meanly of your Brother Why will you despise and set at naught your Brother saith Saint Paul Rom. 14. v. 10. Is this to do as you would be done by We must all stand before the Tribunal of Christ and every one must give account of himself to God and particularly how he hath behaved himself towards his Neighbour Therefore take heed and be admonished in time How greatly was that proud Pharisee to be blamed upon this account of whom mention is made Luke 18. 11 12 c. who made no scruple to contemn all in comparison of himself and to prefer himself before all in point of Sanctity and Holiness of Life beginning his Prayer thus God I thank thee that I am not as other Men are Extortioners Vnjust Adulterers c. By which expressions instead of making humble Prayer and Supplication to God he vaunts in his own praise as being Just seeking his own more than Gods Glory In saying he was not as other Men Extortioners c. He says in effect All besides my self are Sinners great and grievous Sinners wherein the rashness of his Judgment contends with the height of his Pride which though it made him point at the poor Publican by name for a notorious Sinner and to brag of his own Merits I Fast twice in the Week I give Tythes of all that I possess Yet it could not hinder the humble and penitent Publican whom he so much despised from going home more justified before God than himself nor that himself should not be involved in that just sentence which our Saviour pronounceth upon this occasion v. 14. Omnis qui se exaltat humiliabitur Whosoever exalts himself shall be humbled or brought low Sect. 5. Remedies against the con The best Remedy that I can prescribe against this Malignant Disease is to have a good Opinion of every one be his quality and condition outwardly to the World what it will laying all rash Judgments and uncharitable Censurings aside and considering our Neighbours Actions always in the best sense and condemning none but our Selves the World and the Evil that belongs to it Put case that perhaps you see or discover some Person or some People to be in Errour or to do Amiss yea worse than your self and that you take your self to be altogether free of subh Transgressions yet examine things well and be sure that you are not addicted to any other kind of Faults Infirmities Sins which may render you worse than those you have in contempt For if it be thus with you your contemning others upon the account of Sin will be found no small Sin in your self And if nothing occur to you of that nature that is if your Conscience well examined shews you nothing that â—s much amiss in your self thank God for his Grace and in relation to your Neighbour call to mind and practice that which Saint Paul Gal. 6. v. 1. requires in these words Fratres si praeoccupatus fuerit homo in aliquo delicto c. Brethren if a Man be overtaken in a fault you that are Spiritual instruct such a one in the Spirit of Lenity considering thine own self least you also be tempted Bear ye one anothers burthens In Charity and Meekness we may admonish those that offend when we see it convenient and do prudently hope that good Counsel may take some place with them but we may never revile them with opprobious Language nor treat them contemtuously in this work especially we must leave off all bitterness anger indignation clamour and evil speaking with all malice or envy as the same Apostle speaks Ephes 4. 32. We must carry our selves gently in all chings that we may edifie our Neighbour and as tender-hearted towards him being so far as it lies in us always ready to pardon him as God in Christ hath pardoned us v. 32. If examining your Conscience you find your self guilty of the like Offences what have you more presently to do than to repent and amend your own fault first before you think of admonishing reproving or correcting your Neighbour and in doing otherwise you do but incur that great and just reproof which our Saiviour useth in the Gospel Luc. 6. v. 41. against those busie ill-sighted Hypocrites that could easily espy and take notice of small
distempers both of Flesh and Spirit in those Inhabitants of the Old World that Gods Service was generally neglected and all manner of wickedness and lewdness so practised that Almighty God did therefore resolve to bring that general Deluge upon the whole World and by a Flood of Waters at once to drown and destroy all Mankind of which we read Gen. 6th and 7th Chapters Noah only who was righteous before God Ch. 7. 1. and his Family being saved And yet notwithstanding this general washing the World could not be so totally purified and cleansed but that the filthiness of this sin beside so many others still remains and sticks to the Posterity of Noah unto this day all Mankind generally speaking and all the Nations of the Earth labouring under it in a most sickly and weak condition and many absolutely perishing by means thereof The World still abounds with lewd persons walking in the lusts of Concupiscence notwithstanding that the blessed S. Paul so expresly warns and threatens them with death for it Rom. 8. 13. Si enim secundum carnem vixeritis moriemini c. If you live according to the lusts and sensualities of the flesh ye shall die all of you without exception which S. Hierome in his Comment upon this place of the Apostle confirms saying that Whosoever living in the body useth Carnal Copulation with any out of lawful Wedlock at the same instant he dies spiritually and perishes as to the life of his Soul Hugo that Worthy Author reflecting seriously upon the infectious nature of this Disease could not forbear crying out in this manner Who is able to recount the particular infections and pestilent strength of Carnal Concupiscence who is able to conceive the mischief it hath done in all times and still continues to do unto this day This it was that drowned the whole World this it was that destroyed Sodom and Gomorra with the adjacent Countries by Fire from Heaven this it was that turned those fertile and pleasant Lands into a stinking and poysonous Lake It was Concupiscence that slew the Sichemites and destroyed their City Genes 34. 26 27 c. It was Concupiscence that rooted out almost the whole Tribe of Benjamin from among their Brethren for the sake of a Woman This destroyed in the Wars with the Philistims the Sons of Heli the High-Priest This procur'd the death though und eserved of Vrias the Husband of Bethsabee This murthered Amnon the Son of David This brought his Fathers Curse upon Reuben the Eldest Son of Jacob instead of his Blessing It was Concupiscence that betrayed Sampson first into the power of a Harlot and by her means soon after into the hands of his Enemies This ston'd to death many under the Ancient Law of Moses So that in fine it is most true what the wise Man saith Eccles 9. 9. Propter speciem mulieris multi perierunt through the beauty of Women and their lusting after it many have perished For which reason it is that our blessed Saviour in the Gospel Mat. 5. v. 29. doth so absolutely and strictly forbid the looking after Women with any lustful or unchaste affections pronouncing that whosoever doth so is guilty of Adultery though he never perpetrates the outward act of that sin with any person Ego autem dico vobis c. But I saith he tell you that whosoever looketh on a Woman to lust after her hath already committed Adultery with her in his heart The Adulterous Woman is in this respect like the Serpent called the Basilisk whose Eyes are said to dart such a poyson as kills the beholder forthwith and for that reason if we love our Souls we are to avoid the very sight of such lewd Creatures as much as may be but upon no terms or for any reason whatever to admit of private and familiar conversation with them Qui tetigerit picem inquinabitur ab ea saith the Wise Man Eccles 13. 1. He that toucheth pitch shall be defiled therewith and he that keeps Company with dishonest persons will soon learn to be like them Can a man carry Coals in his Bosom and not be burnt by them No more is it possible to frequent the society of unchaste people without prejudice to Chastity A muliere iniquitas viri from the company of naughty Women Men become naught as the Moth proceeds from the Garment All which is agreeable to the sense of the holy Fathers teaching that all fleshly sensualities of this kind how pleasing soever they seem are but a delicious poyson swallowed with much ease but working direful effects afterward an Epidemical Plague raging amongst men of which many die and all languish all even the whole Race of Mankind some few only excepted being much weakened in point of spiritual strength and their spirit and courage to all good much abated by it Sect. 3. Carnal Concupiscence detestable to God therefore to be avoided Pleasure is the Bait by which the Ghostly Enemy catcheth Souls as Fishes are caught by a Hook and not without great reason For Pleaâ—ure generally speaking but more â—specially the pleasure of the Flesh â—or Carnal Concupiscence is a thing which darkens the light of the Soul â—ot letting her see or perceive the â—ook that is under the Bait that is the great and long pain which attends the short pleasure it hinders all good counsel and all good thoughts that come to mind from taking place and through its luscious inticements turns men quite out of the way of Vertue and throws them headlong into the Gulph or into the bottomless Pit of Sin and Wickedness which renders it a most abominable Vice and in some respects more than all other Vices detestable in Gods sight because there is no Vice that doth so debase the dignity of mans Nature and violate the Prerogative of his Creation as this Vice of Lust oâ— Carnal Concupiscence doth Shalâ— we look any further into the nature of this pleasure Yes the better to avoid and hate the same by considering the cursed Fruit it brings forth it may be expedient to do so The definition of Carnal Concupiscence according to Divines is to this effect Luxuria est impurae â—ibidinosae voluptatis inordinatus apâ—etitus Carnal Concupiscence is noâ—hing else but an inordinate appeâ—ite and desire of Venereous or lustâ—ul pleasure which kind of pleaâ—ure though it tickles and affects the â—enses much for the present yet most commonly it leaves behind it â—ather matter of repentance and reâ—orse than of remembring again â—ith delight For how many unâ—appy Souls Men and Women have â—y means of this vile pleasure unâ—awfully and immoderately pursued â—allen into great inconveniencies conâ—racting grievous and loathsom disâ—ases and ruining themselves both â—oul and Body What prejudice hath â— not done to mens Estate What â—orrows I speak here onely in a â—orldly sense what affliction and â—isturbance of mind hath it not cauâ—ed yea what sottishness what loss â—f wonted wisdom and sound judgâ—ent have not proceeded from it How