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
corrupt affections from every evil habit that is contrary to his Holy nature to his most pure and righteous Law that you may serve and worship him with some degrees of knowledge and with a sincere and perfect heart then you may assure your self that you are worthy to receive that your Devotion will be accepted and your Offering rewarded that you shall have Grace and assistance from above to grow better and better till you come to be perfect in Christ Jesus The sum of all is this the Minister by the command and in the name of God exhibits and offers the blessings of the Gospel to the Communicants and they by receiving the outward signs thereof profess themselves the Disciples of our Lord that they believe his Doctrine trust in his Mediation hope in his Promises and are resolved to live according to his Laws He then who is sincere in these his professions and resolutions receives worthily and he who presents himself in such a solemn manner at the Holy Sacrament making and being understood to make profession of his Christian Faith and a solemn dedication of himself to the obedience thereof for ever when at the same time he neither understands it regards it or designs to practise it is an Hypocrite a Prophaner 1 Cor. â— 27 a Blasphemer of God and therefore eats and drinks damnation to himself incurs the high displeasure of God and may therefore expect that the Judgments of God should follow him For for this cause many are sick and weak among you and many are fallen asleep as S. Paul interprets the damnation spoken of before v. 30. Par. Sir I thank you with all mine heart and if I be not too tedious to you give me leave to ask you one question more before I go Min. Pray ask me what you will for I assure you I am mightily pleas'd to find you so inquisitive Par. What is the reason then since as I understand by you a disposition to every Christian Grace is requisite in a worthy Communicant that the Rubrick â—re the â—â—munâ—ice and all Divines insist in a particular manner upon Love and Charity reconciling and being reconciled to our enemies Min. It is well observed they do so yet not as exclusive of any other duties But indeed there is all the reason in the world to remind our Communicants in a more particular manner of the duties of Love and universal Charity First Because the Religion of our Blessed Saviour which we here so solemnly profess is founded in Love and Mercy in the most perfect and ineffable goodness which moved Almighty God by the mediation of our Blessed Saviour to offer easie terms of Pardon Peace assistance and eternal Life to all that should embrace them 1 Joh. â— 10 Joh. 3 1â— Rom. 5. â— For He loved us when we were yet his enemies and sent his only begotten son into the world that whosoever would but believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life And therefore malice hatred envy and evil will are dispositions radically contrary to Christianity such as render us utterly unfit to have any thing to do with the solemn rites of this Religion Moreover secondly The Religion it self that Christian Law which we here profess to embrace and resolve to practise is a Law of Love Universal Charity is the principle and life of our Religion which influences the whole and mingles it self with every part thereof insomuch that it is distinguished and describ'd by this single Grace of Love â—om 13.9 â—al 5.14 â—att 22 â—9 â— Joh. 3.9.23 For love is the fulfilling of the law saith S. Paul And Hereby sayes S. John speaking of Love we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him And this is his commandment that we believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another as he gave us Commandment So that all our professions of Faith and Obedience at the Holy Table are a prophanation of the name of God and wholly ineffectual to us so long as the temper of our minds and the dispositions of our Souls are contrary to the Religion we profess For unless Christ be in us Cor. 13. says S. Paul that is the Spirit of Christ the Goodness Love Meekness Compassion Patience Forbearance Condescension of Him and his Religion We are reprobates Malice indeed is an indication of a Diabolick Nature of a mind throughly vicious and degenerate It is a temper wholly inconsistent with a true principle of Christianity For in this the children of God are manifest 1 Joh. 3 10. and the Children of the Devil whosoever doth not Righteousness is not of God neither he that loveth not his Brother Again There is a particular fitness and congruity in forgiving injuries and reconciling enemies to the tenor and intention of the Holy Sacrament God is there exhibited as willing to be reconciled to repenting sinners He there renews and revives his Covenant of Grace and Mercy to us Does not reason then that is to say the Law of our Nature and the eternal immutable Law of reasonable Beings require of us that we in our capacity should do the same How can we expect that from another which in the change of circumstances we are not willing to do Therefore Matt. 7.12 if thou bring thy gift to the Altar and there remembrest that thy brother hath ought against thee leave there thy gift before the altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift Which words though they are spoken by our Saviour with immediate respect to the Peace-Offerings for the Atonement of sins yet the reason holds in all our addresses to God for pardon and has been generally applied by Divines to the Holy Sacrament Here in especial manner we pray for and expect his Mercy But is it reasonable to hope for such a favour at the hands of God unless we are willing to give satisfaction to our power for the injuries we have done to others and are ready to forgive offences against our selves Our very nature will rebuke such a vain presumption And our Saviour has expresly taught us in the Parable of the Lord and his steward that a readiness to forgive our enemies is indispensably necessary in order to the pardon of our own miscarriages The Lord forgave his steward a vast debt but he forgetting the goodness of his Lord to him sues and seizes his debtors and fellow servants for trivial sums Wherefore his Lord was wroth Matt. 18. ult and delivered him to the tormentors till he should pay all that was due unto him So likewise says our Saviour shall my heavenly father do to you if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses Nay he has taught us to acknowledge the reasonableness of it in our daily prayer Matt. 6. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us He
and cold in his own pursuits We think no pains too great we leave no stone unturn'd we grudge no present self-denial in the prosecution of our own designs Thus also thou shalt love thy Neighbour even as thy self with fervency of affection with a Zeal for his Good It is not a tender expression a friendly wish an unwilling word a cold essay that fulfils the duty but a chearful service ready motions effectual assistances that we be patient to hear and willing to understand and be concern'd in a case that is worthy of us that we lay it to our heart and put it forward according to discretion by our counsel our friend our person our purse as the occasion may require for thus we love our selves with passion and solicitude Thirdly With constancy and everlasting affection Self-love can never abate or cool every Man pursues what he thinks to be good to the last it is a natural principle an essential property of our Being which can never be extinguished But thus are we obliged to love our Neighbour even as our selves all the days of our life This duty of universal love is never perfected It is not enough that we have been useful and beneficial in some particular instance but we must never stop never contract our selves never imagine that we have paid this debt of universal Charity but so long as we have ability and opportunity so long as we have objects before us that is so long as we live we must dilate and expatiate our selves to the benefit of our Neighbour for Thou shalt love him as thy self as well in all the several instances wherein thou lovest thy self as with the same affections and dispositions of thy mind with tenderness and passion with fervency and Zeal with steddiness and constancy And thus as briefly as I could I have explained the duty of universal Love and by comparing the temper of our Souls and the course of our conversation with the rules and measures I have now laid down we may know infallibly whether we are endowed with this grace of Charity or no whether we love our neighbour as our selves Are we pleased with the practice of Vertue or any worthy quality wheresoever we discern it or rather are not the infirmities nay the debaucheries of Men our delight and sport Do we govern our desires and aimes by the rules of equity and love Do we use no tricks no mines no unhandsome arts to circumvent another Are we content that every Man should prosper and be happy Are we ready for every good work Do the Loins of the poor bless us Job 31.20 are they warmed with the fleeces of our wool Job 31.20.22.22 Do we govern our Authority over inferiour Men with Justice Do we not trouble our own flesh Prov. 11.17 Do we not rob the poor because he is poor and oppress the afflicted in the gate May it not be said of us as Solomon complains Eccles 4.1 On the side of the oppressor there was power but the oppressed had no Comforter Are we willing to discern and praise the vertues of our Neighbour and to hide his faults Can we chearfully hear the Commendation of another and not embase the Character by some malicious insinuation Does not our Soul desire evil Pro. 21.10 and does our neighbour find any favour in our eyes Are we civil and ingenuous in our Carriage towards all Are we meek and approachable sincere and plain gentle and easie to be intreated Are we never weary of well doing never discouraged by our own mistakes in objects by the tricks and deceits that may sometimes be put upon us by the ingratitude of those we have obliged or the disappointments of those from whom we had expectation by the errours that a Zealous Charity may run into or the censures of unworthy Men to which it may sometimes be exposed Do we centre in a sense of Duty and the sincerity of our principle and design resolving never to look back or faint but persevere in a steddy course of universal Charity to the end This is to love thy neighbour as thy self And so I proceed as I proposed in the second place to perswade you to the practice of this duty of universal Charity by certain motives and encouragements couched and implied in these words Thy neighbour We are obliged to prosecute a publick interest to be kind and compassionate to all because we are neighbours and that implies First The Necessity of the thing To love our neighbour as our selves is our real Interest because of our Cohabitation and necessary converse with one another No affection or property of humane nature is more evident than a disposition to Society Our innate impresses of natural Affection Goodness and Compassion our passions of Desire and Love our abilities of inventing useful Art our faculty of Speech which is peculiar to Man and what only serves the purposes of Society do all suppose it and the impotence and inability of man in a loose and separate state to perfect his capacities to satisfie his natural desires nay to support and defend his life demonstrate it But without an hearty consent in the mutual good of one another without policy and a publick interest Society would be dangerous and useless black and uncomfortable solitude our only refuge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Reason without Goodness is mischievous subtlety and would prove the greatest instrument of evil in the World The fierceness of the Leopard and the strength of the Lyon would not be so dreadful as the understanding of Rational Nature devoid of Justice Every man would be against his Brother our life would be a state of war a continual hostility Here an attempt by force there by subtlety and circumvention every where distrust and fears guards and preparations of defence So that according to the Principles of our Nature and the design of our Being we are one Society one interest one common happiness is amongst us all And no man that separates himself from the Community and proposeth with himself to stand on his own legs and acquire whatsoever pleases him by any means without respect to others can ever prosper or be safe because he can never hope to be endured Every man has a tender respect for his Life his Honour and his Interest which whensoever they are forcibly invaded will provoke him to retaliate the injury No man can expect with reason to be treated more civilly himself than he treats his neighbour Such a conceit is Vanity there is no foundation for such a deference in Nature but he raises the whole Society against himself and how he should acquit himself in such an unequal combat is not easie to imagine And therefore Qui se amat hunc alios sic amare Epist 6. Lips in Loc. says Seneca nec sibi sed toti genitum se credere mundo He that loves himself will love his neighbour and consider himself as born for the benefit of the
those that are as obstinate and wilful as himself And when once these causes namely Pride Self-will and Humour are removed we shall return of course to the Lenity and Goodness of the humane nature a great many injuries will vanish into nothing Great ones will appear indifferent and the greatest may be easily supported Finally Let us set before us the Examples of great and holy Men who when their enemies have been under their power when they might have taken their utmost revenge upon them have pass'd over all their injuries and affronts with neglect and pity And thus we may encourage our selves by the experience and success of others as well as by the reason of the thing Time would fail me to tell of Joseph David Job the Publican St. Stephen and the rest whose stories are recorded in the Holy Scripture it is enough Heb. 12.1 that we look unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross despised the shame and prayed for those who insulted over him and slew him Father forgive them for they know not what they do If you say says Saint Augustine How shall I ever hope to do as our Lord has done Consider where he did it on the Cross T. 10. 2da fer in Rog. Serm. 1. where he acted altogether as a man and proposed himself to our imitation And now I hope upon the strength of so many considerable Motives we may be all perswaded at least to attempt the mastery of our selves The end is so considerable and the means so reasonable and likely to attain it that our best endeavours will be both justified and rewarded It may be difficult at first to change a habit that is riveted by long indulgence but pertinacity and time will overcome it Nature delights and hastens to throw off all obstructions and when once we have made a little way we shall then proceed secundo flumine and be over-joyed at the recovery of our primitive our proper disposition Besides the ready assistances of God who will facilitate our difficulties assist us by his Wisdom support us by his Power and refresh us by the irradiations of his Love till the Victory be obtained and we at last triumph in that most Perfect and Eternal state of Bliss which is prepared for those who by patient continuance in well doing Rom. 2. seek for Glory and Immortality To which of his mercy may he bring us all for Jesus Christ his sake the Righteous To whom with the Father and the blessed Spirit be ascribed all Honour Glory Praise Dominion and Obedience now and for ever Amen FINIS BOOKS Printed for W. Kettilby A Sermon preached before the King at Windsor June 13. 1680. on Matt. xvi 26. A Sermon preach'd before the Lord Mayor Feb. 5. 1681. on Ps 119. 165. The Liberty of Humane Nature discuss'd stated and limited in a Sermon on 1 Cor. 6.12 A Sermon preached before the King and Queen at Whitehal Jan. 19. 1689. on Prov. 22.4 All four by the Rev. Mr. J. Lamb. Mr. Hesketh's serious exhortation to frequent Communion Octav. 's Case of Eating and Drinking unworthily Oct. 's Piety the best Rule of Orthodoxy Religion the Perfection of Man Oct. Pattern of pure undefiled Religion Exposition on the Church Catechism The Faith and practice of a Church of England man Edit 3. Bishop Overal's Convocation Book MDCVI concerning the Government of God's Catholick Church and the Kingd of the whole world