anothers burdens there is joyning with one another in eternal Praises and Hallelujahs To God the Father who appointed us burdens in this World in order to our happiness in the next Afflictions work for us an exceeding weight of Glory We should very hardly find the way to Heaven if we were not loaded They that are light and at ease for the most part go another way To God the Son who himself bear our burdens and commands us to bear one anothers till we come to that Mansion which he hath taken up for us in Heaven To God the Holy Ghost who supported us under our burdens or else all the help from men had been too little It is God that Comforts those that are cast down although he employes men as his Instruments by whom he conveighs comforts There are no burdens in Heaven unless a Man could be weary of Perfection and Happiness The Pleasures there are not like the Pleasures on Earth wearisome and tiresome to them that are Lovers of them God intended these only that man should use them for his Recreation and then go on with his Burden If men exceed in them they are very wearisome and it is necessary they should be so because they are very unsuitable to the Nature of Man and to the best and most noble part of him If man had been all Body and no Soul sensual Pleasures could not have been tiresome to him but in regard he hath a Spiritual part there must be Spiritual Pleasures to refresh his mind On the other hand because man is Flesh as well as Spirit he is therefore apt to be weary of the long continuance of that which is pleasant to the mind Religious Services But in Heaven Pleasures can be no burden because the Soul is separated from this vile Body and hath nothing to clog it Corruptible doth then put on Incorruption and Mortal puts on Immortality that there may be all pleasure and no pain I will not farther enlarge upon this We are all bunglers when we come to give any account of that with our Lips of which it hath not entred into our hearts to conceive When we speak of Heaven it is not so necessary to give an account of the glory of it as of the certainty of it for whosoever believes such a State believes the Glorious Things that are spoken of it I might therefore make use of one Argument from the Text to prove that there is a future State of Happiness for if Good Men must bear burdens of their own and of other Mens certainly there is another State in which they shall be freed from them We can not think that the Children of God who are born again and made like unto their Heavenly Father are only born to bear burdens 2. It may make us patient in the bearing both our own and other Mens burdens whilst we are on this side Heaven Our lives are very short and inconsiderable and at the end of them we lay down our burdens and enter into the joy of our Lord who appointed us to bear them In the mean while if God sends us help from Heaven to bear them and requires we should have help on earth and will shortly wholly ease us of them we may well bear them with constant Patience III. I may infer somewhat concerning the Hellish State the place of Torments where the Scripture tells us there is Weeping and Wailing and gnashing of Teeth and likewise that there are many that enter in there If Good Men must expect to bear burdens in this World and they are sometimes very grievous to be born what must bad men expect in that State There the burden is intollerable Those that are forced to bear it or I may more properly say have brought it upon themselves would fain exchange it for that which is far lighter The Rocks and Hills Their burdens is the wrath of the Lamb which is far more intollerable Rev. 6.16 Their burden is the guilt of a gnawing Conscience which is as a thousand Tormentors as well as a Thousand Witnesses A heavy load which lies upon the naked soul stripped of all those coverings those vain conceits with which Sinners get some little ease to their guilty minds And as their burdens are intollerable so there is no help to bear them For every Man must bear his own burden v. 5. but every one rather adds to the weight of them There is no Solamen Miseris by the number of those that are in that State The Glutton in the Parable desired that his Brethren might not come into the place of Torments he had burden enough already The more there are to weep and waile the more doleful is that State But I will not enlarge any further upon this unpleasant head but only desire that Sinners would seriously and timely consider of it and that it may make them so serious as not to despise those reprooss which I am to give from what I have said on this Argument There are three sorts of Persons which I can not but reflect upon I. If every Christian must bear his Brothers burden they are very much to blame who take no notice of what others bear There are a great many in the World who are so far from bearing their Brothers burthens that they will not so much as see them or endure to hear of them They do no more concern themselves for the afflictions and miseries of others than if they were alone in the World They are like the Priest and Levite riding by and taking no notice of him that lies in misery Men are such lovers of themselves that if any complain of their burdens they ease them as the Chief Priests and Elders eas'd Judas of his burden What 's that to us see thou to that There are many in the World loaded with Sorrows who may complain with the Psalmist Psal 142.4 I looked on my right hand and beheld but there was no Man that would know me refuge failed me no Man cared for my Soul We may sometimes see that sorrowful sight which Solomon saw Eccle. 4.1 I beheld the tears of such as were oppressed and they had no Comforter The World is full of those who are so far from weeping with them that weep that if they can be merry themselves they care not who is sad like those whom we read of in the Prophesie of Amos 6.6 who were for Feasting and Drinking and Musick but not for bearing other mens burdens They were not grieved for the Affliction of Joseph If it be the Law of Christ that men should bear one anothers burdens what will become of those that take no notice of this Law but only fulfil the Law of Covetousness When men are required to relieve the necessitous their Language commonly is I know not what I may come to before I die I wish they would as well consider what they must come to after they die when they shall appear before him who hath declared that
Conventicles however he may have been represented by some whose Loyalty and Conformity to the Laws of God the King and the Church lye far more in their Talk than Practice And now Sir not to pay you in your own Coin I mean in returning reviling for reviling give me leave sedately to ask you a few Questions 1. If Mens calmly treating Protestant Dissenters speaks them Trimmers what doth your wonderful mildness and gentleness towards Popish Dissenters speak your self to be Or rather what does the mighty Kindness you are ever expressing towards them speak you to be whilst in the mean time you profess your self a Son of the Church of England Why should not your so vigorous pleading the Cause of the Papists make You as justly liable to the charge of Trimming And to speak to but one instance of your kindness to them If I had been at a quarter of that pains for the lessening of the Phanatique Plot See Observ Aug. 30. that you have taken to sham and redicule the Popish One I would not complain that you abus'd me in calling me Trimmer or by a worse Name if there be any worse May I not speak to you in your own Dialect and in most of your own Words to me as followeth Why this is right Trimming c. You do as good as say Look ye Gentlemen We are Christians and it is Our Duty to Help one Another and to bear one Anothers Burdens If the King gets the Better on 't Let Me alone to do Your Bus'ness And in case of a Turn to the Church of Rome You shall do as much for Me. What 's All This I say but a Tacit Composition with a Publique Enemy where a Man delivers-up his Honour and Conscience for the Saving of his Skin and Int'rest And the Devil Himself with his Cloven-Foot Attests the Contract Why This Man would have been Safe in the Arms of Sir Edmond Bury-Godfrey had the Papists kill'd him when three days after his Death he thrust himself through with his own Sword 2. I demand of you Whether you did more foolishly or spitefully in asking Whether by the Prince of this World I meant the King of Great Britain or the Prince of the Air Pray who ever call'd the King of Great Britain the Prince of this World 3. I ask you Whether you do like a Son of the Church of England or on the contrary vilely disparage her Cause in supposing as you often do that Men who have once imbibed Phanatique Principles can never become sincere Conformists Is not this to suggest that the Arguments to Conformity to our Church are of but little or no force or that the Clergy are too weak to justify it 4. I ask again Whether he that undertakes to pass publick Censures at the rate that You do upon the Divines of our Church and their Pulpit-Discourses assumes not to himself the Office of a Bishop And whether in so doing you do not plainly charge their Diocesans with not keeping a vigilant Eye upon the behaviour of their Clergy And whether it would not have become you much better to inform their Lordships of those Offences you can make good proof of than thus to blacken them to the World and that for the most part upon no other Evidence than the Tales of Gossipping Busy-bodies or Malitious People not to add that of your own Invention 5. I demand See Observ Numb 120. Whether you did not cast an unmannerly Reflection upon his Majesty himself for making your Tony his Lord Chancellor when you reproached some Doctors of our Church for then dedicating Books to him 6. I ask Who that Trimmer was who being judicially interrogated about somebodie 's receiving the Sacrament and answered Yes and being asked How replied very Decently And being asked again was it Sitting or Standing or How replied again It was Sitting but very Decently If this strikes at me as some think it does it is either a Fiction of your own Brain or a base Calumny brought to you by one of your Factors 7. Since no good Man will think that Rebels or Disturbers of the Government can be lash'd by your Pen too severely were it not more advisable that for the future you should suffer those to live in quiet who are no less Loyal but far more peaceable than your self I will conclude with serious advice to you although 't is too probable that you will burlesque it as you did my Sermon That since you have been so exceedingly obnoxious by reason of certain foul Misdemeanours which you have been publiquely accused of and from some of which you have not yet vindicated your Reputation you would no longer blemish the Church by pretending to be her Advocate by which the Mouths of Phanatiques are opened against her And that since you have lived so long in Contention and gratifying a very exasperated Spirit you would now think it high time to betake your self to the great concern of another State that you may die in Peace and in the favour of Almighty God which is heartily prayed for by him who desires the Eternal Happiness of his worst Enemies and who is Cripplegate Aug. 30 1684. Your Well-wishing Friend and Servant W. S. Gal. 6. Ver. 2. Bear ye one anothers Burdens and so fulfil the Law of Christ THE great Design of the Apostle in this Epistle is to rectify the Errors and Mistakes which were amongst the Galatians and to allay those Unchristian heats which are the certain consequent of them There was such a contest amongst them about Christian Liberty that some were ready to take a Liberty which to be sure is most Unchristian A Liberty to bite and devour one another Chap. 5.15 That Christian Liberty which they contended about was a Liberty from observing any longer the positive Institutions of Moses i. e. Those Institutions which were no part of the Moral Law but only performed in obedience to Divine Authority The Galatians had been told by false Teachers that they must observe the one as well as the other The Apostle determines the Controversie by telling them plainly That if they did any longer observe those legal Institutions they should lose the Benefit of the Gospel-Dispensation I Paul say unto you If ye be Circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing But though the Apostle had done this yet it was no easy matter for him to perswade them to maintain Christian Love and Unity amongst them and therefore in this Chapter he prescribes some Rules which Christians ought to observe in order to it The first is in case of Offences v. 1. If a man be overtaken in a Fault ye that are Spiritual restore such an one in the Spirit of Meekness The second is more general in the words of my Text because it relates to all the grievances and unhappinesses that attend men in this Life Bear ye one anothers Burthens and so fullfil the Law of Christ The Galatians were greatly concern'd about fulfilling the Law of
God to Blaspheme and it was that which caused the continuance of his grief and sorrow after that his Pardon was Sealed and sent to him This made him complain That his Iniquities were a Burden too heavy for him 2. There are likewise burdens which I may call Imaginary because they proceed from false Conceptions and Imaginations of the mind When a Good man mistakes his condition and thinks himself to be in the case of the Impenitent Sinner and this is caused either 1. By some grievous Affliction that befals him or 2. By the prevalency of a melancholly constitution 1. By some great Affliction When a good Man is assaulted by a sharp Sickness of Body or by some great loss in his Estate or Family it makes him think that God is offended at him in a greater Degree than he is at them that truly Fear and Serve him This was the Argument that Jobs friends used against him and it was an Argument which he used against himself Although God had declared That he was a perfect and an upright Man and that there was none like him in all his Country yet when he came to endure great Afflictions they caused him to cry out I have sinned What shall I do And why dost thou not pardon my Transgression and take away mine Iniquity c. The great Afflictions of his Body made him suspect that his Soul was in danger 2. These Imaginary burdens are caused by a Melancholy Constitution by which the fancy and imagination is disturb'd and those that are really Religious think they are in an Evil Condition They do not make any Determinations concerning themselves from the Rule of Gods Word but from their own dark Conceptions and to be sure those that give way to them shall not want the help of the Tempter to make their burden heavy The case of such is commonly misrepresented they call themselves troubled in Mind when it were more proper to say that they are disturb'd in their Fancies 3. There are burdens which belong both to good and bad men 1. The burden of Sickness Poverty loss of Relations and such like common Afflictions 2. The burden of natural defects as Blindness Deafness Lameness c. 3. Spiritual burdens such as relate to the Soul and to the faculties of it These we call infirmities a weakness of Mind which came by the Fall of Man and from which he can never have a perfect recovery whilst he is in this State 1. A weakness of Judgment The Understandings of Men are exceeding liable to mistakes Men of the most Sagacious Parts and such as have been most eminent in their Generation for Piety and Holiness have been in very great Errors Some of the Antient Fathers of the Church were of such Erroneous Opinions as the Church hath in all Ages exploded 2. Weakness in reference to the affections and passions of the mind which are apt to be predominant and to be as unruly Servants which domineer over Reason which should be their Master by which they should be governed and over Religion too which should be their Prince and Soveraign whose Authority must not be disputed Sometimes the Passion of Love prevailes as in David for his Rebellious Absolom sometimes the Passion of Fear as there was in the Disciples when they thought the Saviour of the World could not keep them from drowning Sometimes a grievous mistrust of Gods Mercy as there was in the Psalmist Psal 77. when he cried Hath God forgotten to be gracious hath he in Anger shut up his tender Mercies concerning which he recollects himself and saith ver 10. This is my infirmity Sometimes the Passion of Anger gets the upper hand as it did in Jonah for the loss of his Gourd Sometimes a furious Zeal Occasions discord as it did between the two Apostles Paul and Barnabas Acts 15.39 when they were in such a heat that they could not endure each others company but departed asunder one from the other These are the burdens of men whilst they are in this Life 2. The second thing I propounded is to consider what is implied in this duty of bearing one anothers burdens or what is necessary to the performance of it 1. There must be a sympathizing heart Whatever burdens we see others loaded with we must presently put our selves into the same condition and consider what we would expect in the like case We must consider their condition as if it were our own We should have such a Spirit as brave Uriah had who wanted no courage to encounter with his enemies nor pitty to sympathize with his Friends He knew not how to take his necessary repose he was so uneasy to think that the Ark and Israel were in distress and his Lord Joab and his Servants were encamped in the open Fields 2 Sam. 11.11 Or like Queen Esther who said How can I endure to see the Evil that shall come upon my people and how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred Or like the Apostle 2 Cor. 11.29 Who is weak and I am not weak 2. There must be a helping hand This is a natural consequent of the former He that sympathizeth is in pain for his Brother and by easing him he easeth himself 3. There must be a continuance of both We are all Travellers that are going on with our burdens and must not leave one another in distress The Apostle tells us we must bear one anothers burdens but he doth not tell us when we must lay them down I proceed now to the two last things which I chiefly desigh to discourse of at this time Therefore 3. I shall consider the force of the Argument And so fulfil the Law of Christ. It is an Argument of very great force to him that rightly considers it and so it had need to be considering our ill natures and dispositions We are very apt to be weary of and impatient under our own burdens and therefore it is no easy matter to perswade us to bear other mens The Apostle therefore urges the strongest Argument that can be offered to Christians It is a fulfilling of the Law of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Complete Compleat the Law of Christ We are not to understand it as if he that bare his Brothers Burdens had done all that the Law of Christ requires of him but that he had done that which is very greatly required of him Complendi verbum non significat perfecte prestare sed re ipsa exequi He that bears his Brothers Burden hath really performed the great Law of his Saviour More particularly 1. It is his Law who insisted more upon it than upon any other It is endless to mention all the Parables and plain Expressions which requires that men should forbear one another forgive one another and do good one to another A Christian should be so full of Love that it should be as a sweet Perfume to all that come near to him His very Enemies must partake of it There
is one consideration which one would think should be of mighty force to perswade men to this Christian Duty It was the last thing which our Saviour insisted upon when he was leaving the World We read in Jo. 13. that the Devil had no sooner put it into the heart of (a) Reader I pray observe That this passage is cavel'd at and Judge what the Observator intends for I know not Iudas to betray him but he made it his business to put it into the hearts of his Disciples to love one another He made it His Commandment This is my Commandment that ye love one another By which we may understand that the Observance of it would exceedingly Oblige him He calls it a New Commandment although it was as old as any other both Imprinted in the Nature of Man and revealed in the Word of God He makes it the Characteristical Note of a Disciple By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if ye Love one another Not but that all men of all Religions acknowledge it to be their Duty to Love one another but the meaning of our Saviour is That there should be such a Degree of Love amongst his Disciples as should exceed men of other Religions as it was in the first Ages of Christianity when the Pagans said See how these Christians Love one another All these Expressions of our Saviour which may seem difficult to be understood are used by way of Motive and Argument to perswade and quicken men to Christian Love and Unity 2. It is his Law who hath annexed the greatest Rewards to the Performance of it and the greatest Punishments to the Neglect of it by which we may understand that it is an indispensable Duty and must not be omitted by us I need not mention any more than that known place Mat. 25. There 's Come ye Blessed to them that bare one anothers burdens And depart ye Cursed to them that did not Our Saviour only speaks concerning the duty of the second Table probably for this reason Because there is not such an impression of it upon the minds of Men as there is of the duty which relates to the first Men think they may Love God though they do not love their Neighbours They think that they are good Christians and that they pay to God the honour that is due to him although they shew no regard to their Brother and Fellow Christian Men know that to love God is the Great Commandment but they do not consider that the second is like namely that they must Love their Neighbours as Themselves Many who call themselves Christians do not consider the Mystical Union that is betwixt Christ and his Church that every good Christian is a Member of that Body whereof Christ is the Head and that it is as Unchristian for one Man not to bear anothers burden as it is unnatural for the Hand not to help the Foot or any other Member of the body that is greived according to that of the Apostle Rom. 12.5 We being many are one Body in Christ and every one Members one of another They do not consider that the Church is Gods Building and that as in a Building that Stone which is so rugged that another Stone cannot be laid upon it is only fit to be thrown into the Street so that Man who is so rugged that he will not bear his Brothers burden is not fit to be part of Gods Building For this reason our Saviour insisted more upon this Duty than upon the other And for this reason he only mentions everlasting punishment to those that did not help and succour their Brother because men are not sensible of the necessity of this Duty and the Danger of neglecting it 3. It was the Law of Christ who was an Example of it to others He came into the World to bear our burdens and to shew us how to bear our Brothers as I may shew in the several instances which I have already named 1. He bare the burden of Impenitent Sinners He considered their deplorable condition He was grieved for the hardness of their hearts and used all means to recalim them He was willing to bear the burden of reproach that he might ease them of the burden of guilt and fear The Pharisees said that he was a Friend of Publicans and Sinners and they said true tho he was not so in their sense He was a Friend to them in that he called them to Repentance and made a Publick Declaration that all that were weary and heavy laden should come to him to be eased of their burdens Mat. 11.28 2. He bare the burdens of Good Men. He fulfilled the Prophesie that was spoken of him That he should Bind up the broken hearted Be of good cheer was an expression which he exceedingly delighted in When he was going out of the World he was mightily concern'd for the grief and trouble which his Disciples should then endure He said Let not your hearts be troubled I go to Prepare a place for you c. And when he arose from the Dead he was in hast to ease them of that Burden of Grief which he knew was very heavy upon them The Servant knew his Masters mind when he said to them that came to the Sepulchre Go quickly and tell his Disciples that he is risen from the Dead 3. He bare the burdens which are common to men The Blind and the Deaf and the Lame were those upon whom he bestowed his Miracles He made all his retinue stand still till he cured the Poor blind Beggar He bare the burden of Infirmities rather Pitying than taking Offence at them knowing what the Frail State and Condition of Man is He did not cast off his Disciples for shewing a furious Spirit in calling for Heaven to consume them that were not civil to him but only rebuked them saying Ye know not what Spirit ye are of Mat. 9.55 Nor did he reject his Disciples because of their weak Faith when they cryed Master save us we Perish One would think it should have been a great Provocation to him that his Disciples were asleep when he was in his agony and that it should have been an unpardonable offence but we find that he only blam'd them for it He said Could not ye watch with me one hour But he did not say From this hour I will be as regardless of you as you have been of me There are some who complain of bad Memories but certainly there never were any more forgetful than the Disciples were They had forgotten almost every thing which our Saviour had said to them Nay they had forgotten that which was of the greatest moment to be remembred namely his Resurrection from the Dead His Enemies remembred it and therefore made his Sepulchre sure but his Friends had forgotten it and yet our Saviour continued his Love towards them All these instances are left to us for our example and imitation that we should
those that do not feed the Hungry and Cloath the Naked shall go into everlasting Punishment Those that would not bear their Brothers burden in this World shall have one of their own to bear in the World to come II. They are more to blame who are so far from bearing one anothers burden that they are offended at them that do There are such Monsters in the World to whom it is a burden to see other men at ease Nothing is so sweet to them as to see others in bitterness Solomon saith Pro. 17.5 He that mocketh the Poor reproacheth his Maker and he that is glad at Calamities shall not be unpunished where note there are some men who mock at the Misery and are glad at the Calamities of other men They are not so ready to rejoyce with them that rejoyce as they are to rejoyce when they hear what cause others have to weep There were such in old time and will be to the end of the World When Nehemiah was to repair the Breaches and make up the Walls of Jerusalem There were two base men Sanballat and Tobiah who were not able to endure the good he did Neh. 4.10 It grieved them exceedly that there was come a man to seek the wellfare of the Children of Israel The man came not to do them any hurt at all but if he had it may be they would not have been more grieved than they were at the good which was done for others The Psalmist likewise gives us an account of such men of which we have too many in the World who cannot endure to do good themselves or that others should Psal 112. v. 9. He speaks of the Liberal Soul of a Good Man He hath dispersed he hath given to the Poor And at the next verse he tells us how wicked men are affected at it The Wicked shall sce it and be grieved he shall gnash with his Teeth and pine away It kills some men to see others kept alive and nothing angers them more than to see others solicitous for their welfare and Subsistence But III. And Lastly They are most of all to be reproved I wish I could do it sharply enough who are so far from bearing other Mens burdens that they are other Mens Burdens They live in the World as if they came into it for no other purpose but to send others grieved out of it Sometimes men are loaded with the Burden of Calumnies and Reproach to their vast prejudice One of the Blessings which Jobs Friends Promised to him ch 5. v. 21. was that he should be hid from the Scourge of the Tongue which is indeed a fearful Scourge There are a great many in the World who if they can but Slander the Innocent and obtain Concealment it doth exceedingly please that of the Devil which doth mightily prevail in them They have sent their Brother a burden to make his Heart ake and he must not know from whence it comes We know that slanderers have a great advantage in that their reports run like wild-fire There are two Scriptures which if joyned together give an account of it Their Tongues are set on fire of Hell * There are likewise some men whose Pens are set on fire of Hell and they go through the Earth There are others who seek to ruine their Neighbours by contests at Law forcing them thereby to spend their Substance The Childrens bread is taken away and a bone of Contention sent in the room of it only to gratify implacable malice These Cases are very hard but it is not hard to give a Reason of such Actions We must know that there is another Law besides the Law of Christ There is a Prince of this World as well as a Prince of Peace The Scripture tells us that the Devil hath Children as well as God 1 Jo. 3.10 And as Gods Children are like their Father in being Merciful and Kind so the Devils Children are like their Father in being Malitious and Cruel But what will become of these Men The Mans condition who is ruin'd by another is very sad But how dismal is his case who hath ruin'd him Methinks I hear God say to him as he did to Cain What hast thou done the voice of thy Brother and of his whole Family crieth unto me Thou shouldest have been his Comforter and thou hast been his Tormentor Thou should'st have supported him and thou hast ruin'd him Thou should'st have born his burden and thou hast Broke his Back I may say to this Man as 't is said in Job What wilt thou do when God riseth up and when he visiteth what wilt thou answer him I might if time had permitted have proceeded to Exhort and perswade to the practice of this Christian duty to have urg'd many Motives Arguments for it I will mention but one it is for Svms sake and for Jerusalems that I cannot be silent concerning it †I have very exactly copied this Paragraph as I hope the Auditors will be ready to attest which I verily think contains all that provoked the furious man Let us bear the burdens of those that have Dissented from us but are returned to our Congregations I do not mean that we should do any thing to prostitute the Churches cause nor that we should debauch our Consciences by giving the least encouragement to pernitious Errors but that we should pity their Infirmities and endcavour to rectify their Mistakes that they may no more provoke Authority disparage Christianity and occasion thousands to be Prophane and Atheistical whilest an exact compliance with the Churches Orders and an encouragement of the due execution of Her Censures is certainly the fittest way to restrain that ungodliness which hath abounded as our divisions have abounded If when Authority drives by a due execution of Laws we shall draw and encourage by expressions of Brotherly Love and Kindness we shall convince those that have dissented from us that we are not of such Spirits as they suspected nor so unfit for Christian Communion but will acknowledge as some have done that they were greatly mistaken both concerning the Ministers and People of our Church I thought fit to conclude with this not only because it is seasonable at this time when men of Good Principles have done hurt to the Church by an intemperate Zeal but because it was the very occasion of the words The heat that was about Christian liberty had almost consumed Christian Love and therefore the Apostle for the reviving of it and that there might be no disturbance in the Church of Galatia doth here require that the People should Bear one anothers Burdens FINIS