to the same Degree to which he Loved us who lived a Life laden with Reproach and Scorn and died a painful and ignominious Death for our sakes and this therefore he calls a new Commandment a Friendship so strict inviolable and Sacred that it was never heard of in the World before A new Commandment I give unto you that ye Love one another as I have Loved you that ye also Love one another by this shall all Men know that ye are my Disciples if ye have Love one to another And how very great stress the Apostles in their Writings lay upon this eminent Gift and Grace of Charity I need not tell you but shall content my self barely to take notice First That St. Paul in the Thirteenth Chapter of his First Epistle to the Corinthians imputes so very much to this one Grace of Charity that without it he makes all other things however Pompous or Specious they may seem to signifie just nothing at all Though I speak saith he with the Tongue of Men and Angels and have not Charity I am become as sounding Brass or a tinkling Cymbal and though I have the Gift of Prophecy and understand all Mysteries and all knowledg so that I could remove Mountains and have not Charity I am nothing and though I bestow all my Goods to feed the Poor and though I give my Body to be burned and have not Charity it profiteth me nothing Secondly Whereas most other Miraculous Gifts and Graces were in due time to cease having done the Errant upon which they were employed which was to give sufficient evidence and such as without willful blindness could not be resisted to the Truth and Divine Authority of our most holy Religion yet Charity was still to remain to the very end of the World So that whereever there is a true Church of Christ there must be a charitable Spirit visible and reigning in it Charity saith he never faileth but whether there be Prophecies they shall fail whether there be Tongues they shall cease whether there be Knowledg it shall vanish away And again a little after And now abideth Faith Hope Charity these three but the greatest of these is Charity As it were to answer that Passage in St. John There are three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one And there are three that bear witness in earth the spirit and the water and the blood and these three agree in one For in this partition of St. Paul Faith answers to the Blood it is Faith in a crucified and bleeding Saviour Hope to the Water or the Sacrament of Baptism in which we make Profession of this Faith and of the Hope that is in us which is built upon it And Charity which is the best and most peculiar Gift of the Holy Ghost that answers to the Spirit which is a Spirit of universal Friendship and Love the essential root and spring and source of Kindness abstractum in concreto the utmost mercy compassion and good-will assuming a Person and breathing forth its likeness upon every Subject capable of receiving it Faith and Hope are like Pisgah with respect to Canaan they afford us a prospect of the Land of Promise but they are not the Land flowing with milk and honey themselves but Charity in its utmost perfection and extent is that which in other words we call Salvation and Heaven it is the single Food and it affords the mutual relish and enjoyment of God and Angels and of the spirits of just men made perfect through all the vast Periods of an eternal Duration But wo to us vile wretches and miserable sinners if without Charity there be no true Church nor any true Disciple O generation of vipers that we are who shall deliver us from the wrath to come or will it not be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon for Chorazin and Bethsaida nay for Gomorrah and for Sodom too at the great and dreadful Day than for us who professing outwardly the Religion are yet so far removed from the inward Spirit of Christ and as if we had reason to blush and be ashamed of him and of his Gospel which is the power of God unto salvation have cast away the Badge of Charity that Men might not know us to be his Disciples We are unjust in our Dealings uncharitable in our Censures irreconcileable and implacable in our Animosities turbulent and uneasie in our Tempers contentious and litigious in our Conversations false to our Promises treacherous to our Friendships hypocritical in our Pretences and yet we pretend to be Christians all this while Nay so very far have we revolted from the true Christian Spirit so far is it now from being thought the Characteristick and essential Mark of a Christian to be of an humble meek and charitable Disposition that even Religion it self or at least the vain pretence and colour of it is made the fatal Bone of Contention and the Apple of Strife We quarrel about that very thing which was intended to unite us and which hath made no Promises but to Unity and Peace to the candid quiet and ingenuous frame of Spirit as if the nature of our Profession were inverted since the Apostolical Times when it was pronounced as a certain Maxim If any Man among you seem to be Religious and bridleth not his Tongue but deceiveth his own Heart that Man's Religion is vain We mistake Brawling and Contention for Zeal and when our Tongues are set on fire of Hell we imagine them tipt and sanctified by a Coal from the Altar not but that every Man ought to be very obstinate in what he firmly believes upon his best Enquiry to be the very Truth every Man 's own Conscience being without question his only rule and measure of Action and to relinquish or disown that of whose truth we have all the inward assurance our present light is capable of giving us is to betray the great Pillar and Principle of Life by which all Humane Society is supported which is bound up in truth and consists in the faithfulness of its Members to each other But there may be a Charity every whit as obstinate as the most fierce and most intemperate rage and Humility will stand its ground and gain upon its Adversaries by gentle but resistless Motions when Clamour anâ— Passion shall be put to silence and will be ashamed oâ— themselves or if there appear reason sufficient to persuade it Humility can own a conquest without shame and is easily induced to change its mistaken Sentiments for the better when Passion though it be inwardly convinced yet blushes nay faints and even dies to think of being reconciled But though I have said what I believe to be true That every Man's private Conscience is his only private and personal measure of Action yet I would not by any means be so interpreted as if I were about to insinuate That the non-execution of Laws against religious Dissenters
persons he Chastiseth us so lightly that it is plain he desires our amendment not our destruction but when the Punishment is never so severe yet still there is a gracious meaning and intention in it for the good of the Universe which is infinitely more precious to him than the safety of any single person whatsoever that other People warned by our Example may hear and fear and do no more so wickedly So that his Anger is indeed but an effect of his Love and that which we call his Wrath and his Iudignation is in truth nothing else but a particular and distinct branch of his infinite and incomprehensible Mercy Or Secondly when such things as these are spoken of him in Scripture they are to be referred to the purity of his Nature to which all sin hath the greatest incongruity that any two things can have to one another not that there ariseth any painful or tormenting sense to trouble or disquiet his enjoyment of himself but only according to an humane way of speaking the Holy Scripture in this case ascribes those passions to God which good Men upon the like occasion experience in themselves when they see his Divinity Blasphemed his Altars Profaned his Churches Sacrilegiously rob'd and spoil'd his Priesthood persecuted or neglected his Laws disappointed and frustrated by Enthusiasm or by open Wickedness affronted his Religion and his Honor trampled under foot either by Schism and Heresie on the one hand or by Licentiousness and Lewdness on the other And to this purpose there are two things very remarkable First That though the Scripture be sometimes very fierce in the Denunciation of Gods Anger against Sin yet it frequently dilutes and blends those sharp expressions with kind and gracious assurances of his Love and tells us plainly that it is this alone which is truly agreeable and suitable to his Nature but that the other that is his Anger or that which in the administration of his providence hath the outward semblance and appearance of it is a thing which is put upon him by the necessities of Justice and that he finds no other Complacency or satisfaction in the Punishments he inflicts but what arises from the inward sense and consciousness of those gracious ends for which those unwilling severities are designed Secondly It is to be observed that God in Scripture is not always represented as Angry and incensed at sin but sometimes as laughing at it and treating it with contempt and scorn and indeed both of these are ascribed together to him in that Prophetick rapture of David in the second Psalm Why do the Heathen rage And the people imagin a vain thing the Kings of the Earth set themselves and the Rulers take council together against the Lord and against his Anointed saying let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us he that sitteth in the Heavens shall laugh the Lord shall have them in derision then shall he speak unto them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure not that these two passions are indeed consistent or competible together at one and the same time they being directly opposite and contrary to each other nor that God whose Nature is perfectly impassible is really capable of either of these habits or dispositions of mind But by the later of these was signified that just and condign Punishment that was in the fullness of time to overtake those Kings and Nations that were Enemies to the Gospel of Christ and opposed Christianity by bitter Persecutions notwithstanding all the innocence and the reason of its Principles and notwithstanding all that supernatural Evidence of Signs and Miracles and extraordinary Gifts by which it received its confirmation from above and by the First of them by Gods Laughing and Scorning at the vain designs of Men that reject the offers of his Grace and endeavor to no purpose to reverse his immutable Decrees is meant that his happiness cannot be injur'd or impair'd by any attempt of ours that he is not to be disappointed in his intentions or designs by any humane Policy or Strength that he despises disregards and perfectly sets at nought such vain imaginations of the Sons of Men that his Nature is impassible inaccessible irresistible that when he stretches out his mighty Arm it is not an Arm of Flesh that can oppose it and that he is no otherwise concerned at the wickedness of Men than only to punish and restrain it by his Providence and by the Eternal measures of his Power and Justice And thus I have shewn more largely than I intended what the Nature of God is that he is a Merciful and Gracious Being slow to Anger and of great Pity that he delights not in Punishment and that in the midst of Judgment he remembers Mercy that the Emanations of his Goodness are truly Natural and Congenerous to him but that his Judgments are only Secondary things things that are not inflicted for themselves but for ends of Mercy and Compassion for amendment and example for preserving the Government of the World from moldring into Anarchy and Confusion and keeping it from falling foul upon it self and this though it may be sufficient to have shewn by the plain Instances already produced yet there is a greater instance than all this yet behind and that is his sending his Son into the World to be a Propitiation and Attonement for us miserable Sinners who lay in darkness and in the shadow of death and he when he came to shew us that he was the true and genuin Offspring of so Gracious a Father the peculiar Character which is given of him in Scripture is that he went about doing Good and this was the general strain and drift of all his Miracles he did not spend his time in removing of Mountains or in calling the Sun out of its place or in any other thing that might create wonder without any real use but he healed Diseases and he cast out Devils he restored the Lame to their Feet the Blind to their Sight the Paralytick to their full Strength and Youthful Vigour his Miracles were exactly like his Doctrine useful and practical not vain puffy Ostentatious things performed to raise Wonder and Astonishment in the spectators without any real Benefit or Advantage and when he left the World he left his Spirit behind him with his Disciples which was not only a Spirit of Instruction to guide them into all necessary and saving Truth a Spirit of Courage to support them in and under Persecution a Spirit of Power to work Supernatural and extraordinary effects for the propagation and spreading of the Gospel but also a Spirit of Dilection and Love to unite them to one another and to him their Head and though this mutual Love and Helpfulness to one another in our frail condition of humanity be a thing that is tied upon us by reasons of Interest and by principles of Nature yet in a more peculiar and distinguishing manner he made
this comely Frame which if it had not been for that would still have been a disorderly and confused Chaos and without its help and assistance every moment would immediately return into it And I am very sensible there is a great deal of truth and weight in what they say but yet it is much more true of the Moral and Intellectual than of the Natural World that it is supported by Love it is supported by Divine Love from without as well as the other but even this would hardly do as powerful as it is without a Principle of Love within it self I should now as I promised under the Second general Head proceed to shew in what Instances and to what Degrees this Duty of mutual Kindness and Good-will is to exert it self but this having been already sufficiently done in my Discourse upon the former Head as opportunity presented it self I may excuse my self and you from any farther trouble upon that account and betake my self very briefly to the last thing proposed which was of the Advantages redounding from this happy Temper the bare Enumeration of which since it is so that my Time will give me leave to do no more may supply the place of an Exhortation to it And the First thing I shall mention is That it is in general the most blessed Constitution of the Soul of Man which it is capable of being endued withal For certainly the most pleasing Disposition of the Soul is Love if all the World be not very widely mistaken in their Sense and Sentiment of things and the most eligible Estate which it can wish for it self is to converse with Objects which it delights in and such this Temper this sweet and amiable Habit of the Mind makes every Object more or less to be Secondly It is not only a Temper the most blessed in it self it is not only an imitation of God who is the best Example as hath been already shewn but it also draws down the Influences of his Spirit upon us which have a natural and a vital congruity to the charitable Man It is effectually at the same time a participation of the Divine Nature and brings us into an intimate and close Communion with the Supreme Love which is glad of every suitable occasion to diffuse and enlarge it self and so St. John at large represents the matter Beloved saith he let us love one another for love is of God and every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God He that loveth not knoweth not God for God is love No man hath seen God at any time If we love one another God dwelleth in us and his love is perfected in us Hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit that is the Spirit of Love of Charity and Good-will of which he had been speaking before Thirdly By keeping our Minds cool and disengaged from any turbulent and uneasie Passions This Temper is perhaps the best natural Judge of Controversies in the World and if it could universally obtain by bringing all things to the arbitrage of Reason it would soon put an end to our religions Broils or at least it would hinder those particular Differences in Opinion from being dangerous to our Peace and Welfare Fourthly By preserving our Souls as it is naturally disposed to do in their true sagacity clearness and untainted strength it prevents those entanglements and perplexities of thought which are the cause of most of those Ills to which Mankind is usually exposed which run us very frequently upon desperate Courses and bring us in the end to Misery and Confusion Fifthly and Lastly It is not only the best preparation to the Joys and Glories of another World but when in the end of our Days we arrive happily at the end of our Hopes the salvation of our precious and immortal Souls it will be the greatest part of their Fruition and Enjoyment which consists mainly if not altogether in the love God and his Angels and of one another To which most happy and eternally blessed State God of his infinite Mercy bring us all by the Merits and Mediation of his Son our Saviour the ever blessed Jesus To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be ascribed all Glory for ever Amen NOTES P. 2. SO Homer describes his Poetical Olympus After the same manner Lucretius also describes those blessed and peaceful Places though he reject them as fabulous at the same time and he takes the Copy of his Description manifestly from Homer Illud item non est ut possis credere sedes Esse Deûm sanctas in mundi partibus ullis Quas neque concutiunt venti neque nubila nimbis Aspergunt neque nix acri concreta pruina Cana cadens violat semperque innubilus aether Integit largè diffuso lumine ridet P. 18. The Publicans were indifferently chosen The Administration of the Vectigalia or Customs of the Roman State was primarily in all the Provinces in the Hands of the Romans themselves but under them certain of the Natives of the respective Provinces were employed as being best acquainted with their own Nation and so best able to manage the Collection of the Tribute in it That it was so among the Jews is evident by the Instances of Matthew Levi and Zaccheus in the Gospels the two first of which are mentioned as Sitting at the Receipt of Custom and the last is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the chief of the Publicans or Customers that is to say among the Jews And from this I will take occasion to correct as I conceive a very great Mistake which hath hitherto generally obtained among Learned Men as if Levi and Matthew were the same only because they are both mentioned by several Evangelists as Sitting at the Receipt of Custom and out of this number I do not except Grotius himself whereas indeed they are the Names of two several and distinct Publicans as appears by Matth. 10. 3. where there is distinct mention made of Matthew the Publican and of Lebbaeus whose surname was Thaddaeus which Lebbaeus by the change of the V Consonant into a double B the Greeks having no such Letter as the V Consonant in use among them but always expressing it either by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the same with Levi and Levi is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Chivi is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Emori 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chitti 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the like and when it is added 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose Surname was Thaddaeus This Surname is to be understood of his Roman Name as the other is of his Jewish as there is mention made of John whose Surname was Mark Acts 12. 12 25. and cap. 15. 37. where John is Jochanan the Jewish Name as Mark is the Roman So that it seems it was familiar in those Times when Judea was a Roman Province for Men to have two Names the one a Jewish by which they were better known to their own Countrymen and Kinsfolks being the Name that was given them at their Circumcision and the other a Roman or rather in this Instance a Greek though at that time very familiar among the Romans who called this Lebbaeus by the Name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is a contraction of Theodosius who is by Claudian somewhere called Theudosius as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Epaphroditus and many others of the like nature and of one that was called by this Name express mention is made Acts 5. 36. which Name by the Jews was corruptly called Thaddai as Dositheus they call Dosthai Prolomaeus Talmai after a barbarous and corrupt manner and indeed all Proper Names of Foreign Nations the Jews who were a very ignorant unletter'd People were used to corrupt after a strange rate as Drusius conjectures the Jewish Terphon or Tarphon to have been the same with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Justin Martyr And I make no question but Baithos who was the fabulous Companion of Sadoc the Founder of the Saducean Sect or Heresie among the Jews is the same with the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from whence is the Latin Name Boethius signifying an Helper or Assistant And they who by St. Paul are called Jannes and Jambres who are said to have withstood Moses and the Truth are by the Rabbins corruptly named sometimes Jonos and Jombros and at others Jochanna and Mamre And other Instances might be given as well in Appellative as Proper Names but these are sufficient for my purpose And I hope by this time it is sufficiently clear that Matthew and Levi are two distinct Persons notwithstanding the general cry of Expositors to the contrary who having taken a false scent from one another are never like to find out the truth V. Drus de trib Sect. lib. 2. cap. 2. lib. 3. cap. 4. Bâ—xt Lex Talmud in Talmai pag. 2598. in Jochanna pag. 945 c. P. 20. And though I bestow all my Goods to feed the Poor and though I give my Body to be burned These are very proper and genuine Effects of that Charity which the Apostle describes but it seems without Charity it self unless they proceed out of an inward Principle of Love to God on the one hand and our Neighbour on the other the bare Acts considered by themselves will be of no profit or avail to us P. 27. Aristophanes Hesiod Parmenides and others The particular Testimonies to this purpose you may see in Grotius in his Learned Notes upon his Book De V. R. C. and in Dr. Cudworth in his Intellectual System and those others whom I mean are Simmias the Rhodian and Orpheus the Writer of the Argonautiques whose Testimonies are likewise produced by Dr. C. FINIS