So it falls in with love, and is animated by it. SER M. Love is the life and foul of it. Patience towards XVI. him by whom I fuffer evil, is influenced by love to him; and then that evil which I fuffer by him, fignifies nothing. And it is by this I poffess my own foul; otherwife, I am not master of my felf, but am an impotent flave to this or that paffion, raifed and stirred up in me by this or that outward affliction. And thus I betray my self to an injury, which otherwise could not hurt or touch me, And again

4. IT is further to be confidered that the perfon that maligns me, or fuppofe them to be many that do fo, they may yet have many excellencies, and on other accounts may be very worthy perfons. And it would be an ufeful confideration, to keep and preferve a good temper of fpirit in us, and to quicken love to its due exercise, if we would turn off our eye from that one particular thing, the ill will they bear to us, and look upon the many things that are good and commendable befides. And whatever real goodness there is, that doth certainly challenge love. For what! do we think love is to have its exercise no where, but where there is perfect goodness? Then are we to love, no creature at all.

WHAT if in that refpect we apprehend fuch a man to be evil or to do evil, who bears ill will to us or to our way, and those who bear our character upon them; yet may they not have very good things in them befides? Such may be fober, prudent, learned perfons, and useful men in the world. And what! must all that good be loft

and

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VOL. and buried, only because they have fome particu lar animofity and ill will to us? It is too much to take our measure of what is to be loved, and what not, by our felves and by our own intereft; and it would argue a very private and narrow fpirit, that we fhould judge of what is lovely and commendable, only by what has reference to us. We have no reasonable warrant to do fo.

AND perhaps it is a difputable thing that fuch and we differ in; and it is not altogether impoffible, that they may be in the right, and we in the wrong. And it becomes fuch persons as we are, confcious to our felves of human frailty, not to be too confident that every man is in the wrong who opposeth himself unto us. At least, it would become the modefty of Chriftians to search so much the more, and inquire the more diligently into the matter, that they do not a double injury by being oppofite to fuch persons wrongfully at firft, and then perfevering in it; and letting an unworthy, unfuitable temper of fpirit obtain thereupon, and take place in them.

5. SUPPOSE we be unjustly maligned by certain perfons, then we have certainly GoD or our fide; and confequently have a very good caufe if we do not spoil it. If fuch and fuch bear us ill will, and we on our parts maintain the law of love inviolate, we are well as to the matter we suffer for, and we shall be tolerably well as to the manner of fuffering too. Suppose we suffer hard things through their ill will, this is not fo much, fo we do but quietly bear our wrong; but if we miscarry

mifcarry here, we perfectly fpoil a good caufe. SER M.
Whereas before we were right as to the matter, XVI.
now as to the manner of our suffering under any
one's difpleasure, we have involved our felves in
guilt, and confequently have done fo much to
difoblige GOD from interefting himself for us.
And certainly then we have done very ill for our
felves.

6. IF we do fuffer the difpleasure and ill will of any unjustly with the effects thereof, and yet keep up love in our own hearts, those persons who injure us, do firft a great deal more injure GOD. Therefore we have all the reafon in the world to turn private, felfish anger upon that account, into a refentment of the indignity and offence done to the common Ruler and Lord of all. And certainly by how much more the exercife of our fpirits worketh out towards him, his - interests and concernments; fo much the lefs fhall we find our felves prejudiced in our own spirits, by what does more directly tend to us, and hath an afpect that way. We fhall lefs confider that he hath injured us, and fo be lefs tempted to render ill for ill, and hatred for hatred. He hath injured him that made him as well as us, which is a fuperior thing and a greater crime. And therefore that anger which turned the other way before, ought to turn against the difhonour that is done thereby to Go D, and into pity of the offender, upon the account of the anger of GoD incurred thereupon. And it ought to be confidered further,

7. THAT if any fuch do never fo unjustly malign us, and therein wrong us, they wrong themselves

VOL. themselves much more. That would be a great

I.

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allay to our paffion to confider they flightly hurt us, but greatly hurt themfelves. They are more injurious to themselves, than to those they defign hurt unto. They do us but fome external injury, but they wound themselves to the heart and foul. Sure then there ought to be that love in us, which fhould work pity in us upon that account. Nay further,

8. We ought to confider that if they have wronged us, we have at one time and in one way or other wronged ourfelves worfe. We have done our felves more wrong, than all the men in the world or the devils in hell could ever have effected against us, with their combined powers. If we have long lived in this world ftrangers to Go D, wandering from him who is our life: if we have lived in impenitence, difobedience, and rebellion to him, and strangers to his converse; we have then infinitely more wronged our selves, I fay, than men or devils can poffibly do.. And yet we can tell how to love our felves for all that. Why then fhall we not know how to love them who do us unfpeakably lefs wrong, and are in no poffibility of being fo prejudicial to us as we are to our felves? We can be indulgent to our felves, who have done more wrong and hurt; why not to them, who have done us lefs?

9. WE fhall do our felves a great deal more wrong than it is poffible for them to do us, if we requite them with ill will, and do not maintain the law of love inviolate to them. We fhall do

our

our felves a greater injury than they can make us SER M. fuffer, though it were in their power to do as XVI. much as one creature can do to another. For they can but hurt us externally, unless it be our own fault; but we hurt our felves internally, if there be any unbecoming paffion working or raging within. And what reason is there, because one giveth me a light scratch, that I must therefore give my self a mortal ftab? And yet further confider,

10. THAT whatsoever exercise our love fhall have in this kind it will rebound upon our felves, and turn to our own great advantage. For, in the first place, we shall have present peace and tranquillity within, which is a great reward; and we shall be alfo intitled unto that reward which is future, as all fincere obedience is by the law of GOD and the Redeemer.

(1) THERE is a great reward in this temper of fpirit which it carries in it felf. For do but confider what it is plain the law of Chrift requires in this cafe. Bless them that curfe you, do good to them that hate you, pray for them that despitefully ufe you, and perfecute you. Let us allow our felves to pause here a little. What advantage is there in this temper of fpirit, whereby a man without forcing, or ftraining the habitual frame thereof, defires the fulness of all good to them, who perhaps rafhly or injuriously with all harm to him! Certainly the very fenfe of those words, Bless them that curfe you, if they were but tranfVOL. I. ferred

U

Math. v. 44.