of them would affect the heart of charity. It doth not fuf- SERM. fer a man with comfort or ease to enjoy the accommoda- XXVII, tions of his own state, while others before him are in diftrefs it cannot be merry while any man in presence is forrowful: it cannot feem happy while its neighbour doth appear miserable: it hath a fhare in all the afflictions which it doth behold or hear of, according to that inftance in St. Paul of the Philippians, Ye have done well, Zvyowa that ye did communicate with (or partake in) my afflic- Heb.xiii. 3. tions; and according to that precept, Remember those which are in bonds, as bound with them. νάντες. 25. 12, 13, 14. Such was the charity of Job; Did not I weep for him Job xxx. that was in trouble? was not my foul grieved for the poor? Such was the charity of the Pfalmift, even toward his ingrateful enemies; They, faith he, rewarded me evil for Pf. xxxv. good to the Spoiling of my foul; but as for me, when they were fick, my clothing was fackcloth, I humbled my foul with fafting. I behaved myself as though it had been my friend or my brother; I bowed down heavily as one that mourneth for his mother. 29. Such was the charity of St. Paul; Who is weak, faid 2 Cor. xi. he, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not? with fervent compaffion. 14. Such was the charity of our Saviour; which fo reigned in his heart, that no paffion is fo often attributed to him as this of pity, it being expreffed to be the motive of his great works. Jefus, faith St. Matthew, went forth, and Matt. xiv. faw a great multitude, καὶ ἐσπλαγχνίθη ἐπ' αὐτοῖς, and was moved (in his bowels) with compaffion toward them, and he healed their fick : and, I have compaffion on the multi-rayxvítude, because they have nothing to eat and I will not fend Matt. xv. ζομαι. them away fafting, left they faint in the way: and, Jefus 32. xx. 34. had compaffion on them, and touched their eyes: and, Jefus, moved with compaffion, put forth his hand and Mark i. 41. touched him, (the leper,) and faith unto him, I will; be thou clean and, When the Lord faw her, (the widow of Luke vii. Naim, whofe fon was carried out,) he had compassion on her: and, He beheld the city, and wept over it, confidering Luke xix. the miferies impendent on it, as a juft punishment of their 41. 13. SERM. outrageous injuries against himself; and when the two XXVII. good fifters did bewail their brother Lazarus, He groaned John xi. in fpirit, and was troubled; and wept with them: whence 33, 35, 36. the Jews did collect, Behold how he loved him! 158. Thus any calamity or misfortune befalling his neighbour doth raise distasteful regret and commiferation in a charitable foul; but especially moral evils (which indeed are the great evils, in comparison whereto nothing else is evil) do work that effect: to see men difhonour and wrong their Maker, to provoke his anger, and incur his disfavour; to see men abuse their reason, and disgrace their nature; to fee men endamage their spiritual estate, to endanger the lofs of their fouls, to difcoft from their happinefs, and run into eternal ruin, by diftemper of mind and an inordinate converfation; this is moft afflictive to a man endued with any good degree of charity. Could one see a man sprawling on the ground, weltering in his blood, with gaping wounds, gafping for breath, without compaffion? And feeing the condition of him that lieth groveling in fin, weltering in guilt, wounded with bitter remorfe and pangs of conscience, nearly obnoxious to eternal death, is far worse and more deplorable; how can it but touch the heart of a charitable man, and stir his bowels with compaffionate anguish? Such was the excellent charity of the holy Pfalmift, Pf. cxix. fignified in thofe ejaculations, I beheld the tranfgreffors, and was grieved; because they kept not thy word: and, cxix. 136. Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because men keep not thy law. Such was the charity of St. Paul toward his incredulous and obdurate countrymen, (notwithstanding their hatred and ill treatment of himself,) the which he fo earRom. ix. neftly did aver in those words, I fay the truth, I lie not, my confcience alfo bearing me witnefs in the Holy Ghoft, that I have great heaviness and continual forrow in my heart for them. 1, 2. Such was the charity of our Lord, which difpofed him as to a continual fenfe of men's evils, fo upon particular occafions to grieve at their fins and spiritual wants; as when the Pharifees maligned him for his doing good, he, SERM. it is faid, did ouλλusida, grieve (or condole) for the XXVII. hardness of their heart; and, When he faw the multitudes, Mark iii. 5. he was moved with compaffion on them, because they fainted, Matt.ix. 36. and were fcattered abroad as sheep having no Shepherd : and when he wept over Jerufalem, because it did not know Luke xix. in its day the things which belonged to its peace, (either temporal, or eternal.) 41. Jer. xxxi. Ifa. Ixiii. 15. the Jud. x. 16. (ὠλιγώθη. This is that charity, which God himself in a wonderful and incomprehenfible manner doth exemplify to us: for he is the Father of pities; oλúσλayxvos, full of bowels ; James v.11. his bowels are troubled, and do found, when he is (for up- Luke i. 78 holding justice, or reclaiming finners) constrained to inflict 20. punishment; of him it is faid, that his foul was grieved for la. the mifery of Ifrael; and that he was afflicted in all afflictions of his people. So incredible miracles doth infi- LXX.) nite charity work in God, that the impaffible God in manner should fuffer with us, that happiness itself should partake in our misery; that grief fhould fpring up in the fountain of joy. How this can be, we thoroughly cannot well apprehend; but furely thofe expreffes are used in condefcenfion to fignify the greatly charitable benignity of God, and to fhew us our duty, that we should be merciful Luke vi. 36. as our heavenly Father is merciful, fympathizing with the Eph. v. 1: miferies and forrows of our brethren. a Ifa. Ixiii. 9. (Hof.xi. 8.) (Luke xvi. 20.) Phil. ii. 1. This is that duty which is fo frequently inculcated; Col. iii. 12. when we are charged to put on bowels of pity, to be e- Eph. iv. 32. onλayxvi, tender-hearted, to be cuμñadeis, compassionate 1 Pet. iii. 8. one toward another. Hence it is, that good men in this world cannot live in any brifkness of mirth or height of jollity, their own enjoyments being tempered by the difcontents of others; the continual obvious fpectacles of forrow and of fin damping their pleasures, and quafhing exceffive transports of joy: for who could much enjoy himself in an hospital, in a prison, in a charnel? V. It is generally a property of love to appropriate its object; in apprehension and affection embracing it, pos SERM. feffing it, enjoying it as its own: fo charity doth make XXVII. our neighbour to be ours, engaging us to tender his cafe, and his concerns as our own; fo that we fhall exercise about them the fame affections of foul, (the fame defires, the fame hopes and fears, the fame joys and forrows,) as about our own nearest and most peculiar intereft; so that his danger will affright us, and in his fecurity we shall find repofe; his profit is gain, and his loffes are damages to us; we do rise by his preferment, and fink down by his fall; his good speed is a fatisfaction, and his disappointment a cross to us; his enjoyments afford pleasure, and his fufferings bring pain to us. So charity doth enlarge our minds beyond private confiderations, conferring on them an universal interest, and reducing all the world within the verge of their affectionate care; fo that a man's felf is a very small and inconfiderable portion of his regard: whence charity is faid 1 Cor.xiii.5. not to feek its own things, and we are commanded not to look on our own things; for that the regard which charity beareth to its own intereft, in comparison to that which it beareth toward the concerns of others, hath the fame proportion as one man hath to all men; being therefore exceedingly fmall, and as it were none at all. X. 24. This, faith St. Chryfoftom, is the canon of most perfect Chriftianifm, this is an exact boundary, this is the higheft top of it, to feek things profitable to the publica: and Phil. iv. 16. according to this rule charity doth walk, it prescribeth that compass to itself, it aspireth to that pitch; it dif1 Cor. x. pofeth to act as St. Paul did, I please all men in all things, not feeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be faved. 33. VI. It is a property of love to affect union, or the greatest approximation that can be to its object. As hatred doth fet things at distance, making them to fhun or chafe away one another; fo love doth attract things, • Τάτο κανὼν χρισιανισμᾶ τοῦ πλειοτάτε, τᾶτο ὅρος ἠκριβωμένος, αὕτη ἡ κορυφή ἀνωτάτω, τὸ τὰ κοινή συμφέροντα ζητεῖν. Chryf. in 1 Cor. Orat. xxv. doth combine them, doth hold them faft together; every SERM. one would be embracing and enjoying what he loveth in XXVII. the manner whereof it is capable: fo doth charity dispose a man to conjunction with others; it foon will breed acquaintance, kind conversation, and amicable correspondence with our neighbour. It would be a ftranger to no man, to whom by its intercourse it may yield any benefit or comfort. Its arms are always open, and its bofom free to receive all, who do not reject or decline its amity. It is most frankly acceffible, most affable, moft tractable, moft fociable, most apt to interchange good offices; most ready to oblige others, and willing to be obliged by them. It avoideth that unreasonable fufpicioufnefs and diffidence, that timorous fhiness, that crafty reservedness, that fupercilious morofity, that faftidious fullennefs, and the like untoward difpofitions, which keep men in estrangement, ftifling good inclinations to familiarity and friendfhip. tuæ chari VII. It is a property of love to defire a reciprocal Spes muaffection; for that is the sureft poffeffion and firmest tatis. Sen. union, which is grounded upon voluntarily conspiring in Ep. ix. affection; and if we do value any perfon, we cannot but prize his good-will and esteem. Charity is the mother of friendship, not only as inclining us to love others, but as attracting others to love us; difpofing us to affect their amity, and by obliging means to procure it. 2 Tim. ii. Hence is that evangelical precept so often enjoined to us, of pursuing peace with all men, importing that we Heb. xii. should defire and feek by all fair means the good-will of 14, men, without which peace from them cannot fubfift; for 22. if they do not love us, they will be infesting us with un- 18. kind words or deeds. VIII. Hence alfo charity disposeth to please our neighbour, not only by inoffenfive but by obliging demeanour; by a ready complaisance and compliance with his fashion, Rom. xii. |