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22 - Upon our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, Discourse II - Sermons on Several Occasions · Philosophy and Faith

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Speaker 1: Upon our Lord's sermon on the Mount Discourse two. Blessed
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Speaker 1: are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed
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Speaker 1: are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for
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Speaker 1: they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they
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Speaker 1: shall obtain mercy Matthew five five through seven, when the
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Speaker 1: winter is past, when the time of singing is come
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Speaker 1: and the voice of the turtle is heard in the land,
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Speaker 1: When he that comforts the mourners is now returned, that
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Speaker 1: he may abide with them forever. When at the brightness
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Speaker 1: of his presence, the clouds disperse, the dark clouds of
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Speaker 1: doubt and uncertainty, the storms of fear flee away, the
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Speaker 1: waves of sorrow subside, and their spirit again rejoiceth in
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Speaker 1: God their savior. Then is it that this word is
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Speaker 1: eminently fulfilled. Then those whom He hath comforted can bear witness.
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Speaker 1: Blessed or happy are the meek, for they shall inherit
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Speaker 1: the earth. But who are the meek Not those who
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Speaker 1: grieve at nothing because they know nothing, who are not
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Speaker 1: discomposed at the evils that occur, because they discern not
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Speaker 1: evil from good. Not those who are sheltered from the
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Speaker 1: shocks of life by a stupid insensibility, who have, either
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Speaker 1: by nature or art, the virtue of stocks and stones,
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Speaker 1: and resent nothing because they feel nothing fruit Philosophers are
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Speaker 1: wholly unconcerned in this matter. Apathy is as far from
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Speaker 1: meekness as from humanity, so that one would not easily
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Speaker 1: conceive how any Christians of the purer Ages, especially any
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Speaker 1: of the fathers of the Church, could confound these and
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Speaker 1: mistake one of the foulest errors of Heathenism for a
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Speaker 1: branch of true Christianity. Nor does Christian meekness imply the
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Speaker 1: being without zeal for God any more than it does
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Speaker 1: ignorance or insensibility. No, it keeps clear of every extreme,
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Speaker 1: whether in excess or defect. It does not destroy, but
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Speaker 1: balance the affections which the God of Nature never designed
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Speaker 1: should be rooted out by grace, but only brought and
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Speaker 1: kept under due regulations. It poses the mind of right.
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Speaker 1: It holds an even scale with regard to anger and
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Speaker 1: sorrow and fear, preserving the mean in every circumstance of life,
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Speaker 1: and not declining either to the right hand or the left.
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Speaker 1: Meekness therefore seems properly to relate to ourselves, but it
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Speaker 1: may be referred either to God or our neighbor. When
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Speaker 1: this due composure of mind has reference to God, it
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Speaker 1: is usually termed resignation, a calm acquiescence in whatsoever is
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Speaker 1: His will concerning us, even though it may not be
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Speaker 1: pleasing to nature, saying continually it is the Lord, Let
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Speaker 1: him do what seemeth him good. When we consider it
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Speaker 1: more strictly with regard to ourselves, we style it patience
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Speaker 1: or contentedness. When it is exerted toward other men, than
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Speaker 1: it is mildness to the good and gentleness to the evil.
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Speaker 1: They who are truly meet can clearly discern what is evil,
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Speaker 1: and they can also suffer it. They are sensible of
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Speaker 1: everything of this kind, but still meekness holds the reins.
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Speaker 1: They are exceeding zealous for the Lord of hosts, but
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Speaker 1: their zeal is always guided by knowledge, and tempered in
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Speaker 1: every thought and word and work with the love of
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Speaker 1: man as well as the love of God. They do
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Speaker 1: not desire to extinguish any of the passions which God
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Speaker 1: has for wise ends implanted in their nature. But they
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Speaker 1: have the mastery of all. They hold them all in subjection,
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Speaker 1: and employ them only in subservience to those ends, and
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Speaker 1: thus even the harsher and more unpleasing passions are applicable
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Speaker 1: to the noblest purposes. Even hatred and anger and fear,
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Speaker 1: when engaged against sin and regulated by faith and love,
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Speaker 1: are as woes and bulwarks to the soul, so that
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Speaker 1: the wicked one cannot approach to hurt it. It is
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Speaker 1: evident this divine temper is not only to abide, but
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Speaker 1: to increase in us day by day occasions of exercising,
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Speaker 1: and thereby increasing it will never be wanting while we
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Speaker 1: remain upon earth. We have need of patience, that after
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Speaker 1: we have done and suffered the will of God, we
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Speaker 1: may receive the promise. We have need of resignation, that
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Speaker 1: we may, in all circumstances say not as I will,
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Speaker 1: but as THOU wilt. And we have need of gentleness
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Speaker 1: toward all men, but especially toward the evil and unthankful,
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Speaker 1: otherwise we shall be overcome of evil instead of overcoming
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Speaker 1: evil with good. Nor does meekness restrain only the outward act.
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Speaker 1: As the scribes and pharisees taught of old, and the
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Speaker 1: miserable teachers who are not taught of God will not
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Speaker 1: fail to do in all ages. Our Lord guards against
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Speaker 1: this and shows the true extent of it in the
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Speaker 1: following words. Ye have heard that it was said by
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Speaker 1: them of old time, thou shalt not kill, and whosoever
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Speaker 1: shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment Matthew
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Speaker 1: five twenty one. But I say unto you that whosoever
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Speaker 1: is angry with his brother without a cause shall be
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Speaker 1: in danger of the judgment. And whosoever shall say to
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Speaker 1: his brother raca shall be in danger of the council.
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Speaker 1: But whosoever shall say, thou fool shalt be in danger
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Speaker 1: of hell fire. Our Lord here ranks under the head
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Speaker 1: of murder, even that anger which goes no farther than
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Speaker 1: the heart, which does not show itself by an outward unkindness, no,
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Speaker 1: not so much as a passionate word. Whosoever is angry
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Speaker 1: with his brother, with any man living, seeing we are
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Speaker 1: all brethren, whosoever feels any unkindness in his heart, any
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Speaker 1: temper contrary to love, whosoever is angry without a cause,
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Speaker 1: without a sufficient cause, or further than that cause requires,
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Speaker 1: shall be in danger of the judgment. Anahas us die,
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Speaker 1: shall in that moment be obnoxious to the righteous judgment
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Speaker 1: of God. But would not one be inclined to prefer
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Speaker 1: the reading of those copies which omit the word aca
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Speaker 1: without a cause? Is it not entirely superfluous? For if
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Speaker 1: anger at persons be a tempered contrary to love, how
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Speaker 1: can there be a cause, a sufficient cause for it,
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Speaker 1: any that will justify it in the sight of God?
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Speaker 1: Anger at sin we allow in this sense. We may
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Speaker 1: be angry, and yet we sin not in this sense.
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Speaker 1: Our Lord himself is once recorded to have been angry.
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Speaker 1: He looked round about upon them with anger, being grieved
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Speaker 1: for the hardness of their hearts. He was grieved at
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Speaker 1: the sinners and angry at the sin And this is
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Speaker 1: undoubtedly right before God. And whosoever shall say to his
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Speaker 1: brother raca, whosoever shall give way to anger so as
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Speaker 1: to utter any contemptuous word. It is observed by commentators
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Speaker 1: that raka is a Syriac word which properly signifies empty, vain, foolish,
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Speaker 1: so that it is as inoffensive an expression as can
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Speaker 1: well be used toward one at whom we are displeased.
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Speaker 1: And yet whosoever shall use this, as our Lord assures us,
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Speaker 1: shall be in danger of the council rather shall be obnoxious.
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Speaker 1: There too, he shall be liable to a severer sentence
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Speaker 1: from the judge of all the earth. But whosoever shall
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Speaker 1: say thou fool, whosoever shall so give place to the
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Speaker 1: devil as to break out into reveling, into designedly reproachful
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Speaker 1: and contumelious language, shall be obnoxious to Hell fire, shall
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Speaker 1: in that instant be liable to the highest condemnation. It
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Speaker 1: should be observed that our Lord describes all these as
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Speaker 1: obnoxious to capital punishment, the first to strangling, usually inflicted
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Speaker 1: on those who were condemned in one of the inferior courts,
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Speaker 1: the second to stoning, which was frequently inflicted on those
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Speaker 1: who were condemned by the Great Council at Jerusalem. The
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Speaker 1: third to burning alive, inflicted only on the highest offenders
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Speaker 1: in the valley of the Sons of henem Gehenna, from
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Speaker 1: which that word is evidently taken, which we translate hell.
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Speaker 1: And whereas men naturally imagine that God will excuse their
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Speaker 1: defect in some duties for their exactness in others, Our
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Speaker 1: Lord next takes care to cut off that vein through
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Speaker 1: common imagination. He shows that it is impossible for any
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Speaker 1: sinner to commute with God, who will not accept one
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Speaker 1: duty for another, nor take a part of a obedience
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Speaker 1: for the whole. He warns us that the performing our
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Speaker 1: duty to God will not excuse us from our duty
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Speaker 1: to our neighbor. That works of piety, as they are called,
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Speaker 1: will be so far from commending us to God if
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Speaker 1: we are wanting in charity, that, on the contrary, that
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Speaker 1: want of charity will make all those works an abomination
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Speaker 1: to the Lord. Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to
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Speaker 1: the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught
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Speaker 1: against Thee on account of thy unkind behavior toward him,
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Speaker 1: of thy calling him raca, or thou fool, think not
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Speaker 1: that thy gift will atone for thy anger, or that
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Speaker 1: it will find any acceptance with God, so long as
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Speaker 1: thy conscience is defiled with the guilt of unrepented sin.
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Speaker 1: Lead there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way.
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Speaker 1: First be reconciled to thy brother, at least to all
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Speaker 1: that in THEE lies towards being reconciled. And then come
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Speaker 1: and offer thy gift Matthew five twenty three, twenty four.
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Speaker 1: And let there be no delay in what so nearly
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Speaker 1: concerneth thy soul. Agree with an adversary, quickly now upon
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Speaker 1: the spot, whilst thou art in the way with him,
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Speaker 1: if it be possible, before he go out of thy sight,
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Speaker 1: Lest at any time the adversary deliver THEE to the judge,
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Speaker 1: lest he appeal to God, the judge of all. And
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Speaker 1: the judge deliver THEE to the officer to Satan, the
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Speaker 1: executioner of the wrath of God. And thou be cast
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Speaker 1: into prison, into hell, there to be reserved to the
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Speaker 1: judgment of the Great day. Verily, I say unto THEE,
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Speaker 1: thou shalt, by no means come out, thence till thou
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Speaker 1: hast paid the uttermost farthing. But this is impossible for
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Speaker 1: THEE ever to do, seeing thou hast nothing to pay. Therefore,
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Speaker 1: if thou art once in that prison, the the smoke
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Speaker 1: of thy torment must ascend up forever and ever meantime
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Speaker 1: the meek shall inherit the earth. Such is the foolishness
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Speaker 1: of worldly wisdom. The wise of the world had worn
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Speaker 1: them again and again that if they did not resent
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Speaker 1: such treatment, if they would tamely suffer themselves to be
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Speaker 1: thus abused, there would be no living for them upon earth,
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Speaker 1: that they would never be able to procure the common
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Speaker 1: necessaries of life, nor to keep even what they had,
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Speaker 1: that they could expect no peace, no quiet, possession, no
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Speaker 1: enjoyment of anything. Most true, suppose there were no God
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Speaker 1: in the world, or suppose he did not concern himself
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Speaker 1: with the children of men. But when God ariseth to
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Speaker 1: judgment and to help all the meek upon earth, how
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Speaker 1: doth He laugh all this heathen wisdom to scorn and
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Speaker 1: turn the fierceness of man to his praise. He takes
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Speaker 1: a peculiar care to provide them with all things needs
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Speaker 1: for life and godliness. He secures to them the provision
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Speaker 1: He hath made in spite of the force, fraud, or
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Speaker 1: malice of men. And what he secures he gives them
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Speaker 1: richly to enjoy. It is sweet to them, be it
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Speaker 1: little or much, as in patience they possess their souls,
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Speaker 1: so they truly possess whatever God hath given them. They
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Speaker 1: are always content, always pleased with what they have. It
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Speaker 1: pleases them because it pleases God. So that while their heart,
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Speaker 1: their desire, their joy is in Heaven, they may truly
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Speaker 1: be said to inherit the earth but there seems to
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Speaker 1: be a yet farther meaning in these words, even that
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Speaker 1: they shall have a more eminent part in the new Earth,
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Speaker 1: wherein dwelleth righteousness in that inheritance. A general description of
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Speaker 1: which and the particulars we shall know hereafter. Saint John
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Speaker 1: has given in the twentieth chapter of Revelation. And I
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Speaker 1: saw an angel come down from heaven, and he laid
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Speaker 1: hold on the dragon that old serpent, and bound them
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Speaker 1: a thousand years. And I saw the souls of them
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Speaker 1: that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for
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Speaker 1: the word of God. And of them which had not
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Speaker 1: worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his
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Speaker 1: mark upon their foreheads or in their hands. And they
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Speaker 1: lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the
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Speaker 1: rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand
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Speaker 1: years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and
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Speaker 1: holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection.
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Speaker 1: On such the second death hath no power. But they
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Speaker 1: shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall
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Speaker 1: reign with him a thousand years. Revelation twenty six. Our
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Speaker 1: Lord has hitherto been more immediately employed in removing the
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Speaker 1: hindrances of true religion. Such is pride, the first grand
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Speaker 1: hindrance of all religion, which is taken away by poverty
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Speaker 1: of spirit, levity, and thoughtlessness, which prevent any religion from
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Speaker 1: taking root in the soul till they are removed by
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Speaker 1: holy mourning. Search, are anger, impatience, discontent, which are all
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Speaker 1: healed by Christian meekness. And when once these hindrances are removed,
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Speaker 1: these evil diseases of the soul, which were continually raising
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Speaker 1: false cravings therein and filling it with sickly appetites, the
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Speaker 1: native appetite of a heaven born spirit returns it. Hungers
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Speaker 1: and thirsts after righteousness. And blessed are they which do
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Speaker 1: hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled Righteousness.
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Speaker 1: As was observed before, is the image of God, the
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Speaker 1: mind which was in Christ Jesus. It is every holy
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Speaker 1: and heavenly temper in one springing from, as well as
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Speaker 1: terminating in the love of God as our Father and Redeemer,
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Speaker 1: and the love of all men for His sake. Blessed
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Speaker 1: are they which do hunger and thirst after this. In
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Speaker 1: order fully to understand which expression we should observe first
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Speaker 1: that hunger and thirst are the strongest of all our
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Speaker 1: bodily appetites in like manner, This hunger and the soul,
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Speaker 1: this thirst after the image of God, is the strongest
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Speaker 1: of all our spiritual appetites. When it is once awakened
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Speaker 1: in the heart, yea, it swallows up all the rest
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Speaker 1: in that one great desire to be renewed after the
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Speaker 1: likeness of Him that created us. We should secondly observe
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Speaker 1: that from the time we begin to hunger and thirst,
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Speaker 1: those appetites do not cease, but are more and more
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Speaker 1: craving and importunate, till we either eat and drink or die.
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Speaker 1: And even so from the time that we begin to
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Speaker 1: hunger and thirst after the whole mind which was in Christ,
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Speaker 1: these spiritual appetites do not cease, but cry after their
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Speaker 1: food with more and more importunity. Nor can they possibly
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Speaker 1: cease before they are satisfied while there is any spiritual
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Speaker 1: life remaining. We may thirdly observe that hunger and thirst
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Speaker 1: are satisfied with nothing but meat and drink. If you
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Speaker 1: would give to him that is hungry all the world
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Speaker 1: beside all the elegance of apparel, all the trappings of state,
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Speaker 1: all the treasure upon earth, a thousands of gold and silver,
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Speaker 1: if you would pay him ever so much honor he
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Speaker 1: regards it. Not. All these things are then of no
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Speaker 1: account with him. He would still say, these are not
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Speaker 1: the things I want. Give me food or else I die.
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Speaker 1: The very same is the case with every soul that
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Speaker 1: truly hungers and thirsts after righteousness. He can find no
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Speaker 1: comfort in anything but this. He can be satisfied with
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Speaker 1: nothing else. Whatever you offer, besides it is lightly esteemed,
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Speaker 1: whether it be riches, or honor or pleasure, he still says,
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Speaker 1: this is not the thing which I want. Give me
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Speaker 1: love or else I die. And it is as impossible
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Speaker 1: to satisfy such a soul, a soul that is a
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Speaker 1: thirst for God, the living God. With what the world
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Speaker 1: accounts religion, as with what they account happiness. The religion
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Speaker 1: of the world implies three things. One the doing no harm,
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Speaker 1: the abstaining from outward sin, at least from such as
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Speaker 1: is scandalous as robbery, theft, common swearing, drunkenness. Two the
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Speaker 1: doing good, the relieving the poor, the being charitable, as
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Speaker 1: it is called. Three the using the means of grace,
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Speaker 1: at least the going to Church and to the Lord's Supper.
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Speaker 1: He in whom these three marks are found is termed
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Speaker 1: by the world a religious man. But will this satisfy
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Speaker 1: him who hungers after God. No, it is not food
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Speaker 1: for his soul. He wants a religion of a nobler kind,
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Speaker 1: a religion higher and deeper than this. He can no
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Speaker 1: more feed on this poor, shallow, formal thing than he
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Speaker 1: can fill his belly with the east wind. True, he
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Speaker 1: is careful to abstain from the very appearance of evil.
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Speaker 1: He is zealous of good works, as all the ordinances
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Speaker 1: of God. But all this is not what he longs for.
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Speaker 1: This is only the outside of that religion which he
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Speaker 1: insatiably hungers after the knowledge of God in Christ Jesus,
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Speaker 1: the life which is hid with Christ in God. The
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Speaker 1: being joined unto the Lord in one spirit, the having
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Speaker 1: fellowship with the Father and the Son, the walking in
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Speaker 1: the light as God is in the light, the being
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Speaker 1: purified even as he is pure. This is the religion,
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Speaker 1: the righteousness he thirsts after. Nor can he rest till
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Speaker 1: he thus rests in God. Blessed are they who thus
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Speaker 1: hunger and thirst after righteousness, For they shall be filled.
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Speaker 1: They shall be filled with the things which they long for.
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Speaker 1: Even with righteousness and true holiness. God shall satisfy them
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Speaker 1: with blessings of His goodness, with the felicity of his chosen.
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Speaker 1: He shall feed them with the bread of heaven, with
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Speaker 1: a manner of his love. He shall give them to
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Speaker 1: drink of His pleasures, as out of the river, which
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Speaker 1: he that drinketh of shall never thirst, only for more
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Speaker 1: and more of the water of life. This thirst shall
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Speaker 1: endure forever. The painful thirst, the fond desire, thy joyous
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Speaker 1: presence shall remove. But my full soul shall still require
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Speaker 1: a whole eternity of love. Whosoever than thou art, whom
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Speaker 1: God hath given to hunger and thirst after righteousness, Cry
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Speaker 1: unto him that thou mayest never lose that inestimable gift,
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Speaker 1: that this divine appetite may never cease. If many rebuke
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Speaker 1: thee and bid thee ho thy peace regard them, not
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Speaker 1: yea cry so much the more Jesus Master, have mercy
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Speaker 1: on me. Let me not live but to be holy
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Speaker 1: as thou art holy. No more spend thy money for
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Speaker 1: that which is not bred, nor thy labor for that
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Speaker 1: which satisfieth. Not canst thou hope to dig happiness out
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Speaker 1: of the the earth, to find it in the things
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Speaker 1: of the world. Oh, travel under foot all its pleasures,
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Speaker 1: despise its honors, count its riches as dung and dross. Yea,
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Speaker 1: and all the things which are beneath the sun, for
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Speaker 1: the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus. For the
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Speaker 1: entire renewal of thy soul and that image of God
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Speaker 1: wherein it was originally created. Beware of quenching that blessed
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Speaker 1: hunger and thirst. By what the world calls religion, a
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Speaker 1: religion of form of outward show, which leaves the heart
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Speaker 1: as earthly and sensual as ever. Let nothing satisfy thee
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Speaker 1: but the power of Godliness, but a religion that the
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Speaker 1: spirit and life thy dwelling in God and God in thee,
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Speaker 1: the being an inhabitant of eternity, the entering in by
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Speaker 1: the blood of sprinkling within the veil, and sitting in
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Speaker 1: heavenly places with Christ Jesus. And the more they are
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Speaker 1: filled with the life of God, the more tenderly will
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Speaker 1: they be concerned for those who are still without God
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Speaker 1: in the world, still dead in trespasses and sins. Nor
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Speaker 1: shall this concern for others lose its reward. Blessed other merciful,
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Speaker 1: for they shall obtain mercy. The word used by our
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Speaker 1: Lord more immediately implies the compassionate, the tender hearted, those
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Speaker 1: who far from despising, earnestly grieve for those that do
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Speaker 1: not hunger after God. This eminent part of brotherly love
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Speaker 1: is here by a common figure put for the whole,
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Speaker 1: so that the merciful, in the full sense of the term,
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Speaker 1: are they who love their neighbors as themselves, because of
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Speaker 1: the vast importance of this love, without which though we
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Speaker 1: spake with the tongues of men and angels, though we
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Speaker 1: had the gift of prophecy and understood all mysteries and
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Speaker 1: all knowledge, though we had all faith so as to
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Speaker 1: remove mountains. Yea, though we gave all our goods to
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Speaker 1: feed the poor, and our very bodies to be burned,
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Speaker 1: it would profit us nothing. The wisdom of God has
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Speaker 1: given us, by the Apostle Paul, a full and particular
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Speaker 1: account of it. By considering which we shall most clearly discern,
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Speaker 1: who are the merciful that shall obtain mercy, charity, or love,
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Speaker 1: as it were to be wished, it had been rendered
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Speaker 1: throughout being a far plainer and less ambiguous word. The
22:18
Speaker 1: love of our neighbor, as Christ hath loved us, suffereth long,
22:23
Speaker 1: is patient toward all men. It suffers all the weakness, ignorance, errors, infirmities,
22:28
Speaker 1: all the forwardness and littleness of faith of the children
22:31
Speaker 1: of God, all the malice and wickedness of the children
22:34
Speaker 1: of the world. And it suffers all this not only
22:37
Speaker 1: for a time, for a short season, but to the end,
22:41
Speaker 1: still feeding our enemy when he hungers, if he thirst,
22:44
Speaker 1: still giving him drink, Thus continually heaping coals of fire
22:49
Speaker 1: of melting love upon his head, and in every step
22:54
Speaker 1: toward this desirable end, the overcoming evil with good love
22:59
Speaker 1: is kind christuitae, a word not easily translated. It is soft, mild, benign.
23:07
Speaker 1: It stands at the utmost distance from moroseness, from all
23:11
Speaker 1: harshness or sourness of spirit, and inspires the sufferer at
23:15
Speaker 1: once with the most amiable sweetness and the most fervent
23:18
Speaker 1: and tender affection. Consequently, love envy it not. It is
23:23
Speaker 1: impossible it should. It is directly opposite to that baneful temper.
23:27
Speaker 1: It cannot be that he who has this tender affection
23:30
Speaker 1: to all who earnestly wishes old, temporal and spiritual blessings,
23:35
Speaker 1: all good things in this world, and the world to
23:37
Speaker 1: come to every soul that God hath made should be
23:40
Speaker 1: pained at his bestowing any good gift on any child
23:43
Speaker 1: of man. If he has himself received the same, he
23:46
Speaker 1: does not grieve, but rejoice that another partakes of the
23:50
Speaker 1: common benefit. If he has not, he blesses God that
23:53
Speaker 1: his brother at least has and is here and happier
23:56
Speaker 1: than himself. And the greater his love. The more does
23:59
Speaker 1: he rejoice in the blessings of all mankind. The farther
24:03
Speaker 1: is he removed from every kind and degree of envy
24:06
Speaker 1: toward any creature. Love ooh, pe beluitai not warnteth, not itself,
24:13
Speaker 1: which coincides with the very next words, but rather as
24:17
Speaker 1: a word. Likewise, properly imports is not rash or hasty
24:21
Speaker 1: in judging. It will not hastily condemn anyone. It does
24:25
Speaker 1: not pass a severe sentence on a slight or sudden
24:28
Speaker 1: view of things. It first weighs all the evidence, particularly
24:33
Speaker 1: that which is brought in favor of the accused. A
24:36
Speaker 1: true lover of his neighbor is not like the generality
24:39
Speaker 1: of men who, even in cases of the nicest nature,
24:42
Speaker 1: see a little, presume a great deal, and so jump
24:46
Speaker 1: to the conclusion. No, he proceeds with weariness and circumspection,
24:51
Speaker 1: taking heed to every step, willingly subscribing to that rule
24:54
Speaker 1: of the ancient Heathen. Oh, where will the modern Christian
24:57
Speaker 1: I bear? I am so far from lightly believing what
25:01
Speaker 1: one man says against another, that I will not easily
25:04
Speaker 1: believe what a man says against himself. I will always
25:07
Speaker 1: allow him second thoughts, and many times counsel too. It follows,
25:13
Speaker 1: love is not puffed up. It does not incline or
25:17
Speaker 1: suffer any man to think more highly of himself than
25:20
Speaker 1: he ought to think, but rather to think soberly. Yea,
25:25
Speaker 1: it humbles the soul onto the dust. It destroys all
25:28
Speaker 1: high conceits engendering pride, and makes us rejoice to be
25:33
Speaker 1: as nothing, to belittle and vile the lowest of all,
25:37
Speaker 1: the servant of all. They who are kindly affectioned one
25:41
Speaker 1: to another with brotherly love, cannot but in honor, prefer
25:46
Speaker 1: one another. Those who, having the same love, are of
25:49
Speaker 1: one accord to unlowliness of mind, each esteem other better
25:54
Speaker 1: than themselves. It doth not behave itself unseemly. It is
25:59
Speaker 1: not rude or willingly offensive to any. It renders to
26:03
Speaker 1: all their due, fear to whom, fear honor to whom honor, courtesy, civility, humanity,
26:10
Speaker 1: to all the world, in their several degrees honoring all men.
26:15
Speaker 1: A late writer defines good breeding, nay the highest degree
26:19
Speaker 1: of it politeness, a continual desire to please, appearing in
26:24
Speaker 1: all the behavior. But if so, there is none so
26:27
Speaker 1: well bred as a Christian, a lover of all mankind,
26:31
Speaker 1: For he cannot but desire to please all men for
26:34
Speaker 1: their good edification. In this desire cannot be hid. It
26:38
Speaker 1: will necessarily appear in all his intercourse with men, For
26:43
Speaker 1: his love is without dissimulation. It will appear in all
26:47
Speaker 1: his actions and conversation Yea, and will constrain him, though
26:52
Speaker 1: without guile, to become all things to all men, if
26:57
Speaker 1: by any means he may save some in becoming all
27:01
Speaker 1: things to all men. Love seeketh not her own. In
27:05
Speaker 1: striving to please all men. The lover of mankind has
27:09
Speaker 1: no eye at all to his own temporal advantage. He
27:12
Speaker 1: covets no man's silver or gold, or apparel. He desires
27:16
Speaker 1: nothing but the salvation of their souls. Yea. In some
27:20
Speaker 1: sense he may be said not to seek his own
27:23
Speaker 1: spiritual any more than temporal advantage. For while he is
27:27
Speaker 1: on the full stretch to save their souls from death, he,
27:30
Speaker 1: as it were, forgets himself. He does not think of
27:33
Speaker 1: himself so long as that zeal for the glory of
27:36
Speaker 1: God swallows him up. Nay, and sometimes he may almost seem,
27:41
Speaker 1: through an excess of love, to give up himself, both
27:44
Speaker 1: his soul and his body, while he cries out with Moses, Oh,
27:48
Speaker 1: this people have sinned a great sin. Yet, now, if
27:52
Speaker 1: thou wilt forgive their sin, and if not block me
27:56
Speaker 1: out of the book which thou hast written Exodus thirty
27:59
Speaker 1: five two thirty one thirty two, or with Saint Paul,
28:05
Speaker 1: I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for
28:08
Speaker 1: my brethren, my kinsmen. According to the Flesh Romans nine three,
28:15
Speaker 1: no marvel that such love is not provoked. Ooh, praxidetai.
28:21
Speaker 1: Let it be observed the word easily strangely inserted in
28:26
Speaker 1: the translation is not in the original. Saint Paul's words
28:30
Speaker 1: are absolute. Love is not provoked. It is not provoked
28:35
Speaker 1: to unkindness toward anyone. Occasions, indeed, will frequently occur outward
28:41
Speaker 1: provocations of various kinds. But love does not yield to provocation.
28:46
Speaker 1: It triumphs over all in all trials. It looketh into
28:50
Speaker 1: Jesus and is more than conqueror in his love. It
28:55
Speaker 1: is not improbable that our translators inserted that word, as
28:59
Speaker 1: it were, to excuse the Apostle, who, as they supposed,
29:03
Speaker 1: might otherwise appear to be wanting in the very love
29:06
Speaker 1: which he so beautifully describes. They seemed to have supposed
29:10
Speaker 1: this from a phrase in the Acts of the Apostles,
29:13
Speaker 1: which is likewise very inaccurately translated. When Paul and Barnabas
29:18
Speaker 1: disagreed concerning John, the translation runs thus, and the contention
29:23
Speaker 1: was so sharp between them that they departed asunder Acts
29:28
Speaker 1: fifteen thirty nine. This naturally induces the reader to suppose
29:33
Speaker 1: that they were equally sharp therein that Saint Paul, who
29:36
Speaker 1: was undoubtedly right with regard to the point in question,
29:39
Speaker 1: it being quite improper to take John with them again,
29:42
Speaker 1: who had deserted them before, was as much provoked as Barnabas,
29:46
Speaker 1: who gave such a proof of his anger as to
29:49
Speaker 1: leave the work for which he had been set apart
29:51
Speaker 1: by the Holy Ghost. But the Original imports no such thing,
29:56
Speaker 1: nor does it affirm that Saint Paul was provoked at all.
30:00
Speaker 1: It simply says, ehineo un paroxy sismos. And there was
30:06
Speaker 1: a sharpness, a paroxysm of anger, in consequence of which
30:10
Speaker 1: Barnabas left. Saint Paul took John and went his own way.
30:15
Speaker 1: Paul then chose Silas and departed, being recommended by the
30:18
Speaker 1: brethren to the grace of God, which is not said
30:22
Speaker 1: concerning Barnabas. And he went through Syria and Cilicia, as
30:27
Speaker 1: he had proposed, confirming the Churches Acts fifteen thirty nine
30:33
Speaker 1: through forty one. But to return. Love prevents a thousand
30:38
Speaker 1: provocations which would otherwise arise, because it thinketh no evil. Indeed,
30:45
Speaker 1: the merciful man cannot avoid knowing many things that are evil.
30:48
Speaker 1: He cannot but see them with his own eyes, and
30:51
Speaker 1: hear them with his own ears. For Love does not
30:54
Speaker 1: put out his eyes so that it is impossible for
30:58
Speaker 1: him not to see that such thing as done. Neither
31:01
Speaker 1: does it take away his understanding any more than his senses,
31:05
Speaker 1: so that he cannot but know that they are evil.
31:08
Speaker 1: For instance, when he sees him and strike his neighbor,
31:12
Speaker 1: or hears him blaspheme God, he cannot either question the
31:15
Speaker 1: thing done or the word spoken, or doubt of their
31:19
Speaker 1: being evil. Yet uh lgisthetai takatan. The word logiz the
31:24
Speaker 1: Thai thinketh does not refer either to our seeing and hearing,
31:29
Speaker 1: or to the first and involuntary acts of our understanding,
31:33
Speaker 1: but to our willingly thinking what we need not are
31:38
Speaker 1: inferring evil where it does not appear to our reasoning
31:42
Speaker 1: concerning things which we do not see, are supposing what
31:46
Speaker 1: we have neither seen nor heard. This is what true
31:50
Speaker 1: love absolutely destroys. It tears up root and branch all
31:54
Speaker 1: imagining what we have not known. It casts out all jealousies,
32:00
Speaker 1: all evil surmisings, all readiness to believe evil. It is frank, open, unsuspicious,
32:07
Speaker 1: And as it cannot design, so neither does it fear evil.
32:11
Speaker 1: It rejoiceth not in iniquity. Common as this is even
32:16
Speaker 1: among those who bear the name of Christ, who's crupled
32:19
Speaker 1: not to rejoice over their enemy when he falleth either
32:22
Speaker 1: into affliction or error or sin. Indeed, how hardly can
32:27
Speaker 1: they avoid this? Who are zealously attached to any party,
32:30
Speaker 1: How difficult is it for them not to be pleased
32:33
Speaker 1: with any fault which they discover in those of the
32:35
Speaker 1: opposite party, with any real or supposed blemish, either in
32:40
Speaker 1: their principles or practice. What warm defender of any cause
32:44
Speaker 1: is clear of these? Ya who is so calm as
32:47
Speaker 1: to be altogether free, who does not rejoice when his
32:51
Speaker 1: adversary makes a false step which he thinks will advantage
32:54
Speaker 1: his own cause? Only a man of love. He alone
32:58
Speaker 1: weeps over either the sin or folly of his enemy,
33:01
Speaker 1: takes no pleasure in hearing or in repeating it, but
33:05
Speaker 1: rather desires that it may be forgotten forever. But he
33:09
Speaker 1: rejoiceth in the truth, wheresoever it is found, in the truth,
33:14
Speaker 1: which is after Godliness, bringing forth its proper fruit, holiness
33:19
Speaker 1: of heart, and holiness of conversation. He rejoices to find
33:23
Speaker 1: that even those who oppose him, whether with regard to
33:26
Speaker 1: opinions or some points of practice, are nevertheless lovers of God,
33:31
Speaker 1: and in other respects unreprovable. He is glad to hear
33:34
Speaker 1: good of them, and to speak all he can consistently
33:37
Speaker 1: with truth and justice. Indeed, good in general is his
33:41
Speaker 1: glory and joy wherever diffuse throughout the race of mankind.
33:46
Speaker 1: As a citizen of the world, he claims a share
33:49
Speaker 1: in the happiness of all the inhabitants of it. Because
33:52
Speaker 1: he is a man, he is not unconcerned in the
33:54
Speaker 1: welfare of any man, but enjoys whatsoever brings glory to
33:58
Speaker 1: God and promote peace and goodwill among men. This love
34:04
Speaker 1: covereth all things, So without all doubt Panto's de guy
34:08
Speaker 1: should be translated, for otherwise it would be the very
34:11
Speaker 1: same with Ponta Hupobene endureth all things. Because the merciful
34:18
Speaker 1: man rejoiceth not in iniquity, neither does he willingly make
34:22
Speaker 1: mention of it. Whatever evil he sees, hears, or knows,
34:26
Speaker 1: he nevertheless conceals so far as he can, without making
34:30
Speaker 1: himself partaker of other men's sins, wheresoever, or with whomsoever
34:36
Speaker 1: he is. If he sees anything which he approves not,
34:40
Speaker 1: it goes not out of his lips, unless to the
34:43
Speaker 1: person concerned, if haply he may gain his brother. So
34:47
Speaker 1: far is he from making the faults or failures of
34:49
Speaker 1: others the matter of his conversation that of the absence
34:53
Speaker 1: he never does speak at all unless he can speak well.
34:57
Speaker 1: A talebearer, a backbiter, a whisper, an evil speaker is
35:02
Speaker 1: to him all one as a murderer. He would just
35:05
Speaker 1: as soon cut his neighbor's throat as thus murder his reputation,
35:09
Speaker 1: just as soon would he think of diverting himself by
35:12
Speaker 1: setting fire to his neighbor's house, as of thus scattering
35:16
Speaker 1: abroad arrows, fire, brands, and death, and saying, am I
35:21
Speaker 1: not in sport? He makes one only exception. Sometimes he
35:26
Speaker 1: is convinced that it is for the glory of God,
35:28
Speaker 1: or which comes to the saying the good of his neighbor,
35:31
Speaker 1: that an evil should not be covered. In this case
35:34
Speaker 1: for the benefit of the innocent, he is constrained to
35:37
Speaker 1: declare the guilty. But even here one he will not
35:42
Speaker 1: speak at all till love, superior love constrains him. Two
35:47
Speaker 1: he cannot do it from a general, confused view of
35:50
Speaker 1: doing good or promoting the glory of God, but from
35:54
Speaker 1: a clear sight of some particular end, some determinate good,
35:58
Speaker 1: which he pursues. Three. Still he cannot speak unless he
36:02
Speaker 1: be fully convinced that this very means is necessary to
36:06
Speaker 1: that end, that the end cannot be answered, at least
36:09
Speaker 1: not so effectively by any other way. Four He then
36:14
Speaker 1: doeth it with the utmost sorrow and reluctance, using it
36:18
Speaker 1: as the last and worst medicine, a desperate remedy in
36:22
Speaker 1: a desperate case, a kind of poison, never to be
36:25
Speaker 1: used but to expel poison. Consequently, five he uses it
36:31
Speaker 1: as sparingly as possible, And this he does with fear
36:34
Speaker 1: and trembling, lest he should transgress the law of love
36:37
Speaker 1: by speaking too much more than he would have done
36:40
Speaker 1: by not speaking at all. Love believeth all things. It
36:46
Speaker 1: is always willing to think the best, to put the
36:48
Speaker 1: most favorable construction on everything. It is ever ready to
36:53
Speaker 1: believe whatever may tend to the advantage of any one's character.
36:58
Speaker 1: It is easily convinced of what it earnestly desires, the
37:02
Speaker 1: innocence or integrity of any man, or at least of
37:05
Speaker 1: the sincerity of his repentance, if he had once erred
37:09
Speaker 1: from the way. It is glad to excuse whatever is amiss,
37:14
Speaker 1: to condemn the offender as little as possible, and to
37:17
Speaker 1: make all the allowance for human weakness, which can be
37:20
Speaker 1: done without betraying the truth of God. And when it
37:23
Speaker 1: can no longer believe. Then love hopeth all things, is
37:29
Speaker 1: any evil related of any man, Love hopes that the
37:33
Speaker 1: relation is not true, that the thing related was never done.
37:37
Speaker 1: Is it certain it was? But perhaps it was not
37:40
Speaker 1: done with such circumstances as are related, so that, allowing
37:44
Speaker 1: the fact, there is room to hope it was not so, ill,
37:47
Speaker 1: as it is represented, was the action apparently undeniably evil,
37:54
Speaker 1: Love hopes the intention was not. So? Is it clear
37:57
Speaker 1: the design was evil? Too? Yet might it not spring
38:01
Speaker 1: from the settled temper of the heart, but from a
38:03
Speaker 1: start of passion, or from some vehement temptation which hurried
38:07
Speaker 1: the man beyond himself. And even when it cannot be doubted,
38:12
Speaker 1: but all the actions, designs, and tempers are equally evil,
38:16
Speaker 1: still Love hopes that God will at last make bare
38:19
Speaker 1: his arm and get himself the victory, and that there
38:23
Speaker 1: shall be joy in heaven over this one sinner that
38:27
Speaker 1: repenteth more than over ninety and nine just persons that
38:31
Speaker 1: need no repentance. Lastly, it endureth all things. This completes
38:38
Speaker 1: the character of Him that is truly merciful. He endureth
38:42
Speaker 1: not some, not many things, only not most, but absolutely
38:46
Speaker 1: all things, whatever the injustice, the malice, the cruelty of
38:51
Speaker 1: men can inflict, he is able to suffer. He calls
38:54
Speaker 1: nothing intolerable. He never says of anything this is not
38:58
Speaker 1: to be borne. No, he can not only do, but
39:02
Speaker 1: suffer all things through Christ, which strengtheneth him. And all
39:07
Speaker 1: he suffers does not destroy his love, nor impair it.
39:10
Speaker 1: In the least. It is proof against all. It is
39:13
Speaker 1: a flame that burns even in the midst of the
39:15
Speaker 1: great deep. Many waters cannot quench his love. Neither can
39:21
Speaker 1: the floods drown it. It triumphs over all. It never
39:25
Speaker 1: faileth either in time or in eternity. In obedience to
39:32
Speaker 1: what Heaven decrees. Knowledge shall fail and prophecy shall cease.
39:37
Speaker 1: But lasting charities, more ample sway, nor bound by time,
39:42
Speaker 1: nor subject do decay. In happy triumph, shall forever live
39:46
Speaker 1: and endless good, diffuse and endless praise receive. So shall
39:52
Speaker 1: the merciful obtain mercy, not only by the blessing of
39:56
Speaker 1: God upon all their ways, by His now repaying the
39:59
Speaker 1: love they bear to their brethren a thousandfold into their
40:03
Speaker 1: own bosom, but likewise by an exceeding and eternal weight
40:08
Speaker 1: of glory in the kingdom prepared for them from the
40:13
Speaker 1: beginning of the world. For a little while, you may say,
40:17
Speaker 1: woe is me that I am constrained to dwell with
40:21
Speaker 1: Mesek and to have my habitation among the tents of Kadar.
40:26
Speaker 1: You may pour out your soul and bemoan the laws
40:29
Speaker 1: of true, genuine love in the earth lost. Indeed, you
40:33
Speaker 1: may well say, but not in the ancient sense. See
40:37
Speaker 1: how these Christians love one another. These Christian kingdoms that
40:42
Speaker 1: are tearing out each other's bowels, desolating one another with
40:45
Speaker 1: fire and sword. These Christian armies that are sending each
40:50
Speaker 1: by thousands by ten thousands, quick into hell. These Christian
40:55
Speaker 1: nations that are all on fire with Intestine broils, party again,
41:00
Speaker 1: party faction against faction. These Christian cities where deceit and fraud,
41:05
Speaker 1: oppression and wrong yeay, robbery and murder go not out
41:10
Speaker 1: of their streets. These Christian families torn a saunter with envy, jealousy,
41:15
Speaker 1: anchor domestic jars without number, without end yea, what is
41:20
Speaker 1: most dreadful, most to be lamentable? These Christian churches churches
41:26
Speaker 1: tell it not and gad but alas, how can we
41:30
Speaker 1: hide it either from Jews, Turks or Pagans that bear
41:33
Speaker 1: the name of Christ, the Prince of Peace, and wage
41:37
Speaker 1: continual war with each other, that convert sinners by burning
41:41
Speaker 1: them alive, that are drunk with the blood of the saints.
41:45
Speaker 1: Does this praise belong only to Bablon the Great, the
41:49
Speaker 1: mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. Nay, verily,
41:55
Speaker 1: but reformed churches so called have fairly learned to tread
41:59
Speaker 1: in hirsts. Protestant churches too know to persecute when they
42:04
Speaker 1: have power in their hands, even unto blood. And meanwhile,
42:09
Speaker 1: how do they also anathematize each other, devote each other
42:13
Speaker 1: to the nethermost hell? What wrath, what contention, what malice,
42:18
Speaker 1: what bitterness? Is everywhere found among them, even where they
42:22
Speaker 1: agree in essentials and only differ in opinions or in
42:25
Speaker 1: the circumstantials of religion? Who follows after only the things
42:31
Speaker 1: that make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.
42:36
Speaker 1: Oh God, how long shall they promise fail? Fear it? Not,
42:41
Speaker 1: ye little flock against hope. Believe in hope. It is
42:47
Speaker 1: your Father's good pleasure. Yet to renew the face of
42:50
Speaker 1: the earth. Surely all these things shall come to an end,
42:54
Speaker 1: and the inhabitants of the earth shall learn righteousness. Nations
42:59
Speaker 1: shall not live that sword against nation, neither shall they
43:02
Speaker 1: know war anymore. The mountains of the Lord's House shall
43:06
Speaker 1: be established on the top of the mountains, and all
43:10
Speaker 1: the kingdoms of the earth shall become the kingdoms of
43:13
Speaker 1: our God. They shall not then hurt or destroy in
43:18
Speaker 1: all his holy mountain, but they shall call their wall
43:23
Speaker 1: salvation and their gates praise. They shall all be without
43:28
Speaker 1: spot or blemish, loving one another, even as Christ hath
43:32
Speaker 1: loved us. Be thou part of the first fruits. If
43:36
Speaker 1: the harvest is not yet, Do thou love thy neighbor
43:39
Speaker 1: as thyself. The Lord God fill thy heart with such
43:42
Speaker 1: a love to every soul, that thou mayest be ready
43:45
Speaker 1: to lay down thy life for his sake. May thy
43:49
Speaker 1: soul continually overflow with love, swallowing up every unkind and
43:54
Speaker 1: unholy temper, till He calleth thee up into the region
43:58
Speaker 1: of Love, there to reign with him forever and ever.
44:04
Speaker 1: In a section twenty two