reconcile us to his Father, and purchase us an entire possession, did intend to redeem us from sin, and make our passions obedient and apt to be commanded, even and moderate in temporal affairs, but high and active in some instances of spiritual concernment; and in all instances, that the affection go along with the grace; that we must be as merciful in our compassion, as compassionate in our exterior expressions and actions. The Jews, by the prescript of their law, were to be merciful to all their nation and confederates in religion; and this their mercy was called justice: “He hath dispersed abroad and given to the poor, his righteousness (or justice) remaineth for ever." But the mercies of a Christian are to extend to all: "Do good to all men, especially to the household of faith." And this diffusion of a mercy, not only to brethren, but to aliens and enemies, is that which St. Paul calls "goodness f," still retaining the old appellative for Judaical mercy, "righteousness:" "For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some will even dare to die." So that the Christian mercy must be a mercy of the whole man, the heart must be merciful, and the hand operating in "the labour of love ;" and it must be extended to all persons of all capacities, according as their necessity requires, and our ability permits, and our endearments and other obligations dispose of and determine the order. 14. The acts of this grace are; 1. To pity the miseries of all persons, and all calamities, spiritual or temporal, having a fellow-feeling in their afflictions. 2. To be afflicted and sad in the public judgments imminent or incumbent upon a church, or state, or family. 3. To pray to God for remedy for all afflicted persons. 4. To do all acts of bodily assistance to all miserable and distressed people, to relieve the poor, to redeem captives, to forgive debts to disabled persons, to pay debts for them, to lend them money, to feed the hungry and clothe the naked, to rescue persons from dangers, to defend and relieve the oppressed, to comfort widows and fatherless children, to help them to right that suffer wrong; and, in brief, to do any thing of relief, support, succour, and e Gal. vi. 10. f Rom. v. 7. 5 Syrus interpres non legit ὑπὲς δικαίου, sed αδίκου, injusti. comfort. 5. To do all acts of spiritual mercy, to counsel the doubtful, to admonish the erring, to strengthen the weak, to resolve the scrupulous, to teach the ignorant, and any thing else which may be instrumental to his conversion, perseverance, restitution, and salvation, or may rescue him. from spiritual dangers, or supply him in any ghostly necessity. The reward of this virtue is symbolical to the virtue itself, the grace and glory differing in nothing but degrees, and every virtue being a reward to itself. "The merciful shall receive mercy;" mercy " to help them in time of need;" mercy from God, who will not only give them the great mercies of pardon and eternity, but also dispose the hearts of others to pity and supply their needs, as they have done to others. For the present, there is nothing more noble than to be beneficial to others, and to "lift up the poor out of the mire," and rescue them from misery; it is to do the work of God and for the future, nothing is a greater title to a mercy, at the day of judgment, than to have shown mercy. to our necessitous brother; it being expressed to be the only rule and instance in which Christ means to judge the world, in their mercy and charity, or their unmercifulness, respectively; "I was hungry, and ye fed me," or ye fed me not: and so we stand or fall in the great and eternal scrutiny. And it was the prayer of St. Paul, (Onesiphorus showed kindness to the great apostle,)" The Lord show him a mercy in that day." For a cup of charity, though but full" of cold water, shall not lose its reward." : 15. Sixthly: "Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God." This purity of heart includes purity of hands. "Lord, who shall dwell in thy tabernacle? even he that is of clean hands and a pure heart;" that is," he that hath not given his mind unto vanity, nor sworn to deceive his neighbour'." It signifies justice of action and candour of spirit, innocence of manners and sincerity of purpose; it is one of those great circumstances that consummate charity: "for the end of the commandment is charity, out of a h Bona comparat præsidia misericordia; et habet in adversis auxilia qui in secundis commodat.- Publius. Deus est mortali juvare mortalem, atque hæc est ad æternitatem via. - Sen. 1 Psal. xxiv. 3, 4. pure heart, and of a good conscience, and faith unfeigned* ;” that is, a heart free from all carnal affections, not only in the matter of natural impurity, but also spiritual and immaterial; such as are heresies, (which are therefore impurities, because they mingle secular interest or prejudice with persuasions in religion,) seditions, hurtful and impious stratagems, and all those which St. Paul enumerates to be "works" or "fruits of the flesh." "A good conscience;" that is a conscience either innocent or penitent, a state of grace, either a not having prevaricated, or a being restored to our baptismal purity. "Faith unfeigned;" that also is the purity of sincerity, and excludes hypocrisy, timorous and half persuasions, neutrality and indifferency in matters of salvation. And all these do integrate the whole duty of charity. But purity, as it is a special grace, signifies only honesty and uprightness of soul, without hypocrisy to God and dissimulation towards men; and then a freedom from all carnal desires, so as not to be governed or led by them. Chastity is the purity of the body, simplicity is the purity of the spirit: both are the sanctification of the whole man, for the entertainment of the spirit of purity and the spirit of truth. 16. The acts of this virtue are: 1. To quit all lustful thoughts, not to take delight in them, not to retain them or invite them, but, as objects of displeasure, to avert them from us. 2. To resist all lustful desires, and extinguish them by their proper correctories and remedies. 3. To refuse all occasions, opportunities, and temptations to impurity; denying to please a wanton eye, or to use a lascivious gesture, or to go into a danger, or to converse with an improper, unsafe object; "hating the garment spotted with the flesh," so St. Jude calls it; and "not to look upon a maid," so Job; “not to sit with a woman that is a singer," so the son of Sirach. 4. To be of a liberal soul, not mingling with affections of money and inclinations of covetousness, not doing any act of violence, rapine, or injustice. 5. To be ingenuous in our thoughts, purposes, and professions, speaking nothing contrary to our intentions, but being really what we seem. 6. To give all our faculties and affections to God, without dividing interests between God and his enemies, without k 1 Tim. i. 5. entertaining of any one crime in society with our pretences for God. 7. Not to lie in sin, but instantly to repent of it' and return," purifying our conscience from dead works." 8. Not to dissemble our faith or belief when we are required to its confession, pretending a persuasion complying with those from whom secretly we differ. Lust, covetousness, and hypocrisy, are the three great enemies of this grace; they are the motes of our eyes, and the spots of our souls. The reward of purity is the vision beatifical. If we are "pure as God is pure, we shall" also " see him as he is when we awake up after his likeness, we shall behold his presence." To which in this world we are consigned by freedom from the cares of covetousness, the shame of lust, the fear of discovery, and the stings of an evil conscience, which are the portion of the several impurities here forbidden. : 17. Seventhly: "Blessed are the peace-makers; for they shall be called the children of God. The wisdom of God is first pure, and then peaceable ";" that is the order of the beatitudes. As soon as Jesus was born, the angels sang a hymn, "Glory be to God on high, and on earth peace, good will towards men;" signifying the two great errands upon which Christ was despatched in his legation from heaven to earth. He is "the Prince of Peace." "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man ever shall see God." The acts of this grace are: 1. To mortify our anger, peevishness, and fiery dispositions, apt to enkindle upon every slight accident, inadvertency, or misfortune of a friend or servant. 2. Not to be hasty, rash, provocative, or upbraiding in our language. 3. To live quietly and serenely in our families and neighbourhoods. 4. Not to backbite, slander, misreport, or undervalue any man, carrying tales, or sowing dissension between brethren. 5. Not to interest ourselves in the quarrels of others, by abetting either part, except where charity calls us to rescue the oppressed; and then also to do a work of charity without mixtures of uncharitableness. 6. To avoid all suits of law, as much as is possible, without intrenching upon any other collateral obligation towards a third interest, or a necessary support for I Plato vocat puritatem ἀπόκρισιν χειρόνων ἀπό βελτιόνων. ourselves, or great conveniency for our families; or, if we be engaged in law, to pursue our just interests with just means and charitable maintenance. 7. To endeavour by all means to reconcile disagreeing persons. 8. To endeavour, by affability and fair deportment, to win the love of our neighbours. 9. To offer satisfaction to all whom we have wronged or slandered, and to remit the offences of others, and, in trials of right, to find out the most charitable expedient to determine it, as by indifferent arbitration, or something like it. 10. To be open, free, and ingenuous, in reprehensions and fair expostulations with persons whom we conceive to have wronged us, that no seed of malice or rancour may be latent in us, and, upon the breath of a new displeasure, break out into a flame. 11. To be modest in our arguings, disputings, and demands, not laying great interest upon trifles. 12. To moderate, balance, and temper our zeal, by the rules of prudence and the allay of charity, that we quarrel not for opinions, nor entitle God in our impotent and mistaken fancies, nor lose charity for a pretence of an article of faith. 13. To pray heartily for our enemies, real or imaginary, always loving and being apt to benefit their persons, and to cure their faults by charitable remedies. 14. To abstain from doing all affronts, disgraces, slightings, and uncomely jeerings and mockings of our neighbour, not giving him appellatives of scorn or irrision. 15. To submit to all our superiors in all things, either doing what they command, or suffering what they impose; at no hand lifting our heel against those upon whom the characters of God, and the marks of Jesus, are imprinted in signal and eminent authority; such as are principally the king, and then the bishops, whom God hath set to "watch over our souls." 16. Not to invade the possessions of our neighbours, or commence war, but when we are bound by justice and legal trust to defend the rights of others, or our own, in order to our duty. 17. Not to "speak evil of dignities," or undervalue their persons, or publish their faults, or upbraid the levities of our governors; knowing that they also are designed by God, to be converted to us for castigation and amendment of us. 18. Not to be busy in other men's affairs. And then "the peace of God will rest upon us"." n Phil. iv. 9. 1 Thess. v. 2, 3. 2 Thess. iii. 16. Heb. xiii. 20. |